…And with it comes cold weather, icy roads, snow and too many accidents!! ๐ฆ
Remember now in the cold to keep your little ones safe in their car seat!!
ย No heavy jackets or snow suits!! If a knitted jumper or fleecy jacket isn’t enough, use an extra blanket in the car to cover them with after the harness is nice and snug. ๐
Many of you may not be aware of the above. You might be wondering what on earth I am on about even. hehe
Well my friends, I am going to show you! ๐
What is a car seat friendly jacket and how do you know if the jacket/coat is car seat friendly?
To answer that question I took to Instagram believe it or not. There I stumbled upon an American with EU car seats! (yes, that really did get my attention!)
When asked about a ‘friendly car seat jacket’ was she answered:
” It should be compressible enough that you don’t have to make an adjustment to the harness (like loosening it a lot to make the coat fit.) Otherwise it’ll compress in an accident instead and leave too much slack in the ย harness. Fleece also works because it won’t compress at all.”
ย – Kate Evans, CPST
You can follow Kate on Instagram @emkayieย !
So what is an example of a none car seat friendly coat/jacket?ย
A none car seat friendly coat would be for example a snow suit, or a thick winter coat.:
You might recognise this baby, this is Sophia. You know, the daughter of the now famous Farrah from Teen Mom 2. This is screen captured from one of the early episodes of 16 and Pregnant.
Now, there are some life threatening mistakes done here.
- Baby is wearing a bulky snow suit.
- Baby is not strapped in at all. (most likely because whoever put her in the seat couldn’t connect the harness and buckle it up..believe it or not I have seen this in real life. ๐ฆ )
- Only strapped in with the ‘chest clip’. (This is something that only US made car seats have, we do not have this in EU car seats. )
Photocredit: http://tinylink.net/u4xhs
But what are theย consequences of doing it wrong?
Not too long ago now, there was a big news story circling around the web, especially amongst us who have a more then average interest in in-car safety.
That’s right, I’m talking about 6 month old Gabriel who was flung from he’s car seat, flew 25 feet from the car and landed in the snow…
The car seat itself also flew out of the car, the crash was quite bad, but when the help arrived on the scene it was reported that the baby was in he’s thick snow suit, and the harness in the car seat was still buckled!! ๐ฎ ๐ฎ
Here is the full story:ย ‘Miracle Baby’ Thrown 25 Feet in Car Crash and Survives
ย Here is a demonstration made by Christie Haskell:
But i live in…*Insert land of the Ice bear* ! It’s too cold to not wear a coat!
My friends, there are alternatives!! ๐
And that is what we are going to cover next.
Alternatives to a snow suit or and heavy coats are for example:
- Knitted jumpers/suits (as my son in the top photo is showing off) , this with a hat and mittens on will actually keep the kids quite warm.
- Keep a blanket in the car for cold days
- A fleece jacket
- Zip the coat closed over the straps, not under :
Photo credit: http://tinylink.net/0phco
- It is often possible to start the car a few minutes before you fill it (say 5min? ), this way it’s not icy cold when the children get in it, but may even be starting to warm up.
- A Car Seat Poncho!ย – ย This is brilliant! I found a video for you on how to make your own, it’s a 10min long video where Leigha’sLifeย walks us through it. It looks extremely simple, I might actually try and get my mother in law to do this! (because I do not own a sowing machine. hehe)
<<Video>> - Cosy Car Seat Coverย – “This stylish cover allows your childs car seat safety harness to be used correctly whilst keeping baby warm and snug” –ย Note though that this product s only suitable for infant car seats. ๐
- The Morrch Car Seat Hoodie – This is a very big favourite here in England. I know my american friends will not like this as it does go behind baby and has holes for the straps, but as shown in the safety video, we can see that it does not in any way interfere with the harness any more then a normal fleece jacket. ๐
- Use thermal underwear when it’s winter time! I love wool..all my kids have wool/silk, wool/cotton thermal underwear they use under the clothes when it’s winter.
- Put the coat on backwards. Basically you take off the coat, fasten the harness nice and snug, and put the coat on back to front. Obviously you don’t zip it up, but it does work and help.
But are allย ‘after-market’ products safe?
The answer is most definitely NO!
An example of an ‘after-market’ product that I myself are horrified over is this…thing…:
It’s quite simple really, never put anything on covering a baby’s face!
Just as it is with a pram/buggy/pushchair, you don’t ever cover the opening with a blanket. This is a very serious matter, and it is known to cause infant fatality!! ๐ฆ ย ย
Same goes for this:
The “Bundle Me”
Photo credit: http://tinylink.net/z68b5
A lot of these “foot muffs” will pose as a ‘car seat must have’, and pray on unknowing parents with their perfectly labelled marketing schemes. I’m not saying it’s a guarantee to instantly kill a child, what I am saying is that it’s better to be safe then sorry, and to go by the rules and guidelines stated above.
We may think that “it’s not going to happen to us”. I’m sure little Gabriel’s mum told herself the same thing while driving to her mum’s house before she got hit by a truck…
I hope the information given is of help to everyone, and I hope together we can help each other keep our young safe and sound in their car seats during winter! ๐
Happy X-mas from us!!
Q//: What ways have you used to keep your kids safe in the car though theย winter-months?
Have you ever tried any of the above tips? Tell us your story in a comment below! ๐
A Rear Facing Family 
I’ve done the backwards coat trick and found it to be a pain in the butt for us. The year a before that we used a fleece pram that is made by carters, which only comes in infant sizes. This year my son is 2 1/2, and I got a fleece hoodie and we do layers: undershirt, his regular shirt, then fleece, mittens, and into the car with a blanket over top once he’s buckled in. And I’ve always warmed up the car. We have some thermal shirts for when the weather gets even colder.
Very similar to our routine. ๐ My hubby tries to get the car started while I dress the kids/put on shoes etc, and that in itself tends to take a few minutes when you have two small ones hehe. ๐
Thanks for the quote! Never heard of the Morrck hoodie wrap thing. I watched the video and it looks interesting if it really doesn’t interfere with strap tightness. I have a Car Seat Poncho, but it’s just more of a hassle than the North Face Moondoggy down coat I have now for DD that’s car seat safe and super warm.
P.S. My 5yo cousin gets strapped in with only the chest clip done all the time, despite mine and his sister’s pleas. Stupid chest clips (love my Euro seats!) Oh, and yesterday I saw a baby in an infant seat snapped into a stroller outside completely covered in a fleece blanket. Face and all. Pretty horrifying to see someone potentially suffocating their child!
-Kate (@emkayie)
Morrch has made a safety video where they show it more clearly: http://tinylink.net/oppan
The Moondoggy looks really nice! I’m going to have to look into that one. ๐
Oh wow… ๐ฆ I think some of the problem is that a lot of american parents think the chest clip is there for added safety. That comes forth quite often when you show photos and the seats are EU, they immediately ask where the chest clip is, and some think that you must use it or else the seat is not working properly and so forth. I am sure you have come across this in your work a lot? I don’t think too many know that it’s made to break in the event of a crash, so only strapping the child in with the chest clip will send them flying as if they weren’t wearing anything at all. ๐ฅ
Every summer is a problem when it comes to the blankets… ๐ฆ Even inside a shopping center I see them walk about with a blanket covering the entire opening of the pram. There’s been done a ton of studies on this very thing, and the oxygen reading inside is extremely bad. I don’t think they intentionally do it (well some you get the impression really don’t care), I think it’s because they don’t know better. I love moments where I have the opportunity to maybe educate, so I do say something if I see “no noes”, but I do try to do it in a very nice way. ๐ To me it’s just too important to not say anything when it’s something that can have a deadly consequence
.
we use a fleece jacket and add a blanket if it’s cold, plus hats. As the car warms up, he can kick it off, or we stop and remove it if he’s sleeping. Never heard of the Morrick hoodie blanket thing here (UK!) but have seen some attrocious sights of babies/toddlers being ‘strapped into’ their car seats – right up to the Duke of Cambridge when he was taking his newborn baby son home from the hospital for the first time. Baby’s straps weren’t correctly positioned at all! My brother is also another one who doesn’t strap his daughter in properly – she’s 4 and he just doesn’t use the shoulder restraints (apparently she doesn’t like them!!) her arms are out and pretty sure he is smart enough to realise that it’s dangerous, without me going on at him all the time ๐ฆ he was in a car accident a few years back and his seat belt saved his life. Suffered serious head and chest injuries, but was alive. Without a correctly fitted seat belt he’d have been through the windscreen ๐ฆ
Omg Jen that’s terrible! And so scary for you as a family to go through! I’m glad he’s OK! But as you I would have hoped he, because of he’s own experience, would really understand how important it is to have the straps and seat belt fitted correctly. ๐ฆ
I found you this, maybe after seeing and reading this, he will change he’s ways!
http://tinylink.net/458yx
The Duke of Cambridge yes…. a lot of people said to leave them alone, some said she fixed it in the car…so on and on.
)
I think that it was very unfortunate for someone in the spotlight like that, and such important people in the country, to make such an error for all to see.
Because it does make a difference. Just look at commercials on telly, or series, people DO look to them for inspiration and if they see an infant forward facing in a commercial, some will think that this is perfectly OK and safe. (which it by any means is not!
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Love watching sunset !