Child Safety Seat Recommendations

Car crashes are a leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 13. Many times, deaths and injuries can be prevented by proper use of car seats, boosters and seat belts.  The recommendations for car seats and booster have changed recently.  Below we highlight the APA recommendations for age/weight and height for each type of safety seats.   

When installing car seats you can either use the vehicle seat belt or the LATCH system.  LATCH stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children. Most new cars now have a LATCH system installed.  LATCH helps to make car seat installation easier.  Both the car and the car seat need to be equipped with the LATCH system for it to work properly.    The tether needs to be used as part of the LATCH system to secure the seat to the vehicle.      

Rear Facing Car Seats should be used for children from the day they come home from the hospital until they reach the height and weight limits of the car seat.  At one time, the Academy of Pediatrics recommended children stay rear facing until the age of two, but recent research has proven that having children stay rear facing as long as their seat allows has shown to decrease injuries in collisions.

When a child rides rear-facing, the head, neck, and spine are all supported by the hard shell of the car safety seat, allowing the car seat to absorb most of the crash forces, and protecting the most vulnerable parts of the body. When children ride forward-facing, their bodies are restrained by the harness straps, but their heads – which for toddlers are disproportionately large and heavy – are thrown forward, possibly resulting in spine and head injuries.

Children should use a forward-facing car safety seat with a harness for as long as possible, until they reach the height and weight limits for their seats. When using the harness, Pull the harness snug to your child's body – the straps should be tight enough that you can just slip two fingers flat between your child's body and their collar bones.  Place the chest clip just under their shoulders. In the colder months make sure to remove any heavy coats, so that the harness is tight against the child and not the bulky clothes. 

When children outgrow the height and weight restrictions on their forward facing car seat they should use a belt-positioning booster seat until the vehicle’s lap and shoulder seat belt fits properly. There are high back boosters and backless boosters.  While either will improve your child's chances in a crash, research has found that high back boosters provide more safety as well as comfort.  High back boosters do a better job of positioning the shoulder belt correctly by using channels on the head area of the booster.  Additionally, high back boosters can provide head and neck support.  This can be important if you have a child that moves a lot or sleeps in the car.  This feature can provide added safety especially in a side impact collision.     

Children can start using a regular seat belt once they can easily rest their back against the seat of the car and bend their knees over the edge of the seat. Usually, this happens when kids are between 8 and 12 years old and around 4feet 9 inches.  Additionally, you will want to make sure that the seat belt sits across the shoulder, not the neck and on the lap, not the stomach.  Moving a child out of the booster seat too soon can result in injuries to the neck and stomach as well as bruising internal organs if the belt is not sitting correctly.  Children under 13 should be seated in the rear seats of the vehicle and not the front seats where the air bags could cause harm.    Here is the 5 point checklist to see if your child is ready to move out of all seats.

•        Does your child sit all the way back against the vehicle seat?
•         Do your child's knees bend comfortably at the edge of the vehicle seat?
•         Does the vehicle belt cross your child's shoulder evenly between the neck and arm?
•         Is the lap belt as low on the abdomen as possible, near the top of the thighs?
•         Can your child stay comfortably seated like this for the whole trip?
•         Does the belt stay in place when the child moves?