don't want to be a carseat carrier mama in the winter

ateach · December 2012

I don't know if you can call me an AP, but I do hate the carseat carriers. Baby just gets shuttled all day in those things and never gets held. Plus, I can't imagine it is good for their bodies to be in that position for so much of the day!

What do you do in the winter, though, when it is cold? How can I get a smooth transfer into a carrier at the grocery store/ mall/ wherever. I can see the draw of moving them all bundled in their car seat into a stroller, but I don't want to! What do you do when it is cold out? (This applies more to newborns/ young infants.. older babies could take a moment in the cold more, I suppose)

JoannaJes · December 2012

You can always take them out of the carseat once you get inside the store. You are only talking about an extra minute or two of carseat usage. It doesn't have to be an all or nothing deal.

XCrissCrossX · December 2012

A few seconds of cold temps isn't going to kill your baby or turn hm blue. If you're going to put your baby in a wrap/sling make sure it's ready to go before you remove baby from the car. Then put baby in his wrap and he'll warm up fast.

sugarbear0524 · December 2012

Strive for a middle ground. Just because you use the carseat carrier to transport your LO to and from the car doesn't mean that they never get held.

You will probably appreciate the convenience more than you know. When your LO is sound asleep in the car and you can just lift the baby out and not wake him up. In the winter, you can keep them really warm in the carrier until you get inside and take him out to hold him.

superned · December 2012

XcrisscrossX:
A few seconds of cold temps isn't going to kill your baby or turn hm blue. If you're going to put your baby in a wrap/sling make sure it's ready to go before you remove baby from the car. Then put baby in his wrap and he'll warm up fast.

This is what I do. As long it's not a blizzard or a downpour, it's not a problem for him to get a little chilly for the 1-2 minutes it takes to get inside.

tokenhoser · December 2012

It gets really cold here, and my baby fell asleep in the car a lot. The infant seat was awesome.

HappyMommy28 · December 2012

My son was born in December. If I went to the mall I would put him in the stroller until I got inside. Then I'd wrap him or put him in the Ergo. Then I'd use the stroller to hold my bags!

I would also pop him in the wrap while in the parking lot, and have a warm baby blanket over him while I walked inside. It was a lot easier than I thought. This was especially helpful when grocery shopping since the carrier took up so much space.

bloverde · December 2012

I hate baby "stuff" and have had a convertible seat from the beginning. Even if I had an infant seat and took the baby out as soon as we got inside, I still would not have wanted to drag it around.

We use a blanket to carry him to the car and then put it over him in his seat. Then I make sure the wrap is all ready to go and take him out. I usually throw the blanket over him but wait until inside to out him in the wrap.

TiffanyBerry · December 2012

sugarbear0524:
You will probably appreciate the convenience more than you know. When your LO is sound asleep in the car and you can just lift the baby out and not wake him up. In the winter, you can keep them really warm in the carrier until you get inside and take him out to hold him.

If you kid stays asleep, or even falls asleep, in the carseat. Ours didn't really. And we hated taking that thing in and out, so we'd just pick her up and carry her. (She didn't like carriers when she was really little.)

We just put a jacket on her when we got out of the car, or wrapped ours around her when she was really little. We're in the pacnorthwest, though, so it doesn't get super duper cold.

HattieLove · December 2012

My daughter was born in February and I used to sit in the back seat to put her in the carrier. So she's all warm and cozy before we go outside.

ncbelle · December 2012

I think you can tell from the responses that really the answer is "do what works for you!" Granted it doesn't get super cold here - and I just hate lugging the seat (plus my kids hated being in them) but I always just popped baby in the carrier and went inside (or if it was super cold or raining I might grab baby and put baby in the carrier once inside.

belladonna11307 · December 2012

Yep, there's a lot of ways to do things. I was always paranoid about dropping DD putting her in the carrier, so I would strap it on, climb in the back seat with her and put her in the carrier and then wrap my coat around her to get in the store. I think I got colder than her. If she was asleep, the baby seat came with me. No way was I waking this kid up, she's a bear if not allowed to sleep!

Angela814 · December 2012

I specifically researched and bought an infant carseat that has the highest height limit so I can keep DD3 in it through her whole first winter. I guess I don't see why it's so important to wear baby at all times. At least in the infant seat, you can keep them bundled up and warm as you move from car to the store, and you can always take them out of the carseat once you get into the store. Mine generally demanded to be carried (not worn - only carried) once we got into the store. Baby only gets shuttled all day and not held if you choose not to take them out. Using an infant carseat to carry baby doesn't mean that they never get held.

sucredee · December 2012

When they are so young they tend to fall asleep a lot and it sucks waking up a a baby. At least it did for us. So the carrier was very nice. It would snap into a stroller and I would use that only for quick trips where I didn't need to buy much.

Grocery shopping I always did (and still do at 2.5) with the Ergo because I need all the room I can get when doing that. I would time it around her naps and actually have her nap in the Ergo while shopping.She never napped more than 30 minutes at a time until she was about a year old.

And believe me....she was held more than enough, spending lots of naps on me. She spent a lot more time in Ergo than a stroller. We travel a lot and I quit taking a stroller at 4 months.

Personally I liked the bucket seat but it depends on what you and your LO like. Some kids hate it. We kept her in there until 11 months. She is a small kid so if I had had a big kid I might have changed my mind sooner.

ateach · December 2012

I didn't mean to imply anything bad about people who use the car seat inside! I am sorry if I offended anyone! I know you are all probably laughing thinking "She has no idea..." as I have not had the baby, yet!

I also didn't really mean for quick trips or coming in and out of the house. I am sure I will do that (and probably for some longer trips, too). We have a bassinet attachment on the stroller, and I am happy to put baby in there, too. I don't think a baby has to be held ALL the time. That is impractical! There is just something about the scrunched up position of the car seat that makes me not want them to stay in there for a big mall trip or outing often.

I really like getting in the car next to them and loading them into the carrier. I don't know why I didn't think about that!

Thanks for the opinions and help!

twocents6708 · December 2012

HattieLove:
My daughter was born in February and I used to sit in the back seat to put her in the carrier. So she's all warm and cozy before we go outside.

This is what I did.

LatteLady5 · December 2012

JoannaJes:
You can always take them out of the carseat once you get inside the store. You are only talking about an extra minute or two of carseat usage. It doesn't have to be an all or nothing deal.

Yeah this. Also, if your baby is sleeping why in the world would you want to wake him/her up to move? I used the car seat carrier a moderate amount last year when DD was only a couple of months old. She would usually fall asleep on the way to church and sleep through the first half. When she woke up I'd either take her out and nurse her or she'd sit contently on H's lap.

lemon.sarie · December 2012

I have always popped DD (#1, 2, and 3) into the baby carrier to head into shops. I find, especially witth the 3 of them now, it impossible to lug the infant seat around with me (and keep my eyes/hand free for the other two). It does get really cold here - but I just keep the carrier under my jacket, pop her in against my body and then throw a blanket over her. I've also never really had any problems with baby waking and not going right back to sleep snuggled into me.

pixieprincss · December 2012

DS1 was born in January. I would pretie my wrap as much as possible before we left the house. When we would arrive at our destination, I would get in the back seat, move him from the carseat to the wrap, get him all settled in it, then button my coat around us both. I had some physical issues that prevented me from carrying the carseat, so toting him in that was not an option, even if he was totally asleep.

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