Coat Check for Car Seat

There are a lot of safety issues to remember as the weather grows colder, but this one may be overlooked. Keep your babies out of harm’s way this season.

Do you put your baby in the car seat while wearing a big, poofy coat? Research states that it’s dangerous. The buckles of a car seat should be tight around the child to be considered effective in the event of a crash. Extra slack in the harness can lead to too much wiggle room or even ejection.

Not sure if your child’s coat is too bulky? Put it to the test:

Step 1 - Sit your child in the car seat and fasten the harness with the coat on.

Step 2 - Tighten the harness until you can no longer pinch any of the harness webbing with your thumb and forefinger.

Step 3 - Remove your child from the child seat without loosening the harness.

Step 4 - Take the coat off, and put your child back in the child seat and buckle the harness straps, which are still adjusted as they were when he was wearing the coat.

Step 5 - If you can now pinch the webbing between your thumb and forefinger, then the coat is too bulky to be worn under the harness.

These steps might seem tedious, but a taking a few extra minutes to get in the car seriously outweighs any injuries your child could suffer otherwise.

Happy and Healthy Holidays!