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Publication #FAR0431

 

Choosing an Infant Carrier and Car Seat1

Donna Davis2

Figure 1. 
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When bringing your new baby home from the hospital or birthing center, one of the items you can't leave without is an infant car seat.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, at least five infant deaths per year have been attributed to carriers, and an estimated 13,000 injuries occurred in one year (Consumer Product Safety Commission, n.d.). These numbers do not include vehicular incidents; rather, they resulted when "infants became entangled in restraining straps, when carrier seats toppled over on soft surfaces, such as beds, or when unrestrained children fell from the carrier seat to the floor" (Consumer Product Safety Commission, n.d., ¶ 1). In almost every case involving death, the infants had been left unattended in their carrier seat.

To prevent injury or death, the Commission recommends parents choose a carrier with a wide, sturdy base for stability. Also, always remain in arm's reach when an infant is in a carrier that is not strapped into a car, or is on a table or counter top. Remember, even infants can be very active as they explore their own movements. Never place a carrier on a soft surface, as it makes the carrier unstable. Always use the safety belts, and always buckle a car seat into the car seat belts as instructed. And, finally, do not use infant carriers as a substitute for an infant car seat.

Choosing the right infant carrier and car seat and using them properly can be the difference between life and death when driving with your infant or toddler.

Listening, learning, and living together: it's the science of life. "Family Album" is a co-production of University of Florida IFAS Extension, the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, and of WUFT-FM. If you'd like to learn more, please visit our website at http://www.familyalbumradio.org.

To listen to the radio broadcast:

http://www.radiosource.net/radio_stories/489.mp3

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Reference

Consumer Product Safety Commission. (n.d.). CPSC offers safety tips for infant carrier seats. Retrieved June 26, 2006, from http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/5048.pdf.

Footnotes

1.

This document is FAR0431, one of a series of the Family Youth and Community Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Broadcast as program 489 in January 2007. Published on EDIS July 2012. In the interest of time and/or clarity, the broadcast version of this script may have been modified. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

Donna Davis, senior producer, Family Album Radio, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.