Do you know the types of child car seats?

When new parents bring their baby home for the first time, they are happy and excited. Additionally, they tend to drive slowly and carefully to ensure the safety of their precious newborn. To further protect young children, many states have also enacted laws requiring parents to keep their children in child car seats until they reach a certain age or size. As a parent, it's important to choose the right type of car seat for your child to keep him or her as safe as possible.

More than half of the states, including Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin, have a law requiring children under the age of 1 who weigh less than 20 pounds to sit in a rear-facing child safety seat. Rear facing seats are very protective because the baby's body is blocked by the actual car seat in front as well as the safety seat on the baby's back. In some cases, parents can get convertible child seats that have seat belts that attach to a base that can be left in the car. These can be both versatile and safe.

For toddlers and preschoolers, many parents turn to forward-facing child car seats. Again, the age at which these children can advance to the next level varies from state to state, but it ranges from 3 in Florida to 8 in many states, including Illinois. The reason forward-facing child seats are so important is that the safety features of seat belt vehicles are not designed for small stature. For example, a seat belt may cut a child's neck instead of holding him or her securely across the chest. Additionally, many seat belts in forward-facing seats are difficult for children to unfasten themselves, ensuring they are not accidentally lost in the event of an accident.

After forward-facing child car seats, many states require children to sit in booster seats for several years. This is because children often no longer fit in a forward-facing car seat before they are old enough to fit an adult-sized seat and seat belt. Usually, a child is not wearing a seat belt until they are about 4 feet 9 inches (usually 8 to 12 years old). Since then, some states have required children to wear seat belts no matter which seat they are in.

When you put your child in a car seat, whether it's forward-facing or rear-facing, convertible or non-convertible, you're putting your precious child's life in a supposedly trustworthy device. However, a design or manufacturing defect in a child car seat can cause your child to be thrown around the vehicle in the event of an accident, or the padding around the head may not provide adequate protection.