Car Seats – It’s not as easy as I first thought

Well, I’ve been learning a lot!

Car seats expire.  And ALL of my car seats except one are expired.  With a new baby on the way (or already here by the time this posts), that means I need to purchase 5 new car seats.

Lap belts are dangerous.  They’ve been known to harm children, something called “seat belt syndrome” that causes paralysis and other such horrors.

Rear-facing is the safest position for infants, for as long as the car seat weight limits will allow.

 

Only when a child is too heavy (due to the car seat’s weight limit) should they be turned around, forward facing in a 5 point harness.  They should stay in this five point harness until the car seat’s weight and height limit are reached.

The next step is to move the child to a booster seat until they can pass a 5 step test (a bonus 6th step was included when I received my information).

1) Does the child sit all the way back in the seat?

2) Do the child’s knees bend comfortably at the edge of the vehicle’s seat?

3) Does the belt go over the shoulder between the neck and the arm?

4) Does the lap belt portion touch the child’s thighs, going over the hips, and not across the stomach?

5) Can the child stay seated in this manner for the whole trip?

6) Do the child’s feet reach the floor of the vehicle?

So, where does that leave me?  Still needing 5 new car seats; the expense is going to be close to $700.  We are going to have to spread this out over the next few months. 

K is not near 80 pounds and I haven’t done the booster seat test above for her, but I’m positive she would not pass.  I know she would not be comfortable for a trip to the city sitting as described in the questions.  She is my biggest resistor to going back into a booster seat, but I think with some further education she’ll come around.  I’ve already explained to them some of what happens when we are in an accident and we are not wearing our seatbelts properly.  She understands really well and responds well to information.  If she’s not big enough to be without a booster than none of the others are either.

So what are the recommended seats?  How do you find a good seat that will last the longest for each child?  Here is a really good page on car seat basics.  The least expensive way to go, in my opinion, would be to find the seat with the heaviest limits for each “stage”.  Some that have been recommended to me include: Graco Nautilus, First Years Trufit, Sunshine Kids Monterey Booster, and Britax Parkway Booster.  I think I am going to skip on the infant carrying seat this time.  There’s really not a lot of use for it this time.  There are enough people wanting to hold the new baby and I plan to wear baby as much as possible.  I’m leaning toward the Parkway (for K and C) and the Nautilus (for M and W) and the Trufit (for the new baby or for R).  The new baby will be either in R’s current seat (a Graco ComfortSport) or in a new Trufit.  At least, that’s the plan.  Hopefully it won’t take too long to execute.

There is so much information out there but the following links are some of where have I visited to gather my information; here’s a list of links:

• Car Safety FAQ
• Why Rear-facing is safest
• Google search – keeping children rear facing
• Recommended Car Seats
• Rear-facing vs. Forward-facing
• Car-Seat.Org Forums – super duper helpful and knowledgeable individuals!!!!!

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,