Eight months into my pregnancy, I took a drive to the nearest baby store. Truthfully, I had a budget and I couldn’t go over it. I asked the sales person what I needed, made sure I had enough money, paid and walked out. Once my daughter was 12 months old, weighing a tiny 11 kg, I put her in a forward-facing car seat. I gathered she had grown out of her infant car seat and she was big enough now to be in the next stage up and surely, big enough to face forward.

Starting work at Born Fabulous changed my life

I left my job working in logistics when my daughter was 16 months old and joined Born Fabulous. Not only did my life change in the career sense, but my daughter’s life changed too. On my second day working at Born Fabulous, I was asked to watch a few videos, start learning about different brands, the products available and get to know what the company did and why.

I started working down the list. BeSafe was next. Car seats. I knew this one, I thought. After all, I used one daily.

In a moment, everything I thought I knew about car seats changed:

• There is more than just an infant (group 0+) car seat. You also got car seats for toddlers and children.
• You can protect your baby from day one with a pregnancy seat belt and should deactivate the airbag if you place your child on the front passenger seat.
• Winter jackets should be taken off before placing a child in a car seat.
• Second-hand car seats need to be assessed for any damage and if your car seat has been in an accident, it needs to be replaced.
• Rear-facing car seats are recommended to be used as long as possible: up until age four. Children should be in an appropriate car seat up till the age of 12.
• You have seat belt and ISOFIX base options.
• There are crash test safety ratings and extended rear-facing car seats available.
• Choosing a car has everything to do with the weight and height of a child.
• The straps of a car seat need to be as tight and secured as possible, and the headrest of a car chair should be adjusted regularly to make sure your child is protected.

Changing a car seat for the best

The information available on car seats carried on for what seemed like weeks. Video after video, page after page, I read it all. My mind was completely blown. How had I got it so wrong? I went back to the team with tears. But their reaction was the opposite of what I anticipated: I had made a mistake, yes, but I could change that.

I changed my daughter’s car seat to a rear-facing one that was correct for her height and weight. I promised myself that I will continue to read up about car seat safety and joined support groups on Facebook. There I quickly learned that there are other moms out there just like me who didn’t have the correct knowledge about car seats.

I also learnt that many moms can’t afford car seats but there are organisations that can help. If you would like to know more, read about car seat safety on www.besafe.com or visit a BeSafe retailer.

Discovery Insure clients with Vitality Drive, could get up to 25% off the purchase price of a car seat for their child every year, based on their driving behaviour.