why do american websites recommend rolled up towel to get better fit?

[horseymum]

...if the car seat causes the baby's head to loll forwards and British sites never mention this. I say this because our car seat looks quite tipped towards the back of the car and I can see that a rolled up towel as recommended in America, placed under seat at back ie near the actual join of car seat back and seat would help matters.

[Mishee]

I bought a thingy for this purpose, possibly from Jojo Mamn Bebe which is like a soft towel with a rolled up bit going round the top i=bit with a cat's face or something like that. I know I have described this terribly. When DD fell asleep it supported her head. I also used it in her pushchair to stop her head lolloping about.

[TruthSweet]

They use a rolled towel or a pool noodle to fill the space in the bight* of the car seat to get the correct angle for installing a rear facing child seat. Quite a lot of American car seats have level indicators to tell you if the angle is ok. The recommended angle is 45 degrees.

Here is a article on how to judge to angle of the car seat.

Here is a Sit Rite which makes it a bit easier!

*bight = the crease where the bottom of the back of the car seat meets the back of the seat portion of the car seat

[horseymum]

Thanks for that truthsweet, wonder why it is not recommended here as it seems to make sense. we have got pool noodles we can use if necessary.

[TruthSweet]

I really don't think the UK is as clued in to car safety as the Americans.

In the US:-

They have trained Child Passenger Safety Technicians who offer checks on car seat installs and advice to parents. They are trained by SafeKids and places like WalMart/Babies'r'us have mandatory CPST training for the staff that work in car seat depts.

Manufacturers LISTEN to consumers and when they want high rear facing (ERF) limits for convertibles (seats like Britax 1st Class) they get in to a limit raising 'war' with other companies to get the highest limits. They raise limits on seats to accommodate high weight harnessing (HWH) in response to parents requests.

You can get mainstream (i.e. not specialist/special needs) car seats that rear face to 45LBS (20kg) and harness to 80lbs (36kg).

Federal law says no rear facing before 1 years old AND 20lbs (9kg).

American Association of Paediatricians recommend rear facing 2 y/o AND 30lbs (13kg) or limits of seat (between 30-45lbs depending on make/model).

In the UK:-

No official standard of training or recognised qualification in car seat safety.

Manufacturers don't want to give consumers choice over rearfacing/forward facing car seats and force them to buy imported rfing seats.

No seat except special needs seats or TWE that harness past 18kg.

UK law doesn't specify what age as a minimum for forward facing just a weight (9kg).

I think the UK could learn some lessons from Scandinavia (extended rear facing to 4-6 y/o) and some from the US (higher harnessing weights 65-80lbs [30-36kg])

and breathe.........