Anything that did not come with the car seat (aftermarket products like shoulder pads, infant inserts, etc.) should NEVER be added to the car seat it can compromise the effectiveness of the car seat and will void the warranty in the event of an accident. Make sure your child's chest piece is at armpit level, if it's below it can cause serious internal organ damage, and if it's too high it can smash airways. Armpit level is rule of thumb, ribs help protect your child from those types of injuries occurring in the event of an accident.

    Make sure you do the pinch test at their shoulder straps. If you can pinch the shoulder straps then they are too loose and need to be tightened. Also NEVER put your child in a car seat with a thick jacket, this will prevent the straps from being as tight as they need to be and can result in a child flying out of the car seat. Make sure shoulder straps are not twisted. For rear-facing children shoulder straps need to be adjusted to come from at or below the child's shoulders, for forward-facing shoulder straps need to come from at or above shoulders. Every child needs to be within the height and weight limits of their car seat.  A child's head should never go above the car seat. Read your manuals height and weight limits for forward-facing and rear-facing. I strongly recommend rear facing your child until they reach the weight and height limit for rear-facing, it's 5x safer. If you cannot rear-face that long then at least until the age of 2 (some states are starting to make this a law). 

As far as installing your particular car seat, read the manual and Google installation videos to help you if you need the help. Make sure your car seat moves less than an inch in the belt path, that's how tightly it should be installed.

I've tried my hardest not to miss anything! I will be posting very very helpful pictures below to help any confusion and to cover anything I may have missed, I just wanted to get the basics and most important things in.  

I will try to post this in every topic it relates to.

  Anything that did not come with the car seat (aftermarket products like shoulder pads, infant inserts, etc.) should NEVER be added to the car seat it can compromise the effectiveness of the car seat and will void the warranty in the event of an accident. Make sure your child's chest piece is at armpit level, if it's below it can cause serious internal organ damage, and if it's too high it can smash airways. Armpit level is rule of thumb, ribs help protect your child from those types of injuries occurring in the event of an accident.

    Make sure you do the pinch test at their shoulder straps. If you can pinch the shoulder straps then they are too loose and need to be tightened. Also NEVER put your child in a car seat with a thick jacket, this will prevent the straps from being as tight as they need to be and can result in a child flying out of the car seat. Make sure shoulder straps are not twisted. For rear-facing children shoulder straps need to be adjusted to come from at or below the child's shoulders, for forward-facing shoulder straps need to come from at or above shoulders. Every child needs to be within the height and weight limits of their car seat.  A child's head should never go above the car seat. Read your manuals height and weight limits for forward-facing and rear-facing. I strongly recommend rear facing your child until they reach the weight and height limit for rear-facing, it's 5x safer. If you cannot rear-face that long then at least until the age of 2 (some states are starting to make this a law). 

As far as installing your particular car seat, read the manual and Google installation videos to help you if you need the help. Make sure your car seat moves less than an inch in the belt path, that's how tightly it should be installed.

I've tried my hardest not to miss anything! I will be posting very very helpful pictures below to help any confusion and to cover anything I may have missed, I just wanted to get the basics and most important things in.  

I will try to post this in every topic it relates to.