How to Choose the Right Baby Car Seat

When traveling with kids, installing a car seat for your little one can help you have a peaceful trip. It is suggested to get a baby car seat even before your baby is born.

You should always purchase the seat that is right for your baby and thats fits well with your car. You might need 2-3 different car seat – infant, convertible and booster from birth until growing age. Lately, there are also some seats on the market that are growing with your child – one seat for life, like Britax One4Life ClickTight car seat.

Selecting the Right Type of Car Seat for your baby:

Why is there a need to have a child seat? This is considered important to provide safety for your kid. It might help to save the life of your child in case of a crash.

According to the CDC car safe and properly installed car seats can reduce the risk of dying in an accident by 71%.

We know that sometimes purchasing and installing a car seat for your baby might seem to be overwhelming. There is no need to get intimidated. We will do our best to help you clarify the things at first.

Before buying a car seat, you should consider next factors:

Age of your baby – to choose the right seat type
Weight/height of your baby. – it is required to use seat on proper height/weight range
The safety standards – these affect the lives of our babies, that why it is important to always check if the seat is crash tested and meets all the safety standards.

Here you may read a perfect guide from the CDC that may help you to select a seat based on the above three factors.

New born till the age of 2:

It is necesary to use a rear-facing seat at this stage, until the baby’s weight is no more than the weight limit of the seat. It is always recommended to use it until maximum limits, as this is the safest seat to use with newborns.

Baby aging from 2 to 4 (until 40 pounds of weight):

At this age, it is suggested to use a forward-facing child seat for safety.Of course, if your child is a smaller one and is still not exceeding the maximum limits for rear-facing seats, it is strongly reccomended to use it and makse the change after the limits are exceeded.

Baby age from 4 to 8 or with 4 feet 9 inches height:

You can, at this age, use a belt-positioning booster seat for your baby. There are many guides that will help you decided when it is the right time to switch from 5-point harness to booster. The safest place for your child is the backside.

Age more than 8 along with 4 feet 9 inches tall:

It is suggested to still use the booster seat. Your kid can keep using a booster seat until adult seat belts fit them easily.

You need to see the place of the lap belt and the shoulder belt and your child. The upper thighs must be covered with the lap belts and not the stomach area.

The chest must be covered with the shoulder belt and not the neck. Children, less than 13 years, are advised by the CDC to ride in the back seat. This is essential when traveling through a booster seat or car seat.

This is because the airbags can often hurt, or children may face an accident when riding in the front.

Using a rear-facing car seat for your baby will help their neck protected in case of an accident. The weight limit of a seat corresponds to the seat. The weight of some seats may go to 60 + pounds even.

Evaluating the quality of your child’s car seat:

You must know that what quality of car seat you have selected for your child. Following are some of the features which you must have in getting the car seat:

Safety label: you must keep in mind that the label must meet and also exceeds Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213.

Rating system: you must check for the NHTSA rating for the right type of car seat you are purchasing. It will be easy to use a car seat with four or five stars.

You may find different rules and laws on baby’s car seats in every state. There is even a fine of $100 in some countries if a person fails to keep his child protected and settled in the right child seat.

It is suggested to read both the instructions mentioned on the car seat manufacturer’s installation and the car’s owner’s manual instructions. A person must know how to use the seat belts and LATCH, which is known as (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) system before the method of installation.
Install it at the backside of the seat. This place is the safest for your child until the age of 13 and with a height of 4 feet 9 inches.
You must go through the car seat instructions, which will help you to install it properly.
You must buckle and lock the seat belt of the car seat.
To tighten the car seat, you must press down the seat. Keep in mind the car seat should not move more than 1 inch from the sides or front, and back once the installation has been done.
Please go through the car seat manufacturer’s instructions, which will help keep your child safe, and it will surely help you install the seat at the right angle and position.

The next step is to see that your child is seated correctly and securely.

Check for the harness straps that are correctly placed. The straps must be lying flat against the body of your child.
Check for the chest clip that must be at the level of your child’s armpit.

To reduce the risk that your child may accidentally get hurt or get trapped, you can:

Leave something like a purse or cell phone in the backseat. This will help you to check the back seat of the car frequently.
You can contact with your child’s daycare, who may frequently ask you about your child.
Keep the car and its trunk locked, even when the vehicle is parked in the driveway, do not let your child get the keys to the vehicle. Keep it away from them for their safety!

Final Verdict

Your duty does not gets finished once you walk out of the shop. Getting a Diono car seat for your child and then installing it is a big task. You need to use all the instructions given in the booklet (keep in mind to always keep the booklet of the car seat along with you). By doing this, there are chances of installing the seat properly and easily.

There is no need to purchase the most expensive one. Purchase the cheap but useful for your child.