Parents should think of proper car and booster seat use like they do immunization against diseases, says a Halifax pediatric surgeon.

Every parent wants to get their child immunized so they don’t get infections like meningitis, Dr. Natalie Yanchar of the IWK Health Centre said. In turn, having a child safely secured in an appropriate seat is the best thing a parent can do to protect against the leading killer of Canadian children — injuries due to motor vehicle crashes.
""Injuries are not accidents,"" she said. ""Injuries are a disease process like anything else. They have a defined cause and they have a defined way to treat them and they have defined outcomes.""
In an editorial in the latest issue of the journal Pediatrics and Child Health, Dr. Yanchar cites research showing parents, especially those of lower socio-economic status, are often unaware of the standards and proper use of car and booster seats.
There is also often a feeling that the inconvenience of proper installation outweighs the benefits since people feel they are good drivers and crashes won’t happen to them.
""It does happen,"" Dr. Yanchar said. ""You just have to be that one person that ends up in a crash and all of a sudden you realize you’re not fine and your child’s not fine.""
She called on family doctors and pediatricians to know guidelines around car and booster seat use and make sure parents are following those standards.
Dr. Yanchar said it should be a standard part of a child’s checkup.
""Are they eating healthfully? Are they drinking enough milk? Are they in their booster seat? Same thing.""
She said doctors should also lobby government for strong car and booster seat legislation and services like loaner programs to ensure those who can’t afford safety equipment have access to it.
She noted Nova Scotia’s legislation is about the best in the country.
A 2006 study cited in a Canadian Pediatric Society policy statement found only 63 per cent of traveling infants were restrained in an infant seat and only 28 per cent of children aged four to eight properly used forward-facing seats or booster seats.
Sarah Blades, a health promotion specialist with the IWK’s Child Safety Link program, said to best protect children, parents should not rush to change car seat stages.
Children should be in rear-facing car seats as long as possible, according to manufacturer specifications, which may be up to 35 pounds.
Children can then use a forward-facing car seat with a tether and five-point restraints until they weigh up to 65 pounds. Ms. Blades said booster seats can accommodate children as small as 40 pounds, but there’s no hurry to move to them.
Children should use booster seats until they reach 100 pounds or four-foot-nine. Nova Scotia law says children must be in the seats until age nine or four-foot-nine.
Ms. Blades also urged parents to be cautious when considering second-hand car seats. Some things to consider include the expiry date (generally, seats should not be used more than eight years after manufacture), whether the model has been recalled and whether the seat has been involved in a crash.
""It’s a single-impact device,"" she said. ""It’s like a bicycle helmet. Even if you buy your seat new and it is in a crash, you do need to replace that seat.""
The three most common errors in child seat use are:
•The seat is not tightly secured to the vehicle and is able to move more than 2.5 centimeters in any direction.
•The harness is not snug — more than one finger fits between the strap and the child.
•The chest clip is not at armpit level.
(Source: thechronicleherald.com)