Unsafe clothing for children in car seats

As parents we all want to ensure our children are comfortable and warm enough. But there are certain items of clothing that are dangerous for your child to wear in their car seat.

Coats/hoods/bibs/thick or slippery clothing can all affect the fit of a child’s car seat. To work in a crash, the car seat’s harness must be tight.

What your child wears could also lead to overheating.

What clothes children should not wear in their car seat:

Coats, fleeces, snowsuits, thick clothing - if your child had these on and you tighten the harness, you might think the harness is tight but in a crash that padding will compress and create space where your child could be thrown out of the car seat. The added material also prevents the harness from sitting correctly

Puddlesuits and waterproofs should not be worn in the car, the slippery material interferes with the harness doing its job. They can also lead to overheating as they are not very breathable!

Hats can slip down over a baby’s face and also lead to overheating.

Bibs also prevent the harness from sitting correctly.

What you can do to keep little ones warm:

• Start the car and get the heating on before getting children in.
• Place a blanket over your child in their car seat - this can then be removed to prevent overheating - or use the Ponko Car Seat Blanket. 
• Your child should be dressed in ‘indoor clothes’ for the car, think thin layers rather than thick bulky clothing.

This advice is also relevant to us adults using car seat belts too! Remove bulky coats/jackets before buckling up, the extra padding can mean the seatbelt isn't tight enough and there have been cases where adults are ejected from the car seat because of this.