Having a child is an incredible experience, and it will change your life forever. Parents will notice the change right away, perhaps even before they start dealing with the sleepless nights and the other stresses. They’ll notice it in the way that they feel holding their child in their arms — and, somewhat less glamorously, in the way that they drive home from the hospital! Almost any parent who drove home from the hospital with their newborn child and partner will tell you that they were more careful about road safety than usual. With a new priority, saving a few minutes by zipping through traffic suddenly seemed absurd! The only thing that matters is getting there safely.
Of course, that trip home from the hospital won’t be the last drive that a parent takes with their child. For most Americans, driving is a daily necessity. That’s why parents need to drive safely and avoid some all-too-common parental driving mistakes. But it’s crucial to remember that even the safest driving can’t completely prevent accidents. That’s why one of the most important pieces of baby gear that parents will ever buy is the car seat.
Unfortunately, car seats are also kind of tricky to buy — or, at least, they seem that way at first glance. Never fear, though, because we’re here with everything that you need to know about how to choose a car seat for your child.
What type of car seat does your child need?
If your child came into this world as a full-sized adult, they could just sit down and use the seatbelt in a car like we do. Happily for mothers, babies are much smaller than this when they come out, which is why they need car seats. This is the whole point of a car seat: To do the car-safety job that a seat belt would do for an adult. Everything else is just bells and whistles.
Another key thing to understand about car seats is that there are a lot of different steps between an infant in a car seat and an adult using a seat belt. As your child grows older and gets bigger, you’ll need to switch what sort of car seat you’re using. A rear-facing car seat that’s ideal for an infant will be dangerous for a larger child, and a booster seat (which allows a child to use the regular seat belt) is perfect for a larger toddler but very dangerous for younger and smaller kids.
So which car seat type goes with which age? Let’s break it down:
Rear-facing car seats are the best choice for infants. This is the sort of seat that you should have for the ride home from the hospital. The CDC says that a rear-facing car seat can sometimes suit a child as old as four, but parents should know that this is only the case when the child remains small enough for this sort of seat to be appropriate.
Forward-facing car seats are the next option up. When your child gets too big for a rear-facing car seat, you should switch to this type of model. You’ll probably notice that your young one is outgrowing the rear-facing seat, but if you’re in doubt you can always check against the generally accepted standard of 30-40 pounds for the changeover. An old bare minimum of 20 pounds is now an outdated standard; you really want your kid to stick with the rear-facing seat until at least age two. A forward-facing seat can then last your child until around age five, depending on their growth.
Booster seats are the last step in your child’s car-seat journey. Use them to make the seatbelts in your car comfortable and effective for your child until they grow to at least four feet, nine inches tall and are age nine to twelve.
That’s pretty straightforward, but don’t be afraid to ask for more information from the family physician or another child care expert to make sure that you’re making the transitions at the right time.
Choosing the perfect car seat
Knowing what type of car seat to get is half the battle, but you’re not done just yet. Most car seats are pretty safe, but “pretty safe” won’t cut it with most parents, who want the absolute best for their child. So how can you compare car seats of the same basic type from different manufacturers?
Simple: By reading the reviews! That’s easy to do thanks to review aggregation sites like bestcarseathub.com. These sorts of sites make it easy to find the best booster seats, the best convertible car seats, or the best models of whatever other sort of car seat you’re looking for. A few minutes of research will ensure that you’re able to rest easy knowing that your child is as safe as possible in the car.
