New Health Canada guidelines for carseat usage

[hipmaman]

Lean, but good and pertinent info and weight-centric rather than age :thumbsup:

http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/kids/choosing-a-car-seat/

 

[mommycat]

Wow, I *really* like that chart! Not only does it say it is safest to stay in each stage as long as possible, it plots out the stages well:
Rearfacing: birth to 20kg (44lbs)
FF harness: 10kg-30kg (22lbs-65lbs)
Booster: 20kg-36kg (45lbs-80lbs) and the bar also continues into the "above 80lbs" range
Seatbelt: >36kg (>80lbs)

 

[canadiangie]

HC would like to see children in a 5 point harness to 45lbs if possible?

 

[mommycat]

It does appear that they would like kids to be solidly over 40lbs before switching to a booster, which I do usually recommend when advising parents.

Of course by that chart, DS1 would still have to be harnessed at 6yo and 42lbs - and he isn't even at the bottom of the percentiles, so a lot of kids would have to wait even longer.

 

[mam521]

This may have come at a perfect time - we have friends with a little guy the same age as my son who's about to outgrow his infant seat. I don't think Mom and Dad have a clue about proper carseat use...

 

[snowbird25ca]

HC would like to see children in a 5 point harness to 45lbs if possible?

I'm betting that it was a weight conversion thing. But it is important that kids are staying over 40lbs before moving to a booster. The kid who waffles between 39 and 41 lbs depending on the day should ideally still be in a harness until their light day is 40lbs. Of course for parents who have a seat with a 40lb limit that kind of makes things hard, but thankfully more and more seats have higher weight limits than that and most parents won't face that decision.

 

[canadiangie]

I'm betting that it was a weight conversion thing. But it is important that kids are staying over 40lbs before moving to a booster. The kid who waffles between 39 and 41 lbs depending on the day should ideally still be in a harness until their light day is 40lbs. Of course for parents who have a seat with a 40lb limit that kind of makes things hard, but thankfully more and more seats have higher weight limits than that and most parents won't face that decision.

You think that when they converted kgs to lbs something got mixed up?

45lbs is a huge jump.. like that could be 2-3 more years in a harness for some kids.

hmmmm.

 

[snowbird25ca]

You think that when they converted kgs to lbs something got mixed up?

45lbs is a huge jump.. like that could be 2-3 more years in a harness for some kids.

hmmmm.

Yes, I think they just messed something up. There's technically 2.2lbs in a kilo - but it's easy to just do the math as 2lbs... then if you're sticking the kg in to a kg to lb conversion to get a precise #, you end up with 45lbs. Though who really knows...

I do know that all booster seats still have a 40lb minimum, and while it may be prudent to encourage 45lbs for the younger kids, I wouldn't encourage 45lbs with a 6yr old - as far as I'm concerned when those 6yr old kids hit 40lbs they're fine in a booster provided there's no special circumstances involved. And given the regular communication I have with TC, I'm sure I'd have been told if there was a change in recommendations on that point.

I'll send an email off and ask about it though. I'm always willing to entertain the possibility of change - but I know this isn't related to the changes in standards at any rate.

 

[tam_shops]

Is this the new HC recommendation or law?

It's the first print info I've seen w/ the 22#FF information on it.

Only math slight I see is that 20kg is 44.1#, right? Or did I miss more?

tam

 

[snowbird25ca]

Is this the new HC recommendation or law?

It's the first print info I've seen w/ the 22#FF information on it.

Only math slight I see is that 20kg is 44.1#, right? Or did I miss more?

tam

HC is trying to break down the different stages to make it easier for people to reference what type of seat they should be selecting for their child..

There is an error with the ff'ing to booster line. I've emailed somebody about it so just a matter of waiting to see what I hear back about it.

The 22# ff'ing reflects the new CMVSS 213 standards.

 

[tam_shops]

Thanks Trudy, I like 45# for booster use, what a great idea, lets hope it's not an error! OR is the point that some long torso skinny kids, will outgrow even a Frontier before 45#? Though, I guess, even that would only be a problem if it were a law vs suggested best practice...

tam

 

[snowbird25ca]

I don't know how long it will take but it's going through the "channels" - I've heard back and the chart is an error and should read 18kg/40lbs.

40lbs is an appropriate weight to have in my opinion - I know my dd didn't hit 40 lbs until around her 5th birthday and my ds will be the same way. To be honest, I wouldn't raise the recommendation to 45lbs across the board even if I could - for the parents with heavier kids, that 5lbs isn't much difference, and for the parents with light or average kids, it could be another year or even 2 harnessed where they don't need to be harnessed... Just my honest 2 cents.