Winter Car Seat Safety

With the colder weather approaching, we brought our friend Saara Moskowitz, CPST, to share her recommendations on winter car seat safety. And since you can never be too informed, Saara shared some additional resources and articles at the end of her recommendation to keep your little ones warm, toasty, and safe all winter long on the road.

"Cold weather is coming!

Staying safe in the car is important all year long - read these important tips for car seat safety during winter!

1. Infant Seat
A "Shower Cap" style cover is safe - It goes over the entire seat, and nothing goes behind baby's back. You can buckle up baby, place a blanket on their lap, and then zip up the "Shower Cap" for the walk to the car. Remember: Cars get warm quickly once they're running! Unzip the cover in the car and check on baby's temperature.

 

2. Convertible / Combination Car Seat - Harnessed Toddlers / Bigger Kids

• Car Seat Ponchos - your child can wear a thin fleece with the poncho and hat to get to the car. Buckle up, and the poncho can go over the entire car seat  (not behind child) - or remove if child is too warm in the car.

• Backwards Coat - have your child wear their coat to the car, remove it to buckle up, and then place the coat on backwards on top of the straps. 

• Thin fleece hoodies / zip-ups can often be used safely under the harness when worn snugly

 To learn more, check out the first few paragraphs of this article that show you how to test if a sweatshirt or jacket is too thick for the car. The items listed below must fit snugly and pass that test in order to be used safely in the car: https://csftl.org/hello-winter-good-bye-coats/  

 

3. Boosters & Beyond - Adults, this is for you too!

• Yes, this applies to regular seat belts as well!  The seat belt needs lie flat on the passenger's chest, remain in contact with the passenger's shoulder, and remain correctly positioned at the appropriate place over the hips and lap area.
• Unzip your coat as you get into the car, secure the vehicle seat belt. You can attempt to zip the coat back up over the seatbelt if desired.  A fleece can also be worn."

Additional Reading & Resources from Saara

https://csftl.org/hello-winter-good-bye-coats/)
http://thecarseatlady.com/warmandsafe/
https://csftl.org/hello-winter-good-bye-coats/
http://bit.ly/k4kcoats
https://youtu.be/Sm1wmzSXZc8
http://bit.ly/saaracpst

 

*article image via @Clekinc