Thank you to AAA Southern New England!

AAA Southern New England has provided us with funding to get our brochures printed! Very exciting! Thank You!

Put the baby in a car seat…

Great video on why babies should always be in car seats in moving vehicles (planes, automobiles & buses when possible)

Come on down…

Car Seat Check-Up Event

Saturday, October 16^th

10AM – 1PM

Hosted by Tracy Volkswagen

(on Route 132, across from the Christmas Tree Shop Plaza in Hyannis)

In Coordination with A Baby Center

Come find out if you are using your car seats and booster seats correctly. Bring your kids, your kids’ car seats, and your cars. Open to the public – Grandparents, Parents, Caregivers, Foster Parents… all welcome!

Did you know 9 out of 10 car seats are NOT being used correctly? Automobile accidents are the #1 cause of death and injury for children under the age of 14. Come make sure your kids are as safe as they can be!

Event Sponsored by Tracy Volkswagen. Cape Kids Car Seats Program sponsored by The Cape and Islands United Way, The Rogers & Gray Charitable Foundation, TD Bank and Arbella Insurance. For more information, contact A Baby Center at capekidscarseats@gmail.com or call 508-771-8157

Boostering past age 8…

Great article from our friends at www.carseatblog.com

I’ve been patiently waiting, just like other parents, for my oldest child to grow up—he’s 10 and a half now (born New Year’s Eve, 1999, and yes, we had our bathtub filled with water—did you?).  I know, I know.  They’re only little once…more

New Hours… as of September 2010

Hi all – for CAR SEAT EDUCATION, we will have a technician available at A Baby Center on Mondays from 10 – 2, Monday from 5-7 and Thursdays from 10 -12. Please call prior to comming as our schedules do occasionally shift. Thanks!

Rear Facing saving lives…

Great blog post from our friends over the Atlantic…

http://www.carseat.se/a-swedish-rear-facing-car-seat-saves-another-life/

In the US, please do not put a child in the front seat unless you are 100% sure you do not have airbags or you can manually turn a key to switch them off.

Top Tether

I find one of the most seen mistakes is people not using a part of the carseat called a top tether. Hopefully this will educate some of you and make you go out to your cars and open your car’s manual to find out where your top tether is!

First – all cars made from late 1999 on are required to have top tethers available in the car (with the exception of some heavy duty and specialty cars). Beyond that, most cars made in the 90′s can be retrofitted with a top tether anchor.

Many people see all the straps added to car seats these days and assume if they have an older car, they cannot use them (or they use them creatively wrapped around anything they can find… don’t do that). The strap that goes through the belt path (the same path you’d put the seatbelt through) is called the Lower Anchor Straps. In vehicles 2003 and newer, you can use these lower anchors to attach your car seat to your cars frame INSTEAD of using the seat belt (never use both… they can work against one another and put too much stress on the sell… no manufacturer allows for this). BUT – just because you don’t have a place for lower anchors, doesn’t mean you can’t use that single strap coming from the top of your shell.

Here’s what it looks like:

It’s webbing, with a hook attached too the end.

Most parents think it’s used to get a tight installation. This is not the case. You want a solid installation, moving no more then 1″ side to side or back and forth (at the belt path) using the lower anchor strap OR the seat belt before you tighten the top tether.

Here is the reason for the top tether:

The seat to the left is not tethered. The seat to the right is.

If you look at these lines, you’ll see how far the child’s body moves in a crash. Seat belts stretch… they are meant too… so even though it’s hard to envision, your seat will actually move quite a bit in a severe crash. Now – imagine this is in your car. How much room does your child have before they will hit the seat in front of them?

Using the top tether prevents head and neck injuries. It can lesson the movement of the head by 8-12 inches. That can mean the difference of a brain injured child and a non-brain injured child.

To secure the child seat to the car, you have options – either lower anchors OR seatbelt – and if used correctly, they are just as effective.

A Top tether is an additional safety feature that should be used at all times if available. This is especially important with larger children. There are many seats on the market that now safely protect children up through 65 or even 85 lbs, and many of these manufacturers highly encourage (or even require) a top tether be used. You can imagine, a 65lb child will move further then a 30lb child just based on physics.

It is important to note – there is an extreme load put on this top tether in an accident. DO NOT simply connect this to any point behind the child. It must be an approved tether anchor. Newer tether anchors are obvious and generally have a little anchor symbol on the cover. Older cars can be tougher to identify. When in doubt, pull out your car’s manual, go to the index, and look up “tether anchors” or “child restrain systems” to find those anchors.

If you have an older car, do a quick search for the car and the word “tether retrofit.” You will generally come up with a forum or other information about retrofit programs. Many car manufacturers will provide at least one tether anchor free of charge. You can also order the parts and install them yourself in some cars (the holes are pre-drilled, and it’s a matter of screwing in the anchor).

If you have a question on your specific car, don’t hesitate to call me, or stop in for a check up. I will be happy to go over your car’s safety features with you!

Rear facing vs. forward facing video

Here’s a great, quick video on why we ask all parents to rear face as long as possible..

Tough Decisions

As a parent and as a car seat technician, I have made tough decisions. For example, there have been occasions, where I had to travel with four children in a 5 seater car. Luckily, I have the education to know that the oldest, harnessed child should be placed up front with the seat pulled all the way back away from the airbag. I also choose to only use a specific seat that I know has less forward head movement in a crash even without a top tether (top tethers can’t be use in the front seat). Not ideal. Not as safe as that child in the back seat… but far safer then squeezing four children in the back and sometimes, in life, you can’t just stay home… you have to get where you’re going.  I get that.

My issue comes when people don’t think… or don’t even know to think about these tough decisions.

I bet if you asked any parent of a child with cancer if they had a simple $40 fix, would they cure their child, they would undoubtedly say yes. The average child can be secured in a car for about $40. We are lucky, in my family, we have not faced a child hood disease or other situation that could result in death. But, because I’m educated in Child Passenger Safety, I know my children are more likely to die in a car accident then from a childhood disease. I also want to raise children who are aware of the dangers in driving as they get older and eventually drive themselves.  That means each and every day, I evaluate if our situation is the safest it can be… and try to use my tools to do so.

So why is it, that parents consistently make really bad decisions when it involves car safety even when they know the possible results? It’s just not OK to drive around with four children in the back of a four seater car (no car seats), and two adults up front. This is a situation that demands attention. This is a situation that cannot be ignored. This is a situation in which every person in that car is at risk… the four children from ejection or serious seatbelt injury, and the driver and passenger could be impacted by an child as they eject the car. This is something that could happen with even a 10 mph accident.

I understand times are tough. I understand there are many people struggling and many people who are consumed by anxiety and stress over each and every day.  But putting your kids at risk does not improve this anxiety… and frankly could lead to even more (arrest for child endangerment, serious injury or death to a child, death of a parent… ect.). Beyond that, there is a solution. This is in fact not a tough decision. The decision should be, not everyone goes in the car. One adult stays home with some of the children. It might not be as social for the adult, but at the end of the day, this means each person is safe (so long as they are in proper seats).

When I’m doing car seat education, I believe my role is an educator. I am there to educate parents on the law, the physics of a crash, and the safety tools available to them.  Beyond that, I am a mandatory reporter in my current role as a CPS at a local non-profit. My role is not to sit there and report people, but more to educate them so I don’t have to report them. Parents are there to make the decisions, but without the tools and information to make those decisions, children like the children in this situation are put in danger on a daily basis.

The BEST car seat…

So I get this question a lot… what is the BEST car seat for my baby?

Here’s the secret… the best car seat is the seat that can be installed correctly in your car and is being used per the manufacturers guidelines (preferably along with best practices).

There is no BEST.

There is however seats that make me cringe when I see them come in…

Any seat that was purchased at a yard sale, thrift store, or received at the dump is a bit NO GO. You just can’t be sure of the history. No matter how awesome that deal was, you just have NO idea if the other owner was in an accident, if they treated the seat with care, if the washed the fabric in fabric softener (stripping the fire retardant material)… you just have no idea.

Any seat over the date the manufacturer recommends – most manufacturers recommend 6 years of use. Now – daily use, for 6 years… frankly… most seats are so nasty after this, that I think it warrants throwing out just for the gross factor. But there is a bigger reason – first technology changes so rapidly… for instance… just a few years ago they were still producing those car seats that have the shield that goes over the head. They are no longer producing these… because they just are not as safe as seats with 5 point harnesses.  Getting replacement parts for older seats is also hard. Does the seat suddenly implode at 6 years? No – but thats the date the manufacturer puts on that seat, and I’m sure if there was any sort of failure, they would throw their hands up and claim it’s not their problem. There is also general wear… car seats are exposed to a lot… really hot and really cold temps, liquids on the seat and harness, and stress points from heavy use… So don’t use an expired car seat.

Obviously any seat that is broken or “rigged” to work… is a big no-no.

But back to the “BEST” car seat…

I always tell parents to make sure that they know the limits of their seat… seats have various weight and height limits. There is tons of information online about observed harness height and weight limits. There are many new seats on the market with harnesses that have 65lb + weight limits… the issue is, I don’t know many seats that would realistically fit a 65lb child… for most, this is just unrealistic because of the harness height and shell height.

Here is a nice list already comprised by another blog: http://www.carseatsite.com/recommended_car_seats.htm, but the car seat market is changing so rapidly, and the choices are already expanded from this list!

If you have a question about a specific car seat for your vehicle and child, email me first before you buy so you don’t have buyers remorse! I’ll be able to tell you if it will last your child a while or not, and if it’s a good buy.