Can You Use a Infant Car Seat After 3 Years
It's a good time to be a kid in a car: both cars and car seats continue to get safer, child vehicle fatalities are down (PDF), and car seat usage is up. Much of the effectiveness of a car seat rests in its specificity: it needs to be the right fit and size for the kid and their developmental stage. But with so many car seats available and configurations possible, it can be daunting to decide which seat to get and when to get it. Here's a rundown of the different types of seats and a checklist to see if your kid has outgrown their current seat and is ready for the next one.
Infant seat
The infant seat is the rear-facing bucket-style seat that most parents opt to use through the first year of their baby's life and sometimes up to age 2. (Others may instead use a convertible car seat rated for newborn use, but either way, a car seat is required to take a brand-new baby home from the hospital.) All infant seats are rear-facing only, and the most common type snaps in and out of a base. So if you're a two-car family, it's likely that you can get just one seat and two bases.
Infant seats all use a five-point harness and come with a newborn insert to use from birth until the child is between 11 and 15 pounds (check the manual for exact instructions, but generally if the baby's shoulders don't reach the straps without the insert, you should use it). Most infant seats have more than one recline option. For newborns, you want the seat in the most reclined angle possible. Lani Harrison, a Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST) who works with Car Seats for the Littles and does frequent car seat installations, said that when parents say their baby cries constantly in the car, it's often because the infant car seat is set at too steep of an angle.
A child has outgrown the infant seat when either of the following happens:
- the top of their head is less than an inch from the top of the seat when buckled in
- they've reached the weight limit, which is typically 30 to 35 pounds
Most children outgrow the seat's height limit before the weight limit. As they do, parents using an infant seat generally switch to a larger, convertible seat anywhere between 9 months and 2 years, depending on their child's size (bigger kids will likely move on faster), though they can opt to do so sooner if the seat is rated safe for their child's height and weight. Within that 9 months to 2 years age range there is no documented safety difference between a rear-facing infant seat and a rear-facing convertible seat, assuming the child meets a given seat's height and weight requirements. Because the seats are equally safe, some parents may choose to use an infant seat as long as possible to keep that click-in-and-out convenience that comes with a seat that separates from its base (or multiple bases) instead of switching to a one-piece convertible seat that stays in one place.
Tiny preemies or babies with special needs may not be able to sit in a reclined position yet and may require different solutions, such as car beds.
Convertible seat
A convertible car seat—also referred to as a toddler seat—is designed to face either backward or forward in the car. Though it can be used either way, experts recommend that a convertible seat be used in rear-facing mode for as long as possible. The AAP's updated recommendation agrees. Currently, eight states—California, Connecticut, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina—require children younger than 2 to be in a rear-facing seat. New York, Nebraska, and Virginia will implement the same requirements in 2019.
Experts are still trying to determine the optimal age for turning a child from rear to forward facing. Although in 2017 there was a retraction of one of the studies that was the basis for the extended rear-facing recommendation, most experts continue to believe that rear facing for a longer time is safer. Those we talked to for our car seat guides suggested keeping a child sitting rear-facing past the age of 2 for increased safety, and pediatricians and CPST instructors such as Dr. Benjamin Hoffman recommend keeping your child rear-facing for as long as possible, until they outgrow the rear-facing position.
That said, a child has outgrown a rear-facing position in a convertible car seat when either of the following happens:
- They hit the weight limit for rear-facing. The limits for Wirecutter's top two convertible seat picks are 40 and 50 pounds (about the weight of an average 5-year-old, though many parents, including myself, make the switch before then).
- The gap between the top of their head and the top of the car seat shell or head restraint is less than 1 inch. This measurement can be more useful than overall height limits: a short kid with a long torso may outgrow their seat sooner.
Some parents decide to turn a child forward-facing before they outgrow the rear-facing requirements, often because they find it easier to interact with their child or hand them snacks this way, or because they think the child is less likely to get car sick or simply likes it more. And some websites, like Car Seats for the Littles, recommend 4 years old as a suggested cutoff. But before turning the child to a forward-facing convertible seat, they should be:
- 2 years old, older if possible
- at least the seat's minimum weight requirement for forward facing (typically over 20 pounds)
Like an infant seat, a convertible seat relies on a five-point harness to keep a kid constrained. It is safer to keep a kid in a five-point harness until they outgrow the height/weight limits. Don't rush moving to a booster.
A child has outgrown a forward-facing convertible seat when:
- they hit the weight limit (which, for Wirecutter's picks, is 65 pounds)
- the tops of their ears are at or above the top of the car seat's shell or head restraint
- the harness straps can't be positioned at or above their shoulders
Booster seat
A booster seat relies on the car's safety belt to keep a kid in place, lifting the child higher in the seat so that the belt contacts firm parts of the body (like shoulders and legs) rather than soft parts, like stomachs. High-back boosters provide extra head and side impact protection; backless boosters do not. (Our guide to booster seats will be published next month.)
Before moving a kid to a high-back booster, they should be:
- 40 pounds (minimum), according to many state laws, though this also depends on the seat manufacturer's recommendations
- 4 years old (minimum)
- able to understand and accept the need to sit still in the car
- able to avoid slumping when falling asleep in the car; if a kid moves out of position, they could be injured by the seat belt in an accident
A child should stay in a high-back booster until their ears reach the top of the head restraint, and then move to a backless booster.
They're ready for an adult safety belt without a booster when:
- they are tall enough to remain in place (or at least not slide through the seat belt) if the car stops suddenly
- they are able to keep their back against the seat, knees bent over the edge, and feet flat on the floor.
- they fit in a seat belt properly, with it across the collarbone, low on the hips, and touching tops of thighs
- they can sit in this proper position the entire car ride
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that most children are ready to switch from booster seat to using a seat belt alone somewhere between the ages of 8 and 12 years old.
For more details on choosing a car seat and car seat best practices, see our guides to infant seats and convertible seats.
Can You Use a Infant Car Seat After 3 Years
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/when-to-switch-car-seats/
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