Infants car seats in shopping carts

[arivecchi]

I was at Target last night and saw a couple of infant car seats in the toddler seat area of the shopping cart. :eek: Don't people think this is dangerous?

[Joolsplus2]

It's taking some time to change over from (the mindset that they SHOULD be there) seats that were actually designed to clip to carts (it was a major selling point, and Baby Trends still fit perfectly there....). But I see more and more people putting the baby IN the cart, where it's a lot less top heavy and less likely to tip the cart over. I never even think to tell people not to do it at BRU, but probably almost a half of folks still prop that seat up there. I just wish the harnesses were tighter.. I mean honestly, you never, ever know when a random toddler or other shopper will crash into your cart and knock it over, at least a kid with a tight harness has a chance at escaping injury :/.

[codex57]

No. The Snugride even snaps in on certain sized carts.

I keep mine in the main basket area, but I can see why people don't think it's dangerous. I mean, they even have built in seats that look even more precarious on some carts.

[arivecchi]

One couple had an infant (looked like a month old baby) in the car seat in the toddler seat area and a toddler right behind in the main part of the cart messing with the car seat and they were not paying attention!!! I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

[jjordan]

No. The Snugride even snaps in on certain sized carts.

I keep mine in the main basket area, but I can see why people don't think it's dangerous. I mean, they even have built in seats that look even more precarious on some carts.

This is a big part of the problem, IMO. The bare-bones infant seats perched up on top of the carts look TERRIBLY unsafe, and anyone with any brain will see those and ASSUME that their plush infant carseat will be a HUGE step up.

And honestly, there are lots of people who just assume it is safe because the seats clip right in and they see it all the time. New parents who are sleep-deprived aren't usually in the frame of mind where they are questioning common practices. As a new parent myself a few years ago, I assumed it was safe until someone pointed out to me why it could be dangerous. And I am an (over)-educated person who is generally very safety-conscious.

[codex57]

I saw one infant seat propped up at an insane angle up in the toddler area, with an infant (3 months or less) that wasn't strapped in. Just laying in there. Barely. The parents and grandma were paying attention, but that's not gonna help if someone accidentally bumps into their cart.

[codex57]

This is a big part of the problem, IMO. The bare-bones infant seats perched up on top of the carts look TERRIBLY unsafe, and anyone with any brain will see those and ASSUME that their plush infant carseat will be a HUGE step up.

And honestly, there are lots of people who just assume it is safe because the seats clip right in and they see it all the time. New parents who are sleep-deprived aren't usually in the frame of mind where they are questioning common practices. As a new parent myself a few years ago, I assumed it was safe until someone pointed out to me why it could be dangerous. And I am an (over)-educated person who is generally very safety-conscious.

Yeah, I give new parents some leeway on their judgment skills cuz of sleep deprivation. I'm not doing too hot myself right now. I'm sort of on autopilot and going with what I know rather than thinking about things.

[elektra]

And honestly, there are lots of people who just assume it is safe because the seats clip right in and they see it all the time.

:yeahthat:

As a new parent, you look around alot and you see everyone else doing it so why not?
That being said, I NEVER put my carseat up on top like that. My kids have always been in the main cart part in their seats (or I just wear the baby).
My keyfit didn't have the little notches to do it anyway. I still see keyfits perched up there sometimes though, and it gets me so nervous too.

[MoJo]

Almost everyone around here puts the infant carrier on the toddler seat.

When my DD was smaller, I also put my Snugride there, but only IF it would clip on to the cart (worked with most carts, but not all) and when I needed the cart for my groceries. DD seemed much more secure than in the infant seat provided by the store. I think I've seen less than a handful of carriers in the basket of the cart in the two years I've been paying attention to that.

And I can even imagine having a toddler in the basket with an infant on top.

But letting the toddler play with it & not paying attention? Absolutely not.

Then again, a local woman was caught shoplifting with her baby yesterday; she fled the scene and left her child behind.

[jgenie]

I see it all the time and cringe every time. I also see people putting strollers with infants / kids on escalators when we're out shopping. That really upsets me - I mean is it really worth risking your DC's safety to save a few minutes time? Not in my book!!

[arivecchi]

I also put my Snugride there, but only IF it would clip on to the cart (worked with most carts, but not all) and when I needed the cart for my groceries. What about just having the baby in a baby carrier? What if the whole cart goes down?

And I can even imagine having a toddler in the basket with an infant on top. I would only consider the reverse. Toddler strapped in the toddler seat on top and the infant in the bucket seat inside the cart or better yet, infant in a baby carrier.

[SM23Mama21]

Almost everyone around here puts the infant carrier
Then again, a local woman was caught shoplifting with her baby yesterday; she fled the scene and left her child behind.


:47: She really just left her child behind? Makes you wonder if it was really hers.

[Kymberley]

I had NO IDEA you weren't suppossed to do this. OOOOPS! I won't be doing it from now on. I didn't even think of the tipping hazard. I just saw others doing it and copied. In some stores where the seat won't clip, I do put DS in the main part of the cart. Looks like I'll be doing that from now on!

[AnnieW625]

I had NO IDEA you weren't suppossed to do this. OOOOPS! I won't be doing it from now on. I didn't even think of the tipping hazard. I just saw others doing it and copied. In some stores where the seat won't clip, I do put DS in the main part of the cart. Looks like I'll be doing that from now on!

I did it too, don't feel bad. My Snugride 22 fit perfectly on most carts (I honestly can't think of one store cart that it didn't fit on). People here do it all the time and I did it until DD was probably 5 or 6 mos. old and could sit really well in the toddler seat w/the toddler seat cover. DD was always strapped into her seat. I thought it was the biggest heaven sent thing after the first time I took DD to the store (Trader Joe's, which has small carts) I had food piling around DD in the basket. We did use the Bjorn, but DD wasn't a big fan of baby wearing so we didn't use it all that much. The infant seat was just easier. I never once had a cart tip on me.

Now when we have a second that child better like baby wearing because DD still needs to be strapped into the toddler seat. I can't trust her in the basket alone. I would never put the seat on top of the toddler seat with a toddler in the basket.

[HIU8]

I did it one time. Problem is I'm so short that I could not see over and barely around DD's safeseat. After that I put her in the carseat in the main portion of the cart and used the handheld baskets under the cart to put my purchases in.

[lorinick]

I did it all the time with my SR22. It fit most carts and if it didn't I put it in the main part. It needed to clip in and sit correctly. I always had the harness bucket secured properly. I felt it was safe. But I do see many people at BRU that do it and the car seat is moving all over the place.

[GraceH]

LOL -- don't get too zealous though... I have had some Walmart greeters freak out on me when they saw that I carried the bucket in, grabbed a cart, and lifted the seat... only I was putting it IN, not on the cart; but they don't wait to see that -- hehe -- part of me was grumpy for being unjustly yelled at, but the other part of me was happy that they're trying to keep kids safe.

[JBaxter]

Drives me nuts too. BUT.. My infant bucket seat I had for my now almost 18 yr old did have a little metal clip that hooked it fast to the shopping cart. I was young and stupid.

[Melaine]

I saw someone carrying a baby in an infant seat the other day and it was not horizontal to the ground at all. The handle was to the side and the baby was almost perpendicular to the floor. It was so weird.

[AshleyAnn]

In my area seeing an infant seat propped up on a shoppig cart is so common its almost news worthy to post about if I saw a seat in a cart instead of on it.

I think the problem is that seats used to be designed to fit on carts (I found an old century seat at the salvation army that had special clips and a sticker saying how to clip it to the cart) and its just one of those things that people do because they see other people doing it and have no idea its a bad idea. It seems very obvious to me that some of these seats don't fit right and are extremely dangerous but they don't get it.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I didn't do it. I read it somewhere prior to ds1...like in the owner's manual! I think I saw it somewhere else first but then I read my manual and saw that it was listed as something not to do.

Even if it clips it isn't safe because of the tipping hazard. The AAP really feels strongly about carseat safety- so much so that they don't want you to put kids in there of any age. But, here's some info:
In 2005, more than 24,000 children were treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms for shopping cart-related injuries. Most of these injuries occurred when a child fell from a shopping cart, the cart tipped over, the child became entrapped in the cart, or the child fell while riding on the outside of the cart, according to the new policy statement, "Shopping Cart-Related Injuries to Children. (http://www.aap.org/family/ShoppingCartPolicy.pdf)" Injuries to the head and neck accounted for 74 percent of shopping cart-related injuries among children younger than 15. Of the 4 percent of children treated in an emergency room for a shopping cart injury, more than 93 percent were under age 5.
http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/aug06shoppingcart.htm

Baby wearing was just easier.

I see such dangerous things. The one that gets me the most is the bucket carseats in the toddler seat and the baby not being buckled into their carseat. Double danger.

Beth

[MoJo]

I never heard of/thought about any tipping danger until this thread - but I'm awake having nightmares about injured children after reading this yesterday.

I've seen grown men put all their weight on the front end of some of the carts and not tip them.

There wouldn't be room under the cart to hold the hand-basket at most stores, so the only place to put your purchases would be in the toddler seat (which I did, too, but that seemed even more dangerous because smaller stuff could fall down into the carrier and onto the baby.)

So here's another vote for baby wearing. . . except that DH wouldn't let me wear her unless he was there when getting her settled to make sure she was secure. DH loves thrift shopping, but can't stand grocery shopping! And I don't think I've seen any more people wearing their babies in the store than I've seen put the carrier in the basket of the cart (maybe two, in 2 years of watching. And I'm in stores all the time. And those two were trying on carriers, so they weren't wearing their DC either.)

And on the shoplifting mama . . . turns out she's 17, her DC is 8 weeks old. She turned herself in the next day, and DC is in protective custody. She was trying to steal baby clothes.

[SnuggleBuggles]

PP, maybe you need a different baby carrier? :) There are lots that are super simple to do and secure. Even a sling with baby in the hip carry- quick, easy and really hard to get wrong. It's too bad more people don't have access to good, easy to use, comfy carriers...I bet more would baby wear in those cases. I wore my boys mostly for practical reasons vs something like attachment parenting.

Beth

[MoJo]

Beth,

Thanks for the suggestion. We have a hotsling (picked out by DH when I was still in new baby fog), but I think it's too small, and DD seemed squashed in there after a couple of months. We have a nojo (don't like that name for some reason!) that DH used some, but he always wanted help getting DD in it, and we stopped using it before she was sitting up.

Now we have and occasionally use the Ergo. But he's still afraid I'll drop DD trying to get her "loaded." (She is an active and squirmy walker at this point)

I tried the local LLL because I've heard sometimes you can try different carriers, but this chapter doesn't do that. And like I said, I've never seen anyone comfortably wearing their DC and don't know anyone IRL who does.

DD outgrew the infance carseat carrier six months ago. But since we're TTC, this will likely become an issue for me again. I thought it was likely I'd want to wear DC#2 more often than I did DD, but don't have a solution.

What sling(s) do you find easy?

[arivecchi]

Beth,

Thanks for the suggestion. We have a hotsling (picked out by DH when I was still in new baby fog), but I think it's too small, and DD seemed squashed in there after a couple of months. We have a nojo (don't like that name for some reason!) that DH used some, but he always wanted help getting DD in it, and we stopped using it before she was sitting up.

Now we have and occasionally use the Ergo. But he's still afraid I'll drop DD trying to get her "loaded." (She is an active and squirmy walker at this point)

I tried the local LLL because I've heard sometimes you can try different carriers, but this chapter doesn't do that. And like I said, I've never seen anyone comfortably wearing their DC and don't know anyone IRL who does.

DD outgrew the infance carseat carrier six months ago. But since we're TTC, this will likely become an issue for me again. I thought it was likely I'd want to wear DC#2 more often than I did DD, but don't have a solution.

What sling(s) do you find easy? I like the Baby Bjorn Active for smaller babies because it contains them really well and they seem to love it. As soon as they get heavier/bigger, then the Ergo is great. DS2 was more comfy in the Ergo at 6 months. Before that, he was too small for it.

[AnnieW625]

I like the Baby Bjorn Active for smaller babies because it contains them really well and they seem to love it. As soon as they get heavier/bigger, then the Ergo is great. DS2 was more comfy in the Ergo at 6 months. Before that, he was too small for it.

I didn't care for the Ergo and liked the Beco better so you might want to try that one! I do agree that I really only liked the feel of the Bjorn until DD was around 4 mos. old.