| Your baby demands special treatment. You | | | | you will want to place him in a front-facing |
| can't just scrimp and treat your baby as if | | | | seat. But your baby still needs special |
| she were grown up enough for certain things, | | | | protection at this stage, so consider |
| for these may prove not only unhealthy but | | | | installing your new front-facing seat at the |
| disastrous for your baby. For this reason, | | | | back. It's common knowledge that the |
| you invest in special baby stuff - like | | | | passenger side seat is the most dangerous |
| formulas, baby clothes, baby-safe toys... and | | | | part of the car! |
| infant car seats. | | | | |
| | | | When your child grows up to be 4-8 years old |
| Almost all the states have laws on the proper | | | | and/or under 4 feet 9 inches, he will have |
| installment of infant car seats, and now many | | | | outgrown his infant car seats. It's time for |
| states are adopting booster seat laws as | | | | him to "graduate" into booster |
| well. The importance of these laws is | | | | seats, which are the middle ground between |
| comparable to the importance of making | | | | adult seats and infant seats. Many children |
| seatbelt laws - local governments are | | | | who are this age, or this height, are still |
| carrying out their responsibility of taking | | | | too small for seatbelts. But did you know, |
| care of their citizens, on the road and out | | | | there's a special classification for children |
| of it. It may not be well known, but it's | | | | who are too large for booster seats, but |
| still a fact that traffic accidents are the | | | | still too small for adult seatbelts? These |
| number one killer of children all over the | | | | children are called "tweens" at |
| United States! | | | | this stage of their growing-up years. But we |
| | | | should be thankful that this stage doesn't |
| Child safety seats come in different sizes, | | | | last long! |
| and babies under the age of 1 and/or weighing | | | | |
| less than 20 lbs need to stay confined to | | | | Worried about the time and money you'll spend |
| infant size seats - rear-facing seats, in | | | | changing car seats so many times over the |
| particular. This is important because | | | | years? Consider investing in a convertible |
| front-facing seats - especially when | | | | car seat. These are seats that expand |
| installed in the passenger side of a car that | | | | according to your child's age, which would |
| has an airbag function - would not provide | | | | allow them to virtually "grow" with |
| optimum protection for your baby, while he is | | | | your baby. Convertible seats are basically |
| at this tender stage of his life. But once | | | | infant car seats, booster seats and tweenie |
| your baby hits the age of 1-4, or 20-40 lbs, | | | | seats all in one! |