Advice needed - baby car seat questions (merged)

the_other_mce

anonymousie wrote: »

Beg to differ on this, an escapologist will be no better in a seat that fixes with the seatbelt, and will be an awful lot LESS safe as this is an inappropriate sort of seat for their age/weight/height. A 2yr old needs a 5 point harness, full stop.

Someone will no doubt direct you to the which reports and the scary videos on U tube. If a quick browse through those that show the importance of a 5 point harness seat doesn't convince you, nothing will (be prepared with hankies though, most are made by bereaved families as tributes to the children they lost because they were not in appropriate care seats).

Yes you can buy gadgets to hold the straps together and straight jacket the child in- they might help, ultimately you need to teach the child that the car doesn't move till they are safely strapped in. Harsh, but that's how it is, I value my kids lives more than getting anywhere on time, and I'm sure you do too.

The strtategy you, and your DH must adopt is that everytime dear child gets out of car seat then you stop, turn the engine off, explain and wait for the tantrum to stop and him to get back into the seat.

As with all toddler behaviour modification it will be difficult and the behaviour will get worse before it gets better, but I would bet on a week of absolute insistance you'd get the behaviour you want rather than the attention seeking he is displaying at the moment (that is what it is, it is boring sitting in a car seat and someone needs to take notice of me...). You could make being in the car seat more interesting- an in car DVD player (for what £100 maybe, invaluable if your child stays strapped in and safe) to play favourite videos (and of course to be switched off when junior gets out) would be helpful.

Keep calm but firmly insistent, it will work honest (ever read toddler taming by Dr Christopher Green- these are the strategies he employs).

Bribery for your older child to help will help too as they will have to put up with spending ages in the car going nowhere!

OK off my soapbox now! Car seats are soooo important.

You are entitled to your opinion BUT in the real world you have places to go and times to be there and a two year old sat (good as gold) in a 'booster type' car seat is a lot safer than a two year rolling around the back seat because they have 'escaped' on the school run - I tried everything - apart from killing them with straps so tight it restricted their breating. I also listened to people like you and worried myself sick because my child was strapped uncomfortably in a seat, crying and getting out (they learn't how to press the button in the middle). Eventually I took a sensible view on things, explained that if we got this 'big girls 'seat they would have to sit like mummy and daddy did - nice and straight and sensible. We never looked back.....(although I kept the old car seat as a threat !!:rotfl: )
They are now 10 and 8. I would really recommend it - the only other option I had was FORCE and I don't believe in that.
Dr Green is an advocate of 'what works for your family/circumstances - is the best thing to do' and so am I. ( I have read all the books with a liberal pinch of salt and I remember reading about his child who was nearly strangled because they tied the room door shout to stick with the time out thing!!) All kids are different. Do whatever works to keep your kids safe.Take advice from others but don't feel railroaded into doing things because other people say you should. By the way the type of car seats I am talking about are suitable from 1+' ish - basically a booster seat with a back and an adjuster so the 'grown up' seat belt fits your child securely.

heather38

children under 4 should be in a 5 point harness, NEVER in a booster seat with a seatbelt. if you were ever in an accident the shoulder strap part of the belt could literally decapitate your child as they sit far to high across a childs body.
i have a maxicosi priori fix, it's great and came top in the which safety tests this year.

Mrs_B_12

It's illegal to use a booster seat for a child under the age of 3 http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/law/index.htm Every parent should know the right sort of seat they need to be using.

fratty

alanalea wrote: »

I started a thread about this about 2 weeks ago because my 2yo daughter does exactly the same!

THREAD HERE

Anyways, I was advised to use a SNUGSIT kindly provided by Suekjw . I've only had to use it once, because Tabitha was so annoyed with me for using it, she won't risk me using it again. The arms have since stayed in their straps!

My DD did exactly that too! Driving along you would suddenly notice she was all over the place!:eek:

I had one similar to the snugsit , which was basically fabric that wrapped around the shoulder straps that kept them 'together' at the front so that they weren't able to be shrugged off IYSWIM!

I would give one of those snug thingy's a go!
HTH!
Paula x

shortnsweetlauraloo

My two year old has a full scale tantrum every time we try to put her in the car seat, as a result I've given up all hope and she hasn't been in the car for the last 2 months! I'm not even sure if changing her seat will help. Has anyone got a foolproof solution for this? I was going to put her in one of the seats that can use an adult seat belt on it, it actually said in the catalogue that it was in her age range. Now I'm not so sure after reading this thread. I did think that doing this was my only hope.

anonymousie

shortnsweetlauraloo wrote: »

My two year old has a full scale tantrum every time we try to put her in the car seat, as a result I've given up all hope and she hasn't been in the car for the last 2 months! I'm not even sure if changing her seat will help. Has anyone got a foolproof solution for this? I was going to put her in one of the seats that can use an adult seat belt on it, it actually said in the catalogue that it was in her age range. Now I'm not so sure after reading this thread. I did think that doing this was my only hope.

Think about how you would modify her behaviour in any other tantrum producing situation....

Avoiding car travel is certainly one possiblity and might suit you long term (and save money!).

Otherwise wawiting a bit might allow the maturity to let her understand why it is important. Bribery might work. Sitting in the seat in a stationary car having a story (strapped or not strapped) might help if she is genuinely scared etc. Travelling in afriends car in their seat might work (age appropriate)

I knw I have been shot at, and I'll no doubt be shot at again but a 5 point harness fora young child is the age/weight appropriate restrain for very good reason.

Noone else has posted them but watch these sad videos...
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=y2LFo8vVi04
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ

Make your choice for you and your child.

Chances are you will be lucky, like the poster who shot at me above, and never crash. THat will be fine wont it.
But if you aren't lucky, can you live with the statistically small but present risk of the other idiots on the road....

We all make choices for our kids all the time. Absolutely "don't feel railroaded" by me or anyone else, but know the risks and balance them in your mind.

themrs_2

we have the sip base and we had to play with the sprit level to get it spot on, if you can get to a mamas and papas store with a access to a car park they should try it in your car

conradmum

Ds3's car seat is now too small for him.

Does anyone know what kind I should be getting him now (his current one is a 0 - 4 style so definitely not suitable to carry on with.) ?

And any recommendations as to make?

Sagaris

Best thing to do is to go along to your nearest branch of Mothercare or Halfords (or try your lcal council's Road Safety dept) and let them try seats in your car that will fit - although at that age/size you will probably want a highback booster seat, which is held in place by his weight and the adult seat belt, so not as difficult to find a fit as the type of seat you have currently.

conradmum

Sagaris wrote: »

Best thing to do is to go along to your nearest branch of Mothercare or Halfords (or try your lcal council's Road Safety dept) and let them try seats in your car that will fit - although at that age/size you will probably want a highback booster seat, which is held in place by his weight and the adult seat belt, so not as difficult to find a fit as the type of seat you have currently.

So an ordinary booster seat won't do? I know you now have to have a booster seat for them until they're quite old, but I wasn't sure how old they are when they start using them.