Car seat installation

staceyfern · May 2015

I was wondering others thoughts on this: the one thing for getting ready for this baby that my husband was in charge of was making sure one car seat base was installed by someone certified. ( I have done everything from buying and washing the clothes to picking out and ordering the furniture and so much more). I have actually been frustrated with him leaving everything up to me. I asked him numerous times to look into if we need to make an appointment or how it works to get it installed. He never did it. Anyway so this was his one job and last week he turned to me and said I can deal with it since my last day of work will be may 20. So I called this week and the count I live in the one day they do the appointments this month is my last day of work and he does not want to take off work to do it! Then the other county near me won't do them till June 12 which is 10 days past our due date so that will not work. I told him legally we can do it and that is now what he wants to do but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. How important is it that it be checked that it is done right? The funny thing to me is he is safety crazy. My stepson was using his britax till he was 5 and my husband still has him sit in the middle seat for safety. Am I crazy for wanting our child's seat to be inspected even though the times have changed a bit?

katelinmillikin · May 2015

I'm not sure about where you live but where I from you can go by any fire station and they check it for you since they have to know how to do them.. Luckily for me my best friends husband is a fireman and checked mine when they came over the other day:) good luck to you

esampson1983 · May 2015

I took a newborn safety class a few weeks ago and they reported that 80% of all car seats are installed improperly so I think you are not at all crazy for wanting your car seat to be inspected. Safety first!

staceyfern · May 2015

katelinmillikin said:
I'm not sure about where you live but where I from you can go by any fire station and they check it for you since they have to know how to do them.. Luckily for me my best friends husband is a fireman and checked mine when they came over the other day:) good luck to you

I live in md. They used to do it at the fire stations anytime which I think is what my husband was thinking but not anymore. Each county has one specific day a month that they do them. I tried 2 other counties but like I must have missed the dates and the next ones are after the baby is due.

lovethatcolosun · May 2015

I'd say read the instructions, maybe watch a YouTube video and install it yourselves. If you still feel like it was done wrong go to the firehouse and have them inspect it. You're going to have to install it again at some point so it's good to have the confidence that you can do it by yourself. The instructions are pretty good so I think you can totally nail this!!

ElRuby · May 2015

My husband has always installed ours with no issue... I would install them and then look for a check... Our town has one coming up next weekend so we will go then ... The instructions are pretty clear... Good luck!

Serenamarr · May 2015

My hospital has car seat techs that will install or check it for you before you bring baby home. Can you call your hospital and ask?

mishmardhiono · May 2015

We had our britax installed professionally the other day, took her 20 minutes to do it. She was saying that usually husbands will spend 3 hours doing it only to do it wrong and end up there with the lady fixig their mistakes.. In australia we can go to the children's hospital on certain days, some baby stores and also child health clinics. Maybe where you are someone does it at other locations or tere is a private company that will come do it

heidiiwa · May 2015

We have been looking into this too. The only person certified to do it in our county is out on medical leave until June 10. In a nearby county, they have a few events a month listed on the Safe Kids website, where they answer questions about car seat installation and show you how to do it. I'd like to go to one of those next month, but it will be close to my due date, so if the baby comes before then we will just ask the nurse at the hospital to check it (my coworker said they did this for her) before we leave the hospital, and we can have a certified person check it with baby in it after he is born. On the phone the woman on medical leave told me it is helpful to check that the baby is seated properly when the baby is actually sitting in it, too.
I think car seat safety is really important and saves lives, and you are ahead of a lot of parents even planning for this before the baby is born. It's frustrating that there are so few opportunities each month to do it, though, and it's hard for those of us working right up until close to our due dates!

mrs1374a · May 2015

80% of car seats are installed incorrectly. My husband is a state trooper and a car seat tech, it is a real safety concern and I would be making sure you get it somewhere before baby is born. Sorry your hubs didn't do what he said he would

esampson1983 · May 2015

I also learned that not all fire stations are certified car seat techs. So be sure that you are working with a certified car seat tech.

teather5 · May 2015

At our car seat class the tech gave us the website: seatcheck.org to locate a local certified car seat tech. She did ours so I didn't use it but maybe it will help some of yall looking for this info

KaLikeAWind · May 2015

In my town the nurses at the hospital are not allowed to check your carseat or give you advice for liability reasons. At our forestation there are only two certified technicians, so you have to make an appointment. We did install ours, but its still on my to do list to make an appointment with one of the techs to make sure we did it correctly. I don't think its wrong for you to want to have it inspected. There was a really great thread a while back about car seats and had a link to a website where you could find a technician in your area... I'll try to find the thread and post the link here. Maybe you'll be able to find someone else in your area that is certified besides the people you have already contacted

KaLikeAWind · May 2015

https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/comment/86460242#Comment_86460242

klkonwi · May 2015

We have only one person at our hospital car seat certified. So annoying! I actually really wish it was something they would have us do. We are not allowed to put the car seat in for parents but we do check it. The problem most parents have is that the base isn't tight enough. We tell them that we are not carseat certified and the liability is theirs.
Tightness is key.

47923ang · May 2015

On the seatcheck website for my town, it had the hospital and the county health dept. but everyone kept telling me the fire station did them too.

So I called the fire station, and the guy working said he was certified and could do it right then. DH and I went right away. He had them in right, but not nearly tight enough. It was a relief to have them checked.

Edit: spelling

KaLikeAWind · May 2015

klkonwi said:

Tightness is key.

Yeah, and that's one reason why I am having a certified tech check ours. We installed ours using the LATCH and tightened that thing as much as possible. We even then further ran the shoulder / lap belt thru and tightened that as much as possible, too. It feels really snug at the belts, but the front has no way to secure it and it seems to have a lot of play side to side up front (but not at all at the rear where the latch and belts are). For my own personal peace of mind I'm having someone certified give the A-ok

staceyfern · May 2015

mellymar said:
In my town the nurses at the hospital are not allowed to check your carseat or give you advice for liability reasons. At our forestation there are only two certified technicians, so you have to make an appointment. We did install ours, but its still on my to do list to make an appointment with one of the techs to make sure we did it correctly. I don't think its wrong for you to want to have it inspected. There was a really great thread a while back about car seats and had a link to a website where you could find a technician in your area... I'll try to find the thread and post the link here. Maybe you'll be able to find someone else in your area that is certified besides the people you have already contacted

Thanks! I did search but must have missed it

staceyfern · May 2015

Thanks for all of your thoughts. I am hopefully going to find someone to teach us/ do it who is certified.

KaLikeAWind · May 2015

Also, here is the link to the certified technician website just to make it easy for anyone else piggybacking off this thread

https://cert.safekids.org/find-tech-0

staceyfern · May 2015

So I managed to find someone who was able to get it done tonight! But she was so intense. Apparently the britax I registered for to have for LO next is not good enough and she refuses to install them. She refused to use the seat cover I bought to protect the seat and lectured us on not using the mirrors! Wow I had no idea what I would be learning from this person! The good news is I know my car seat is installed perfectly and ready for LO.

JoJo1111 · May 2015

You should never install with latch and seatbelt, @mellymar
If you are unable to get into a car seat tech, join the Facebook group Carseats for the Littles. They are intense but it is run by car seat techs who work hard to give good advice and insure safe installs.
Eta- remove redundant words

KaLikeAWind · May 2015

@JoJo1111 that's good to know, thank you. We are *definitely* going to see a licensed tech, but I'll check the page too

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