Transcription:
Infant Car Seat Safety

Melanie Cole, MS (Host): When I was a new parent, I know that one of the things that scared me was leaving the hospital that day and putting our child into their car seat for the first time. It can be frightening for new parents to drive around a newborn. But car seats are the best way to protect your children, and we’re gonna find out today about car seats from Sharon Monahan. She’s a childbirth center unit clinical attendant and a car seat safety technician with Hendricks Regional Health. When I was a new mom, boy those car seats were scary. I didn’t quite know how to latch them, and I wasn’t sure I was putting them in the car correctly. Tell us about car seats and why it was so important that we speak to an expert when we’re feeling the way I felt.

Sharon Monahan, RN, CCST (Guest): Having a new baby and a new car seat and a new situation is very intimidating. We are certified trained to look at your babies and see—they're all different. They’re six pounds, eight pounds, ten pounds. The way that your car sits in the seat is very different. So to have a car seat trained certified person to look at that is very helpful and takes away that fear of the new car seat in new parents.

Host: Well it certainly is a fear Sharon. I mean, as I said, as a new parent, I was kind of freaked out. So tell us a little bit about what’s going on with car seats today because they seem pretty technical. We know we’re supposed to use the rear facing. Not everybody likes that because you say oh, I can't see baby. Tell us the difference between the rear facing and the forward facing car seats, and why we’re using the ones we’re using.

Sharon: Well the rear facing seat is better for in case you are in an accident. That’s why you have your infant or your child in a seat. It helps with how the body responds to an accident. Rear facing is much better. You can watch rear facing versus front facing videos and the evidence is pretty clear. The way that the child responds in an accident, it’s very beneficial to have a rear facing seat. It effects the head, the spine, how they respond. So rear facing is your best option.

Host: So how long are we supposed to keep our child in that rear facing seat?

Sharon: You want to stay in the rear facing seat as long as possible. The recommendation is for at least two years. 12 states, right now, in the United States have that be in the law that it’s two years rear facing. Other states have highly recommended that they stay rear facing for two or even longer. Over in Switzerland and Norway, they recommend three to four years rear facing. So the evidence is there that it’s much more beneficial to be rear facing as long as you can.

Host: Does any of this have to do with size of baby? If baby is at two years old, a bigger child and a toddler at that point, is there anything about height and weight? Or is this strictly a recommendation based on age?

Sharon: It is recommended that they stay rear facing no matter the height or weight. The change is that the seat may change, but the recommendation for how they respond to an accident is at least two years and over no matter the size. What changes in the car seat you put your child in as the recommendations will change on your seat, the height and the weight, as that kind of situation. The recommendation is always stay rear facing as long as you can.

Host: What do you want families to keep in mind when they're going car seat shopping? Boy there are still a lot on the market--

Sharon: There is a lot.

Host: You can go to those stores and you can see so many. So what do we want to look for?

Sharon: Yeah. That part is overwhelming by itself. You go into the baby stores and it’s just line after line of car seats. So you want one that you're going to be able to use that’s going to fit your budget, that’s going to fit your car. You can sometimes take it out to your car and make sure it fits okay, but there’s a lot of issues like that. Get one that’s easy to use that you can play with when you're in the store and think, oh that’s user-friendly. I can do that. The seat that can fit all those things—your budget, the usage, and your car are big issues.

Host: A lot of people think okay ‘cause they're so expensive sometimes they could go to a garage sale and buy a car seat. You see a lot of them on people’s driveways. Should we not be doing that?

Sharon: You don’t want to do that. You don’t know the history of the seat at all. So it’s okay to borrow from friends and family that can verify that it has not been in an accident. That it is safe if not expired. So you don’t want to use anything that’s expired. They give you like six years for the car seats before they expire. So you don’t want anything that’s past that date. You don’t want anything that’s been in an accident because they can get stressed at a certain point. They can look fine, but then the next accident it can cause that stress point to break and your child can come out of the seat or out of the base. You don’t want that to happen. Always get one that you can verify that the safety is okay with the seat. So don’t buy them at yard sales, don’t buy them at consignment stores, or over the internet. Get a fresh seat. Talk to your family and friends. If they can verify that for you, that is a good option as well.

Host: Yikes. I mean it certainly is scary when you say if they’ve been damaged a little bit in an accident and you might not even be able to see that. But then maybe it’s not going to protect your baby as well. A lot of people, in the winter time, they put their babies in snowsuits or they stuff up the seat with blankets and pillows. Should we not be adding anything to these car seats?

Sharon: No. You shouldn’t add anything. Your recommendation with your car seat manufacturers and your testing boards tell you that your infant or your child needs to just be wearing lightweight jackets, sweaters, sweatshirt, a hat on their head in the winter time. Your blankets can go on top of your child. They want the child next to the seat and next to the harness. So anything that comes between that can cause a little bit different how the car seat reacts if you're in an accident. All that padding makes your harness get away from the child and the child away from the back of the seat. That makes a difference in an impact. So we want them to have as little as possible. So that would be fine just to have those simple things. Your car is heated, the stores are heated. You don’t need to have all that extra padding on your child.

Host: One of the things I found interesting, Sharon, that you can discuss that I didn’t even think about when I had small children was putting information stickers on car seats in case of emergency. Tell us about that and why would we do that?

Sharon: We do that with our infants here at the hospital. There’s a chance that if you're in an accident, you could be separated from your baby or your child. So you come into an ER from an accident, even a small accident can cause you to get checked out at a hospital. So maybe mom goes into ER 1 and dad goes to ER 2, and here sits your child with us at the nurse’s station in the ER department because they’re fine in the backseat, but they don’t know us. So they're kind of unnerved, they’re a little nervous. So if we have someone, we can call to meet them at the hospital to come and stay with the child, that gives them a familiar face. The child has an advocate and a voice. If they did have to get seen that they know that Aunt Judy is going with them to the x-ray department, or they can hold that baby that they know while they get an IV started or something if they had to get seen. So it’s just good to have someone that you can call on that little information sticker to come and stay with your child and help them to relax and not to be so nervous through this whole process.

Host: So important. When is it that we know that a child can go to—you mentioned two years? So then we turn them around. Do we have to change the seat? Does it then become a different seat? Some people think that’s the point you can start booster chairs. I’ll tell you Sharon. I kept my kids, because they were little, in booster chairs until they were 14. They didn’t like it very much at all I'm telling you because they were smaller kids. But I mean what’s the deal with turning the kids around and do we need to buy a new car seat for that?

Sharon: Yeah. So your first car seat is usually until around eight to nine months. Sometimes with a petite child, you can make that work until around one. Then they get that next seat, that convertible seat that will stay rear facing until they’re two. If you want for their second birthday, the big day, and turn your child around and that convertible seat will stay with them for a while. Then maybe around three or so you need a different car seat. I know with our children, our grandchildren, we used the high back booster seat with our kids for a long time. So you use several different seats. You get that rear facing infant seat and you get that convertible seat. Then you have a high back booster seat. Then you have that little booster seat by itself. So we like to use those for as long as it’s necessary for the seatbelt to go across the child’s lap and doesn’t come across their neck. You want it to go across their shoulder and their chest. So that’s kind of the recommendation.

In Indiana, they say you can be eight years using just the seat belt. After eight years old, you can use just the seat belt. For our situation, we had a very petite 14 year old who was the same height and weight as my five year old grandson. So it just depends on your child. Make sure that your child fits in the seat with the seatbelt. That’s the big thing.

Host: It is. It’s huge. People don’t realize what an important topic this is Sharon. Where can a parent find out more to learn about car seat safety or to get your advice or to even see a car seat technician to help them if they're parents to be and they want to start exploring this stuff before they have their baby. Then tell us.

Sharon: Yes. There’s lots of information out there on the web, of course. So NHTSA is your National Highway Transportation Safety Association. NHTSA is huge with car seat safety and recommendations how to fit your baby. The AAP, the American Academy of Pediatrics, they have a lot on their site as well. You can call your local fire department and police department. They can put you in contact, or you can come to a lot of those to have access to certification car seat people that can look at your seat and help you with that as you transition from one seat to another. So there’s lots of options out there for that. You also have places to go as you buy your car seat that can help you with that at the stores as well. Definitely go to those sites and look them up.

Host: It’s really great information Sharon. Thank you so much for coming on and telling new parents and parents to be how important car seat safety is. It’s really about the life of their child. Thank you, again, for sharing that with us. This is Health Talks with HRH, Hendricks Regional Health. For more information, please visit hendricks.org. That’s hendricks.org. I'm Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for tuning in.