I interviewed Kapi’olani Medical Center’s Injury Prevention Specialist, Lisa Dau, about booster seats today. When to move into one, how to install the different types into your car, how to secure your child properly and when it’s time to move out of the booster.
How To Install & Secure Your Child in a Backless Booster Seat
- Put the booster seat centered in the seat in your car (in the back seat).
- Child will sit on the booster seat. This boosts the child up so the seat belt will fit them properly.
- Bring the seat belt across the hips and through the belt pathway.
- Make sure the seat belt is not tangled and lies flat.
- The seat belt should be below the arm rests of the booster seat.
- The shoulder portion goes under on the side closest to the buckle and across the child’s chest and over the shoulder.
- Make sure your child is not putting their seat belt down below, across to the other side, behind their back or across their neck. These are all unsafe positions with no upper body protection. If your child does this, they may not be ready for a booster seat and you may want to consider putting them back into the harness system.
- Make sure the head restraint / head rest is behind your child’s head. If there is no head restraint, you will want to consider using a high back booster seat or forward-facing car seat instead.
More Car Seat Blogs (Vlogs) — List will be updated as I complete each video in the series
Infant Car Seats: Proper Installation
Infant Car Seats: Attaching Your Infant Correctly
Rear-Facing Convertible Car Seats: Attaching Your Toddler Correctly
Rear-Facing Convertible Car Seats: Installing Them Properly
Car Seat Safety Series: Where to get a FREE Car Seat Check Up
Booster Seats: Is My Child Ready?
