For Patients and Families

Hi my name is Taranjeev Walia. I am the community liaison for the Injury Prevention Program at Children's Hospital and I am here to talk about booster seats today and the correct installation of booster seats.

The two different boosters are the backless and the high back. The high back is used when the car or vehicle does not have a head restraint and the backless you can use when the vehicle does have a head restraint.

The booster seat is used for children between the ages of four years-old and eight years-old and most go up to 80 pounds and some go up to 100 pounds.

[Demonstration] Just correctly put it into the seat. There is no having to put a seat belt through it, to install it, or having to latch it. It is basically just to elevate the child.

This is Renata, she is a five-year-old and I am going to show you what she would look like just using just a lap and shoulder belt. You can see that the shoulder belt hits Renata on her neck and the lap belt actually hits her on her stomach. So the booster seat is very easy to use. As you can see Renata is buckling herself into her booster. And as you can see now the lap and shoulder belt fit Renata properly, like they would fit an adult. The shoulder belt hits her on her shoulder and her lap belt hits her on her lower hips and on her thighs. Before it was hitting her on her neck and on her stomach, which could actually cause internal injuries in the event of a crash.

If a booster seat is not properly used for a school-aged child or a child under the height of four feet, nine inches they are at increased risk for both spinal cord and intra-abdominal injuries because the shoulder belt can cut them across the neck and the lap belt, rather than sitting in their lap, can hit them in the abdomen and cause injuries to organs like the liver, the pancreas, the spleen or the colon.

Booster seats can be obtained at most major retailers as well as retailers specializing in children's toys and equipment. They can also be obtained for children in Boston often through different neighborhood clinic programs. So the families of Boston children should consult their provider. The cost range is anywhere from $25.00 on up.

Children's does distribute booster seats as well as other car seats to younger children for the patients in our primary care clinics.

If your child refuses to sit in a booster seat and says that you're making them feel or act like baby then you tell them that a booster seat is actually a big kid's seat, not a baby seat, and that it helps to not only keep them safe in the car but it helps them to look out the window. You also make it clear that it's a non-negotiable situation; if they do not sit in the booster seat then they do not ride in the car.

Children's supports the booster seat legislation because booster seats lower the risk of injury by about 60% compared to the use of just seat belts alone.

The new law, which goes into effect July 2008, says that children from the age of four to eight years-old, or up to four feet, nine inches in height, must be restrained in a vehicle with use of a booster seat.

The new legislation is very important because we have realized that, and studies have shown, that a family's awareness and compliance with use of something like a booster seat greatly increases when it becomes a law.