no coats in carseats?

[I.Dup.]

Martha, I just have to say you are very BRAVE and I enjoy your posts!

[AdventureMoms]

You know, I don't know. My kids are older than most here. The carseat is part of the car like all the other seats. I imagine you're supposed to replace all of your seatbelts in an accident, so you'd replace those too.

 

Hey, I wonder if the plastic in ALL of the seatbelt buckles expires and should be replaced periodically? Everyone is spun p about the breakdown of three-year-old plastic seats, but 5-10 year old buckles that restrain 10 times the weight of the average baby are never mentioned.

 

 

5-10 years is about the same range that we're worried about for expired seats. Seats generally expire 6-9 years from manufacture (depending on the seat).

 

I do wonder about old seatbelts too.

[Murphy101]

In many states you will get a ticket if everyone does not have a seatbelt. Even if one does not do that for the safety issue many police will pull people over for that and that alone.

 

Which is rather irrelevant. I said if I needed to do it, I'd do it bc I needed to do it. If my van broke down and the only way I could get all the kids home was a vehicle that meant some of us had to sit in the floor or in the bed of the pick up, then that's what I'd do and whether I might get a ticket or not would not make a lick of difference to the fact that it was the transport available.

 

Everything is relative but I find it rather ridiculous to refer to adhering to carseat regulations and recommendations as "fear mongering" and "paranoia"

 

I don't think it ridiculous at all. Regulations and recommendations can be stupid and impractical and even when they aren't, there are exceptions to every rule. A recommendation that I shouldn't cover my kid with a blanket or wear a coat in the car bc of the unlikely event it might kill them is fear mongering and paranoia. A regulation that they not be in a cart bc of the unlikely event that a 3 foot or less fall might kill them or do serious injury is fear mongering and paranoia.

 

Can it happen? Sure.

Is it so likely that I should have fear about it? Obviously I don't think so.

 

I don't mind if some other mom is more fearful than I am. I get it. We all love our kids and want them safe.

 

I do mind if other moms think the tight circle they draw around their kid should be the same for everyone or those other parents aren't good parents.

[raceNzanesmom]

I always say, the #1 way to keep kids safe while driving is to drive carefully. The risk of a kid getting seriously hurt while mom is driving properly is tiny. The idea of living our daily lives as if we could be in a 100mph head-on collision on the way to school is frankly ridiculous. If you know a tip and it's feasible to apply, fine. If not, don't lose sleep over it.

 

 

I wouldn't call fatal crashes rare. Until recently, car crashes were the #1 killer of kids. When improperly buckled it doesn't take a high speed crash to kill or seriously injure. Fewer kids now die in crashes because of better education (teaching proper installation and use of car seats, keeping kids rear facing longer, booster use, etc) and better vehicle construction. Many do still, however, die or become seriously injured that could have been prevented by being properly restrained. Being a good driver is, obviously, a good thing. However, people (kids and adults) will die today because someone else wasn't.

 

Not wearing a puffy coat in a harnessed car seat is just one way to reduce the chance of injury. As for being cold, we're in Iowa, my 8 y/o has never worn a heavy coat in his harness or booster and he's always been warm. If you you consider it important you'll figure out a way. The same for keeping everyone properly buckled or anything else you deem important. When it matters to you you'll figure out a way. I don't mean that in a snarky way, these types of threads just bother me. As an educated CPS tech I find it ridiculous that we have to have laws to keep our kids safe. Seems to me that should be a priority to all adults without the need for a law. Sadly, that isn't the case.

[raceNzanesmom]

FYI the chest clip is just there are a positioner, it is not there for keeping the kid from flying out, in a major accident it likely will break, it is not designed as a safety measure to keep them in the seats, in fact they are illegal in most European countries.

 

Correct. Chest clips are there as a PRE-crash positioning device (to help keep the harness straps in proper position before the crash). They are not there to hold a child in.

 

If in doubt, do the coat check on your child like in the video (page 1, I think). Place the child with coat snuggly in the harness, take child out without adjusting the harness, take coat off, place child back in the harness without adjusting the harness. If the harness is still snug (can't be pinched at the collar bone) then your coat is fine.

[sleepymommy]

When my boys were babies and we lived in the N.E., they would where a fleece zip up coverall. It covered their feet hands and head. I would put a blanket around their baby carseat and take them to the car. If we were going to be out and about for some time in a stroller I had a very thick, warm shearling stroller cover that they would be toasty in.

 

After around age 2 and still to this day, I buy them the parkas from Lands End. I remember reading a long time ago that these were safe to wear in car seats. They are not puffy yet they are very warm.

 

They never liked wearing coats in the car anyway though. Once they were old enough to easily take them off they did. I try to warm up the car in advance so that it's not too cold in there.

[Kirch]

But isn't it also the "rule" that infants aren't supposed to be covered with puffy blankets?

 

 

I've seen you mention this a couple of times. The only "rule" about not using blankets with babies that I've ever heard is not to use blankets in the crib/while baby is sleeping because it's a suffocation risk. I've never heard that using one at any other time is a problem as long as there's no danger of suffocation. Maybe no one else has heard the "never use a blanket" rule & that's why you're not getting a response?

My kids' carseats do have grippy rubbery straps, incidentally. I remember those integrated carseats from a few years ago, but haven't seen any in any newer cars. I wonder why they went out of style?

 

I don't know--we had them in our mini van which has, sadly, passed on to smoother roads in the sky. I LOVED the built-in harnesses and would be thrilled if we were able to get another vehicle equipped with them by the time dd is big/old enough to use one.