When you”re ready to start lugging around either your newborn, or your 2 year old, you”re going to want to get very comfortable with the rules around.  If you fail to follow these rules, you may find that you”re going to get yourself in a lot of trouble!

Yes, when you”re ready to take your child out on a trip, you”re going to find that every state is going to vary with their laws.  This is why its important that you look into your state.  Now, if you”re going to be traveling across the country, you will have to abide by all rules.

How can I find the child car seat laws for my state?

You can either check with your local DMV or if you want, you can also check out third party sites as well.  Websites such as About.com have a fantastic page listing the laws state by state.

What is an example of a law?

Lets take California for an example.  Your car seat is going to have to be federally approved and the child must be in a car / booster seat until they reach the age of 6 years of age, or 60 pounds, whichever may come first.   If the child is under the age of 16, they must always wear their safety belt.

On average, you”re going to find that each state is going to require that your child sits in a car seat when they are under the ages of 4-6.  They may also require that they stay in a car seat under a certain weight as well.   Again, you may want to play it safe.  Just because the law states that you don”t need a car seat, you  may find that you will feel more comfortable keeping your child in a booster car seat for a little while longer.

What is recommended?

Many experts will tell you that you should keep your child in a car / safety seat until they are about 8 years of age. Once they reach 4 feet-ish, you will find that they can be seated with a lap belt.

If you want to get more information in regards to car seat safety, also check with the NHTSA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.’,