JAWM: Why Do People Put Babies *IN* the Cart Rather than the Seat?

[Galatea]

I can't remember what age I started allowing them to ride in that part of the cart... My rule for being able to sit in that part is that they must at ALL times be seated. The cart does not move if they are standing up, and they will be removed from the cart if they stand up. Just plain not allowed. If they're sitting in the cart, I think they're as safe as in the seat part (or possibly safer).

 

:iagree:

 

I am exactly like this. I allow her to sit in the cart, but there is no bending on the "seated at ALL times" rule. My daughter didn't sit in the cart until I knew she was old enough to follow that rule.

[butterflymommy]

I'm pretty sure there have been deaths associated with babies/ young children and shopping carts but the only ones that come to mind is an infant in a car seat placed on top of the cart:

 

http://macon.13wmaz.com/news/news/58804-infant-dies-after-falling-out-shopping-cart?hpt=us_bn5

 

I think there have been others, definitely injuries. I am guilty of putting my babies in the front when they're too young to sit up. I lay them in the front part with a blanket and put groceries on the rack underneath the cart, and I walk very slowly.

[Audrey]

Nope. Can't just agree. You're not everybody's mom. Leave your sil alone, and find something else to do with all that outraged energy you've got there.

[ErinE]

I like those car carts. Man, that would have been great as a kid!

 

As an adult, I HATE those car carts! I'm so glad my kids have outgrown them. Trying to maneuver those suckers through a crowded aisle with kids fighting over who's doing the driving made me what to pull my hair out. Plus a full cart and 70+ pounds of kid left me sweating like Richard Simmons dancing to the oldies. I can't count how many times I snagged a shopping cart out of the carousel and raced past the waiting car carts stationed so temptingly at the front of the store. "Oh sorry, kids, Mommy already has a cart. Maybe next time..."

[chepyl]

Did would unbuckle and climb out of the seat into the cart. It was safer to just start her in the basket.

 

 

My funny story...she was apparently hungry at Sams. I bought cucumbers or squash...can't remember....I put them in the seat with her and she picked them up and bit through the plastic to try and take a bite!

[Abigail4476]

Because I had kids close in age. The youngest sat in the seat and the older sat in the cart. Not much of a safety concern if they are sitting. Sorry.

 

 

Totally agree. As long as the child is sitting and the parents are attentive, there's no cause for concern.

 

My dd had legs too long for the seat when she was three. Toddlers don't do well when you're grocery shopping for two hours and they have to walk the whole way.

 

 

This, too. Mine often sat in the cart and looked at a book or played with a toy.

 

I purposely told my kids to never touch that buckle thing. GROSS! It's not like I ever leave the cart.

 

 

Exactly.

[Just Kate]

 

 

As an adult, I HATE those car carts! I'm so glad my kids have outgrown them. Trying to maneuver those suckers through a crowded aisle with kids fighting over who's doing the driving made me what to pull my hair out. Plus a full cart and 70+ pounds of kid left me sweating like Richard Simmons dancing to the oldies. I can't count how many times I snagged a shopping cart out of the carousel and raced past the waiting car carts stationed so temptingly at the front of the store. "Oh sorry, kids, Mommy already has a cart. Maybe next time..."

 

 

I agree about the car carts! And my 40lb 5 year old still loves them. So I try. But it is killing me. (She also regularly rides in the basket of a regular cart when I'm just running to the store for a few items. But she's not 11 months old, so I think the OP would be okay with this.)

 

Speaking of car carts, when we lived in Ohio , the Meijer stores came out with a shopping cart that you paid a dollar for and the kid could watch tv. I swore I was never going to do it, but after passing by so many kids in the store sitting quietly while mom shopped, I caved. It was the best dollar I ever spent! :D

 

[Abigail4476]

This. You also don't have any backstory. Was the kid in the seat and throwing a screaming fit first? How about walking beside and grabbing every.single.thing. off the shelves while she tried to shop, then threw a screaming fit when she decided to corral him in the seat, etc.

 

I'm too busy trying to parent my own kids to pass judgment on what is, or is not acceptable behavior of other parents and their children. Even if I have the *thought*, it's really not my place to say anything about it.

 

ETA: It seems I am also blind to JAWM. I don't like being told what to do, apparently. :tongue_smilie: If I think back to all of the JAWM posts I've posted on, it's almost like a personal dare for me to be contrary to the OP.

 

 

LOL!!!! I didn't even realize what JAWM meant until I read This Post. Oh, well. :D

[fraidycat]

LOL!!!! I didn't even realize what JAWM meant until I read This Post. Oh, well. :D

 

:D I knew what it meant, but honestly did not even see it. I rarely do, until someone points it out again in the actual thread. Usually I open a whole bunch of titles at once in new tabs, and by the time I actually get to the post, I don't even look at the title part anymore and just read the actual post, then decide whether or not I feel like replying. Then, I quite often only read the first few replies or first page, reply, then read the rest of the replies if I have the time or energy.

[Tita Gidge]

I'm barely over 5ft tall. If the cart was on the larger side I could not get my kid back out of the seat. I rarely took them shopping though so it didn't come up much.

 

Me, too! According to my driver's license anyhow. (I may have exaggerated by a few inches, shh!)

 

Except that mine are almost always shopping with me. It's all about the masochism here.

 

My kids have always been on the taller side of average height. One time my son locked his legs, and it came down to me or the cart as I tried to remove his rigid body from the seat portion. I wish I could say that I won that one. Or that we were in an isolated part of the store where nobody I knew saw it (read: me!) go down.

[2squared]

The only shopping cart accident I've had in 10 years of shopping with babies & toddlers is with a walking <1yo strapped into the seat part of the cart. My 4yo put her weight on the handle, the entire cart tipped over, and my baby's face smashed to the floor. Luckily my baby was scared and not injured, but I was beside myself. I have never had an accident with my babies or toddlers in the basket part of the cart.

 

Besides, how many toddlers actually stay in the waist strap - that is if you find a cart with a working strap. If your toddler walks along with you or rides on the front part of the cart, they are guaranteed to run off at some point and the other kids scatter like cats chasing after the toddler. Chaos reigns. The only way to safely and sanely get through grocery shopping is to have the toddler sit in the basket part of the cart.

[FO4UR]

Oh and when they were in a carrier, I put the carrier in the basket not the seat because then I couldn't see over them. LOL

 

 

 

I'm barely 5ft tall...me too.

 

 

I have a totally random/weird/dumb question Chucki. Do you feel weird around very short women? I feel very weird around very tall women. LOL I have always wondered if it goes both ways. I don't mean I think tall women are alien...just that I feel like a little kid next to them. It's kinda weird.

 

 

 

Me too again.

[Tita Gidge]

Hmm. I don't feel weird among tall women!

 

But I grew up where lots of people are short or on the shorter side of average. I didn't realize how short I was until I moved to the mainland.

 

The only time I feel weird around tall people is when they're my kids' peers. I don't think I'll ever get used to that LOL.

[NoseInABook]

It's a necessity if I go to the store alone with my 4 children who are all young and all very close in age. One is strapped on my back, one is in the seat, and two are in the basket with constant reminders to sit down because I don't feel like cleaning up brains that moment.

 

As for the tall women feeling weird around short women, it depends on who it is. Sometimes I don't notice but other times I'm like, "Hey, you reach my belly button! Now I feel like a clumsy giantess...."

[ELITEANDLOVINGIT]

I always wore mine in a wrap...we left the car seat in the car. However, once they were older I would put my dd1 in the basket particularly if she wasn't feeling great and wanted to rest.

[GWOB]

People do what they think is best for their kids. While we may roll our eyes at the parenting decisions of others, it really is none of our business. Tattling to someone's momma because you do not agree with their parenting decisions just makes you look petty. Sorry to be harsh, but there it is.

[KungFuPanda]

THIS is why I bring my own 5-pt-harness system and toddler helmet to the grocery store! I'm shocked at how many defenseless, bare-headed babies I see in grocery carts.

 

 

[MrsBasil]

Sorry Crimson Wife, we're doing a really poor job of following the JAWM. :( Telling your MIL may not have the desired reaction though. She may be annoyed or think it no big deal and it could potentially cause a rift with your SIL.

[swellmomma]

My houdini son would not stay safely in the buckle of the seat, so I started putting him in the back. That became a safe zone for him. He would "help" hold the groceries and as he grew it became where I put him if he would not stay by my side. I started putting him in there before his 1st birthday, so around the time dd was born. SHe would be in the snugli and him int eh basket and the eggs and such in the seat part so he would not break them. He used that basket until he was close to 7, dd used the seat once old enough to actually sit. Otherwise I often start the basket part around 18 months, the typical age my kids have started climbing out of the seatbelt. With the higher sides of the basket I felt safer for them to be back there than standing up in the seat the second my back was turned. The only time we had a cart tip was due to ds standing in the seat part and leaning to grab something while standing. He grabbed the shelf and the whole cart tipped. THankfully I was there(though I had my back turned for a moment grabbing something off the shelf, and as I turned back towards him is when the cart tipped) and was able to break his fall enough that he was more scared than anything. THat day he started sitting in the basket part.

 

As for telling your MIL, you need to butt out. IF you are concerned enough to bring it up, do so with SIL, though I think you need to mind your own dang business about it anyway. You do not go to gramma for anything less than suspected abuse. SHe is not harming her kid, so stay out of it. Running to gramma is a quick way to make you mil and your sil your enemies and trust me, your dh will not be too happy being stuck in the middle of that one.

[Giraffe]

DD rides in the basket (she's 5). Easier than a battle royale while I try to shop with her in the evenings after school when she's dog tired. When she was a wee one we would put her in the basket sometimes with coats and blankets under her so she could sleep while we shopped (separate basket for the goods).

 

DD has always understood there's a strict rule on her bottom making constant contact with the cart. She gets up once, she's out.

 

Not helping with the JAWM, am I?

[happyhomemaker25]

 

As an adult, I HATE those car carts! I'm so glad my kids have outgrown them. Trying to maneuver those suckers through a crowded aisle with kids fighting over who's doing the driving made me what to pull my hair out. Plus a full cart and 70+ pounds of kid left me sweating like Richard Simmons dancing to the oldies. I can't count how many times I snagged a shopping cart out of the carousel and raced past the waiting car carts stationed so temptingly at the front of the store. "Oh sorry, kids, Mommy already has a cart. Maybe next time..."

 

 

LOL, yes! Then there are the double carts where the kids face each other. Who had this bright idea. When we put our toddlers in those seats it was like a UFC cage match!

[Pamela H in Texas]

Ok, I'm just going to ask (for those citing flailing octopus types, not that they are too short or prefer the basket or whatever):

 

You can't control the kid enough to get him into the seat, but you successfully get him to remain seated in the basket?

 

(I'm just not able to figure out a nice way of putting this question)

[Juniper]

Ok, I'm just going to ask (for those citing flailing octopus types, not that they are too short or prefer the basket or whatever):

 

You can't control the kid enough to get him into the seat, but you successfully get him to remain seated in the basket?

 

(I'm just not able to figure out a nice way of putting this question)

 

 

There is more freedom of movement within the basket so most of the flailing (which is usually a response to being tightly cooped up) stops.

 

 

How many young toddlers can sit in an upright position with feet dangling for very long? I am one of those rare people who can remember really far back into my childhood, including riding in the seat of the chart. The edge of the seat would pinch the back of legs and the circulation would be blocked to my feet. There was no way to pull my legs up and get the tingling to stop. In the chart I had the option to move my legs around and reposition my seat.

[Soror]

I think when they are able to stay seated the basket is safer, personally and as previously mentioned when you need to contain 2, one in the basket and one up top works better.

[Murphy101]

THIS is why I bring my own 5-pt-harness system and toddler helmet to the grocery store! I'm shocked at how many defenseless, bare-headed babies I see in grocery carts.

 

 

Oh my... Tell me you're joking... I think you are, but these days on this board, it's hard to tell some times!

 

 

Ok, I'm just going to ask (for those citing flailing octopus types, not that they are too short or prefer the basket or whatever):

You can't control the kid enough to get him into the seat, but you successfully get him to remain seated in the basket?

(I'm just not able to figure out a nice way of putting this question)

 

 

Some kids just hate being buckled in. They aren't fighting sitting, they are fighting being strapped in. Can't say I blame them. I'm not a fan of being bound up either.

 

Also, I don't make them stay seated in the basket. I don't care if they are standing next to me in the basket. Though sometimes the weight of all the stuff in the cart in top of them is moderately effective.

 

And wow. I missed how the OP wanted to tattles to their mother. Good grief. You gotta be kidding me? That sure wouldn't go over well with me as the sil or the grandparent. As the sil, I'd be ticked that either felt they had a right to tell me what to do. As a grandparents, I'd be highly annoyed by tattling and tell you to get over yourself and or speak to her yourself. It better be a big deal if it's worth bringing in grandparents to mediate.

[Crimson Wife]

Well, obviously I must have absolutely bizarre kids :rolleyes: , because I've never had a problem with any of the 3 trying to unbuckle the seat strap or wiggle out or stand up. Not even the autistic one has had any issues with sitting properly when strapped in. IMHO they would be much more likely to try to stand up and climb out if they were permitted to sit in the basket without anything strapping them down.

 

I'm short (5'2") and don't find it difficult to put the child into or take them out of the seat on a standard size grocery cart.

 

SIL does not have multiple kids so it's not an issue of trying to find places for all of them to ride.

 

I guess this is one of those issues (like keeping my kids in booster seats past the legal minimum) where I'm just more cautious than the average mom...

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Never mind.

[Murphy101]

I guess this is one of those issues (like keeping my kids in booster seats past the legal minimum) where I'm just more cautious than the average mom...

 

Yes! You get it! That's it exactly.

 

So go be that way with your kids.

 

MYOB about other people's kids. No one said that people who don't put their kids in the basket must have more compliant kids. What they, or at least I, said was that they don't have a problem with the basket and some find it easier.

[Lolly]

Well, obviously I must have absolutely bizarre kids :rolleyes: , because I've never had a problem with any of the 3 trying to unbuckle the seat strap or wiggle out or stand up. Not even the autistic one has had any issues with sitting properly when strapped in. IMHO they would be much more likely to try to stand up and climb out if they were permitted to sit in the basket without anything strapping them down.

 

I'm short (5'2") and don't find it difficult to put the child into or take them out of the seat on a standard size grocery cart.

 

SIL does not have multiple kids so it's not an issue of trying to find places for all of them to ride.

 

I guess this is one of those issues (like keeping my kids in booster seats past the legal minimum) where I'm just more cautious than the average mom...

 

 

Not bizarre, just easier or perhaps more compliant, most likely yours just didn't mind the seat or sitting in it. Honestly, kids aren't any safer in the seat than the basket. I found the basket to be safer because mine did stand up in the seat. They are much less likely to fall out of the basket standing up than the tiny seat. With one of mine, I had a 5 pt harness that I did carry with me everywhere. That child was 5 pted into her stroller, the grocery cart, and her high chair. The sad thing is even that wasn't extremely reliable. She could still get out of it sometimes. I must say though, that one was actually a very easy baby/toddler. She just didn't like to sit.

[melmichigan]

I watched for aisles as this young toddler leaned over the bars of the basket at Sam's Club a few years ago, and I worried, even said something to my DH. I didn't say anything because the parents were well aware of it. She fell out of the cart onto her head on the concrete floor and I had to help evaluate her while on the phone with 911. Would the parents have done differently if I'd said something? I think not. I'm more conservative with many things when it comes to my children, like carseats since it's been mentioned, and that's ok with my kids, but I have to remember not to try and broadcast those feelings on to other people and their children.

[Giraffe]

 

what? i liked what you said originally!

 

 

Me too....

[Joanne]

OP, I hear that you are concerned about safety. That is very loving of you.

 

I would not suggest you talk to your relative, either directly or indirectly. Safety standards are not always absolutes.

 

(((Hugs))) on the way we ditched your JAWM request.

[Crimson Wife]

Oh, I keep my mouth shut *ALL THE TIME* when it comes to how DH's sister is raising her DS. When she drank alcohol during her pregnancy (in small amounts), when she decided to stop nursing after only a couple of weeks, when she decided to "Ferberize" him, etc. etc. I mentally winced but didn't say anything. Her kid, her choice on how to raise him.

 

But this is IMHO a safety issue, and I don't want to have to get a call saying that he is in the ER with a head injury or whatever. Maybe if I hadn't witnessed that close call with a toddler tumbling out of the cart the one time it wouldn't bother me so much.

[Murphy101]

Oh, I keep my mouth shut *ALL THE TIME* when it comes to how DH's sister is raising her DS. When she drank alcohol during her pregnancy (in small amounts), when she decided to stop nursing after only a couple of weeks, when she decided to "Ferberize" him, etc. etc. I mentally winced but didn't say anything. Her kid, her choice on how to raise him.

But this is IMHO a safety issue, and I don't want to have to get a call saying that he is in the ER with a head injury or whatever. Maybe if I hadn't witnessed that close call with a toddler tumbling out of the cart the one time it wouldn't bother me so much.

 

 

You are catching on! Yes, her kid, her choices on how to raise him. Yes, your baggage seeing a kid hurt. Your baggage isn't her problem, it's yours. Exactly so. Fabulous! :)

[higginszoo]

When I had 3 under three (or they were 1, 2, and 3 or 2, 3 and 4, up until the second was 5 or so and able to stay close -- oldest has physical SN and couldn't walk fast/well enough to keep up), I often had to put one in the basket. Target was just starting to go to those 'trailer' things with two seats, but sometimes they'd block the leg holes in the seat part of the cart when they installed the trailer. I definitely picked my shopping places around stores that had the trailers, the 'car carts' that have two seats down in front and then the cart seat, but even Costco's big carts only have seats for two small children. Like someone else here, we had pretty strict rules for behavior while riding in the basket part (sit on your bottom, no kneeling or standing). I did use the sling a lot with the third, but before he was big enough to ride on my back, going to places like Costco where I had to lift fairly large cases/boxes into the cart, that didn't work with a baby on the front of me, so he got a cart seat.

[AMJ]

Because many shopping carts are top-heavy when you put the child there, especially if it's an infant in a carrier. It was MUCH safer for me to put my little ones in the basket itself when they would fit. Big sis loved to help take care of little sis. Once big sis got to a certain size, though, it was the seat for her.

 

Once they were both on their feet I found it easier to get a cart and put them both in the basket, even if I was only getting a few things. My kids are highly distractable, and if I was to actually get any shopping done with them along I wanted them corralled. Most of the time I only did my shopping when I could get someone to watch them for me -- having to deal with potty or diaper emergencies with a cart full of stuff is a hassle, especially when some store employee decides your cart is abandoned because it's been sitting there more than 5 minutes and puts everything away.

[Ellie]

I missed the bolded. I wouldn't do that.

 

:iagree:

[Ellie]

Happily, I only have two dc and I rarely needed to go shopping with both of them in any store that used shopping carts. I went grocery shopping when Mr. Ellie was home; Target and WalMart were not around back then (and I wouldn't have gone there, anyway, lol). But when we did go to the grocery store together, younger dd sat in the seat, older dd walked.

[Mommyof4ks]

The carts never seem to have working straps, so the back seems safer. The carts are front heavy and can fall over when pulled much like a bag leaning on the back of a stroller. Basically, the front seat of most carts is not very safe at all, so my kids always sat in the back with the groceries. They loved holding the bread. :) That kept them seated too.

[LucyStoner]

What are you feeding all these super-sized kids? My first-grader negotiated herself into a shopping cart seat last week (I was not there :-/).

 

 

 

I come from a tall family. I am the shortest woman by 2-3 inches and I am 5'9". My husband is tallish as well. Our older son was the size of many 3 year olds at age 1. He eats a fairly healthy diet, if lower on veggies than I would like. He wasn't heavy to his height just tall and solid. Now he's slowed a bit and has become very lanky. His little brother was born early-ish and was smaller but at 4 is bigger than a lot of 5-6 year olds. Again, not heavy, just tall and solid. He seems to be on the same curve as his brother now. People come in all different sizes. :)

[sewingmama]

My kids ride in the cart because they are too big for the baby seat and get tired walking. I also had them close together which means when they were little I had one in the seat, one in the cart and one standing on the end of the trolley lol.

 

One time my DD climbed on the side of the cart at the checkout and tipped it over. DS was sitting in the back. He did fall out but he fell free and didn't get hurt except for a scare. If he had been sitting in the seat strapped in he would have smacked his head on the packing shelf which was right beside because he couldn't roll free. I was grateful I put him in the back that day

[vonfirmath]

Oh and when they were in a carrier, I put the carrier in the basket not the seat because then I couldn't see over them. LOL

 

I put the carrier in the basket not the seat because it is safer. I don't trust a car seat on the seat part of a cart at all.

[KungFuPanda]

I came to see what post people liked, and get a Zombie thread??? This is the hive version of being Rick Rolled!!!

[Tammi K]

Youngest worn, next youngest in the seat, next youngest in the basket....You do what you gotta' do. when you have a bunch.

We had a rule: Your bottom on the bottom. They SAT in the basket and all was well in my world. No one ever fell out despite joking that they've been dropped on their heads as babies, no one actually was.

[AndyJoy]

I think my DS was about 18 mo. when I started letting him ride in the basket rather than the seat occasionally. At 11 mo. his balance wasn't good enough to keep him from toppling over if I started pushing too quickly; other kids might be fine at this age though, and wouldn't get anything worse than a bruise if they did topple over.

 

If the kid is seated, I don't see the big deal. When I worked at WAL-MART it would freak me out to see kids standing in carts. I once caught a 2-year-old whose mother was 10 ft. away with her back turned. The girl's head was 6 in. from the ground when I caught her. The mother glared at me and huffed off even after I explained what had happened. You think someone would appreciate it when you prevent a broken collarbone, broken arm, or concussion in their child.

 

I live in a desert and the straps are missing from 90% of the carts due to disintegration from sun damage. The basket is safer for kids who are likely to try stand up. I rarely had a problem with DS trying to stand, but he is large and tall and it can be difficult to get him into the seat. Now that I'm pregnant, he rides in the basket more. It is much easier to swing his 40 lbs. over the side than lift him high enough and long enough to maneuver his legs through the holes.

 

When DS was 5 mo. old, DH and I created this device to solve the problems of missing straps and poor balance. He was already 23 lbs, so I had abandoned the car seat carrier as a mode of shopping transport. I couldn't think of any other good way to transport him as he wasn't sitting up solidly yet. This was a lifesaver and DS loved it. We used it quite a bit until he was a year or so, though we made it adjustable up to a preschooler because we thought it might be handy if he were the type to try to escape or stand up.

 

[Jennifer3141]

 

I'm going to say something to MIL the next time I talk to her because I think SIL may listen to her mother even if she probably wouldn't listen to me.

 

 

 

Well, that should do wonders with your relationship with SIL! :huh:

 

And frankly, the idea of my SIL thinking she could tattle on me to my mother really kinda cracks me up.

[Mergath]

 

 

Well, that should do wonders with your relationship with SIL! :huh:

 

And frankly, the idea of my SIL thinking she could tattle on me to my mother really kinda cracks me up.

 

 

:iagree: That would certainly solve the problem. If by "solve" you mean "SIL never comes near me again."

[ElizabethB]

One of the downsides of reading early...when my daughter was much younger, she was reading the shopping cart rules one day and said, "Mom, I am not supposed to be sitting in this part."

 

I told her that it was fine, really, and that was why I made them sit down when the cart was moving.

[5LittleMonkeys]

This thread is from 2012.

 

I understand why threads about curricula might get ressurected but I never understand how threads like these do. Are shopping cart threads just that fascinating that people go searching for them? I don't get it.