In the photo above, you see an infant size doll in an infant car seat. The straps are way above her shoulders, the chest clip is at her belly, and the harness is WAY too loose. What's wrong with that you may ask? Well... if this were a real baby, and we were involved in a car crash, she would have a HUGE chance of being flung from the car seat and possibly from the car! Harnesses are ment to restrain the child in the seat for safety. If the chest clip was at the belly, it could cause MAJOR internal injuries.
As you can see, I fixed the straps so that they are in the slot right below her shoulders, and I moved the chest clip to arm pit level.
This "pinch test" confirms that the straps are not too loose. Now if the baby was involved in a car accident, the chest clip would brake away not causing any injuries, but the baby would still be held in place.
** Please note that if there were a real baby, the photos would look a little better. But my daughter is now almost 2 1/2 so I couldn't show what the correct way to use an infant car seat was.
This is the Chicco Key Fit 30 car seat. It has a height max of 30". Do that mean that if your child would reach the 30" max for this car seat you should move them to forward facing? NO!!! My recommendation to many parents has been to get a convertible car seat that has a higher weight/hight max. You should keep your child rear facing as LONG as possible. Here are some photos of what a child would look like if he/she was too large for their infant seat.
In this picture N's head is about 4" above where it should be to make this car seat safe for her to be in.
Here is the side view of N's head. Way to big for this seat.
Now for a test....
If you answered that she is too big and the chest clip is on her belly, then you are correct! Good job!
If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact me. Here is a video I think is awesome...
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