Baby Seat

Ensuring the safety of a child is certainly a high priority for any parent when selecting a car seat. You need to consider a few things to enable you to select the right car baby seat. Here are a few things to be aware of and to look for when trying to find the perfect baby seat for your newborn.

One of the first considerations is to take into account the age and weight of your newborn. Infants under the age of one should be provided with a safety seat specifically designed and adjusted to their size. It should be suitable for newborns and be rear facing and not intended for use by older infants.

Most rear facing car seats are adjustable to be turned around and face forward when baby is older, which is more convenient for parents. Prior to turning the baby seat your baby needs to reach a certain weight and have good head control. Don’t be in a rush to do turn the seat around for convenience, while bubs is young, keep the seat in the rear-facing position until the manufactures recommend otherwise.

Bear in mind, there is a difference between a capsule and a baby car seat. A capsule is really just a baby carrier that can be placed in the car and can easily be removed to enable you to transport your baby without waking them. They are ideal when you are going out or visiting. Whereas a car seat is specifically designed to be used in the car.

As with any car seat, it’s important that it satisfies certain safety criteria. A 5-point harness attachment design is the key. This allows parents to use the car's safety restraining belt to attach the car seat at the hips, shoulders and between the legs. That provides a very stable, secure platform.

It's helpful to have an overhead shield, too. These are padded covers that rotate down over the child. A variation is the T-shield, a padded T-shaped section that attaches to the shoulder straps. Some baby seats come with sun shades that can be attached to protect your baby from the sun.

Another thing to look out for is the recline leaver some are positioned at the front of the seat which are easy when the seat is in forward facing position to adjust the seat if your baby falls asleep while travelling, others have the recline leaver behind the seat which is a little harder to get your hand in and adjust the position of the seat.

Look for models with a tether at the top that can be attached from the top of the child's car seat to an anchor point in the car. That adds extra safety. Some have a system called LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children). In some cars this may eliminate the need to use the car's safety belts which, after all, were designed for larger children and adults. The car seat attaches, instead, entirely to the anchors. Always follow the manufactures instructions for correct installation in your car.

You can not avoid your bubs vomiting or when old enough having food in the car, so having a baby seat that allows the seat cover to be removed easily and washed is really handy.

As we all know children come in all shapes and sizes, like the adults they will become, some are slender, others more rounded. Some are a little longer or taller. That means they all fit a little differently in the seat.

A car safety seat that makes it easy to safely and securely add or remove padding, blankets and more provides additional comfort and safety. At the same time, parents then need to spend less time adjusting the seat to make a good fit. That's a win-win situation for both.

That same double-theme of safety and convenience is carried on by seat designs that make it easy to insert and adjust the restraining straps. Parents these days are so busy and it's easy to succumb to the temptation to take a short cut. But no one wants to sacrifice safety. A design that requires only a few seconds to install or move the seat satisfies all those needs.

Other attributes of a good car safety seat can involve convenience for the parent and comfort for the child. There are many different baby seats out there, so choose one that suits your vehicle and one that you have confidence in.

Another thing you may need to consider if you have two family cars, is purchasing two separate car seats, one for each car, this is far easier than having to remove the seat all the time depending on who is driving bubs.
Always ensure that your baby seat is fitted in the car correctly, if you have any doubts or are unsure how to fit it yourself, there are some motor vehicle/mechanic outlets that will check and confirm the baby seat is correctly fitted in your car such as RACV (a small fee may apply).