DH's trip to the fire station - car seat check

PrairieMom wrote: I made DH go the the fire station to get our car seat checked to make sure they are in okay. and I learned a few interesting things. For starters they told us that our built in car seat is perfectly safe to use, and acutally thought we were alittle nuts for buying one to use instead. its only rated for 20-40 pounds so we would need a booster anyway, so we are sticking with what we have.
It also took 2 huge fire men to install Ally's seat rear facing to get it in tight enough.
In the end I learned that our seats were in good, but both weren't in tight enough. so I guess you can add us to the other 80% of parents that they say do it wrong. but they are in good now.

ETA:

I forgot to mention, they told us that we shouldn't be putting Ally in her huge snow suit before putting her in her car seats, because the seat belts don't hold them as tightly with all that bulky material on them. They told us to use a light coat, then cover her with blankets instead. So, when it is -24 out side, and I am at the grocery store trying to wrangle Ben, grab the diaper bag, cover Ally with all her blankets, haul them to and from the store with groceries and what not?! It just doesn't seem very praticle.

~Roo'sMama~ replied: Wow ~ yeah I am always kneeling in Andrew's seat and practically jumping on it trying to get it tight enough. It's hard to do. I hated trying to get the base for the infant seat tight enough because it hurts to get on top of it. I need to get it in the van to be ready for Allison and I'm not looking forward to struggling with it in the freezing cold.

~Roo'sMama~ replied:
I've heard that too. Are you using an infant carrier seat or a convertable? If you were using an infant seat you could get one of those wrap things that stays inside of the seat and the straps don't have to go over the bulky material. I have a snow suit for Allie though and we're going to use our infant carrier.

JadensMama05 replied: When Jaden was in a carrier-type, we also had some type of cover for it... Here's a pic of Jaden in it if that didn't make any sense. I dunno what it's called

PrairieMom replied: We did those covers and wraps too, but now she is in the convertable seat, so we can't do that now.

holley79 replied: It took two 200 pound police officers to get Annika's seat in tight enough. I had it in correctly just not tightened enough. The child seat class I just took was also talking about how the slickness of the snow suits make children suseptible to come out of the seat easier because they harnesses are not as tight as they would be if they were in a light jacket. I could not imagine wrangling Ben and Ally and all the nessesities.

PrairieMom replied:
I was like... well... We will try that in the spring. Her snow suit is so big the poor thing cant even wave her arms, so I really don't think she will be going anywhere. I'll just tighten it a little extra when I buckle her in.

gr33n3y3z replied:
more and more ppl. are just using light coats or layering their childrens clothes to go out I was interduced to that with my brother in law and thought he was off the wall but the reasoning is this

If you put on a heavy coat turn the heat on in the car you sweat right well thats why so many ppl. are using the layer method with a blanket

So I guess there is more then one reason to leave the bulky home

mom21kid2dogs replied: You're in great company with the other 80% of humans. I guess that's where being an good sized momma paid off for me. If I got in the seat to tighten it~you better believe it was in there!!!

I only bought jackets from Land's End until O was about 5 for the exact same reason they told you. They aren't puffy so they don't compress if she was thrown against the belt. When got bigger (like at about 1.5, she never wore a coat in the car seat (still doesn't). We keep a wool blanket in the car to cover her. Land's End also makes a car seat cover that fits over the top of the carrier if you are using an infant seat. Unlike other car seat covers, it doesn't go under the child and interfere with the straps. Might be worth checking out. Sorry to sound like a Land's End commercial~they just make a great product. I always got (and sold ) mine on EBay to get a better deal!

3_call_me_mama replied: I have read a lot about the coat thing as well. It is far better to put a warm hat on their head, cover thair hands and feet with mittens and socks/shoes or whatever and put on a light coat and blanket. or get one of those poncho type things that go OVER the head AFTER the child is buckled in.. Cause the fluffy coat is compressed in an accident adn actually casuses the buckles to be too loose and teh child could eject form the seat. So a test to see if your child's coat is too thick is to put them in their seat and strap them in (no coat) fix the harness so it's properly fittng and tight. (do teh pinch test where you try to pinch the harness strap between your thumb adn forefinger. if there is any slack and it pinches then it isn't tight enough. (i'm talking abotu pinching lengthwise, top to bottom not front to back.. if that makes sense) . Then take your child out and put the coat on and rebuckle them in. If you cna snap the buckles without moving them then your good to go. if you need ot loosen them. then your coat is too bulky.
Another was to test is teh opposite way. Put child in seat in coat, buckle and tighten and do same pinch test as above. Take child out of seat and remove coat and put back in seat. Buckle , DO NOT ADJUST buckles and try teh pinch test. if you can pinch you have them too loose. Also another neat trick.... is to ge tthem all buckleed and fastened in and put their coat on teh backwards after. it will keep them warm, and when you unbuckel if you wnat that big bulky coat on them you cna easily slip it on the right way adn zip it up and go about your business. Removing it to buckle them back in and replacing it over them again.
MAy seem liek a bit of a pain... but so worth it to save their life.

A&A'smommy replied: I need to do that but knowing the people here they won't know how to do it right either.. but we are about to get a booster anyway! I'm glad you got it all fixed I bet you will feel much better about the riding now!!

MommyToAshley replied: I had heard both things...about tightening the car seat and the large coats at a baby safety class I took at the hospital.

When we put Ashley's seat in, I always kneel in to and push down (from the roof of the car) and DH buckles it tightly. It's not easy or fun so we ended up buying two seats so we didn't have to hassle with changing the seat from car to car.

MyBabeMaddie replied: Car seats are so confusing I'm glad you got yours taken care of.