Choosing Between an Infant and a Convertible Newborn Car Seat
A car seat for newborns is also known as a baby car seat or infant safety seat. It is designed to protect infants against injury and death during vehicle accidents. They come with a harness that distributes force of restraining over the head and body of the child instead of the spinal cord or neck.
They can be rear-facing or convertible and come in a variety of sizes and weight limits. They can also be part of a travel system that can click into and out of the base of a stroller.
Rear-facing
Rear-facing infant car seats provide unbeatable protection in accidents for infants. They are designed to support and cradle children, ensuring their spine, neck and head. They also help reduce injuries by keeping the impact of an accident from hitting your child. This is because the child's body doesn't hit the seat of the vehicle, or front passenger seat. Instead, it's a soft, cushioned area inside their car seat.
According to the AAP as well as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, parents should keep their child rear-facing until they reach the weight limit of their car seat or height limit. The majority of children outgrow their infant car seat around the age of one at which point they are able to transition to an convertible car seat that can face forward. However, many parents prefer to keep their child in a rear-facing seat until the 2nd birthday of their child.
There are Push Chairs & Prams : infant-only car seats and convertible car seats. Both are equally secure, but offer different conveniences. For example, infant-only seats are lighter, smaller, and come with an easy release base that can be easily detached from the car, and then reattached to the base of a stroller. Convertible car seats are larger and heavier, but they do not come with an integrated stroller base.
It is important to use the back seat, regardless of the seat type. You can also place a tightly rolled blanket or washcloth between the crotch harness and your child to ensure that the harness is tight. Ensure that the lower anchors of your car seat are properly installed and are connected to the lower attachment points on the lower anchor bars.
Research suggests that babies who sit in the rear of the car are less likely to be injured in an accident. Baby car seats that face rear also experience a lesser impact when they crash into the front of the car, as opposed to the rear of the car seat, which could result in serious injuries.
Forward-facing
Most parents have given a lot of consideration to their newborn car seat. It was an important item on your baby's registry and the method you took your child home from the hospital. You might think about changing the car seat to face forward when your child gets older. It's important to keep it in mind that your child's not ready until they reach the weight and height limits set by the manufacturer of their car seat.
Rear-facing is recommended until your baby weighs at minimum 20 pounds and reaches the age of one year. This is because children younger than a year don't have strong enough neck muscles to withstand the whiplash that can result from being forced forward in an accident. They are also at an increased risk of suffering injury to the spine when involved in head-on collisions.
You can buy a convertible car seat or an all-in-one seat that will allow you to keep the child rear-facing until the child reaches the weight and height limit of the seat. These are usually bucket-style infant car seats that attach to a base for placement in your vehicle. The base can be removed and connected to strollers as a travel system. They typically have lower weight and height restrictions than standard car seats.
You can also purchase an extra booster. They are typically equipped with a harness for younger children, and then convert to a belt-positioning booster seat once your child is ready. This type of car seat has the primary benefit of being used in your vehicle for all of your child's life, making it easier to transport the child from one vehicle to another.
It doesn't matter what car seat you select follow the directions and follow them. It's also a good idea to speak with a certified car safety technician to ensure that your child's seat is installed and is used correctly. It is typical for parents to make mistakes with car seats, and even the most well-intentioned parents could cause harm to their children. It is best to study the instructions on the car seat and follow the advice of a CPST.
Convertible
Many parents choose a convertible newborn child car seat, as they can expand with their child and enable them to travel safely through toddlerhood and into infancy. These seats are less expensive than infant seats and have an extended life. It is essential to select a model that fits your vehicle and is easy to install. Also, make sure that you buckle up your baby in the correct way each time.
Snug straps prevent the head from shifting into a potentially dangerous chin-to-chest posture which could lead to strangulation or asphyxiation. Many infant car seats have straps that are unbuckled or loose which pose a serious safety risk. Unbuckled straps may cause a neck to hang and is the reason of a lot of accidents. If the crotch strap has not been enough tight to pass the pinch test, it may cause danger. This test determines whether the crotch buckle is sufficiently tight to stop the legs of a newborn baby from slouching in the seat, causing them to get trapped or cut.
Some convertible infant car seats include an adjustable torso, which lets you adjust the height limit based on your child's development. The minimum torso height must be equal to the height of your infant's shoulders, or one inch lower. Some models come with an infant insert that can help bring your child up to the proper height for the seat.
The most suitable convertible infant car seat should have a snug fit, comfortable padding and a slender base that lets you install it in your car. It should also have a tight, snug harness that is able to pass the pinch test as well as an incredibly small, tightly-rolled blanket or towel in the event there is an accident. It should also have an tether strap that is attached to the anchor points on your vehicle, which can reduce crash injuries by cutting down the force of impact on your baby. It should also include a travel set that includes a car seat and stroller that can be used to move your baby from the car to the stroller.
Safety features
Parents have a lot to think about when choosing the appropriate car seat for their infants. However, car seats are a crucial purchase for families who are just starting out because using them reduces the chance of fatal child motor vehicle collision injuries by 71 percent. The choice between an infant car seat and a convertible car seat is based on several key elements that include safety features that are compatible with your car, and ease of use.
Infant car seats are made with the fragile baby's physiology in mind. They usually come with an attached base that remains in the vehicle and the carrier snaps into the position, making it simple to move your baby from the car to stroller and back again without causing any disturbance to them. They have a crotch and harness built in to ensure your child secure.
Some infant cars are equipped with side-impact protection that disperses the force of the collision away from a newborn's head and neck. They have plastic, metal, and foam that absorbs energy, and protects the head of the infant from direct contact with the frame of the vehicle or other objects in a collision. Some come with a special pod that extends beyond the door to protect the child's head.
A chest clip is another safety feature that is becoming more common on infant car seats. It keeps the harness straps flat against the chest of your baby. This stops the straps from getting caught or twisting at the shoulders, which can place your baby at a higher risk of injury. If you decide to purchase a car seat with this feature, make sure the chest clip is placed at armpit level. Also, you should be sure to avoid dressing your baby in bulky outerwear that might interfere with the fit of the harness.
No matter what type of car seat you pick make sure it's installed in your vehicle according to the instructions of the manufacturer. Check for the lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) system comprising an attachment that clips onto the lower anchor points on a car and the tether strap, which is attached to the top of the seat and connects to an anchor inside your vehicle. If your vehicle does not have LATCH, a seatbelt can be used to secure the car seats.