Attachment Parenting

Car Seats are for Cars...a pretty awesome blogpost...

Re: Car Seats are for Cars...a pretty awesome blogpost...

  • Great post.  I have had the same situation the author describes -- pushing the damn stroller with the diaper bag and empty car seat and holding DD because she doesn't want to be in the stroller.  At least I can fill up the car seat with purchases...but ugh.  I wore DD through lunch the other day in a restaurant and the waitress commented that she thought it was weird I'd move a sleeping baby when they had those car seat holder slings...mmkay.
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  • I never used the car seat with DS...but now I use it more that Isela since she is a sleeper.  I admit it was nice to eat at a restaurant the other day without dropping food on a baby's head!  I'll still keep it limited to times like that and while she is still a sleeper though! 

    my blog: mama quiere beso
    Joaquin's hospital and Isela's birth center med & intervention free "hypnobabies" birth stories
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  • Thanks for posting! I have never been a fan of keeping a baby in an infant seat all the time. I never did with my older 2. I do occasionally now if the baby is sleeping, but I never push her around like that awake.
  • Great post, makes me re-think that I may need another carrier...I have a baby bjorn and I know DH is excited to use it, but I'm afraid the baby will be too little at first.
  • Thanks for sharing!

    We have found DS much prefers to be in a carrier when we are out & its so much mroe convenient, espeically when I am alone with him!

    It always scares me when I hear people say their LO will only sleep in the carseat & so they put them there every night. This is a huge SIDS risk....

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  • imageMrs.Teddy:

    Thanks for sharing!

    We have found DS much prefers to be in a carrier when we are out & its so much mroe convenient, espeically when I am alone with him!

    It always scares me when I hear people say their LO will only sleep in the carseat & so they put them there every night. This is a huge SIDS risk....

    OMG Mrs Teddy...I LOVE that picture!!!

    my blog: mama quiere beso
    Joaquin's hospital and Isela's birth center med & intervention free "hypnobabies" birth stories
  • Wow that blog is a self righteous one. YOWSERS.

    INteresting article but yeeeep, the rest of her nonsense is difficult to stomach. 

  • I love this! I live in the uber-conservative midwest and have gotten lots of negative comments from ppl when I wear my kiddo. I wouldn't want to be in one position for several hours, so why should my kid? I was at a store last week and a sweet little old lady was fascinated by my wrap - she kept asking me questions about how I put it on and put him in, and wanted to know if it was comfortable, etc etc. It was great! As she left, she said her great-granddaughter was pregnant and she was going to buy her one.
  • I have to agree with lanie and fredalina.  There's a lot of pointing fingers and saying "I'm so much better because I do it this way" in that article.  I used the infant seat often with DS (we have now graduated him to a convertible carseat) and I used and still use the Moby and the mei tai often with him.  It totally depended on the circumstances.
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  • I babywear quite a bit, but I also use the infant carrier as a stroller or to put DS in around the house at times. I'm not sure what's so wrong about that. 

    There are situations when wearing him just isn't going to happen; for example I don't wear him while cooking since I'm usually chopping up food with a large chef's knife or sauteing something on the stove. He's a wiggly baby, and a friend of mine was wearing her baby while cooking and he got a pretty bad burn on his hand.

    So when I'm cooking, DS is in the carseat in the kitchen with us. Both DH and I have found that putting him in the carseat actually gets us lots of smiles from him. He seems to genuinely enjoy being in there at times.

    If you have an infant and you wear him/her to your doctor's appt, what are you going to do with them while you're being examined? Put them on the floor? And I have a dog who needs to be walked-maybe some of the more flexible people can pick up dog poop while wearing their child in a forward carry, but I can't. 

    Not to mention that while I know a lot of babies want to be held all the time, I actually have a LO who fusses to be put down-he likes to be held, of course, but sometimes he just wants to be on his own. 

    I guess I'm feeling a little defensive about this...just because DS is in his carseat outside of the car doesn't mean I'm not a responsive mother or that he's always in one. You never know someone's situation.
  • FFS there is nothing wrong with using the carseat to carry your baby.  If you never hold your baby, yeah that's bad.  But if the baby falls asleep in the car and you don't want to wake them, or it's easier to carry them in the carseat while you run into a store or grab some lunch, what is the problem?

    I mean seriously, people.

    image

    Big sister {September 2008} Sweet boy {April 2011} Fuzzy Bundle {ETA July 2014}

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  • Carrying a sleeping baby isn't bad, IMO. It's leaving your baby in it all the time when they're awake.
  • imagegoodheartedmommy:
    Carrying a sleeping baby isn't bad, IMO. It's leaving your baby in it all the time when they're awake.

     

    Are there actually people that do this? I don't get demonizing infant carriers. They serve their purpose.

    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
    DD #1 passed away in January 2011 at 14 days old due to congenital heart disease
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  • That is great. Granted, I type this as my daughter sleeps in the carseat. But she's only done that twice in her life.

    We're not at home right now and I don't have a convenient place to lay her down that is safe other than the floor.

  • Really, the only time she's left in the car seat is for going into restaurants. She's so grabby-grabby that there's no way I could eat a meal with her on me! 
    S- March 09 E- Feb 12 L- May 15


  • I know people who use them a lot--awake babies being pushed through the mall, bottles propped when they're hungry, carried into church and left there the entire time. It's not the norm, but I actually know a few people who do this.
  • One of my friends has a relative who is severely developmentally delayed since her parents almost never took her out of the carseat. She "Played' in the carseat. She slept in it during naps, she slept in it at night. She was in it to eat. ALL THE TIME.

    So yes, there are people that do this.

  • I think it's pretty obvious to most that car seats serve their purpose.  I have one of those HUGE SafeSeats, so I hardly take it out...I mean seriously, it's ginormous.  But I still use it out of the car here and there because it would be easier than wearing. 

    FWIW, I have seen the overuse of the car seat, and it's a bummer. 

    Also someone asked how you go to a dr. appointment w/out one.  I did with DS, just wore him in my mei tai and he layed on my chest while I was examed...super simple and easy.  Now that I have two, not so much ;)

    my blog: mama quiere beso
    Joaquin's hospital and Isela's birth center med & intervention free "hypnobabies" birth stories
  • I actually tried to get DS to sleep in his car seat for the night when he caught his cold.  He was so congested and I thought sleeping in an inclined position might be better than flat on his back.  No dice, though.  He wouldn't do it. 

     I usually have DS in the seat until we get where we are going (into the restaurant, into grandma's house, etc).  It would be very dificult to get him in and out of the seat with the seat in the car, so I just take the seat with us.  That's the primary reason.  And I use it to go to the mall--DS sometimes falls asleep in it and even when he's awake, it's nice to have someplace to put him down if I want to try on clothes, etc.   But he's admittedly in and out of it.  Pretty much I do whatever DS wants (hold, put down, etc).

  • imagelanie26:

    Wow that blog is a self righteous one. YOWSERS.

    INteresting article but yeeeep, the rest of her nonsense is difficult to stomach. 

    Yes 

     

    *** It's funny because I'm fat ***
  • I saw the term "container baby" yesterday and it made me really sad.

    I do agree with some PP that the article does come off a bit holier than thou.  There's a huge middle ground between overuse leading to physical trauma/criminal neglect and never using the car seat outside the car.  Making people feel like they have to defend leaving a sleeping baby in the seat or keeping them there in a restaurant for safetys sake is a bit absurd.

  • At DS's two month checkup yesterday I decided to take him out of his seat and carry him in. I also have a ginormous SafeSeat and didn't feel like carrying it, plus he doesn't like to be in it so I thought it would be easier. 

    But I really did get some funny looks while we sat in the waiting room. I think people thought I didn't have a car seat at all.  

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  • If I come home from work and DS is sleeping in his car seat, guess what?  He can stay sleeping in it until he wakes up.  It gives me some time to get dinner started and take care of his 13-month-old and not walking yet big sister if I don't wake him up and move him around.  I also think it's less safe for me to wear him in a sling or mei tai when I'm using knives or near the open flame of the gas stove than it is for him to be asleep in a car seat five feet from me.

    Mostly when we're out and about, though, it's easy for me to move him from car seat to sling and back without him waking.  No way could I haul a baby bucket AND his big sister simultaneously!  I get great looks when we go into the doctor's office or other places and I have DD in a back carry with a mei tai and DS in the sling in front.  People don't realize that if I have them like that, it's a LOT more maneuverable than trying to schlep a stroller and a carseat around.

    "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
  • OH brother. I have to roll my eyes at that. Yeah, I think its sad when babies are stuck in their car seats all the time, but seriously, who cares if a baby sleeps in the carseat in the grocery store or the drs. offices or whatever. I used to plan all of my outings so DS could fall asleep in the car and I could transfer his car seat to the grocery cart, stroller or whatever. By the time I was done shopping and back home. He was awake and then I could have QUALITY time with him.

    So that blog post gets a big Confused from me.

    Sometimes I would end up carrying him in one arm and the carseat in the other, but BFD!

    I wish I could still carry that stupid car seat around.

  • I leave my son in the infant carrier on the stroller when we shop. I push the stroller, DH pushes the cart. I put the sling on before we go in the store so that when he wakes up I can wear him. He loves being worn, but after awhile he will sometimes squirm to get out and wants to go back in his stroller. Having both works for us :)
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  • I like it-- simply because I felt like such an oddball wearing DD around.  She would SCREAM nonstop in her carseat.  She hated it, and I had to find another way (thank you Moby wrap!).  I felt like something was wrong with her/me that she didn't love her car seat like all the other babies.  Now I embrace it-- I don't even bother trying the stroller or car seat because I know I'll regret it and end up holding her anyway. 
  • imageiris427:

    FFS there is nothing wrong with using the carseat to carry your baby.  If you never hold your baby, yeah that's bad.  But if the baby falls asleep in the car and you don't want to wake them, or it's easier to carry them in the carseat while you run into a store or grab some lunch, what is the problem?

    I mean seriously, people.

    ditto.  i do NOT like "drmomma," not one bit.

  • Maybe we were blessed, but when our DD was of the age/size where she would have been in an infant seat (we had a convertible)- 90% of the time she would stay asleep when we took her out- or at least fall back asleep pretty quickly after.

    We used a sling for awhile with her, and otherside used her stroller.  it was great.

    We are trying an infant seat this time due to the ease of switching between our 2 vehicles.  But we have no plans for her to be in it more than car rides- although I am certain there will be chances for exception from time to time.  

    The community where I live- I see the bad end of the infant seat controversy.  I see kids left in them a lot- and even some who scream when held- but calm themselves when placed in the seat.  The parents then say- yeah- he/she really likes it- they even sleep, eat, etc in there.  

    That is where I draw the line.  Oh- and those dang things are heavy.  I giggle when I see a 5'1" size 2 gal lugging a 6 month old in one- wrenching her back, etc- and esp if child is awake.  It would be so much easier to either use sastroller or carry.  Poor gal. 

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