Knowledge is the first step to success. How to choose the safest car seat for a newborn baby?

There is an unwritten law in Polish hospitals, according to which a parent who does not have a car seat for a child will not leave the facility. In practice, however, there are various situations, especially when the happy mom and dad want to be home with their newborn as soon as possible. You can meet seats from older siblings (who, incidentally, will be celebrating coming of age in a moment), gondolas from strollers or, finally, carriers from the 3-in-1 set. And while each of these solutions can be rationally explained, none is safe for the newborn baby. Here are some tips for choosing a safe car seat that will save your child's life in the event of a possible accident.

1. Match the car seat to the car, not the stroller

Almost all seats for newborns and infants available on the market, or so-called "shells", have the ability to fit on the frame of the stroller with the help of special adapters. At 3Kiwi we also have these. This extremely convenient solution, especially when the child falls asleep in the car and the parent needs to pop out for a quick shopping trip. This is because you can take the car seat out of the car and put it on the rack without waking up the toddler. The problem begins when adaptation to a particular stroller model becomes so important that it almost completely obscures the seat's key function. And it is meant to protect your baby's delicate body and neck while riding in the car. You don't have to have an accident - sometimes all it takes is harder braking for injuries to occur.

2. Decide on the right weight category

According to our country's regulations, newborns and infants should ride in rear-facing seats, and the best weight category for this is 0-13 kg. It includes, for example cybex car seat Cloud Z. Some manufacturers offer carriers in the 0-10 kg or even 0-9 kg category, which significantly reduces the safe time to carry a child backwards. Until recently, children who reached the limiting weight of 9 kgsuch a toddler does not yet have strong enough cervical vertebrae, to keep the head in place in case of jerking. That's why experts recommend driving children in the back up to 4. year old. At 3Kiwi we have the right seats for this - see for yourself!

Better ISOFIX mount or strap mount?

Since 1999, it has been mandatory for every car manufactured to be equipped with a child seat anchors, i.e. the popular ISOFIX. However, there are still much older cars on Polish streets, in which mounting a seatbelt carrier is the only possible option. When installed correctly, each of the outlets shown will ensure the safety of the toddler. It's just worth knowing that mounting a car seat to the straps requires that the straps be pulled as tight as possible, so that in the event of sudden braking or entering a sharp turn, the seat won't slip out of the straps.