Carseat Quip: Safety First

I am amazed at how little I knew about car safety seat use before having babies.  I didn't even really learn much before hand.  I had a Baby Depot worker show me her favorite car seat and I added that to my registry.

Now that Buggy is 22 months and we have little Scrunch, I definitely am informed!  I want to make sure that other moms learn as much as they can about safety since we are all transporting very precious cargo!

Some basics:

• All seats on the market have passed crash tests and are safe. 
• The safest seat is one that you will use properly EVERY TIME.
• Infant bucket seats are NEVER to be installed forward facing (I just saw this recently and, short of duct tape, I cannot figure out how they installed the seat that way).
• Federal law states babies must remain rear facing until one year AND twenty pounds.
• Some convertible seats (seats that can face backwards or forwards) cannot be forward facing until more than 20 pounds - check the manual.

A friend of mine, Betsy, recently posted a blog about the basics of car seat safety.  Did you know:

• Car crashes are the No. 1 cause of death for children ages 3 to 14. Child safety seats are mandated by all 50 states for newborns through, in some cases, 9-year-olds. 
• It is now recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics that children ride in a rear-facing car seat "as long as possible to the highest weight and height allowed by the manufacturer of their convertible seat."
• The AAP also recommends using the 5-point system "as long as possible," also because of crash tests that show they are safer than boosters.
• Three out of four car seats are installed or used improperly.

Make sure you read Betsy's blog for even more information about car seat safety as well as her journey in rethinking her own use of car seats.