Vent about guy and his baby in infant seat

[Aunt to sweet baby boy]

I was at the mall yesterday with avi and we were sitting and looking at the fountain that is in the mall. Sitting about 10 feet away from us was a guy and a stroller. In his hands he was holding his child in their infant seat with the seat tilted so that the child's head was facing the water, so that his child could see the water. He did this for ~5 minutes. Would it have been so hard to take the child out and hold them while looking at the water? This was so irritating but balanced out with the person that i saw holding an empty infant seat with their child in the stroller.

Share any good/bad stories that you have about other people and their carseats!

Ilana, aka Nana to my sweet nephew Avi

http://lilypie.com/pic/060826/Fsm6.jpg[/img]http://b2.lilypie.com/alzym7/.png[/img][/url]

[Kat_Mom2D_J_andRuthie]

well, last week, I was at the bank and the woman next to me (drive thru) had a ff carseat (an old touriva)tilted halfway over with a newborn in it (3mo old would be my guess)... I saw no chestclip or harnesses anywhere.

I called 911 once I'd pulled out and got her liscense plate number... and they sent a car out.

sometimes they won't, but for something that they can easily catch like that, which is also an obvious big lawbreak, they send a car out.

I was busy, so I didn't get to stick around to see her butt nailed.

[schums]

A few weeks ago I saw a woman with a child in a old Snugride installed FORWARD facing. She had the child strapped into the car seat and the seat installed using the seat belt (no base) sitting up like a convertible. Horrified, I casually asked if that was one of the "new" seats that are supposed to do that. No, she says, she just hasn't gotten around to buying a new seat, since her child was over 20 pounds and 1 year. She honestly didn't see any problem. So, the seat was installed improperly, in a way it wasn't meant to protect the child, the child was too heavy for it, and the seat was probably expired to boot. Hope she got on the stick and found that baby a car seat.

Sarah
Mom to Alex (3/2002) and Catherine (8/2003)

[babystuffbuff]

I went to Sam's Club over the weekend. I parked next to a car that had an old Snugride (with the base attached) just sitting, facing FORWARD, on the backseat. Not strapped in whatsoever.

Then, when I was coming out of the store and getting into my car, the family came out and was getting into their car. They had four little kids (the oldest might have been nine?) who all piled into the backseat. They put the infant (6 months old or so) into the forward-facing, unsecured infant seat, and took off without buckling him in or anything. I didn't think fast enough to get the tag # of the car to call it in. :(

Sarah

Auntie to my seven munchkins, and thinking about TTC a munchkin of our own :)

[MamaParis]

I'm a people watcher by nature - so I'm sure I have tons of stories to share! ;)

But the latest was yesterday. Woman in a brand new Mercedes Sedan at red light on a 45 mph 2 lane highway- 1 kid in front seat (approx 3 years old) hanging out the window no seatbelt. 2 kids in back seat (approx 3 and 4.5) The two 3 year olds looked like twins too btw ...
The 2 in back were seatbelt less each hanging out their own window.
I mean like on their knees with the window down as far as it could go with their heads and arms hanging out.


I had my windows down too. I made a motion to the kids to put their seatbelts on. I pulled mine away from my chest and pretended like I was buckling my own and they looked at me all puzzled and then the mom (on her cell phone) finally saw me and she flipped me the bird! LOL She had her belt on btw ...

Some people. $65K car and no car seats ... lovely ...

I couldn't read the new paper tag on the back window to get a plate number to report her.

[Piglet]

Hey, I think you just saw my friend... sadly she has never buckled any of her 4 kids in (oldest is 9). I gave her my old Snugride for the baby and was told by a friend that she would put the baby in (straps were really loose of coursey) and never bothered to buckle the carseat in. I like her but lost all respect for her as a mother right there and then.

Sad, huh?

[katiesmommy]

Well, I could post the horror stories of my friend putting her 6 month old son in the front seat of her car, no car seat, no belt, nothing to stop him from flying into the dashboard. Or I could post about my other friends mom putting her son into an overhead sheild car seat and letting him pull his arms out of the harness so that the only thing in front of him is the sheild itself, but since most of these are about random people I'll post this one. Several of months ago my husband and I had to go to the dry cleaners to drop off his uniforms for alterations and pressing. The dry cleaners that we go to isn't in the best part of town, but it's the cheapest and they do the best job, and they are fast. So I stayed in the car with DD since he was just dropping stuff off. There was a car sitting next to us with a FF car seat in the backseat, no big deal. While I was sitting there the family that owned the car came out and got in. They had a newborn DD (no more then 2 weeks old) and a 3 or 4 year old DS. The DS got in next to the car seat and never put on a seatbelt before they left, and the DH put the newborn in the FF carseat.

[Kat_Mom2D_J_andRuthie]

hey... all those are horrible... but that last one just makes me cry...

would it be so hard to have gotten a free infant seat?
or bought a scenera and installed it rf?

or bought a booster for the child (even though we prefer older, a properly used booster is better than nothing)

[PAfirsttimemom]

Sheesh! Do you suppose these people are clueless or they just don't give a darn?

[skipspin]

How about the lady at the mall today with a (probably expired) infant seat with a baby (6-8 months) in it balancing on the hood of her NEW Quattro Tour stroller. Her 3ish son was in the stroller, baby not totally buckled. Maybe she wanted to take both to the ER at once?

[Kat_Mom2D_J_andRuthie]

let's hope it was just handed down from her older child.

OMG... it's times like that I just want to scream... take baby out of the carseat!!

she couldn't walk the infant seat out to the car?

and this is why I really advocate moms (especially of more than one baby) to know how to wear a baby in some kind of sling or carrier... and for moms of more than one... get one... even if you use it rarely, it's so worth it.

[Aunt to sweet baby boy]

Ugh, another one of my annoyances is when people balance their infant seats on top of a cart at the market and the child is not buckled in. If the cart was jostled the baby could easily fall out. I once saw a baby in his infant seat in the snap & go and the baby was not strapped in properly and was almost climbing out- he was ~6-7 months old.

Ilana, aka Nana to my sweet nephew Avi

http://lilypie.com/pic/060826/Fsm6.jpg[/img]http://b2.lilypie.com/alzym7/.png[/img][/url]

[Kat_Mom2D_J_andRuthie]

I know... I just always wonder.... do they not have them buckled in the car, too?

and, when you put a kid in a stroller, they should get buckled.

Ruthie has gotten a bump on her head just by not waiting for me to come around to buckle her when I was pushing the stroller and she decided she wanted back in... I stop, come around, and she lurches out... thankfully, she was fine, but just to show you that it takes no time for even a 2yr old to get hurt even with the intention of buckling.

I would not think of letting her ride in anything unbuckled.

[carryingandstrollingabout]

The weirdest one I saw was a child who looked about 8 sitting in one of those ancient overhead shield seats, but with the shield all the way up and not using a seatbelt. Made me just want to know what they thought they were doing...

My friend bought an overhead shield seat for her kids at some kind of discount place. She called and said she got this great seat where you just have to pull it down over their heads!

My own family thinks it is okay for a 7 year old to ride in the front seat of an open top convertible car with just a seatbelt. And for a 5 year old to sit in back, but just with a seatbelt.

I'm the crazy car seat lady around here...

There's this parkway near us where every time I get on it to go 15 miles I see an accident by the side of the road being cleared up. A baby died in an accident that road not long ago. I witnessed a suv lose an entire tire, which rolled down the road, causing an additional 3 car accident, which we narrowly averted. I've had people drive into my car. I've been a passenger in a car that drove right into another car for no reason. I hit a car myself while backing up, when it sped around the corner right behind me. I've had many near hits that I've avoided.

It midboggles me, breaks my heart, frustrates me, etc., that people don't follow basic safety best practices. And it lowers the norm/bar for those of us who want to.

I also think seatbelts should be installed on schoolbuses. No way are those kids going to stay "compartmentalized" in an accident.

[hillview]

Just to drive the point home ... my BIL was pushing the snap and go to the car with DS in the car seat (strapped in!) and somehow he hit a bump or something and the strap holding the car seat let loose and DS and carseat came flying out ... BIL caught the seat just as it was about to fall on the ground but it was at such an angle that if DS had not been buckled in tight he'd have fallen onto the street. DS was fine of course. Hate to think what would have happened had he not been strapped in.

/hillary

[KrystalS]

I think one of the scariest things I've ever seen was a child fall out of a grocery cart onto his head! It was outside of Walmart and there was some booth set up with people selling cookies I think. The mother had her son in the cart, not paying the slightest attention to him, I would say he was probably a little over a year. He stood up in the cart, tried to grabbed his moms arm, she pushed him away, he tried again and fell out of the cart DIRECTLY on his head!! I was horrified! I ran over to her after she picked him, he was crying hysterically, obviously in pain, I asked her if she wanted me to drive her to the ER or call 911. She looked at his head, said he wasn't bleeding and he would be fine!!!!!!!!! I was completely in shock! I said you should really take him to the doctor he could have internal bleeding. She told me to mind my own business and continued to buy her cookies and go into Walmart!!!!!

[SnuggleBuggles]

How awful!!! I hope he was OK!

Shopping cart safety is my hot topic/ soap box issue. I have never intervened, with the exception of running over to help keep a 1yo from falling out when he stood up while mom's back was turned, though I have really wanted to. I have muttered "use the buckles" but I usually do it when they are well out of ear shot. I usually make a big deal about buckles to ds as we are shopping like I'll say, "we can't use that cart since the straps are broken" or, "you need to stay buckled in the cart always to stay safe." That's my passive aggressive approach to things. :)

One of my biggest issue is one that is really common- using the infant carrier/ car seat in the upper basket of the shopping cart. Yes, it will usually click into place but it is not recommended by the AAP or the car seat manufacturers. I know my 2002 Graco seat says not to do it in the manual and I assume most of them say that. Why does everyone do it? I know it's convenient but it just isn't safe. In case anyone is interested these are the recommendations/ thoughts on shopping cart safety from the AAP. (Of course it also is pretty anti placing any child in a shopping cart!)
http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/aug06shoppingcart.htm

Beth

[o_mom]

We always use the buckles, but the one time DS2 fell out was because the buckle was broken (I didn't see that when I put him in). I always try to use my cart cover so I know the straps work.

The AAP is pretty negative about carts, but they also live in a fantasyland where you can hire a babysitter everytime you go to the store. :P

[SnuggleBuggles]

I actually had this strap that I bought on Amazon for $4 that I kept in my bag in case I couldn't find a cart or high chair with working straps. Very handy!

Beth

[Kat_Mom2D_J_andRuthie]

that's why you tend to the child before you buy your cookies... OMG... Ruthie can unbuckle those belts... so if she wants to be carried, I let her climb to me and I carry her...

I'll even let her ride in the basket before I would just let her be standing up and stuff in the seat... and then, she has to do it sitting down, or she has to sit in the seat, or be carried, or walk.

riding in the basket is not my favorite option, but if she'll sit still with her back against the side and not move, then I feel it's safer than me fighting with her or letting her walk around when I have all 3 kids with me.

and when she does walk, we use a harness and leash or she has to hold someone's hand (she still won't hold mine, but she'll hold her brothers' hands and they'll hold mine or each other's, so we now have more options)

And if she's really in a mood and won't do any options and I HAVE to shop, I'll take the harness, thread the seatbelt from the shopping cart through the back, and thereby make a four-point shopping cart harness.

I do that in highchairs at restaurants because just a lapbelt doesn't feel safe... I've had kids bump into the highchair and almost knock it down... and the only thing that kept it safe was her being in that harness and, when she was bumped, her grabbing onto me and alerting me to it that way.

now she's getting to where she can use one of the booster seats at restaurants, though... but I still don't like it when parents don't keep their kids under control (not saying they have to be perfect, but don't let the kids get away with the inappropriate behavior... just yesterday at cici's pizza, the boys were running from the game room and I made them walk back and do it over by walking like gentlemen.)