Child Safety Seats

I decided to do a timeline based on the age of a child vs the date/time. I was interested to see how many car seats a family has to buy throughout the course of a child's life.


Up to 22lbsInfant Car Seat...

An infant uses this car seat from birth til the baby reaches the seat's height and weight limits. When your baby reaches the seat's limits, which may be as soon as 6 to p months of age, you'll need to switch to a convertible car seat in order to keep them rear facing at least until their first birthday.

25-25lbs
Convertible Seats...

is rear-facing until a baby is at least 1 yr old 22 lbs or more. Research shows that babies are safest in a rear facing orientation so it's best to keep them that way as long as you can. When a baby meets the seat's limits in the rear-facing mode, switch the seat around, and use it front facing until the toddler meets the limits for the forward facing seat.

40-80 lbs

Forward Facing Seats...

is an alternative to a front-facing convertible seat, some seats are forward-facing only. This front-facing only seat is used with an internal harness for toddlers. The internal harness can then be removed and the forward- facing seat can be used as a belt positioning booster from 40-80lbs depending on the model.

90+ lbs

Booster Seat....

When a child meets the weight and height limits of the harness system, it's time for a belt positioning or standard booster seat for the child. Boosters raise a child up in the vehicles seat to allow the seat belt to pass correctly across their sternum and low across the child's upper thigh area. Both use the vehicle's safety belt to restrain the child.

57+ in
Seat Belts...

are used when the child is tall enough to use the car's safety belts typically at least 57 inches and between 8 and 12 years old, and can ride with just a car's safety belts. Even with a seat belt, all children under the age of 13 should ride in the back seat.