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214 E. 23 St. Cheyenne, WY 82001
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2600 E. 18 St. Cheyenne, WY 82001
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Babies’ Winter Clothes Can Compromise Car Seat Safety
CHEYENNE – It’s natural for parents or other caregivers to dress babies and young children in thick coats or snowsuits before traveling in winter. But this precaution might actually endanger a child, according to Stephanie Heitsch, Cheyenne Regional Medical Center’s Medical Injury Prevention Coordinator and Child Passenger Safety Instructor. "For car seats or booster seats to function properly, the straps need to remain tight against the child's chest. Winter coats and snowsuits make car seat safety difficult because they change the way a child fits into the car seat. Though it may appear that your child is properly secured in his or her seat, he or she is not," said Heitsch. A thick coat or snowsuit can compress in a crash, warned Heitsch. When car seat straps don't fit securely against a child, there is a chance the child may be ejected from the car seat in the event of a crash, she said. To determine whether a baby's winter coat or infant snowsuit is too thick to be safe in a car seat, Heitsch recommended the following:
- Put the winter coat or snowsuit on the child.
- Put the child in the car seat and buckle the harnesses as you normally would before car travel, and adjust the straps to the appropriate fit for your child.
- Take the child out of the car seat without loosening the straps.
- Take the coat off your child.
- Put the child back in the car seat and buckle the harnesses again, but do not tighten the straps.
- If the harness straps now do not fit snugly on the child, the coat is too thick and is not safe for use with the car seat. “If you can't safely use your child's winter coat in the car seat, there are still ways to keep baby warm in the vehicle when temperatures drop,” said Heitsch. She offered the following suggestions:
- For babies in an infant seat, dress them warmly in normal clothing such as a shirt, sweatshirt, long pants and a hat. Buckle the child into the infant seat and then cover the baby with a light blanket tucked around the sides. Make sure nothing is behind the baby's back. Finally, add another heavier blanket over the top of the infant seat.
- For infants, parents can also use car seat covers that that fit over the entire exterior of an infant seat once the baby is buckled in. These covers have a peep-hole so that the baby's face remains uncovered. Parents should be sure the child is buckled up under the cover. “The buckle is out of sight and easy to forget,” warned Heitsch.
- For older babies and toddlers, take the child's coat off before buckling the child into the car seat. Once the harnesses are secure, the caregiver can place the child's coat on backwards over his or her arms to keep the child warm without compromising safety.
- Whenever possible, warm up your car before putting a baby or young child in the vehicle.
- When buying winter coats, keep thickness and car seat safety in mind. Polar fleece jackets and snowsuits are warm but thin, making them a smart choice for winter baby wear.
- Do not use thick blankets, such as lamb skin inserts, that fit into the interior of the car seat. These have not been crash-tested. They may create the same strap-space risks as thick coats and suits. Cheyenne Regional Medical Center is a 218-bed premier regional healthcare system that prides itself on delivering the highest standard of quality care to meet the region’s growing healthcare needs. The hospital’s physicians and employees, state-of-the-art facilities and advanced technologies ensure patients will receive exceptional care close to home.
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E-mail: webmaster | Last Updated: June 1, 2005 | Copyright © 2004 CRMC
