Car Seat Safety (NamasLEARN Series, Ep. 1)

Namastè!

Just came in from one leg of my errands. In this heat, we do things in spurts. Most important items first, followed by another tour encompassing lower-hierarchy errands. Baby Namastè got a new convertible car seat recently, and he is loving all the padding. I am loving the extended rear-facing.

No...don't leave. It's one of those posts but not one of those posts. Know what I mean? I'm not here to judge your seat or pluck at your knowledge. Nah. I'm here to teach you a thing if you don't know, because I personally just learned how to correctly install my son's seat. I had the help of my girl Shawna S., a seat safety guru I had the luck of meeting in a mommy app. She took the time to walk me through this, and I feel obligated to share. While it's our choice as to what seat we use (brand-wise), it is never a choice to use it safely--we owe that to our kids. An improperly installed car seat is almost an invitation for disaster, from injuries to death. If you think that is dramatic, imagine how it would feel to see your little bub hurt or worse and know all it would have taken to lessen or prevent it was a properly installed seat. I shudder just thinking about it.

Brass tacks.

Baby Namastè's a toddler now, y'all. While he's not particularly tall or even chunky, we felt it was time to move him up to a convertible seat. His infant carrier was not a comfortable ride for him and since he's able to sit upright, he does not like being laid back in a car seat.

The seat we use is quite plush. It is a convertible seat, with memory foam padding, fully-adjustable five-point harness, and it's absolutely cozy for him. It sits up higher than his infant seat. When rear-facing, as he will be until he's at least 3 (hopefully longer!), it has a 3-position recline. Honestly I'm a bit salty MY seat doesn't do all this!

Now...as I said before, I never installed an infant car seat, a toddler seat, a booster seat--I didn't even assemble his feeding seat. Hubby Namastè and I always defer those things to the experts. In our county, the public safety officials are all very good with car seat installation, and always willing to help.

This time I decided to try my hand at installing on my own though. While those lovely officials are always willing to help, it's really something I wanted to master for myself.

But I couldn't teach myself. The YouTube videos were just aggravating. Play, pause, play, pause. Then I remembered: I have Shawna! My car seat guru. So I messaged her. She agreed to help me out, so I sent photos and info about the seat, my car's LATCH system, and all that. We walked through the process.

First, I showed her how I thought he needed to be fastened in the seat. Turns out I needed to move the head rest of his seat up one level, so the to of the straps could sit at shoulder level. Fixed that. I had the harness and chest clip correct already. (GO me!)

Note: The chest clip belongs AT CHEST LEVEL. If your chest clip is not at baby's armpit, you have incorrectly fastened it. Period. Also, the straps need to be snug. Their purpose is to protect your child in case of impact. If they are loose, your baby could be internally decapitated or ejected. Bottom line--don't defeat the safety features under the guise of comfort. A correctly fastened harness, in a correctly installed seat, is comfortable.

Ah! It felt good to know I was fastening him in correctly. As for the headrest, this was my first time using this particular seat. No better way to learn than via researching and utilizing your village's wisdom, right?

Up next, I uninstalled our other convertible seat and prepared to have a go at this one. Again, I made a beeline for Shawna's inbox. She checked my install. I had it right!

Note: I used my vehicle's side LATCH system. My vehicle is equipped with side and rear, but the side worked better for me. Please check your seat manual before using the side LATCH, as not all seat manufacturers recommend this setup.

Things I now know:

1. LATCH is an acronym for Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren. 

The photo below shows the tag with the LATCH indicator. It's a little baby in a seat!

They are metal hooks/links in vehicles that allow for quick, secure attachment of infant and toddler safety seats. The LATCH systems can be found in many vehicles from model year 2002 on up. (Also of interest: Simple booster seats don't have LATCH hooks, but the majority of infant and convertible seats do.)

2. The LATCH system is great for quick, secure installation, but it's a good idea to learn the belt configuration also. 

Not all vehicles have LATCH.

3. It is recommended by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that a child rear-face until they outgrow their seat, typically around age two or three. (Click here.)

4. Think your kid is too big to rear face? 

Nah. For our particular seat, Baby Namastè can rear face until he weighs 40 pounds. A tall child can cross their legs Indian-style.

(Note: Convertible car seats don't go by height, as a child could be tall enough to forward face [Baby Namastè is not tall enough, as ours is 40 inches and he's not even 30!] BUT not weigh enough [Baby Namastè does not weigh enough to forward face--not even close.], thus negating any protection they would garner. There isn't a universal height, though--the rule of thumb is to turn them when they outgrow. I believe "outgrow" would be the point at which he could NOT comfortable cross his legs in there.

Well, why switch from an infant carrier if they can just cross their legs?!

Infant carriers are designed for newborns and infants who are immobile, honestly. Baby Namastè's had a convertible seat since he was roughly eight months old. He wanted to sit UP, but we knew he still needed to rear face. So we made the swap. With future children we will skip the infant carrier altogether, as convertible seats are generally good from 5 pounds to 100, encompassing both rear-facing and forward-facing configurations, as the seats grow with the child.

Look how comfy he is, and how his legs are. This seat will work for him, for a while yet.

5. NOT EVERYONE WHO CORRECTS YOUR SEAT POSTION/HARNESS/CHEST CLIP IS JUDGING.

Anyone who ever posted a carseat photo can attest--there will either be kudos for a job well done OR someone will point out a flaw. If the person pointing out that flaw, also takes time to help you fix it, they aren't judging you. (Of course, some people just enjoy being snarky, catty, Judgy Junes--ignore those.) Instead of being offended, look at the seat. Look at the straps and chest clip. Look at how it is secured in the car, whether by LATCH or belt system. If something is amiss, put your feelings and pride to the side and FIX IT. Of course there are snarks--but there are also people online who care to point out something that obviously you and the other people around you in your actual life, have missed.

6. Car seat safety is not negotiable.

It isn't an á la carte deal. It means nothing if you have the chest clip in the correct spot but the straps are too loose. Rear-facing means nothing if the child isn't properly harnessed. Height and weight mean absolutely nada if the child is not in a correctly-secured seat.

7. Comfort is in the eye of the beholder.

Baby Namastè doesn't like his seat. When we first fasten him, we get the "noooooo" melody. He harmonizes it via the "ouchie" ad-libs to form what we dubbed, "The Car Seat Chorale." However, as soon as he's in and has gotten settled with his ellie, his Topsy turtle, and his book of the day, he is fine.

Does he look uncomfortable in his pics? No. Because he isn't. He's accepting of his seat, and because we opted for a model with memory foam padding, he is indeed cozy there. You see, children learn to be content in their seats once they realize two things:

A.) Mom and Dad aren't backing down about this.

B.) This isn't so bad! It's my own little spot, and I am safe and cozy here. (Check out his grin!)

Baby Namastè usually ends up having a nap if we are in the car more than 20 or 30 minutes. (In Georgia this is the norm--traffic is pretty thick, and we live in a suburb that is just off the beaten path. We don't really have anything that's a hop and skip, honestly, due to the highway and constant traffic.)

I hope this served two purposes: to provide you with a framework for your own car seat installation prowess, and to show you the village mentality.

Our children are our own, but no single person is ever born knowing 100% how to parent. My favorite quote, one I got from my sweet Grandma:

Every time a baby is born, a mother is.

Each new stage presents a new step in the learning dance that is, parenting.

All that being said...PLEASE check your car seats. Make sure they are age-appropriate. (A one-year-old has no business in a booster and a child under 40 pounds has no business forward facing. Be as mad as you wish, the truth doesn't alter to soothe anyone's ego.) Please make sure the chest clip is at armpit level and the harness is snug.

Also... Jackets and blankets do not belong under the harness. Aftermarket products (pullows, strap covers, cushions) don't belong on your seat period. Skip the extras, moms and dads. Used correctly, the seats are NOT uncomfortable and adding excess padding and such can actually lead to seat malfunction or even suffocation of your baby!

Don't do it because I said so...do it because it's right, it's safe, and it's the law. But most importantly, do it because your baby is the most precious gem you will ever have. Whether you have one or ten, each is priceless and deserves to be kept as safe as possible.

Safety is love in Castle and Chariot Namastè.

Anywhere, really.

Namastè!

-- Tayè K. ♡