Baby Car Seat should be in Parent’s first priority in Shopping List. Many Parents do not give importance to Baby or Toddler Car Seat. It’s important for parents to use the car seat from the first day your baby is born. First of all, it’s reasonable in price and must need for Baby Safety.

You must have heard, seen and googled a lot about baby car seats and most of the information available on Google is good to use. But we have to be extra 100% cautious when we need to use this information and advice on our babies.

A car seat is a must-have for newborns till they reach 5 years of age. I have spent many hours reading and understanding many websites, government guidelines manufacture manuals and expert advice and the following are the key summaries of the same.

 Frequently Asked Questions for Parents related to Car Seat 

Q1# Why Car Seats are so important?

A car seat for babies is an item that features on the top of the shopping list of expectant/new parents, as this is the second safest place after the mother’s hand. Parents who need to travel along with their newborns and kids can easily depend on car seats when driving on highways/local roads as it will not only provide safety to our kids but also gives driver piece of mind and proper focus in on road.

Q2#  What is the Right Age to Start using Car Seat?

There are many ways to look at this pointer, we are starting using the car seat even for 2-week old babies, but I suggest we should use it only after our baby is 1 month old. By this time she is able to hold her head and neck muscles are strong enough to bear some jerks and shocks which anyway will pass from roads.

From 1 month till 4 months we should be extra careful while driving the baby’s in-car seat, their neck muscles are not that strong and even small jerks can harm our little ones. We should always use support/neck pillows while putting babies in-car seat most of the infant car seats comes with them, but if required we should make/buy one which fits our babies best.

After 4 month as babies start moving their head by their own so we should give some space to move their head and make car seat position in a way that they can see through windows/windscreen.

We should use car seats till normal car seat belt starts holding them perfectly, which normally happens at the age of 5 depending upon height and weight of our kids.

 Q3# How to make our Babies Comfortable in their Car Seat?

Most of the parent’s complaints about babies are not feeling very comfortable in their car seats, which is mostly true.

To make our babies more comfortable in their car seats we should follow these tips

> Make them familiar with their car seats before using it in-car, by putting that in their playing area, near their bed or in the living room so that car seats feeling like a part of their normal routine and feeling of sitting in an alien ship will not be there.

> Keep some interesting toys, blocks, bell etc accessible from car seats so that our babies have the option to do more than just looking front and up, we need to make them busy when they are in car seats.

> Always try to make some conversation with them when they are in-car seats as they feel engaged and discomfort from the car seat will vanish.

> We just need 2/3 weeks of adjustments after that our babies to start enjoying their captain seat in-car

Q4# What is the Right Way to Tighten Car Seat?

All car seat comes with their attachments either they are front facing, rear facing or back seat only, we should always read instruction very carefully before installing car seat in our car.

The only thing which I recommend is that we should use an extra separate set of belts/ ropes to make sure that car seats are properly fastened and ready to use, no need to think that an extra set of belts will look ugly/weird in-car think about additional safety.

Always check twice before finishing installing seat belts and check their maximum movement and weather baby will be comfortable in this setup, what all things she can touch from that seat and what all things can be seen from that seat.

Q5# Rear vs Front Facing Seat?

This is a very important and confusing topic as there are many car seat brands and models which recommend different positions. But for our kid’s safety, it’s important for us to give more emphasis on the below points.

We just need to think 2 points:- 

1 # Safety

Safety always comes first so we should check all safety parameters recommended by car seat manufacturers like

>> Car with front airbag should install seats in rear or in rear-facing position if installing in the front seat, as Airbags can seriously hurt our little ones at the time of the accident

2 # Baby comfort

>> If you normally travel alone with your baby than it is a good idea to select a car seats which can be fitted in front as your baby need your attention and while she is on your side you can always check her up, have a quick chat, tickle her, pat her.

>> Front car seats are also very comfortable for babies as they can see a lot of things through windscreen and side window, also their mom/dad is driving next to them make them little less sacred.

>> The best part is flashy little lights, needles, switches, the screen of the dashboard makes them busy figuring them out.

Maintenance and cleaning of Car Seat

Kids spend most of the time in their car seat while travelling so seats should always be clean and safe, we should choose car seats which are having washable covers so that we can wash them on weekly/As n when required.

As little ones tend to drop food, water, chocolate and almost everything on their seat which make their seat very risky place if not cleaned on regular intervals.

The best way to clean them is wash in washing machines,  if not possible we have a lot of disinfectants available in the market through which we can clean them, make sure to let them dry properly before using them back.

Two Ways to Install or Use Car Seat Inside the Your Car

First Way is for Babies from Age of 3 Months to 8 Months old 

Parents Should install the Car Seat Cum Carry Cot in Car till your Baby is not in the position to Sit Properly. Otherwise, your Baby will have back pain and it’s not a right way.

Working mothers should always install the car seat just next to their driving seat. As it’s easy for the mother to keep an eye on your baby and your baby can also see your face and will enjoy the ride. Just remember that if you have a car that has Airbags in front, then never ever install a baby car seat in the front row. It’s very important for your baby safety.

Second Way is for Babies from Age of 10 Months to 3 Years

When we talk about Toddler Car Seat, then its 100% means more safety & precautions. Babies from 12 months old onwards have good control on their bodies. They can easily move the car seat a little bit here and there. Therefore, its get more important for your parents to give extra safety to your toddler car seat.

As car seat comes with its own safety belt but that is not good enough for their safety. What Parents can do is that they can tie a extra rope knot from back to front from below or middle to give extra safety. You can install the Toddler car seat at both the row first or second row (Rear-Facing car seat OR Front Facing Seat). Please see the below picture for your reference.