Car Seat Safety Tips from Chicco | NextFit Convertible Car Seat
Becoming a mom comes with many important decisions. One of the most important decisions is the researching car seat safety for your baby. I was contacted by Mom Central Consulting, on behalf of Chicco, to share my car seat experiences and received a promotional item for my participation. I feel honored to be able to share things like this with you and hope that these tips will help you with making your next car seat purchase.
Car seats can become a hot topic. There are so many options to choose from, so many moms have their own opinions, and you can often go into the store for a car seat and come out more confused.
The first time I shopped for a car seat was in 2007. I was a new mom, scared, nervous, and didn’t know a thing about car seats. I remember going into the baby store to create my registry and went to the car seat aisle not knowing a thing about them. Scanner in my hands, I started to select the prettiest car seats that I could find.
After coming home, I quickly realized that this wasn’t the best method of choosing a car seat and knew that more research was needed.
Choosing a safe car seat is important, but so are other factors – such as ease of installation, ease of cleaning, weight limits for longer use and the comfort of your child. Luckily, when I was pregnant, my sister was a great resource with the car seat shopping process. She just had a baby the year before and did a lot of the research of her own. After hearing her choices, and seeing the car seat that she went with, I went online to several baby stores to find reviews.
We are so lucky with the day of the internet, I couldn’t imagine how hard buying a car seat would be without the option of seeing reviews from other moms.
Julie Prom, Chicco’s Child Passenger Safety Advocate and certified Child Passenger Safety Instructor, has helpful tips for car seat safety that I wanted to share with you. When becoming a new mom in 2007, I wasn’t aware of the importance of avoiding jackets in the car seats. There are so many “dos and don’ts”, it’s hard to process everything about car seat safety. These are great tips offered by Julie:
- Most children younger than 5-years old are not mature enough to sit without a full harness. Keep your child in a forward-facing car seat with a harness until at least 5 or 6 years old.
- Most common mistakes can be avoided by simply following manufacturers’ instructions. All car seats must meet stringent Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards to be sold in the U.S. It is when they are not used correctly that makes them unsafe. Always read and follow the instructions for the safety seat. Also, read the vehicle owner’s manual section on child restraints.
- Always buckle your baby into the safety seat first, and then cover the baby with blankets. Avoid bulky clothing and add-on products such as car seat buntings. This can interfere with proper harness fit and crash performance of the seat. A good trick for older children is to buckle them in without their jacket and then put it back on them backwards over the harness. Not only do these techniques ensure proper harness fit, but also avoids overheating by allowing the baby to be easily uncovered or the child to take his jacket off once the car gets warmer.
- Always use the top tether when installing a forward-facing car seat. The tether reduces movement of a car seat in a crash and helps to achieve a tight installation.
As I mentioned above, installation of the car seat is an important factor in my car seat purchase. What good is an expensive car seat if you can’t install it right?
I’m excited to hear about the new Chicco NextFit Convertible Car Seat. The installation process was made for moms of all calibers. Installation done right, every single time.
Wouldn’t it be nice to install a child’s car seat and not wonder if you did it right?
Simply. Accurately. Securely.
- Simply: No need for rolled towels or tubes to position your convertible car seat correctly in your car! The NextFit’s ReclineSure™ 9-position Leveling System adjusts with one hand for an accurate fit in a wider range of vehicles and vehicle seats
- Accurately: Just like the KeyFit, the Chicco NextFit takes the guesswork out of installing the seat thanks to the two RideRight™ bubble levels which clearly indicate the correct seat angle in both rear and forward-facing modes.
- Securely: Parents of any size or strength can easily install the NextFit correctly with the SuperCinch™ LATCH tightener, which uses force-multiplying technology to help achieve a tight and secure fit – no strong muscles required.
After the purchase of our children’s car seats, I could never get them installed correctly. Andrea’s car seat leaned too far forward and her poor head kept flopping onto her chest and Andrew’s car seat just couldn’t get tight enough. Maybe it was me, or maybe it was the fit in our car. After sweat and tears, we ended up taking them to the local fire department to assist us with the installation.
It’s great that help is available when installing car seats, but what happens when you need to take it out?
I love that Chicco has taken their ease of installation that was known in their infant car seat and moved it into an innovative convertible car seat.
Check out this video introduction of the Chicco NextFit Convertible Car Seat. You will love these features!
For more information on the Chicco NextFit Convertible Car Seat, visit http://www.chiccousa.com/nextfit/
I wrote this review while participating in a campaign for Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Chicco and I received a promotional item to thank me for my participation.
A lot of nice features! I’ve never seen one with a level. That is nice.
I have not used any of the Chicco baby items, but would love to.
I think the graphic is perfect for parents to print out and keep so they have the guidelines close. Also, the buckle by the armpits is so so important!
Chicco is a great line, it is well made and it’s the only line I will buy for my kids.
Love this car seat! Hope I can afford it when I switch over!
Does anyone know offhand if this has a taller height limit (From seat to the top of the head) than the britax marathon?
Wow, these are much better than the ones when my kids were smaller. My grandbaby needs one of these.
I am currently in the decision making stage of picking out a convertible. I love your review on the NextFit, it showed me features that I wasn’t aware of. I really like the 9-position leveling system!
My nextfit should be coming in the mail today. Thanks for this review! It seems like such a safe car seat and I’ve loved our chicco infant seat so far, so I hope this is a seat we’ll love.
I agee, I am so glad to be able to turn to the internet for research on items that are so iimportant for the safety of my children!
I love convertible car seats, I think they are so much more cost effective than those heavy infant car seats that you have to carry, and I love chicco they have a great safety rating!
I like the “Simply. Accurately. Securely.” features, but I wish the graphic they have was better. It advocates turning the child at 2 years old, rather than when they reach the weight limit of their seat. I personally have never met a 40 lb 2 year old. I know later they say that, but the graphic, which many people will respond to, doesn’t advocate that.
i love that it has so many convenient features, like the swivel feature.
We have Chicco cars seat. & I really like it a lot
This looks like an awesome seat love the adjustability on it and the graph showing the stages and carseats was great!!
looks like an awesome carseat! :)
This looks like an easy system to adjust and switch between multiple vehicles. Thanks!
Thanks for the review – we bought a seat that I really like that my youngest will grow with and I think that is really important. It is also important to make sure it is put in correctly, so thanks for the video on that. Plus the 9 different positions, great.
It’s hard to know the right way to keep children safe. Honestly, I just pray over us every time we leave the house because an accident can happen a mile from where we live. And I know that I’m doing my best to keep my little man protected in every situation. As for others that I know, because the guidelines keep changing so rapidly, many are not in the appropriate seating for the age/size.
This car seat looks really nice! I love that it has 9 different positions to help with fitting in various vehicles!
Its a great seat!
I love how simple and easy this car seat is.
Thanks for sharing the review.
I am in the market for a new seat for 3.0 and this looks perfect!
Excellent post! The task of installing a car seat for the first time can be a little daunting.
So great to hear! I was hoping to hear that someone has tried it. Looks amazing!
I love this carseat!! Just bought one for my 2 yr old son this past weekend, and it is amazing!! I love the fit on him plus how it fits into our car.. Tis is definetly worth every penny
This looks like a great car seat.
This is very useful information, I have three sons ranging from 8 to 1 and things have altered so much to do with safety since I had my oldest son. Its great to keep up to date and be informed
I love the positioning system! Car seat safety is very important. Thanks for the great facts and tips!!
I remember seeing my friend’s children sitting in a booster seat with no back at 6 years old. She probably thinks I’m crazy to see my 5 year old in a harness now. It’s crazy how quickly the car seat technology evolves to keep our children safe.
I didn’t realize they could even FIT in a seat with a full harness at age 5 or 6. I think things have changed a lot since my kids were little. I hate to think at how unsafe their seats must have been. Chicco has it figured out!