Car Seat Lessons from Britney Spears
Monday May 15, 2006
When I started writing about baby products, I never imagined that I'd write about Britney Spears. Twice. The singer, who was widely criticized in February for driving without putting her infant son in a car seat, was recently photographed driving her convertible with her young son in the back seat, facing forward. What's the problem? Sean Preston Spears, who was born in September 2005, he is not yet a year old, and should still be in a rear-facing car seat. Babies should remain rear-facing until at least one year old and 20 pounds, because their necks are not strong enough to withstand crash forces when facing forward.
As a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician, this car seat photo also concerns me because it appears that the car seat harness is fairly loose, allowing the baby to slump so far down. Improperly adjusted harness straps can result in a baby being ejected from the vehicle in a crash.
Since Britney Spears has come under such scrutiny for her car seat troubles lately, I'd also like to point out what she did right in the most recent photo. First, her son is in a car seat, which is a great improvement over February's car seat gaffe. Second, the Britax car seat she's using in the photo has a great track record for safety and ease of use, and it has a rear-facing weight limit of at least 30 pounds.
More than half of all car seats are used incorrectly, according to NHTSA, which means Britney Spears isn't the only parent who struggles to use car seats to protect her child on the road. Car seats are the most important baby products you'll buy, but when used incorrectly, a car seat may not be able to protect your baby in a crash.
As a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician, this car seat photo also concerns me because it appears that the car seat harness is fairly loose, allowing the baby to slump so far down. Improperly adjusted harness straps can result in a baby being ejected from the vehicle in a crash.
Since Britney Spears has come under such scrutiny for her car seat troubles lately, I'd also like to point out what she did right in the most recent photo. First, her son is in a car seat, which is a great improvement over February's car seat gaffe. Second, the Britax car seat she's using in the photo has a great track record for safety and ease of use, and it has a rear-facing weight limit of at least 30 pounds.
More than half of all car seats are used incorrectly, according to NHTSA, which means Britney Spears isn't the only parent who struggles to use car seats to protect her child on the road. Car seats are the most important baby products you'll buy, but when used incorrectly, a car seat may not be able to protect your baby in a crash.
Comments
I’m pretty tired of hearing about Brittany Spears and what a horrible mother she is. My son weighed nearly 33 pounds at his first birthday and hadn’t fit properly in his infant carrier car seat for quite some time. I kept him in it to keep crazy people like the ones hounding Brittany off of my back. Why don’t we see how Michael Jackson who dangled his baby over a balconey had his baby restrained? Probably not at all. The poor kid is probably in porn by now.
Why don’t we keep our noses out of everyone elses business and leave Brittany alone?