Forward-facing models should all have a 5-point restraint harness.  Children should stay in this model until at least 40 pounds, but can usually fit until 65 pounds.  These are especially helpful if you have a restless child who might try to get out of the seat belt.

When you think your child might be ready to move to a booster seat, be sure to test it out first.  If they fit, their legs should not stick out straight and they should not slouch or slide forward in the seat.  Once again, keep you child in the forward-facing car seat for as long as possible — it’s safer.
Booster seats are the newest addition to child car safety.  Most likely you didn’t use a booster seat when you were a kid.  Seat belts are designed for adults, not for children, so children need to be boosted into a higher position so that the seat belt can do its job correctly.   

Children need to be in a booster seat until they reach a height of 4’9”.  At this height, the seat belt will fall correctly on the child as to protect them in a crash.  Once again, there are multiple types of booster seats.  There are full backed seats that resemble a forward facing seat and there are half booster seats which only have a bottom portion.  In deciding which one to purchase for your child, you should consider factors such as support while sleeping in the car and the height of the seats in your car.  The booster should position the child so that the seat belt falls on the hips, not the stomach, and the collarbone, not the neck.  Once they reach 4’9”, the belt should fit properly without any additional support.  Even once they no longer need a booster seat, children though should stay in the back seat until they reach 13 years old.

Post a comment to let us know how your child has grown into her various types of car seats.

Children from birth to age one should ride in a rear facing car seat.

The minimum age to turn a child around to a forward facing car seat is one year and 20 pounds.  However, your childshould stay rear facing as long as the seat allows, usually up to around 30 pounds.  Rear facing is the safest position for a child.

There are two main types of rear facing seats.  The first is infant-only seats which allow the seat to be removed without disturbing a sleeping child.  They include a mount that remains firmly secured in the car and a carrier that snaps in an out.  Often, the carrier attaches to a stroller for optimal mobility.

The second kind is a convertible model.  These are able to hold the child from birth to about age four or five by converting from a rear facing infant seat to a front facing toddler seat.

Once again, the child should not be transferred to the front facing position until he/she reaches the maximum weight for the rear facing position.  The plus for these models is that they can be used for a long time, but the down side is that it is difficult to remove a sleeping infant without waking them.

Whether you are using a convertible model or a uniquely front-facing model, a child should move to this model only once he outgrows the rear facing model, usually around 30 pounds and at least one year of age.

I’ll post more later this week. Post a comment to let me know what your experiences have been with these kinds of seats.

Sure, we had seatbelts and car seats in our cars when we were kids, but how many times did you double buckle with your friends or siblings or ride backwards in the back of the station wagon?  Attempts to reduce the number of preventable highway deaths have prompted authorities to pass more stringent guidelines on the safety measures required for children riding in automobiles.

These guidelines are based on the height, weight, and age of the child in order to best secure the child in case of a collision. However, all of these new rules can be confusing.

• When do I use the next sized seat?

• How long does my child have to ride in the back seat?

• What is the difference between the different types of seats and belts?

Although you have to work at finding them, there are fairly clear guidelines about which type of seat you should use for your child based on their age, height and weight.  Here are a few tips to get you started.

•• The first step is a rear-facing, 5-point harness child safety seat for newborns and infants.

•• At about one year of age, your child will “age up” to forward-facing child safety seats.  These maintain the 5-point harness, but allow the child to sit in an upright position.  These are the two safest seats and children should stay in them as long as possible.

••  School age children should use booster seats to position them correctly in the seat belt until they reach a height of 4’9”.

We’ll explore each stage in the process of moving your child from one seat to another in more depth, because each one has slight nuances that can be confusing. I’ll publish several more postings with additional information in the next few days. In the meantime, I’d love to hear from anyone who has experiences, good or bad, with buying, installing and using car seats for their children.