Car Seat Milestones: No Need to Rush

According to Webster's Dictionary, a milestone is “a significant point in development.”  That development can be career-based, emotional, educational,  spiritual, or one of many other categories.

When it comes to car seats though, physical milestones are the type often rushed.  I heard again this past weekend, “My baby’s a year old now and 20 pounds so he needs to be forward-facing.”  No, he doesn’t, one year and 20 pounds is a minimum. 

The seat in question had a 35lb. rear-facing weight limit, but the parent insisted that the child had to be turned forward-facing.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends four steps for kids:

• Rear-facing seats:  For the best possible protection keep infants in the back seat, in rear-facing child safety seats, as long as possible up to the height or weight limit of the particular seat. At a minimum, keep infants rear-facing until a minimum of age 1 and at least 20 pounds.
• Forward-facing seats:  When children outgrow their rear-facing seats (at a minimum age 1 and at least 20 pounds) they should ride in forward-facing child safety seats, in the back seat, until they reach the upper weight or height limit of the particular seat.
• Booster Seats:  Once children outgrow their forward-facing seats, they should ride in booster seats, in the back seat, until the vehicle seat belts fit properly.  Seat belts fit properly when the lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt fits across the chest (usually at age 8 or when they are 4’9” tall).
• Seat belts:  When children outgrow their booster seats, (usually at age 8 or when they are 4’9” tall) they can use the adult seat belt in the back seat, if it fits properly (lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt fits across the chest).

Each of these four steps is a milestone in a child’s development, but it can also mean diminished safety if that milestone is rushed.  Keep your kids in each of the four steps as long as possible and don’t rush to the next one.  Treat it as a marathon from birth to adult seat belts, not as a series of sprints from one milestone to the next.