Healthy Living: Local News
Baby Car Seat Safety
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Story Updated: Jul 27, 2011
It is a good reminder that Alaska law requires all passengers, regardless of age, to use a seat belt or appropriate restraint device. But nationwide, studies show 85 percent of all children, regardless of whether they're in a car seat, are not secured properly.
This statistic remains nearly unchanged for a decade, in both the nation and Alaska.
Safe Kids Alaska held a "car seat inspection" recently in Wasilla, and officials say they did not inspect one car seat that was installed correctly. Organizers say the car seats they inspected all had some form of misuse that they were able to correct.
"There are so many ways that you can misuse a car seat, because every car seat has different features, every vehicle seating position has different features," said Sara Penisten, Safe Kids Alaska State Coordinator and registered nurse.
Sara Penisten says getting the child in a correct car seat and getting that car seat installed correctly is a challenge in itself, but a very critical challenge since motor vehicle crashes are the number one killer of children in our nation.
"Most of the time, they are preventable, if a child is appropriately secured," added Penisten.
Penisten says parents simply make common mistakes, like positioning the car seat's retainer clip too far down on the child. Another mistake includes a car seat being used, but the seat is not secured in the vehicle tightly. It's loose in the vehicle, allowing for a lot of movement.
All straps and pieces of the car seat should be securely fastened. "Another common mistake that we see is that the harness straps over the child's shoulders, which hold the child in the car seat are not secured tightly enough, they are loose as well," explained Safe Kids Alaska's Sara Penisten.
Infants should ride "rear facing" until they are one-year-old and weight at least twenty pounds, but the new recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics show children should ride rear facing as long as possible, up to two years old.
Penisten added, "If a child's feet are pushing up against the vehicle seat behind them, that's fine. We don't see lower limb injuries in crashes. What we do see in kids that are turned around too early and face forward in a crash is that they have spinal injuries and spinal cord injuries that lead to paralyzation which is permanent."
To schedule a car seat check-up call:
Alaska Injury Prevention Center
929-3939
or
Anchorage Fire Department
267-5045
To contact the Newsroom, call 907-274-1111.
This statistic remains nearly unchanged for a decade, in both the nation and Alaska.
Safe Kids Alaska held a "car seat inspection" recently in Wasilla, and officials say they did not inspect one car seat that was installed correctly. Organizers say the car seats they inspected all had some form of misuse that they were able to correct.
"There are so many ways that you can misuse a car seat, because every car seat has different features, every vehicle seating position has different features," said Sara Penisten, Safe Kids Alaska State Coordinator and registered nurse.
Sara Penisten says getting the child in a correct car seat and getting that car seat installed correctly is a challenge in itself, but a very critical challenge since motor vehicle crashes are the number one killer of children in our nation.
"Most of the time, they are preventable, if a child is appropriately secured," added Penisten.
Penisten says parents simply make common mistakes, like positioning the car seat's retainer clip too far down on the child. Another mistake includes a car seat being used, but the seat is not secured in the vehicle tightly. It's loose in the vehicle, allowing for a lot of movement.
All straps and pieces of the car seat should be securely fastened. "Another common mistake that we see is that the harness straps over the child's shoulders, which hold the child in the car seat are not secured tightly enough, they are loose as well," explained Safe Kids Alaska's Sara Penisten.
Infants should ride "rear facing" until they are one-year-old and weight at least twenty pounds, but the new recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics show children should ride rear facing as long as possible, up to two years old.
Penisten added, "If a child's feet are pushing up against the vehicle seat behind them, that's fine. We don't see lower limb injuries in crashes. What we do see in kids that are turned around too early and face forward in a crash is that they have spinal injuries and spinal cord injuries that lead to paralyzation which is permanent."
To schedule a car seat check-up call:
Alaska Injury Prevention Center
929-3939
or
Anchorage Fire Department
267-5045
To contact the Newsroom, call 907-274-1111.