Baby Car Seat Glossary Guide
|
To the uninitiated parent, buying a car seat for your child can seem technical at best. There are a dozen terms designers and retail stores use to describe car seats, their various accessories and features. Below you'll find some handy tips for sorting through the riff raff and deciding what features and accessories you really need for your carseat.
Key TermsHere are some key terms you should familiarize yourself with before shopping for your child's first carseat.
LATCH ? This stands for 'lower anchors and tethers for children.' Now what the heck is that you ask? Most vehicles built after 2002 have standard hardware in the seats that help attach the carseat more easily to the car. A LATCH system replaces a seatbelt for fastening the carseat into your car. The LATCH system is beneficial because it not only makes installing a carseat easy, but it also prevents the seat from slipping out of place over time. Don't worry if your car doesn't have a LATCH system. You can still install almost any car seat using the seatbelt only. Some modern car seats built after 2002 are especially designed to accommodate LATCH systems, but you can still install these using a standard belt as well.
Convertible Car Seat ? This is a seat that can accommodate an infant in a rear facing position or an older child in a forward facing position. Some convertible seats also act as a booster when your child is almost old enough to ride using a standard seat belt.
Rear Facing ? Rear facing simply refers to car seats that are designed to face the rear rather than the front of your car. All infants less than one year old and under 20 pounds must ride in a rear facing car seat. All infant carriers are rear facing, meaning they are designed to sit in the rear of your car. Convertible car seats have the option of being rear facing or forward facing.
Forward Facing ? Forward Facing only car seats are those designed for children over 1 year of age up to about 3 or 4 years of age. Convertible car seats provide the option of being forward facing once your child is old enough to move out of the rear facing position.
Booster Seat ? Most children are not large enough to use a standard seat belt until they are about 80 pounds. Your child may be 5 or more before they can sit in a car using an adult seat safely. A booster seat helps your child sit safely in the car and use a standard seat belt safely until they are big enough to do without one. You can buy a separate booster seat or a convertible car seat that changes to a booster seat.
5-point Harness ? A 5-point harness is a safety restraint belt that touches the base of the carseat in five places. The belt has two points located over your child's shoulders, one over each of your child's hips and one between your child's legs. This safety harness is considered one of the safest.
3-point Harness ? A 3-point harness includes safety straps that come down over your baby's head and then snap into position.
T-shield ? This is a form of harness that looks like a "T" that snaps over your babies head into position. It looks somewhat like a shield, hence the name.
Base ? This is the part of an infant carrier that attaches to your automobile. You can snap the infant carrier or carseat into position once the base is secure, and detach your infant carrier to transport you baby from the car to your destination. Some parents prefer buying multiple bases for two or more cars, that way they don't have to take the entire car seat out when switching cars.
Angle or level indicator ? This is a feature on most rear facing or convertible car seats that lets you know whether or not you have positioned the seat correctly.
Harness ? This simply refers to the straps or belts used to keep your baby securely fastened in the car seat. Some harnesses come with covers to prevent chaffing of your baby's delicate skin.
Leveler ? This is a device like a 'noodle' that can help prevent a car seat from wobbling or leaning too far in one direction or the other.
Tether Straps ? These are anchors that attach to your car and the car seat to hold your child's seat safely in place.
Ant Arthur is a successful freelance writer with 10 years of professional experience providing consumers with informative articles on such topics as Baby Carriers, Baby Slings and Baby Car Seats
|
|
|
White Noise For Baby Stops Colic Crying Fast
It's true. Colic is MUCH harder on the parent than the infant. My daughter survived six months of colic unscathed. My husband and I are a different story. We have deep psychological scars that send us scurrying for the nearest exist every time we hear a baby cry.As parents, we were newbies. We had never even changed a diaper when we brought our bundle of joy home from the hospital. I had heard a few horror stories about babies with colic, but never thought in a million years I would be the proud owner of a colic baby. So, imagine our horror, when on about our third week of parenting, our daughter started screaming every day around dinnertime. And, I'm talking blood-curdling, "I'm-in-s...(related: Babies Help Articles)
Your Baby?s Nursery ? What You Will Need
As an expectant mother, you are full of excitement and anticipation for the arrival of your little baby. You are picking out names, attending baby showers, and learning all there is to know about being a mother. One good and productive way to channel some of this excitement is to prepare the nursery in advance. Some items you will need are listed below.FurnitureWhen choosing furniture, you will want to think about items that can grow up with your baby. You will need a crib and mattress along with sheets, a mattress cover, crib bumpers, and a mobile to hang from the crib to keep your baby entertained. If your room is large enough, you may want to get a changing table with a diaper pail nearby. The baby bathtubs are very u...(related: Babies Help Articles)
Baby Expense: What To Do When Baby
As you probably know, baby expense should be high on your list of things to plan for, before the baby comes. There is no cheap way to have and raise a baby: it takes sweat, work, lots of cash, patience, and more to have a happy, healthy baby. Some studies suggest...(related: Babies Help Articles)
Advantages Of A Sheepskin Underlay For Babies
Sheepskin offers unique advantages as an underlay for babies.
One of the advantages of a sheepskin underlay for babies is portability. Sheepskin is lightweight and easily rolled up, which means that you can always keep a sheepskin underlay at hand to provide a sanitary layer beneath your baby.
The fibers are held in place by a treated leather backing that is both fluid- and urine-resistant, in the case of High Temp sheepskin. This gives sheepskin characteristics such as durability and water resistance, makin...(related: Babies Help Articles)
How To Choose A Car Seat That Meets The Needs Of Your Baby
There are many types of car seats available on the market today. In order to be able to make an informed decision it is best to check out car seat manufacturers. You can also check any consumer guide for information on recalls, seats that have been crash tested, the best ...(related: Babies Help Articles)
Under Carpet Heating In The Nursery ? To Help Your Baby Sleep Through The Night And More!
As new parents, we all want what's best for our babies. There are so many things to worry about, not the least of which are colds, allergies, sleeping through the night, and keeping their delicate skin soft and moisturized. So, you ask, what can I do to help with all of these dilemmas? The answer is a product that is little-known to the general public, called under carpet heating, which eliminates several problems with your traditional forced air heating systems that can result in all of these concerns and more.Have you ever wondered why your children always have a cold or a runny nose? Your children spend most of their time very close to or on the floor. If you have ever laid do...(related: Babies Help Articles)
Baby Names - Choosing Trendy Or Traditional
Lists of baby names are always fun to look at, whether you're seeking a name for your soon-to-be-born baby boy or baby girl, wondering about the popularity of your own first name, or just curious about what baby names are currently hot.What I find particularly interesting is tracking the popularity of baby names over the decades. In looking through U.S. government baby name lists from 1880 to the present, some amusing patterns emerge, particularly in regards to baby names for girls.For example, in Victorian times Biblical names, such as Mary, Sarah and Ruth were very popular for baby girls. There were also many baby names that sounded very old-fashioned to me, as a kid gr...(related: Babies Help Articles)
How To Stop Toddlers From Biting
It is an unfortunate fact of life but, unfortunately, toddlers and biting frequently go together. It is a painful time for both the toddler and th...(related: Babies Help Articles)
Iq, Intelligence, And Brain Development- Another Breastfeeding Benefit
Modern parents want to do everything they can to help their children's brain development. Never before have there been so many prod...(related: Babies Help Articles)
site-map - Copyright © 2008 | Contact Webmaster | All Rights Reserved. | Babies Help Articles