Part of ensuring optimal safety also means ensuring the child is in the right seat for their size and weight. For infants, this means a rear-facing child-seat until they weigh in at over 20 lbs.
Why rear facing?
With this setup, the seatback cradles the child's weaker head, neck and back bones in a frontal crash. With a rear-facing child-seat, the seat structure will engage only the lower anchor points of the LATCH system.
The Ministry of Transportation says that the rear-facing seat should rest at a 45 degree angle (vertical to seat-back) and have no more than an inch of movement in any direction at the base. Ensure that straps are clipped in properly, and that there's no more than a fingers worth of slack in said strap at baby's collarbone. The chest clip should be flat across the baby's chest at armpit level, too.
Your child is ready for a forward-facing child-seat once they pass the 20 lb. mark. In a forward-facing-only child-seat, lower LATCH attachments and a tether strap are generally used to hold things in place. With a convertible seat, (one that switches from rear-facing to forward-facing), the LATCH fittings are designed to work in both positions.
Note that both the traditional seatbelt and LATCH attachment methods are required to meet the same safety standard- so one system isn't necessarily safer than another.
Want to be sure a seat is easy and convenient to use? Check out the National Highway Traffic Safety Association's (NHTSA) ease-of-use ratings. Using a five-star system, the association publishes a guide that indicates how easy various child-seat features are to operate.
Check out the NHTSA website (www.nhtsa.gov) for more information and helpful links regarding child-seat safety.
photo:Jupiter Images
Why rear facing?
With this setup, the seatback cradles the child's weaker head, neck and back bones in a frontal crash. With a rear-facing child-seat, the seat structure will engage only the lower anchor points of the LATCH system.
The Ministry of Transportation says that the rear-facing seat should rest at a 45 degree angle (vertical to seat-back) and have no more than an inch of movement in any direction at the base. Ensure that straps are clipped in properly, and that there's no more than a fingers worth of slack in said strap at baby's collarbone. The chest clip should be flat across the baby's chest at armpit level, too.
Your child is ready for a forward-facing child-seat once they pass the 20 lb. mark. In a forward-facing-only child-seat, lower LATCH attachments and a tether strap are generally used to hold things in place. With a convertible seat, (one that switches from rear-facing to forward-facing), the LATCH fittings are designed to work in both positions.
Note that both the traditional seatbelt and LATCH attachment methods are required to meet the same safety standard- so one system isn't necessarily safer than another.
Want to be sure a seat is easy and convenient to use? Check out the National Highway Traffic Safety Association's (NHTSA) ease-of-use ratings. Using a five-star system, the association publishes a guide that indicates how easy various child-seat features are to operate.
Check out the NHTSA website (www.nhtsa.gov) for more information and helpful links regarding child-seat safety.
photo:Jupiter Images