Listen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.New Nova Scotia regulations around car seats for kids are being welcomed by some parents, caregivers and a specialist in child safety.As of Monday, children will need be in a rear-facing car seat until they are two years old and weigh more than 22 pounds, and then in a front-facing car seat until they are four years old and more than 40 pounds.Previously, children were only expected to stay rear-facing until age one, and the harnessed forward-facing car-seat rule was only weight-based, at 40 pounds.Thom Smith, who has a nine-month-old daughter, said the change in the law reaffirms the research he and his partner had done on rear-facing seats. He said his child is large for her age, and rear-facing seat options for her size are limited.”I do think it is good to just stay rear-facing for as long as possible, and maybe having new legislation that requires it will put more car seats and options on the table, so that could be good,” said Smith.Some parents keep their children in rear-facing seats passed two years old for safety. (Submitted by Child Safety Link, IWK Health)Jolyn Swain, the owner of Nurtured, a baby boutique store based in Halifax, said she would like to see children rear-facing until age four or even five.”Many of our seats had been extended rear-facing and allowing 40 to 50 pounds rear-facing, and there’s seats that are doing even more than that now,” Swain said.She said it’s great that Nova Scotia is the first province to introduce age-based minimums and it should be a “no brainer” for other provinces to follow suit.Joan MacVicar, who was shopping at the store, said her grandchildren stayed rear-facing until they were at least two years old. “But it’s nice to know that it’s going be followed by everybody,” she said.Children must remain in a front-facing car seat until they are four years old and weigh more than 40 pounds. (Submitted by Child Safety Link, IWK Health)Katherine Hutka, a health promotion specialist with Child Safety Link at IWK Health in Halifax, said as children get older, some parents start to question whether a child’s legs might be too long for rear-facing.But she said the IWK children’s hospital sees more leg injuries in children who are forward-facing during a crash than those who are rear-facing.Hutka said it’s crucial that young children stay rear-facing, because their heads, necks and spines are the most vulnerable. Most crashes have a frontal aspect and for children, who naturally have large heads and weaker necks, that forward motion could be fatal.She said there’s also no rush to move a child from a secure five-point harness and the regulations are important because the child is not responsible for their own safety. If a child is moved to a seat belt and booster seat too soon, Hutka said they could wriggle out or fall asleep and slip under the belt, which could be fatal during a collision. “In this case, we’re going to make sure that [the child] stays in this five-point harness until she is ready developmentally, ready by weight and ready by age to move to that next step,” she said.”You don’t get to choose the day that a crash might happen to you, but you can choose how you’ve buckled your child on that day.”WATCH | Families react to child car seat law changes:Parents welcome N.S. child car seat changesNew rules around child car seats come into effect on Oct. 19 as part of Nova Scotia’s new Traffic Safety Act. Children will now remain in rear-facing seats until they are two years old. As the CBC’s Alex Guye reports, some parents are already following the rules.MORE TOP STORIES
————————————————
Source link
