How much difference can a coat make?

Your child's coat can affect a car seat's ability to protect her in a crash.  The extra bulk and material adds up, and can change the fit of the harness around her torso.  Here is a video comparing chest measurements with and without a coat (1:20). 

So, is there any easy way to keep your child warm in the car seat?  Why yes, yes indeed there is (as seen in the second part of the video).  It's called the Car Seat Poncho and it's been keeping kids warm and safe in their car seats since 2005.  Click here to learn more.

BABY BARGAINS Likes the Car Seat Poncho!

The Car Seat Poncho was recommended in the Baby Bargains blog! 

Their blog post for today, 12/14/11, featured a letter from a reader who wanted to know how to keep her toddler warm in her car seat.  They responded:

"We found a company, H. Barry Boo, that offers a great solution. The Car Seat Poncho (sells for $35 to $45 in a wide variety of fleece options. The idea: keep your child warm while walking to the car then flip the poncho up and over the seat. "

(Click here to read their full blog post.)

If you are a new or expecting parent, you NEED a copy of Baby Bargains (especially now ;-).  It is the voice of sanity in the crazy world of baby products, and will save you from a panic attack when you are zapping items for your baby registry!

Great Review on About.com

Great grade from About.com

 The Car Seat Poncho got a/nother great review, this time on About.com's "Baby's First Year" blog:

"When I first glanced at this product, I'll be honest and say I wasn't too sure about it. I am a New Englander, and the winters up here get beyond frigid.

Would the Car Seat Poncho really keep my baby or toddler warm? Closer inspection reveals a solid, "Yes!"

The reason being, this poncho is made out of not just one layer of fleece, but two layers of 400-weight fleece. The weight of the blanketed poncho traps warm air next to your child while you go out to the carseat.

The other features of this product that I find appealing over some of the other winter car seat accessories are:

1. It works with both infant car seat carriers AND any 5-point harness. So if you are using a convertible car seat, this product will work for you.
2. It prevents any layers of material from coming between your baby and the harness straps. The straps remain as close to your baby as possible at all times, unlike popular winter gear like the Bundle Me.
3. It also can be used as warm weather wear. You get to your destination, and your child has the freedom to walk around and still keep warm."

Thanks to blogger Jennifer White, of About.com.  FYI: Unlike many other "product review" blogs, there was no "freebie" product given in exchange for a review.  Ms. White chose the Car Seat Poncho to review based on her own research and suggestions from her readers -- bona fide journalism!

Was there anything she left out of her great review?  Leave your two cents in the comment area for the article:  http://baby.about.com/b/2011/01/03/the-car-seat-poncho.htm#commentform

Want to read some more love?  Here are more Car Seat Poncho reviews.

I FINISHED MY ULTIMATE VIDEO!!!

I've always meant to make a video demonstrating the risk of a puffy coat in a car seat.  I have been madly shooting and editing so that I could release the video just before the Kids in Motion conference at the end of this week -- and it's finally done!

I hope this is helpful to CPSTs, Instructors and everyone out there who tries to persuade parents, grandparents and caregivers NOT to harness children over their winter coats. Please share it as necessary, and let me know what you think!

I Am Now A Certified CPS Tech!

After much encouragement from CPS techs and instructors around the country, I attended the NHTSA Child Passenger Safety Training Program this week.  Today, I was officially certified as a technician!

The program consisted of three days of classroom work, hands-on training activities and tests, then one day of installs.  We were given different "dummy" children and asked to choose and install the appropriate seat for their height, weight and age.  We were given different child/restraint scenarios and asked to identify installation errors and misuse.  Finally, we conducted installations for the general public while being observed and evaluated by CPS instructors. 

During one of my installs, I advised a mom against using the Bundle Me in her infant's car seat.  In another, I advised a mom to take off her son's puffy jacket.  When she looked at it, she was aghast at the puffiness in the back AND the front, and how much slack that would generate under a harness.  Both of these things I knew before going into certification, but now, since we had discussed it in class, I had relevant authority in my advice.

Whew! It was a grueling week -- but totally, absolutely worth it.  Along the way, I met some really great people -- police officers and emergency responders from all over the state.  We got to know each other pretty well, had some good laughs over lunch, during breaks.  And now we're certified!

2-Month Old Ejected From SUV (Alaska)

Found this story via Google Alerts. The child was not seriously injured (miraculously):

Tsk, tsk, though: The mom interviewed in the story (not the crash mom) says she does everything she can to keep her 5 month old safe and secure in his car seat, but when they show him, the harness straps seem absolutely un-tightened. Am I seeing this right?

Ask a lawyer what JJ Cole says about Bundle Me and car seats!

Regarding my post this week on the Bundle Me, one of my FaceBook friends asked, "Is there any pressure by parents or advocates to the Bundle Me makers?"

Answer:  Yes.  So much so, in fact, that JJ Cole, the manufacturer of Bundle Me, has a set response to these concerns. In 2007, there was a thread on this topic on car-seat.org, and o_mom, a CPST, posted this:

"Here is what they say (wording is very important):

"Tests performed on infant car seats with the Bundle Me® installed found that the car seats complied with the Restraint System Integrity and Occupant Excursion portions of the FMVSS 213 requirements. They are NOT saying that the Bundle Me passes FMVSS 213. They are claiming that they tested at least two seats with the Bundle Me installed and that those seats pass FMVSS 213 when used with the Bundle Me. Now, we have no idea what seats were tested and how many ways they were tested (every strap position, etc.) and so on, so it is still an unknown what will happen in your carseat the way you install it. "

Another point raised on the thread is that while their descriptions of the Bundle Me include "use with car seats," none of the car seats in which they PICTURE their product are ever actually IN CARS. They're on benches, on the ground, etc.  So are they actually saying their product can be safely used in car seats that are INSTALLED and IN MOTION? That would be a juicy point for lawyers' feasting if any litigation arose.

So clever are those lawyers, no?

Here's the car-seat.org thread for your bookmarks.

Why Is the Bundle Me Bad in a Car Seat?

This questions comes up several times a year on parenting and safety boards across the internet:  Why do safety people tell you NOT to use the Bundle Me in a car seat?

The answer is that the portion that goes behind the child's back is too fluffy and thick, and does not allow you to properly secure your child in the car seat.  Fluff and bulk in FRONT of a baby and under the harness would compress in a collision, but fluff between the BACK of a baby and the car seat prevents the harness from being sufficiently tightened. 

While a Bundle Me does allow the harness to be directly on the child's chest, it provides only the illusion of security because of the extra "air space" in the back. In order for the harness to completely compress away that air space, it would have to squish down on all the baby fat, flesh and bone to an obviously ridiculous level.  No one would ever do that to her baby, so the extra space remains.  And THAT'S why the Bundle Me is bad for car seats.

To really illustrate the point, I want to highlight the excellent Bundle Me thread on BabyCenter's "Car Seat Questions" board that was posted early in 2009, by lullabymama.  She tested a real Bundle Me, a real car seat and a real baby to see if the fluffy back panel really made a difference, and took photos to document each step:

• Step 1: Put Bundle Me on car seat, seat child and fasten harness to appropriate tension.
• Step 2: Remove child, remove Bundle Me, re-seat and re-fasten child.
• Step 3: Test harness tension by pinching harness straps above chest clip, near shoulder.  If more than 1" of strap can be pinched, the harness would be too loose to safely restrain a child in a collision.

Even I was surprised that the amount of slack!  I am going to bookmark that thread and refer to it whenever the question arises.  A picture is worth a thousand words, as well as the safety of your child.