If you have kids, you are going to need to know about car seats and the rules regarding their use. Currently in California, children need to be in a car seat or booster seat until they are 6 years old or 60 pounds in weight. However, there is a bill in front of the state assembly that would change this to 8 years or 80 pounds.
Your baby’s first journey in the car will most likely be the ride home from the hospital. Infants can be appropriately restrained in an infant carrier car seat or a convertible car seat. The infant carriers snap into a detachable base that makes it easy to carry around a baby in a carrier when you go shopping especially when the baby is sleeping. Most carriers also have stroller systems into which they can fit. The weight limit on a carrier car seat is around 20 to 22 pounds. The convertible car seat is a regular car seat that can either face forward or backward and generally holds kids who weigh between five pounds and 40 pounds. A baby must be back facing in a car seat until he is 20 pounds and one year old. So if you have a 9 month old who is 23 pounds and is in an infant carrier, it is time for her to switch from the carrier car seat to a convertible car seat, which must be placed rear facing until she turns one-year-old.
After the child meets the 20 pounds and the one year old year criteria, he can then be faced forward in his car seat. The convertible car seat can be turned forward or the child can go into a car seat that only forward faces. The weight restriction for most of these kinds of car seats starts around 25 to 30 pounds and goes up to a maximum between 40 to 60 pounds. The majority of car seats have a five-point restraining system.
Booster seats are for the older child who outgrows the 5 point car seat. Boosters generally use the car’s seat belt as the restraint. The booster is only there to boost up the child and the ones with high backs will also keep the shoulder strap off the child’s neck.
Car seats may seem tedious to deal with especially if you are carpooling or need to take one while traveling by air, but they save the lives of our most precious commodities, our children.
For more information, please contact SC Pediatrics at 661-253-4971.