Infant carseats and correct usage

We have a lady in town who does the "Car seat program". We had her brief our entire twinsgroup and since the briefing I cant help but notice all these no-no's that other people do. Of course I was doing 90% of them myself until she "educated me"

Im curious if any of you do any of these things? (just trying to be helpful here) I believed her when she told us whats not safe and why but maybe you feel differently?

- the handle for the infant carrier should be placed in the DOWN position while riding in the car. The only time the handle should be UP is when you are physically carrying the carrier to/from where you are going.

- there should be no cushions etc under the babies body (in between the bottom of the carseat and the childs back)

- there should be no padding on the straps that are by the childs neck unless they came with the carseat - made by the manufacturer

- the buckle should be armpit level

- the straps should be so tight you can only get 1 finger (adult sized) in between the collar bone and the strap.

- the infant carrier should be used with the base as much as possible

Thats all I got. Anyone heard any of these things?

 

Yup. I think all these points are in the instruction manual for our car seats (Graco). We adhered to all of them for the infant carrier. When the girls got a little bigger we did add those wrap-around pads for the shoulder straps because the straps would dig into their necks really badly (enough to rub them raw).

 

Yup I heard of them all, I always put the carseat handle down because it made the carseat sturdier while in the car. I did roll up blankets when they were young and put them by my childrens heads so they didn't roll around until they could control their head a little but I did follow all the other rules. I think the nurses told me about the car handle when I was bringing my son home (we didn't have infant carriers for my girls) and I don't know how I knew about the others if I read it somewhere or if someone told me.

 

Yep. The carrier handle one is on the carseat itself but I notice a lot of people not doing it. DH would always argue with me about it b/c it made it so he couldn't push the seat back as far as he wanted, but I wouldn't cave. I also had to use receiving blankets when they were little b/c they were SO little! They were just over 4lbs when we took them home from the NICU.

 

I think what is very important is to read the manual. I've heard that some infant car seats say that putting the handle forward is not the way to do it... (just my memory.. if I am wrong...) Great reminder though.

 

QUOTE(E&Msmom @ Jun 5 2009, 12:43 AM) [snapback]1341848[/snapback]
Anyone heard any of these things?


Yes, I have heard of all of those. We did them all except when they came home from the NICU we had to place a washcloth shaped in a U down by their diaper area to take away the space between their legs and the buckle. I was told my the NICU car seat test coordinator that this was safer to take away the gap then have a large gap in case of an accident. Seems right to me. ardon:

I have read on many car seat websites that nothing should be placed behind or on the baby in terms of extra padding, etc. They create too much padding and dont allow a tight fit of the straps in case of impact.

I was told the handle goes down when I was pregnant with my DD 5 years ago. That way if you are in an accident the plastic handle isnt around their face.

 

Yes, I have heard of them all and we did all those things when each of our kids were in an infant carrier.

 

QUOTE(E&Msmom @ Jun 4 2009, 11:43 PM) [snapback]1341848[/snapback]
We have a lady in town who does the "Car seat program". We had her brief our entire twinsgroup and since the briefing I cant help but notice all these no-no's that other people do. Of course I was doing 90% of them myself until she "educated me"

Im curious if any of you do any of these things? (just trying to be helpful here) I believed her when she told us whats not safe and why but maybe you feel differently?

- the handle for the infant carrier should be placed in the DOWN position while riding in the car. The only time the handle should be UP is when you are physically carrying the carrier to/from where you are going.

- there should be no cushions etc under the babies body (in between the bottom of the carseat and the childs back)

- there should be no padding on the straps that are by the childs neck unless they came with the carseat - made by the manufacturer

- the buckle should be armpit level

- the straps should be so tight you can only get 1 finger (adult sized) in between the collar bone and the strap.

- the infant carrier should be used with the base as much as possible

Thats all I got. Anyone heard any of these things?

Heard of all these. The only one, the handle one...which my manual for mine says should be down...it depends on the carseat. There is a brand or used to be a brand that the handle was to stay up but that was a couple of years ago...always check your manual.

I also didn't know until after having bought new infant seats, after considering buying used, that carseats do expire...most I think are 5 years from the date of manufacture because of the breakdown of the plastic.

 

OP here---I must have been the only who didnt know these things
So what other safety tips can you all give me???

 

Yes, I knew all these things, and followed all the rules.

If you want more tips...
No coats on under the carseat straps. They compress and then you don't get as tight of a fit.
When rear facing make sure the "level" is correct. You might have to adjust by putting rolled up towels underneath.
Read the manufacturer's instructions.

Hmm, that's all I've got for now.

 

I knew all of these things as well. I see a ton of people that leave the handle up and have the straps way too loose. My DH and MIL always gave me a ton of crap about how "tight" my kids straps were. Another thing I used to see a lot of was people keeping their babies in the infant carseat/carrier way past their height/weight limit. I'm not too sure about that anymore though because I saw that they increased the limits on those.