Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2008 February 11 (entry 0)

(8) Mon Feb 11 2008 09:02 Safety Last.: Grr. So far this morning I have called 11 varieties of Police/Fire/Dispatch/Safety/Health places trying to find help installing our new car seat. Babies R Us told me I could go to any fire station which is not the case. Now I'm waiting for someone from the South Jordan police department to call me when she gets in. They ought to make more people get certified. No wonder 97% of carseats are installed incorrectly. It's still not the parents faults - now I blame the manufactures AND public safety.

Also, I think Maggie has croup, but luckily not very bad.

Comments:

Posted by Kristen at Mon Feb 11 2008 13:56

The Dept of Heath and Safety does it. We did it at the building in Provo off Uni Ave and 1st south when we lived there. It was free, but you had to make an appt. You can call the WIC office for more info because they were the ones who referred us.

Posted by Alyson at Tue Feb 12 2008 19:15

In Lawrence, the hospital hosted a car seat safety check up every month, in addition to one of the car dealerships. Someone should be able to refer you to SOMEONE--I'd go with Kristen's suggestion and call the dept of health/ WIC office. When I checked out our carseat safety, I learned that one reason that 97% statistic is so high is due to the carrying handle staying up during travel. That is a major no-no.

Posted by Susie at Tue Feb 12 2008 19:48

I finally went to the South Jordan police department, which has four certified officers. You can go to the health department, the state safety council and I think you can go to car dealerships. I just didn't want to go to Sugarhouse for it.
Besides, I had it installed correctly!

Posted by John at Tue Feb 12 2008 19:54

Alyson: I actually did know that the carrying handle is a no-no. It says right on the car seat. But I don't know why it is a no-no. Do you?

Posted by Kristen at Tue Feb 12 2008 20:00

Because in the roll over crash tests, the handle bar gets smashed in the baby's face if the roof caves in...I guess is what they told me.

Posted by Susie at Wed Feb 13 2008 16:38

Scary! I know a lot of people leave the bar up so they can hang toys from it.
I think a large portion of the parental error in installing the car seat is having the straps too loose around the baby. The police officer gave me that impression also.
And, I did NOT know that you're supposed to pull the seatbelt out all the way so it automatically locks, not just after a sudden stop. That's what comes of not having an owner's manual for my car, I guess.

Posted by Alyson at Thu Feb 14 2008 10:13

About the car seat handle: the facilitator that did my training told me that car seats are designed to come against the seat back in a collision, therefore enclosing the child against whatever might go flying or might come caving. When the handle is up, the car seat doesn't create the protective "capsule" necessary to protect the baby.

Posted by Susie at Thu Feb 14 2008 10:15

Hmm, that's interesting. The convertible car seat we just got is the only brand that has rear-facing tethers. That is probably why.