Parents Report: Common Car Seat Mistakes

I had a "certified installer" tell me that the LATCH system has a weight limit of 40 lbs - baby and car seat - because that is all the metal connectors in the car can handle? Is this true?!?

To cooper690: two years old is not to young to teach your daughter to leave the chest clip alone or if she does not listen then pit her in time out she will catch on if you fallow through. To hhanna77: are you kidin me? its agenst the law to have a car se in the frount set of any car. To katilens: Yor are wrong its fine and not agenst the law if a infant's feet are tuching/legs bent its a state wide law that all infants 12mons and under and 20lbs in under MUST be rear faceing.

If you aren't certified to install carseats you shouldn't give your advice so freely. There are many people on here, in an attempt to be helpful, giving out advice that could cause serious harm to a child. You wouldn't ask another mother to diagnose& treat your child's cancer unless they were an oncologist. You should take your child's safety in an automobile just as serious. You should follow manufacturer's instructions of your particular car seat& have it checked by someone who is certified.

Something the article doesn't say about boosters is that a booster should never be used on a middle seat that only has a lap belt. Using a booster in this situation is actually more dangerous, unless the booster is the type that has a complete harness and back. In WA state it is actually illegal to use a booster seat with a lap belt configuration only.

jenifer, you¿re right - kids need to be warm! BUT, a winter coat can be dangerous in a car seat if worn under the straps. When you put straps over a coat, they must be looser to allow room for the extra fabric. The force of an accident can compress the coat & send her flying out the loose straps. But you can still keep your baby warm! Buckle her in & put the coat on backwards, over the straps. Then tuck blankets around her & drape a blanket over her seat. Add hat, mittens & shoes & she is set!

On the "facing forward" car seat page it states that the harnesses should be at or above shoulder level, but on the previous page for rear facing car seats the article states that the shoulder straps should be threaded at or below the shoulder level. Is this correct? The advice for the forward facing seat does not seem logical.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with turning a child over 1 to a forward-facing position. My son was 1 and 20lbs. I called my local police station because of all the stuff you hear, and they told me whatever the carseat says is what to do and is legal. I truthfully believe my son is safer now facing forward than rear.

what is the rule on coats and carseats? my babe is 9 months old and after reading the article/quiz in the magazine itself my husband doesnt think our baby should wear a coat. it is only 30 degrees outside. i think she needs to wear one. thoughts? ideas?

Don't listen to Kaitlen! Go ahead and turn your child around at one and 20lbs. BUT IT IS 500% SAFER TO HAVE YOUR CHILD REAR-FACING. Look up extended rear-facing on you tube and watch the videos! Do what is SAFEST for your child! Make them rear face til they hit the limit in their seat which is around 30-40lbs depending on seat you buy.

It is not illegal if you child's feet touch the back seat of the car! A child rear-facing probably has their feet touching! My son who is riding in a infant carseat Graco 32 touches the back seat! He is one years old and still fits in the infant carseat. The seat he has holds a child up to 32lbs and 32 inches. Whichever he hits first then he has to have another seat. REAR FACING! This is not illegal!No child has ever had a broken leg from riding rear-facing.

@kaitlens: you are mistaken and the officer who pulled you over was VERY misinformed. a child's feet touching the seat or even legs bent are perfectly safe in a rear facing car seat and is not a reason to turn them forward facing. to add to that, would you rather have a child with possible broke leg or a broke neck and spinal cord damage? my son is 2.5 years old, 24lb and still rear facing. i have been pulled over and not a word from the police about his feet touching or legs bent...

It is not a change that is required, but the AAP is now recommending that you ERF as long as possible, some models are going up to like 50-60 lbs rear facing, it's safer in a crash and your baby doesn't know that hey I'm one now I can face the front! But it is still ok for you to go forward facing at a year.....

I'm really confused. When did this change take place?? My 3 yr old has been in a forward facing car seat since he was 1 - this was always accepted. All the babies that I know that are 1 now are in forward facing car seats. I would have thought that this would have been national news if the requirements were changed!

lil_peacht - thank you for writing that. i would hope that no one would ever listen to some of those comments, especially kaitlens. when i started reading that i thought she was going to say it was illegal to turn them FORWARD before they are big enough, not that you shouldn't keep them rearfacing! i can't believe how little some parents know about extended rear facing.

I sincerely hope that no one takes advice from comments on an article online. Please make sure you talk to an actual person trained in child passenger safety. Some of this information is just scary, particularly kaitlens. It is absolutely not illegal or dangerous if your child's feet touch the back of the seat or if their legs bend touching it.

It's really not that hard to use a car seat just follow the instructions and use common sense. The fire department will even do it for you.

just fyi... if your infants feet touch the back of the seat and his legs have any bend to them it's illegal for them to be rear-facing. I got pulled over by an officer when my daughter was 10 months and he made me put her face forward because she was too tall. Its a danger for them if you were hit from behind!!!!

mjsaladino1: rear-facing in an infant seat is his head less then 1" from the top of the seats shell(plastic). If it is then you absolutely MUST purchase a convertible car seat. Convertible car seats rear-face until 35-45lbs and 1" of shell left over the head. Legs over the seat edge is perfectly fine. Look for High RF weight limit(35-45lbs), Harness Height(17" seated height)& FF weight limit(50-80lbs). Don't waste your time with 3-in-1

cooper690: She is not to young to understand the seriousness of this. Pull the car over and punish her. Absolutely DO NOT stick anything through the straps of your daughters carseat. Safety pins (as reccommended by the uninformed member above) will cause damage to the straps and make them no longer safe. Make sure your tightening her straps tight enough and she is not wearing a heavy coat, sweater or sweatshirt. Her straps should fit her tightly.

MJSaladino: I would definitely switch seats because he's beyond the limit of the current seat. It's only designed to protect for those specs, so if you had an accident, it might not protect him. He is 22 lbs so it's safe for him to face forward, even though not ideal.

Our son is 31" tall but only 22lbs and his carseat has limits of 30" and 30lbs...what to do? Do we keep the seat he is too tall for or switch to a forward facer that he may not be as safe in? Other options?

Cooper690- put safety pins through the straps under the clip so she can't slide it down ... Scary!!

hhanna77My husband had a truck that had front seats. When our car was brokedown we had to use his truck. I was terrified because I thought it was against the law & my son would get hurt if we had an accident . I called the police station to find out. They said that as long as I have no backseats I have no choice but to put him up front with us so it would not be against the law and that he would be safe as long as we turned the passenger side airbag off.

how scary for you hhanna77... unfortunately i do not know the answer.

TO: "COOPER690" Make the middle clip a little tighter that is what i had to do, my child is two as well she actually just turned 2 on 9-11-09. so i know what your saying just make it tighter thats scary for any mother to see her or any child do that. BEST OF LUCK TO YOU, THX, BIANCA

Can I put the car seat N the front if I do not have an front airbag? My baby vomits a lot and a few times (at home)it went up her nose and she couldn't breath for a sec or two. This scared her and she screamed for a half hour straight. I didn't even know that something was wrong, until I looked at her and her arms were flying around. When I sat her up, it came back out of her nose. I want her to be in the front with me so I can make sure she is ok, but I'm not trying to get break the law either.

My two year old daughter slides the middle clip down and butterflies her arms out of the shoulder straps. Any ideas on stopping this she's too young to find the seriousness in it and finds it absolutley hysterical that she can do this...help