Five month old’s head coming forward from the car seat head rest?

[tibby00]

Baby has just turned five months old and I’ve noticed that she is sometimes leaning forwards in the car seat, meaning she is lifting her head forward and out of the car seat. To my alarm, I’ve noticed that when there is some acceleration from the car it’s creating a sort of whiplash effect as the force brings her head back into the rest.

What could be causing this / what setting do we need to change please? Car seat is a Cosatto Acorn. thank you!

Is there a 'newborn insert' and if so, have you removed it? Could be that

I think this is totally normal at this age, as they want to sit up and see :) I doubt anything is wrong. Just normal lovely baby curiosity.

I definitely don't think she is at risk of whiplash from going round corners and normal acceleration. Please don't worry! I presume you are not married to The Stig or something.

You could check if the headrest and straps are at the correct setting - her shoulders should sit just below the headrest, or straps can be either level with shoulders or just below shoulder level. And try to make sure her back is in contact with the seat as you tighten the straps - if she leans forward when you're fastening the buckle, then what can happen is you can sort of end up pinning them into a leaning forward position when you tighten the straps. To encourage her to lean back what I used to do with my children was fasten the buckle with the straps loose, then jangle or scrunch or wiggle something high up above their head which would make them lean back into the seat and reach up for it, and then I could position the straps properly on their shoulders and tighten.

Even if you do all this right, she will probably still lift her head up to see. That's normal :)