How To Install Your Rear Facing Child Safety Seat Using The Latch System
How do I install my rear-facing child safety seat using the LATCH system?
A rear-facing safety seat for a newborn must be at a fourty five degree angle. The way to keep the babies airway open depends on the angle of the safety seat, so that's extremely important for a newborn. When you install the safety seat in the vehicle with LATCH, you're using generally flexible fabric with hooks on each end to attach to the bars, and they usually have a way of tightening them. It is even possible to have LATCH attchments that have an automatic LATCH attachment system. You should put the safety seat in there so tightly that you can not move the safety seat more than an inch to the sides or front of the vehicle. To test this you put your hands on the safety seat near the place where the LATCH attachments go through it, and try to move the seat from side to side or toward the front of the vehicle. Remember that with most rear facing seats, you can push the safety seat up and back towards the back of the vehicle with your finger, so don't worry about that. It means the seat is allowed to rotate toward the back and forward in a collision. The best way to get the safety seat in tightly is to put your weight on the safety seat to compress the vehicles seat cushion. Generally I find that people find it easier if they stand at the back of the safety seat and push it back and down with their legs while they're putting one hand in the seat, using the other to buckle the seat and pull the LATCH attachment tightly.
