During car crashes, it has been found out that babies are always at a higher risk of serious injuries. They always tend to suffer much more serious injuries than their parents. This is due to the fact that babies have a very soft developing spine and a head which is bigger than their bodies. There has been some controversy about the relative safety of a car seat for a baby. This is why you may want to consider the best convertible car seat for small cars for your babies. It has been designed in the best way possible to protect your babies maximally from any damage from crashes if properly used.
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Risks Of Babies In Car Accidents
If you have a baby who is riding forward-facing, it may lead to the stretching of the spinal cord, which could lead to serious injury or death. However, if your child is riding rear-facing in a child safety seat, her upper body, which includes the neck and spine are protected by the back of the child safety seat during a frontal crash, one of the most common types of car crashes. It has been shown that sitting your child rear-facing in the convertible car seat is still the best way to protect your baby.
According to research, children who are at most two years old who are seated forward-facing in a convertible car seat have gotten more serious injuries than children of the same age who are seated rear-facing in a convertible car seat. Convertible car seats are fantastic for it, using it correctly will make you feel very secure about your children when they are travelling in a car.
If you want to get the best out of your convertible car seat for babies, you will need some guidance.
Tips For Securing Your Baby With A Convertible Car Seat
- The first tip is to ensure that you keep your baby rear facing until the baby is just about two years of age or until the baby grows to reach the highest weight or height limit which is recommended by the manufacturer for its optimum safety. Certain rear-facing convertible car seats are known to be able to accommodate children weighing up to 35 pounds or more. It doesn’t matter if your child’s knees bend or touch the back seat of the car when seated rear-facing, it isn’t harmful to your baby in any way.
- Furthermore always ensure that your infant is seated rear-facing in the convertible car seat at the back of your car. A baby riding even in a convertible car seat can be seriously injured by a passenger side airbag.
- The shoulder straps in the convertible car seat should be kept at or below the baby’s shoulders. Convertible car seats for babies are always fitted with harnesses. If your child is increasing in size and growing, just adjust the harness as the baby grows to allow for maximum comfort.
- The harness should be tightly fitted so you can’t find any free space on the harness material after buckling your baby.
- The straps of the harness should be kept in a straight line without any form of sagging or twisting.
- The top of the chest clip should be kept at the armpit level
- Make sure that you never keep a blanket between your child and the straps of the harness or even under her or behind her. If you are traveling for long distances, don’t keep your infant in any bulky clothing which can interfere with the tightness of the harness.
- You would know your baby is getting too big for the convertible car seat when you find out that his head is getting to the top of the seat. There should be at least a space of one inch between the top of your child’s head and the top of the convertible car seat.
Taking your baby for a ride with you seems like a great idea to spend some time and to make sure they are close to you at all times, but there are risks that have been associated with driving with a baby. There are a couple of safety seats that can be used to keep your baby safe during the ride, but not all of these seats are equally safe and appropriate. You need to understand what to look for in a safety seat and how to properly ensure the safety of your baby with these seats to truly avoid potentially fatal injuries, especially when you are involved in an accident with your baby on board.
To be quite honest I’ve found it super hard to get accurate information regarding car seat safety in South Africa. I do know that rear-facing is best but more than that nope.