This is from the NJ state website.
Birth - 20lbs AND 1 year old: Rear Facing
1 year AND 20lbs - 4 years old AND 40lbs: Forward Facing
8 OR 80lbs (and 4'9" federally) - 12: Back seat seat belt
12 and up: Anywhere with a seat belt.
Zach will be 4 on June 5th and is 37lbs. He also has always been a tall kid (currently 41"). For the last couple of months his car seat has been on the biggest setting possible but is still pretty tight. We have the same seat in both my car and Josh's. He might technically fit but I can't see him being protected like this. I also can't see him still fitting in the harness until his birthday.
The first dilemma is that car seat makers don't account for Winter coats. The adjustable straps just aren't long enough for the bigger kids to be properly put in their car seats in Winter coats. This elongated Winter we are having sure doesn't help. When I mentioned this issue in a comment section in Huffington Post I got a couple of comments that said this:
"Babies and toddlers aren't supposed to wear coats"
and
"Just take the coat off"
Apparently, they lack common sense. Winter is cold. They apparently have never heard of hypothermia. Taking a child's coat off in cold weather is child abuse, even with the heat on in the car. When I went too look up what the experts had to say about Winter coats. It turns out, they say to take off the coat and slide it on their arms outside the car seat. So these ladies were right. Apparently, the Government needs to learn about Hypothermia and what the average parent's schedule looks like too. But that particular piece of advice forgets that coats come with hoods and hoods flap up and down. Other then the poor child spending the Winter fussing from having the hood in their face the whole time. The coat can slide off or be taken off easily leaving the child cold with their temps dropping or the parent in a position to have to pull over to fix the problem, another time and safety issue. Either way we're talking a lot of fussing and/or tantrums that the people making these recommendations don't have to deal with so they shouldn't be making these recommendations.
Hypothermia via WebMD:
http://firstaid.webmd.com/tc/hypothermia-and-cold-temperature-exposure-topic-overview
I have absolutely NEVER seen a parent do that with a Winter coat. AT ALL! It's not practical. We are usually in a hurry getting into and out of cars. It's ludicrous that we are expected to put the coat off and on every time we get our kids into the car.
Some of the material says that the coat means the car seat straps are too loose to be safe. That's only true if you don't readjust the straps as needed once the coat is no longer needed. If Zach's in a hoodie and coat for three months strait I don't see how that is unsafe. This is how a car seat strap is supposed to be:
"All straps should fit snugly, especially over the shoulder and thigh areas. Straps should always lie flat, never twisted. If you can pinch any harness webbing between your fingers, it's too loose."
http://kidshealth.org/parent/firstaid_safe/outdoor/auto_baby_toddler.html#
It was installed by a certified police officer and we returned to him when it was time to turn it forward facing. Sometimes the straps get twisted but we always try to fix that. Even a website on car seat terms can't define "harness webbing" but I think they mean the part that lays on the child's shoulders. There is such a thing as too tight just like there is for too loose. Imagine the neck/head injury that could occur in an accident if he was so tightly strapped in, his head is the only thing that can move. It's the same thing causing concussion concerns is sports. There is nothing to observe the torque.
The accident and fatality rate is high for kids in car seats but here are the real reasons for those:
What are the risk factors?
- More than two-thirds of fatally injured children were killed while riding with a drinking driver.
- Restraint use among young children often depends upon the driver’s seat belt use. Almost 40% of children riding with unbelted drivers were themselves unrestrained.5
- Child restraint systems are often used incorrectly. One study found that 72% of nearly 3,500 observed car and booster seats were misused in a way that could be expected to increase a child’s risk of injury during a crash.6
How can injuries to children in motor vehicles be prevented?
- Child safety seats reduce the risk of death in passenger cars by 71% for infants, and by 54% for toddlers ages 1 to 4 years.2
- There is strong evidence that child safety seat laws, safety seat distribution and education programs, community-wide education and enforcement campaigns, and incentive-plus-education programs are effective in increasing child safety seat use.
- According to researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, for children 4 to 7 years, booster seats reduce injury risk by 59% compared to seat belts alone.
- Child passengers should never be seated in front of an airbag. Airbags can injure or kill children in a crash that might otherwise have been survivable.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention:
http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/child_passenger_safety/cps-factsheet.html
When Zach was a baby and grew out of the carrier car seat at 7 months we got a new car seat that can go all in 1. The Safety 1st Alpha Omega Elite.
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3499696
We started it rear facing as required. As I mentioned, they were installed both times by the certified police officer in town so we know it's installed right. We don't drive if we have had even a sip of alcohol and Josh doesn't drink anyway. We wear our own seat belts and are always careful that Zach is fully and safely buckled in before starting the car. We are doing everything we can to keep him safe.
Part of my frustration is that the car seat makers aren't accounting for the extra space. It's a common complaint at the Preschool. When I look at the references they use I think the following:
1. Why is AGE so important? I understand having weight and maybe height requirements but what exactly will change if a 3 year old is 40lbs a month before his birthday? What if I weigh Zach on May 5th and he's 40lbs? Why do we still have to wait until June 5th?
2. Why do they think booster seats are necessary for 7 year olds? The only saving grace on that law with me is it's an OR thing. 8 OR 80lbs. At least if a kid is 7 years 11 months and 2 days and 80lbs they can be in a seat belt. To me, 6 years should be old enough. But it makes sense that the concern is the seat belt fitting properly.
3. 12 seems old to finally be allowed in the front but thanks to air bags I understand this one.
4. The 4' 5" law is prejudice towards little people and petite people. I was 5'1" as a freshman in High School and am 5' 3" now. I promise you at 8 years old I was not 4' 9"
What the American Academy of Pediatrics has to say about WHY they recommend these guidelines:
“A rear-facing child safety seat does a better job of supporting the head, neck and spine of infants and toddlers in a crash, because it distributes the force of the collision over the entire body,” Dr. Durbin said. “For larger children, a forward-facing seat with a harness is safer than a booster, and a belt-positioning booster seat provides better protection than a seat belt alone until the seat belt fits correctly.”
American Academy of Pediatrics:
http://www.healthychildren.org/english/news/pages/aap-updates-recommendations-on-car-seats.aspx
While that makes sense, it doesn't say how they determined the specifics they used for those recommendations. Mostly, they recommend following the car seat instructions. My guess is most state laws are designed to match the average for what those instructions are. For Zach that means:
Forward Facing: Weight 22 - 50lbs/Height 34 - 45inches
Booster: 40 - 100lbs/43 - 52inches
Strait from the sticker on the Car Seat. It doesn't specify if it's "and" or "or". There also is an overlap. 40 - 50lbs and 43 - 45 inches. Again, he's currently 37 lbs. and 41 inches. Will he possibly be 40 lbs and 43 inches by June 5th? most likely he will be. He might even reach that before. But this is the real problem. Even when he's coat and jacket free the highest harness setting will be too tight. Why couldn't they make the adjustable strap longer? I can't possibly picture a 50lb/45inch kid fitting into that seat. They are not accounting for tall kids and the obesity epidemic.
We'll follow the law and the seat's instructions. That's the safe thing to do. I just needed to make sense of why the law is full of high numbers that don't match how the seat was made and why they make the seats in a way that can't comply with the average laws. I still don't get why birthday is so important but I guess for short and/or average weighing 8 year olds that's for the best.
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