Carseat Inspection

Vintage Kyle 1 month old

Before Kyle was born I got his carseat inspected...more acurately the installation of it. SaferNM is a non-profit in NM that does free carseat inspections at certain times during the month. Check out their website for dates and to reserve an appt. I think it is important because 8 our of 10 carseats are installed incorrectly. I wanted my precious bundle of joy as safe as possible.

I learned all sorts of new things like:

1. What a LATCH system is and the sad fact that my middle seat didn't have one

2. The handle must be down on an infant seat when in the car

3. You shouldn't put anything in the seat that goes under the baby (blankets, extra clothing, etc) because in an accident it compresses and the baby can slip out.

4. You don't need the base, you can buckle in the seat without it.

5. The carseat/base cannot move more than 1" in any direction when secured.

6. You pretty much need 2 people to install a carseat properly. One to sit on the seat with all their weight and one to pull out the shoulder belt as tight as possible while it is in locking mode.

Now that Kyle is 7.5 months old and too long for his infant seat (29") but far from too heavy (about 15 lbs), it was time to graduate to a convertible carseat. After many weeks of research I decided another Evenflo carseat would be the best since I couldn't spend $200+ on a Britax. We decided on the Symphony 3-in-1 seat.

This is what I learned this time:

1. you can't use a belt clip (they come with the seats) with a seatbelt that locks- it could sever the seatbelt in a crash.

2. You can safetly twist the seatbelt connector (the part where the shoulder belt attaches the bench) 3 times if it is too long (like mine) and makes the carseat tilt to one side.

3. You want kiddos rear facing till 2 years of age if possible. The longer, the better. Just watch this video and you'll see why.