Car seat confessions

KentuckyKate

Who has turned baby around?

ColieAnn31

He was forward facing and then I turned him back around.

ASmallWonder

I probably didn't need to vote huh :-p

ASmallWonder

For anyone who may not know and wants to research, google Joel's Journey to learn about the dangers of internal decapitation in forward facing children. Rear facing children are 532% safer rear facing until their 2nd bday. 532%. Roll that around in your brain. Change the scenario. Think about going sky diving and you're given two parachute options. One has been shown to be 532% safer. Aaaand go . As always I'm more than happy to chat more about it if anyone had questions

ASmallWonder

I'm going to toss this in as a fffc. The scenario that angers me most of all is the parent who listens to you, dismisses you but then is convinced when you explain that they're breaking the law and will get a ticket (talking about forward facing before the states guidelines). I know I can't get everyone on board for extended rear facing (but god knows I try lol) but to be motivated only by the threat of a monetary fine just really makes me sad and angry.

ASmallWonder

@ChicagoChic82‌ yay! Did you see my question about his head in relation to the shell?

ASmallWonder

@chicagochi82 ok that sounds ok.  There's concern if the torso is so crazy long that they have less than an inch above their head when the straps properly placed.  But it turns into one of those exceptions that would really need to be evaluated by a tech or discussed with Chicco - which is more dangerous, too high straps or lack of sufficient shell.  So if you find he has less than an inch, tag me and I'll connect you with someone to talk to.

ASmallWonder

ChicagoChic82 said:

@asmallwonder are you still up? If so, can you PM me your email and I'll send a pic over, I got one of him in the car seat. You can see what you think about the space above his head.

PM sent!

GraceInCA

Rear facing until she's old enough to write an essay explaining why she should face forward.

Maelara

RFing until at least 2. I will push for longer though!

MorganWP

We're forward facing and she's moved out of the middle already... I feel terrible about it but there was a few things that factored into our decision. Like the fact that I couldnt get her into the seat with my ever growing belly plus shes really tall so I would knock her head or something on the door jamb or roof every time. And she started getting really motion sick travelling backwards, that was a big one.

bel194

FFFC- FI asked a couple days ago when we could turn K around so he could talk to her while he's driving. I told him that we compromised a couple months ago that we would turn her at 2 since he wanted to do it right away and I wanted to wait as long as possible.. That conversation never took place but he totally bought it. I frequently take advantage of his horrible memory..

MorganWP

mcbush said:

Rear facing until she's 45 pounds. Which at this rate will be when she's 10 years old.

This reminds me of my little cousin. She's 7 and only just hit 42lbs. Shes tall and super skinny, eats like a horse but still a stick.

(And obviously not rear facing but still)

ASmallWonder

I bet aiden will be that skinny at 7 lol at his four year he was 31 pounds.

Buttercup8609

My LO is such a peanut, she doesn't weigh enough to FF - at least she didn't at her 1 year check up. But even if she did we plan to RF until at least 2. Ideally I'll keep her RF until she outgrows the limits.

ASmallWonder

@34blondie The Gracos work great for tall kids.  Mine isn't tall but he's definitely skinny and we haven't had any issues.  Remind me though, what exactly is the issue when he moves?  You can PM me if you want and I can give you my email if you want to send over pictures.

BC&LM

Rear facing with no plans to FF anytime soon

nikel13

She couldn't do a the long trip to Kansas rear facing. She was sobbing the entire time she was backwards.

lioness13

We are rear facing for as Lon as possible. My car seat confession is that I don't plan to fly with her in a car seat anytime soon. I am planning to fly in September and again in December with her on my lap attached to me in my baby carrier.

numbersgirl08

Regarding being 10 and still not reaching the weight limit - they say age is more important than weight. It has to do with the maturation of their bone structure I think. So you don't have to worry about rear facing a tiny 7 year old.

ASmallWonder

We'd all be safer rear facing because physics but we can't  Spinal ossification reaches an acceptable point around the 5th bday but your skeleton doesn't finish ossification until close to 25. So there definitely is evidence that rear facing a 7 year old is safer if they fit in the seat but it's not expected and I'd never try to push you all to that lol 

Bone maturity and actual maturity are really important when you start talking about boosters.  I'll start anew with my car seat soapbox if we all still know each other in 5 years lol

ASmallWonder

nykkolaughs said:

@ASmallWonder‌ I love you and your car seat passion. It's such a breath of fresh air! Thank you for trying to inform people, I truly hope it wears off!!

Aw thank you!  I actually just decided today that I'm taking the car seat tech course this fall.  I'm so excited

Cricket81

@ASmallWonder‌
You will be so good at that! You are so patient with all our nutty questions and always make sure we are informed without acting like we are idiots or bad moms! Thanks so much for all your help all the time.

ASmallWonder

Aw, thank you so much @cricket81 and @kames12 I really appreciate it and am glad it's helped  I love being able to share what I've learned and you guys are so awesome about asking questions and being open to the info

ASmallWonder

@34blondie I'd love to see some pictures.  When you have a....less bulky kid lol...you really do have to take extra care to make sure they're totally straight and centered.  I have that problem sometimes with Q because if he's slightly off center the straps don't tighten evenly.  When you snap the pictures grab these if you can: A normal set up when you're going out with a shot of the straps at his shoulder and a shot of the crotch strap.  I want to see if there's somewhere with a gap that he's wiggling into.  Then if you are able to get a shot of whatever the issues are after he's wiggled, that would be great.  I'll pm you my email.

ASmallWonder

LimaBeanMOM said:

Not planning on FF until hes 2 but if his feet become an issue I will turn him around as per his pedi's advice. Right now we are okay for a while unless he has a major growth spurt

Can I ask what issue you're referring to?

ASmallWonder

42Butterflies said:

So let me ask this. DD had narrow shoulders. She's in a Graco Size4Me/whatever it's called from BRU. I have noticed it looks like her straps sit right on the edge of her shoulders sometime instead of centering. Not tight enough? And way to make them more narrow? You need a pic, don't you?

I'm happy to look but this probably isn't an issue as long as the harness is passing the pinch test.  You pull all the slack from the hips first and then do this

https://csftl.org/do-you-do-the-pinch-test/

Also make sure the chest clip is in the right spot.  If you run your finger along the top of the clip, you should end up in her armpit.  This seat fits newborns so it's not a matter of it not being able to fit her but it might need to be cinched up a little bit.  If it passes all those things I wouldn't worry.  The use of the chest clip in the US is as a pre-crash positioner to make sure the straps are on the shoulder (again, assuming the harness is tight enough)

ColieAnn31

Maybe would should have a pinned car seat post so we have a place to ask all of our car seat questions to our car seat genius :P

I love that we can ask @ASmallWonder‌ all these questions!

ASmallWonder

@ColieAnn31 I'd love that but I won't let my car seat fanaticism and mod powers overlap and abuse them by pinning the stuff I care about :-p

ColieAnn31

Well if we all request it then you wouldn't technically be abusing your mod powers right??? Lol

ASmallWonder

I just can't be a part of furthering my personal agenda but if someone wanted to create a poll to see if people want the pinned post.... 

flerlgirl

At the rate he is(nt) growing, he'll be rear-facing the day I drop him off at college.

ASmallWonder

LimaBeanMOM said:

ASmallWonder said:

LimaBeanMOM said:

Not planning on FF until hes 2 but if his feet become an issue I will turn him around as per his pedi's advice. Right now we are okay for a while unless he has a major growth spurt

Can I ask what issue you're referring to?

According to our pedi we should RF as long as we can as close to 2 years old as possible. If his legs and feet are scrunched up and uncomfortable then we can FF him since he is over 1 and over the weight limit as per our state laws. I am not buying another car seat to RF him for longer. So far we are okay with the leg situation but if he grows more and is uncomfortable we will switch him.

Gotcha.  What seat is he in now and what are his stats? State laws are so behind the science but it takes so much to pass new ones and really, it's made sense why it hasn't happened.  Extended rear facing seats have historically been really pricey and there are people who flat out couldn't afford that so lawmakers just couldn't alienate their constituents by proposing or supporting a law that put a financial burden on them.  But there are seats out there now that rear face past two for $100 or less so hopefully the laws catch up

Here's an article about rear facing you might want to check out.  Kids are funny - they actually aren't uncomfortable rear facing but we think they are Most kids prefer to sit criss cross but at this age they don't always know to do it instinctively so we have to show them.  Kids complain forward facing a lot of times because their legs and hips have no support and they fall asleep or start to hurt.

https://csftl.org/rear-facing-car-seat-myths-busted

momofcatan

@ASmallWonder‌ last week I tried to find a place to do a tech course in my area but couldn't find any .

ASmallWonder

momofcatan said:

@ASmallWonder‌ last week I tried to find a place to do a tech course in my area but couldn't find any .

Were you looking on safekids.org?

ASmallWonder

LimaBeanMOM said:

He has the Evenflo Symphony LX and so far he is good -he has more leg room than we thought he would have at this point. Like I said, we will RF as long as possible and as close to 2 as possible. Right now we have a while unless he has a major growth spurt in the next few months

Ah the Symphony.  Yeah, the limits on that one are pretty low with a 37" standing height max.  If you find yourself reconsidering another seat, the Evenflo Sureride is less than $100 and will last you a long time, both rear and forward facing

momofcatan

ASmallWonder said:

momofcatan said:

@ASmallWonder‌ last week I tried to find a place to do a tech course in my area but couldn't find any .

Were you looking on safekids.org?

I just tried searching. No courses in Ontario. How could that be?

dmlk413

We are going to RF as long as possible.  Our seat only allows for RFing to 40 lbs or 40 in and DD is already 31 inches.  I'm hoping she doesn't keep growing as fast as she has been.

 

@lioness13 You can't wear your baby on the plane, they won't let you. 

ASmallWonder

@dmlk413 what seat do you have?  Assuming average growth she'd get about 3 more years out of it but if she keeps growing at a faster pace you'll get less time but definitely past the 2 year milestone.

You can babywear on a plane, though it's not recommended.  You can't wear during take off or landing.

dmlk413

@ASmallWonder I have an Evenflo Sureride.

 

Sorry for the wrong information about flying. The last time I flew, they told me I couldn't wear her at all (I wasn't planning to but the flight attendants were pretty adamant). 

numbersgirl08

Some airlines/flight attendants will let you wear them on the plane.  Not that that is what they are supposed to do, but we did it once, and no one said anything.  Of course, that was before I became adamant about bringing a car seat on the plane, so now she gets her own seat.