By Peggy Feng, M.D.

Since February includes both Valentine’s Day and National Child Passenger Safety Week, this is a perfect time to show our children we love them by ensuring they are protected when driven in a vehicle or flying in an airplane.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) publishes and updates information on car safety seats. A recent guide, "AAP Car Safety Seats: a Guide for Families," includes the following reminders and steps you can take to keep your child safe as a passenger, whether he or she is a newborn, infant or older child.

• Infants under age 1 and who weigh less than 20 pounds should ride in a rear-facing car seat, starting from their first trip home from the hospital. Once beyond this minimum requirement, infants should ideally continue to ride in a rear-facing car seat until they reach the maximum weight or height allowed by the car seat manufacturer.
  
  
• Once a child reaches age 1 and weighs more than 20 pounds, he or she can use a forward-facing seat. The AAP recommends that parents continue this seating arrangement until their child is approximately 40 pounds, a weight typically achieved around age 4.
  
  
• The AAP also recommends booster seats for children who have outgrown their forward-facing car seat. To determine if a child should graduate to a booster seat, check if the child’s weight or height exceeds the manufacturer-recommended limits for the seat, if the child’s shoulders extend above the top harness slots and if the child’s ears reach the top of the seat. Any one of these signs means the forward-facing car seat is too small.
  
  
• When an adult seat belt fits a child correctly, the shoulder belt should extend across the middle of the chest and shoulder — not across the child’s neck or throat. In addition, the lap belt should fit across the upper thighs — not across the stomach. Finally, the child should be able to sit against the seat back without slouching while buckled in.

Additional child passenger safety tips include:

• When flying, parents can use most infant seats aboard the plane but not booster seats, which airlines prohibit. Child restraints are recommended until age 4, when the child can begin to use a regular airplane seatbelt. The label on the infant car seat will specify if the seat is approved for use on an airplane. If not, parents can purchase restraints made specifically for airplane use that are approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.
  
  
• Do not share seat belts ("double buckle") in a car or plane. This defeats the purpose of protecting your child adequately from injury.
  
  
• Tucking a seatbelt under a child’s arm or behind a child’s back does not protect the child's upper body in an accident.
  
  
• If you are unsure as to whether you have installed a safety seat correctly, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has compiled a list of certified child passenger safety technicians sorted by state or zip code. Visit the NHTSA's Child Safety Seat Inspection Locator to find a safety technician near you. Seatcheck.org also maintains an online list of seat inspection stations. Visit seatcheck.org or call 1-866-SEATCHECK (1-866-732-8243) to learn more.
  
  
• The NHTSA has created a detailed list of car safety seat features that allows parents and caregivers to find the best seat to suit their child's needs. Visit the NHTSA Web site's Child Safety Seat Ease of Use Ratings page to view the latest list.

Dr. Feng is a pediatrician at PAMF's Fremont Center.