Coats & carseats

loveisallyounee

Can someone point me to a legit resource I can provide for my MIL regarding puffy jackets and carseats? She refuses to take LO's jacket off when she's in the carseat, so I'm hoping some support will convince her.

 

TIA

emiliemadison

Would seeing it with her own eyes be enough for her?

Explain it like this:

You know those Space Bags, where you can put your comforters/clothing in them and use your vaccuum to suck all the air out? The result is a perfectly flattened bag that's easy to store. Well. . imagine that coat going through the same process in a crash. The sheer force of the crash will cause that coat to flatten to nothing, just like in the Space Bag. . .and the kid will be left with a harness that's much too loose.

Then let her see it:

Have her buckle your DD into the seat with her coat on and tighten the straps. Then, without loosening the harness, unbuckle her and remove the coat. Without adjusting the straps, buckle her back in. If the straps are too loose, the coat is too thick.

And cite your source! I'm a Nationally Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician who specializes in child car seat safety

monica93555

https://pediatrics.about.com/od/carseats/a/0107_wintercoat.htm

Scroll to the very bottom of the page and you'll see that about.com cites their sources.

I go to MOPS meetings and one of our guest speakers was a california highways patrol officer. He stressed the importance of not putting your childs coat on before putting him/her in his/her carseat. And if your mil gives the good ol line of "we did that with our kids and they turned out fine," inform her that the fatality rates have drastically gone down since then.