As Safety Leaders, Britax recommends keeping your children in a rearward facing restraint for as long as possible (rear for a year at least!), depending on when they have exceeded the upper height markers on their current child car seat. While parents are legally able to turn their children's restraint to forward facing at six months, there are studies that show that it is far safer to keep them rear facing for longer. To find out specific laws on child restraints in your area, head to your local roads and traffic authority website. Tip: Laws on car seats can differ slightly in different states and territories. "They’ve changed Australian legislation so you can rear-face a child up to four and harness children till about eight years of age – it’s now about trying to change how people think about it." "I’m really passionate about best practice, our laws in Australia are quite minimal – we turn babies at six months old in Australia, which is the youngest of almost any developed nation," she said. Lauren Moloney installs car seats in Western Australia as a community service, and she said most people weren't aware they could keep their children rear-facing for longer. Only move your child out of their seat when they have exceeded the upper height markers on their current restraint and can no longer sit comfortably in it - keeping them rear-facing for longer which is so much safer. However, it’s important to remember that age is a guide, and the height of the child is a better indicator of when your child is ready to turn forward facing or change into their next seat.
But this legislation also states that children can be kept in rear-facing car seats until they are four years old. Research, outlined below, shows that keeping your child in a rear facing seat is the safer option, with experts saying parents should keep them facing this way as long as possible.Īnd there are many new restraints on the market that assist in making this possible.Īustralian law mandates babies up to six months need to be in rear-facing restraints. There can be some confusion over which restraints are right for your child, with forward facing and rear facing options available for children after the age of six months. That especially extends to car travel, where child restraints are vital to ensure children are safely protected in the advent of a road incident.
Some car seat newborn inserts state a weight limit on them, and your child seat instruction booklet may also give guidance on removing the newborn inserts from the seat.Why Extended Rear Facing Seats Are The Safer Option Share onĪll parents want their children to be as safe as possible, for as long as possible. When you remove the insert, make sure that the harness straps are still level with or just below your baby’s shoulders you may need to re-adjust the straps to fit your baby properly. When you remove the cushion from under the baby, it will ‘drop’ them down in the seat, giving them more room to grow. If you take the car seat newborn inserts out too soon, it can cause baby to sit too low in the seat and not fit in the harness (as seen below) The head hugger helps support the baby’s head, and if your seat comes with a cushion, it will lift the baby up to allow them to lie in a more natural position and will help prevent them becoming ‘scrunched over’.Īs time goes on and your baby grows, the newborn cushion and head hugger can be removed this is generally between 5-6 months of age. The inserts also help ensure that babies fit in the harness, so they can be properly strapped in. The purpose of the car seat newborn insert is to provide additional support and padding to a newborn baby when they are using the seat. These are either a 'head hugger' and cushion (which is under the baby to lift them up) or just the head hugger on its own.
Almost all group 0+ infant car seats come with a newborn insert.