Car seats can pose a serious threat to a child’s safety beyond car accidents, if the appropriate precautionary measures are not taken and if the seat is not installed correctly. Installing a car seat properly can be tricky, and many parents make various mistakes unknowingly, which can cause serious injury and long-term health problems.
Improper Buckling Leads to Great Risks
To avoid the risks of child car seats, parents can pay extra attention to certain actions. One of the simplest changes to make is insuring the safety belt is buckled in a secure and correct way. Putting a child in an age- and size-appropriate car seat makes a great difference in safety, and even making sure that he or she is dressed appropriately so that the clothes don’t interfere with the harness is a precautionary action. The final step is monitoring the amount of a time the child is in a car seat, as too much time can be damaging.
Buckling up a child incorrectly can lead to strangulation or asphyxiation, which is why parents have to make sure they use the correct harness position. To prevent strangulation, the harness’ straps have to be snug and there should be no slack to pinch. If the harness is too loose, the child could move up and down the seat and get caught up in the straps. Also, if the straps are snug, they will help the kid breathe normally, by preventing them from rolling over and their head from falling towards their chest. This helps reduce the risk of asphyxiation.
Be Careful When Putting the Seat in a Shopping Cart
Placing the car seat in a shopping cart while in a grocery store is a very common practice among parents, but it can be pretty dangerous for the child. To prevent their child from falling off the shopping cart, parents should place the car seat in the large, lower part of the cart, instead of putting it atop the cart.
Don’t Leave Your Kid Unattended in a Car Seat
Children dying while sleeping in a car seat is another common occurrence. Leaving a child asleep in a car seat for too long can be deadly, as it can lead to overheating or suffocation. That’s why parents should never leave their kids unattended in a car seat, and also make sure that they buckle up the kids properly.
Reclining Angle
Reclining the child at a correct angle is also a key factor for ensuring the child’s safety. Parents should read the car seat’s instruction manual so that they can position the seat at the correct angle. Usually, car seats have recline angle indicators, but in case you have bought a seat without an indicator, it’s recommended that you recline it to anywhere between 30 and 45 degrees.
In conclusion, parents have to keep in mind that simply putting their child into a car seat is not enough to keep them safe. They need to be careful about how they install the car seat, how they buckle their child, how long they leave their child in the car seat, and how they position the car seat, in order to avoid the potential dangers that can threaten a child’s safety while in a car seat.