Having a car seat for your child is not just the law, it’s important to protect your baby as well. But when do you remove an infant insert from car seat? At what age is is appropriate to do so? Let us find out.
Did you know that having a car seat for your infant will reduce the risk of accidental injury by 71%?
If you travel in your car with a newborn baby, I am sure you take proper safety measures for your newborn infant to be safe while traveling with you. One of the best and the safest ways to travel with newborns is to install an infant seat.
These infant seats are perfect for your child’s safety. But they are much safer if you have padding in them, known as inserts.
Newborn car seat inserts are designed to keep the baby safe and secure. Most of the cars that have a seat for a newborn infant come with extra padding.
These padded inserts are similar to little pillows that will go underneath the neck of the infant. Similarly, another padded insert will go behind the back of the baby, providing them with additional support to their head and body.
After a time, the parents wonder when it is safe to remove these newborn infant inserts from their cars. Apart from safety, another primary reason for using these inserts in a car seat is the baby’s size.
A newborn baby is too small, due to which they will not correctly fit in the seat without the extra padding. As your baby grows bigger, it is the ideal time for you to think about removing these inserts. You should remove the infant inserts from your car seat once the baby can fit in the seat without the inserts.
Car Seat Infant Insert When To Remove
While removing the baby infants from your car seat, you should be very careful. If you remove these inserts too early, you will be putting your kid at risk.
The majority of the new cars come with proper instruction manuals, and these manuals have detailed information on how to use and install your car seat effectively. You can also find information on removing the inserts from your seat in the manual.
The primary deciding factor on removing the baby inserts from your car depends on the weight and height of your baby. As soon as they reach a given level, you can remove the inserts. Different car brands have other preferences and suggestions for removing these inserts.
What Is The Purpose Of Using A Newborn Baby Insert In A Car?
An infant can be tiny to fit inside a car seat perfectly. An infant insert is a seat or padded cushioning inserted in the car to keep the baby secured and safe. These inserts are responsible for making the journey of a kid as comfortable as possible for the first few months. Particular cushions are kept under the neck of the baby to make fastening the harness easy for them.
The neck or the head cushion usually has more padding for support. The neck of a newborn baby is very delicate. So they need that extra support to their neck during the first months. The cushioning can allow the baby to be more natural and comfortable.
Do You Need An Infant Insert In The Car Seat?
Yes, ideally, you should use an infant insert in the car seat for the kid’s safety. If you don’t use an infant insert, your child can sit too low in the seat. Sitting too familiar in the seat can create issues for the child on their posture. You’ll be able to notice that the harness is not fit correctly as the posture of your kid might not be correct.
There are some special instructions for use by the car’s manufacturers. You can follow these instructions properly. If you don’t, you put your child’s safety at risk. You’ll have to think about your child’s head support safety when holding your baby while driving.
Can You Use An Infant Insert In Any Car?
If there are no extra infant inserts you get with the car, you should carefully buy these inserts for your vehicle. If the inserts you are using are not explicitly designed for your car, you may be facing more significant problems than not using an infant insert. You may need to improvise sometimes, like using a towel or blankets.
How To Select An Ideal Infant Insert For Your Car?
You’ll find plenty of models of infant inserts floating around the market. As parents, it can sometimes be too confusing for them to select the ideal infant inserts for their kids. Ideally, you should choose the infant insert based on the weight and size of the baby. An infant car seat is only designed to face the vehicle’s rear.
These inserts are for the smaller kids. The majority of these chairs have a minimum load capacity of four to five pounds. On the other hand, the maximum load capacity is twenty-two to thirty-five pounds.
You’ll find that these convertible car seats also have certain height limits. The maximum height range on these chairs lies between thirty to fifty-five inches. An infant car seat is designed to work on a five-point harness system. This system ensures that the child is secure, snug, comfortable, and. Parents find using these infant inserts to be very easy.
Parents do look for safer solutions for traveling with their kids. There will be a point where the kids will grow out of the infant inserts that you get. To solve this issue, you can go for infant inserts that are usable in multiple modes.
A front-facing, rear-facing, and booster mode in these chairs will allow you to use one infant insert until the kid turns about ten years old.
Common Mistakes Parents Make With A Car Seat Insert For A Kid?
The basic proposition of an infant insert is that it protects the baby from impact and collision in the event of an accident. These inserts also ensure that the baby’s head does not slump forward while traveling in a car. Lowering the head forward in kids can sometimes block their airways.
So you should use the convertible car seat in a rear-facing orientation for most of the ways. Here we will discuss the common mistakes parents make while using a car seat insert for a kid. Some people might use a used car seat. This is not safe for kids as the safety features on these seats might be compromised.
It is ideal that you only use a new convertible car for your kid’s safety. The best spot for the convertible car seats is to keep them on the car’s rear seat. In case of an accident, the airbags can hit the child in the head if the convertible seat is placed in the front seat.
Then another common mistake that parents might make while using a car seat is that they set the seat in the wrong spot.
Why Do Car Seats Have an Expiration date?
The reasons why you will find an expiry date on car seats are:-
- Various crash test results suggest that it is ideal for changing the seats after six years.
- The functionality and safety features decrease on the car seat as it ages.
- There is a lot of general wear and tear that a car seat sustains over six years.
- After such a long time, the safety features have become better on the car seats due to advancements in technology.
Get Your Car Seat Checked
After installing or removing the baby inserts from your car seat, you must get the car seat checked. The majority of the parents think that they have installed or removed the inserts carefully, but that is not the case.
If you are not taking assistance from professionals, you should at least get the seat checked by them as it is a matter of your child’s safety and security.
It is always better that you install the baby car seat at the center of the rear of your car. This is because you want to place your baby farthest from both the potential sides for collision.
The newer cars are designed to withstand side impact, so you should utilize these features to keep your infant safe from high impact.
If you feel that your child is not sitting in a proper position at an ideal location, you can seek help from a child restraint fitter.
A Few Final Words
When kids grow, there are numerous changes in their lives and arrangements. One such change is adding inserts in infant seats first and then removing them.
In this article, you find out about the correct time by which you should remove the infant car seat inserts from your car. These inserts have a set utility time frame.
Most newborn baby car seat inserts are useless after the child crosses the six-month mark. These inserts are also tested in the category for 0-6 months.
If you feel that your baby still needs some support while sitting in a car seat, you can get the more oversized seat inserts ideal for 6-12 months old babies.
In this article, we shared with you the potential causes and reasons for you as a parent to buy an infant insert for your car. We also shared some tips on what to look for while purchasing an infant insert.
