My twin 2 year olds are in the carseat that you get after you turn 1. They were handed down from another family with twins and we had them checked out and everything was fine for us to use them and we had help installing them from the cops. Now my question is, when are they ready for a bigger car seat? I'm not sure how long they are supposed to stay in these and they seem fine. With their big, puffy winter coats on, they are fine, but I know by next year they will be snug, so I just wanted to make sure that they are safe in the ones they have know, and learn when I need to switch them to bigger ones.
I rarely put the boys in the carseats with their coats on because I always start the car up ahead of time (I have a remote starter), the only reason why I did lately was because of my mom nagging me about them being cold. I didn't even think to look at the seats to see if they have the height and weight limit on them, so I'll definitely have to check that. The boys are always average for their height and weight so I won't have to worry about changing them for a while I'm sure. I had my seats installed by a certified cop at the local station and they don't install anything over 4 or 5 years old, so obviously our seats aren't 10 years old, I would never use something that old for my kids! Thanks for the advice and help, I appreciate it.
wpxi has a link on it's site with all the new pa laws.When i bought my daughters new carseat i was even told she had to stay rear facing up to 30 pounds. I couldn't even get her seat in rear facing.I was told they had to be 40 pounds before going to a booster seat.
Our MOMS Club just had a speaker in to talk about carseat safety in October. She was great. She told us that you should keep your children in each carseat phase until they reach the upper weight limit of that stage. For instance, if you have a child who is in a rear facing infant seat, you should keep them in that seat until they reach the weight limit not the age limit. So for my infant son, he should stay in his infant seat until he hits 22 pounds. Then I should move him up to a rear facing convertible seat AND I should keep him rear facing until he hits the rear facing weight limit on that seat (unless there is a problem with him being too tall). Then I should turn it forward facing and keep him in it in the built in restraints until he hits the weight limit there.
I hope this helps you out. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I'll let you know if she answered them there or get you her contact info if she didn't.
Good luck.
E.: your twins are in a child safety seat called a convertible seat. All child restraint systems go by weight and height. The seat will say it's weight and height limitations on the seat somewhere, usually on the sides. If it's an old seat, it may have worn off, but usually convertibles go up to 40 pounds, some less, some more. If it's worn off, you can go to the manufacturer's website with the type and name of the seat, and you should be able to find this info, or call them.
Next you put them in a booster seat-- some boosters are low backs and some are high backs and have 5-point restraint systems in them that makes them safer and you can use the restraint part of the seat up to a higher weight. The seat will have weight and height limitations for use with and with out the 5 point harness. Again, you need to check the manufacture rec's/insturctions for their weight and height limitations. Go to the safekids.org and their website will have all of the info re: car seats/child restraint systems. It can all be quite confusing. Good Luck
Check the manufacturer of the carseat for the height & weight specifications. However, you should not be putting your children in their carseats with big puffy coats, as it is not providing them with the best safety of the seat.
All of our car seats have labels on the bottoms indicating the height and weight (and sometimes age) that is appropriate for that specific seat. Check it out :)
If you just want new ones that aren't hand-me-downs, go to BabiesRUs and look for the carseats that are right for your kids.
Hi E..
Your sons will be able to move into a booster seat when they exceed the height and/or weight limit of the forward facing seats they are currently in. I am pasting in a link to SafeKids.org which goes into more detail about when to switch seats. You will of course want to look at the toddler section.
http://www.usa.safekids.org/skbu/cps/index.html
I hope this helps.
S.
For my youngest we got him a 5oint harness(sp)one that when he's to big for that the straps come off and it's a booster seat.
But i was told by a state trooper that kids shouldn't wear coats in cars with their seats because they aren't tightly secured.They said to warm your car up have the kids where their coats out to the car and than take them off of them before you buckle them up
HTH
J.
They should remain in the "convertible" carseats until they are 40 lbs or their ears are above the top of the seat back. They will most likely grow out of the seats in height before weight, so you would want to move to a "harnessed booster" style seat to keep your kids in harnesses as long as possible. Each time you "graduate" a step on carseats--from rear-facing to forward facing, from harnessed seat to belt positioning booster--you lessen the amount of protection your children have, so there really shouldn't be a rush to move up the steps.
Please do keep in mind that most safety experts reccommend destroying carseats by no more than 10 years after their date of manufacture. I used to be a certified technician (my certification expired in October and I chose not to renew), and at carseat checks we would confiscate seats for age alone at 10 years old--and anything older than 5 years old we were seriously looking for another "excuse" to take the seat.
Also, on the "puffy coat" issue...PLEASE don't use puffy coats with carseats! They cause you to loosen up the harness straps, so they aren't offering as much protection to your kids. Take off the puffy coats, buckle your kids up, then put the coats on backwards over the harness. At the very least, unzip the coats, and buckle the harness under the coats, not over the coats.
Good luck!
Jenn (mom of Jessica age 9 in a belt positioning booster, Katie age 7 in a belt positioning booster (was in a harness until she was nearly 6--she is tiny!), Jason age 5 in a belt positioning booster (he was in a harness until he a bit after his 5th birthday) and Sean aged 3 in a convertible seat...)
P.S. Holly said "i was even told she had to stay rear facing up to 30 pounds" This isn't quite right. Most convertible seats now, and even some infant carriers, can rearface to 30 or 35 lbs. As I said before, rear-facing is safer than forward facing, so I encourage extended rear-facing. My kids all rear-faced until close to their 2nd birthdays--or even past her 2nd birthday in the case of my petite second daughter. But the *law* simply requires you to follow the instructions that come with the seat, and since many seats allow forward facing at 20 lbs, you don't have to wait to 30 lbs to forward face. You should wait at least until the first birthday (corrected age for significant premies) to allow for bone development. Many children are too tall to rear face well before reaching 30 lbs--for rearfacing the child's head must be at least 1" below the top of the carseat.
