Free baby car seats for mothers who give birth at KKH

KK Women's and Children's Hospital will offer complimentary car seats to babies born at the hospital.

This is the first such initiative in Singapore and is part of a programme to reduce the risk of child road traffic injuries.

Dr Ronald Tan, senior consultant at KKH Department of Emergency Medicine, shared that the hospital attends to approximately 400 children for injuries from road traffic accidents.

These can have lifelong consequences such as impairing their mobility or even threatening their life. Such injuries could have been prevented with the right precautions, such as having car seats.

"The need for families to have greater awareness of the effectiveness of car seats in saving lives has never been more crucial," said Dr Tan.

A study on children and adolescents with road traffic injuries found that more than half were not in a child car seat during the incident.

Another study on the use of child car seats revealed a lack of knowledge in the installation and proper use of such seats, with some citing inconvenience and high cost as reasons for not using child car seats despite it being mandated by law.

"We want to lay a strong foundation for a safer environment that ensures a child's safety and well-being from infancy through adulthood."

Dr Tan added that the initiative will equip families with the knowledge, resources and support they need to ensure their child's safety on the road.

Parents will be invited to register their interest to loan a complimentary car seat for their baby's first year during their antenatal checkup. Alternatively, they can also sign up at https://for.sg/buckleupbaby.

KKH will arrange for the parents to collect the car seat by their third trimester checkup, to allow sufficient time to familiarise themselves with the seat prior to the baby's delivery.

Additionally, parents will have access to a Child Passenger Safety Expert to learn more on the effectiveness of car seats.