Infant Car Seat Safety

What to look for.
Infant car seat safety. You ll find lots more advice on the rospa child car seat safety website. The following are some important child safety seat tips for your baby. Child car safety statistics to keep in mind. Designed for newborns and small babies the infant only car seat is a small portable seat that can only be used rear facing.
Most babies outgrow their infant seats before their first birthday. A child safety seat sometimes called a infant safety seat child restraint system child seat baby seat car seat or a booster seat is a seat designed specifically to protect children from injury or death during vehicle collisions most commonly these seats are purchased and installed by car owners but car manufacturers may integrate them directly into their vehicle s design and generally. The road safety officer at your local council can give you detailed advice about child car seats. Your infant or toddler should ride in a rear facing car safety seat as long as possible until they reach the highest weight or height allowed by their seat.
Most convertible seats have limits that will allow children to ride rear facing for two years or more. For the best possible protection infants and toddlers should be buckled in a rear facing car seat in the back seat until they reach the maximum weight and height limits of their car seat. The three layer side absorbs potential impact for ultimate safety. According to the cdc one of the leading causes of child injury are motor vehicle crashes.
If the car seat is placed in the front seat and the air bag inflates it could hit the back of a rear facing car seat right where your child s head is and cause a serious or fatal injury. Use a rear facing car seat from birth until ages 2 4. Visit gov uk for information about baby car seats and the law. Only child safety seats properly installed in the back seat are designed to protect a child from injury during a collision.
Using a car seat is the best protection you can give a child when traveling by car. The nhtsa reports that 325 children under the age of 5 were helped kept safe with the use of car seats the bad news. The safest place for your child s car seat is the back seat away from active air bags. Somewhere between an infant seat and a complete travel system the doona infant car seat is the most compact all in one stroller system on the market.
You should be able to get advice from any good car seat retailer or the manufacturer. Never substitute any type of infant seat for a child safety seat. Infant car seat rear facing only.