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Keeping Your Baby Safe in the Car

Protecting Your Special Needs Baby in the Car

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SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A. the national, non-profit organization dedicated to child passenger safety. Our mission is to help reduce the number of serious and fatal traffic injuries suffered by children by promoting the correct, consistent use of safety seats and safety belts.

Founded in 1980, SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A. is nationally recognized for program excellence, training, and up-to-date technical materials. We provide consultation to advocates, parents, business leaders, the media, and professionals working in the fields of health care, traffic safety, and education.

Stephanie M. Tombrello, L.C.S.W., Executive Director of SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A., has been involved in child passenger safety since 1970. While shopping for a car seat for her infant daughter, she was shocked to learn that most of the models available in stores were unsafe. Stephanie and several other early pioneers in the field successfully petitioned the federal government to require crash testing for child restraints. She also wrote the petition which resulted in the federal requirement for manufacturers to provide shoulder belts in the rear seats of all post-1989 passenger vehicles.

In 1980, Stephanie founded a grassroots organization in the Los Angeles area which evolved to become SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A. Under her leadership, the organization has become the premier resource for child passenger safety in the nation. Stephanie is a nationally certified Child Passenger Safety Technician-Instructor and was appointed in 1995 to the National Blue Ribbon Panel on Child Restraint & Vehicle Compatibility.

Protecting Your Special Needs Baby in the Car

In this video, SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A. Executive Director Stephanie Tombrello explains how to buckle up the expectant mother to protect her unborn baby, how to select the appropriate safety seat for a newborn or older baby, how to prevent injuries from air bags, how to install rear-facing safety seats correctly, and the safest location in the car for the baby. She shows common types of car seat misuse and explains how to keep a fussy baby buckled up. The final segments include a one-minute car safety check and additional safety tips for the whole family.

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Stephanie Tombrello: Hello, I am Stephanie Tombrello, Executive Director of SafetyBeltSafe U.

A. Today we are talking about how to protect our youngest travelers in the car. Some babies have special needs and we want to show you how to transport them safely. Sometimes babies were born with problems that make it impossible for them to ride properly in a rear facing safety seat. If a child has such a challenge and the physician suggest that parents should be looking for a car bed to protect them properly. In a car bed a baby can lie on his or her back, side or tummy and that may make a big difference in comfort and safety in the car.

As children get a little bit older, some of them will fit in a harness system lying flat on the car, if they are too large for using a car bed. There are other issues that develop as children get older. Some children have emotional issues that make it very difficult to keep them in a child restrain and they may need a special harness that fastens up the back, in order to ride safely while being transported in the car. Other children or even infants can end up in a situation in which they break a limb or have to have some surgery and because of that cannot ride in their regular safety seat.

Many youngsters have problems with hips, which leave them to be in cast that are called spica cast. Their legs then stretch out in an angle and they can't bend properly in their regular car seat. These problems which often don't last very long, require the use of a safety seat that is designed with very low sides, so that the cast can be supported, but the child can ride in the car.

Now we have spoken about how to meet the special needs of your baby or small child in the car. Next, I would like to give you a one minute safety check to use after you have installed your safety seat and put your baby in the car.