TRAVELING BY CAR WITH BABIES: CHOOSE A CHILD SEAT

Advancing in this special about travel by car with babies that we are developing these days in Babies and more, today it is the turn of the child seats, those special seats to take our baby aboard a car that technically receive the name of child restraint systems.

In the same technical name of these devices is their reason for being, and in the event that our car suffers a collision, there are no arms strong enough to hold the baby and in addition the adult safety belts are inadequate for the child and even dangerous for him. In a case like this, only a child restraint system Appropriate to the size and weight of our baby is able to keep the baby safe and in place.

Taking a look at what we find in the market, we see that there is a huge variety of chairs to take the baby in the car. But, they're all the same?

As we know, there are several groups of child seats for the car depending on the size and weight of the child (and if we do not know, I recommend you read that post), and the truth is that the solutions that manufacturers offer us for Each group not only differ in price ... but also. However, when choosing a child seat, what we are interested in observing are three aspects: firmness and flexibility, anchoring of the chair, and support and comfort of the child.

Firmness and flexibility

A good child seat should serve to protect the baby or the child in case of collision, and that will be achieved by minimizing the relative movement between the child and the vehicle during a collision and absorbing part of the kinetic energy that is released in a crash. If the child restraint system is not capable of that, some of the movements that the baby experiences during the collision can cause injuries, and all the energy that the chair does not absorb will have to be absorbed by the child, which will undoubtedly cause damage to the child. diverse consideration reaching the risk of death.

Therefore, the baby chair must be firm enough as to keep the child safe regardless of whether the impact originates from one or the other side of the vehicle, from the front or from the back. In any of these situations, the chair must stand firm, since the greater the movement you experience, the greater the risk of injury to our child.

However, if the child restraint system we use is too rigid, may break in case of impact. Therefore, even if it is firm when it comes to protecting the baby, the seat has to have enough flexibility to partially absorb the energy released in a collision without its structure being compromised at any time.

Seat anchor

Traditionally, seats for babies and children have been fixed to the seat using only the three point safety belt. And even within that way of anchoring the seat we find a certain diversity when we walk the path that makes the belt, and thus we discover child restraint systems with a simple belt pin while others grab the belt preventing it from sliding and that by both the chair move in case of collision. That is the first of the points that we are interested in taking into account when we look for the ideal child seat.

However, the anchoring of child restraint systems only with the adult seat belt can give us a problem since, depending on the speed at which it circulates, in case of collision it may happen that the child seat moves to then be retained by the belt. And in this coming and going of the chair, the child will be subjected to efforts that can cause injuries, for example, in the neck area.

To minimize this mobility of the child seat, the system was created Isofix, which anchors the child restraint system to the car seat with a pair of hooks. In this way the child seat is completely attached to the vehicle and the swings in a collision are minimized. That is why every day there are more vehicles that mount Isofix anchors in their seats so that child seats that have this type of fixing can be used.

However, the Isofix had a limitation: in certain collisions the chair tipped forward. That's why the Top teether as a complement to Isofix. The Top Tether is nothing more than a strap that secures the child seat at the top, keeping it anchored to a specific vehicle support. And on the other hand, the support leg It is a support that is anchored to the child seat and parapeta against the floor of the vehicle, avoiding the upside down of the seat. To know more, you have to consult the child seat manual before installing it in the car, because each manufacturer has its own fixing system within the Isofix standard.

In addition, there are child restraint systems that are articulated to allow greater accessibility when placing the child in the seat. This is the case of the BebeConfort Axiss, which allows you to turn the upper part of the chair to place the child and fix their harnesses facing the outside of the car. When this is done, simply turn the chair back towards the direction of travel.

Child support and comfort

Because another element that we must take into account when choosing a child seat is the support of our child and also its comfort. The comfort of the child must be understood as something that is beyond, for example, if the child sweats or not in the seat. And yes, that is a frequent problem that usually distresses us as parents, which makes our baby nervous ... and that has the solution of using the air conditioner in moderation and making additional breaks in the conduction so that the baby can air from time to time.

But there are other parameters by which we should consider the child's comfort, and that are related to your medium and long term health. If the baby travels shrunk, with the chest compressed or with the head dropped on the shoulders, these positions will not help him in a correct development, and even some of them can be dangerous in case of collision.

Therefore, the baby's position should be as natural as possible, but staying in place Even when he sleeps. That is, sleeping in the car can be healthy, but not that fall asleep, which is not the same. And this also serves when we no longer talk about babies but about children. If they sleep, they sleep, but do not spread, because in doing so they will be taking away a good dose of the security provided by their special seat.

How to prevent them from falling to the side? Like everything, it depends. If we use our child to maintain proper posture in the seat, that will be positive. And if the chair we use has sides that keep the child's head on your site, better than better. And in extreme cases, when everything fails and the child fall off In sleep, we will have no choice but to make a stop, reposition the child in his ideal position and then resume the march. Better that, than letting our son cultivate a series of injuries in the cervical area, for example.

The child must always maintain a position of vehicle occupant; that will also help you understand that a car is not an extension of a playground but a means of transportation. And as such a vehicle occupant, you must travel with the belt through the center of the shoulder in the case of the elderly and with the harnesses of the Group I chairs in the case of children up to 18 kilos. If we used them since childhood to go subjects, although not pressured, older people will not have any problem in using adult seat belts.

And we get to another point, which is that of the size of the child seat. A custom rooted in our country is to measure the development of our children hour after hour to, at the minimum that is justified by millimeters or grams, move the child to a child seat of greater size or a higher group. It is not a matter of criticizing this practice, but you should always keep in mind that a child restraint system is a passive car safety system, and as such it is thought to work between certain levels. If the child travels too baggy, or on the contrary too embedded, if necessary the system may not work as expected by its manufacturer.

European approval, quality assurance?

To end this post, a reflection. We always say that a child restraint system must have the european approval stamp so that we can be calm, since that orange label with the CE mark constitutes a certain guarantee because the seat complies with a series of standards that accredit the safety of that device.

However, as we have said on occasion, not all child seats offer a good level of safety. The RACE annual reportsFor example, they can give us a clue as to where each model is going. However, every few times the same brands are making their seats evolve and improve in safety, so it is convenient to know at the time of purchase what references exist on each specific chair.

An example goes: in January of this year, some impact tests carried out in Germany on some child restraint systems helped to detect some serious failures in chairs of four different brands (Chicco, Concord, Recaro and Storchenmühle). In April, most of these models had been modified and they passed the test again, this time correctly, and that is that security engineering advances every moment. Fortunately.

The club detail

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At the Opel Meriva Baby and More Club, we propose a space to share ideas, experiences and promotions related to the car as a vehicle for the family. Stay tuned to this section and you will have access to all the information you need about children and babies as a decisive factor when buying a car. A page that aims to provide valuable content for all parents who are in the complicated situation of choosing a car. Good car to travel comfortable and safe with the little ones.