Baby Car Seat Glossary Guide

To the uninitiated parent, buying a car seat for your child can seem technical at best. There are a dozen terms designers and retail stores use to clarify car seats, their various accessories and features. Below you'll find some handy tips for sorting through the riff raff and deciding what features and accessories you really need for your carseat.

Key Terms
Here are some key terms you should familiarize yourself with before shopping for your child's first carseat.

LATCH - This stands for 'lower anchors and tethers for children.' Now what the heck is that you question? Most vehicles built after 2002 have ordinary hardware in the seats that help attach the carseat more easily to the car. A LATCH system replaces a seatbelt for tie the carseat into your car. The LATCH system is beneficial since it not only makes installing a carseat simple, but it also prevents the seat from slipping out of place over time. Don't worry if your car doesn't have a LATCH system. You can still bed in nearly any car seat using the seatbelt only. Some modern car seats built after 2002 are mainly designed to accommodate LATCH systems, but you can still bed in these using a ordinary belt as well.

Changeable Car Seat - This is a seat that can accommodate an infant in a rear facing position or an older child in a forward facing position. Some changeable seats also act as a booster when your child is nearly ancient enough to ride using a ordinary seat belt.

Rear Facing - Rear facing simply refers to car seats that are designed to face the rear rather than the front of your car. All infants less than one year ancient and under 20 pounds must ride in a rear facing car seat. All infant carriers are rear facing, importance they are designed to sit in the rear of your car. Changeable car seats have the option of being rear facing or forward facing.

Forward Facing - Forward Facing only car seats are those designed for children over 1 year of age up to about 3 or 4 years of age. Changeable car seats provide the option of being forward facing once your child is ancient enough to go out of the rear facing position.

Booster Seat - Most children are not large enough to use a ordinary seat belt until they are about 80 pounds. Your child may be 5 or more before they can sit in a car using an adult seat safely. A booster seat helps your child sit safely in the car and use a ordinary seat belt safely until they are huge enough to do lacking one. You can buy a break booster seat or a changeable car seat that changes to a booster seat.

5-point Harness - A 5-point harness is a safety restriction belt that touches the base of the carseat in five places. The belt has two points located over your child's shoulders, one over each of your child's hips and one between your child's legs. This safety harness is painstaking one of the safest.

3-point Harness - A 3-point harness includes safety straps that come down over your baby's head and then snap into position.

T-shield - This is a form of harness that looks like a "T" that snaps over your babies head into position. It looks somewhat like a shield, hence the name.

Base - This is the part of an infant Delivery service that attaches to your automobile. You can snap the infant Delivery service or carseat into position once the base is secure, and detach your infant Delivery service to convey you baby from the car to your destination. Some parents prefer buying multiple bases for two or more cars, that way they don't have to take the entire car seat out when switching cars.

Angle or level indicator - This is a feature on most rear facing or changeable car seats that lets you know whether or not you have positioned the seat accurately.

Harness - This simply refers to the straps or belts used to keep your baby securely fastened in the car seat. Some harnesses come with covers to prevent chaffing of your baby's delicate skin.

Leveler - This is a device like a 'noodle' that can help prevent a car seat from wobbling or leaning too far in one management or the other.

Tether Straps - These are anchors that attach to your car and the car seat to hold your child's seat safely in place.

Author: Ant Arthur
Condition Source: EzineArticles.com
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