Some carseat safety tips

You're right I just saw that noted at the bottom of one of my pictures I will make a note that it depends upon the manufacture, I didn't make the picture! Thank you for telling me

Mine either has to be all the way up or all the down.

Read your manual some seats require an upright position and some don't matter, any questions will be addressed in your Manual and if you don't have it call the company you bought it from

They can detach in an accident and become a projectile. Along with any other loose objects around the baby. But if you the carrier handle in the upright position it adds a bit more protection from that

I've personally witnessed a cart tip and a baby be seriously injured. It's not to be taken lightly.

i never thought about it until recently. i would put the seat on the cart with my first but that was 6 yrs ago. i was looking online about it after someone posted about it being unsafe and i read this horrible story about a woman who was in a store. she witnessed a cart tipover and said to this day she cant get the sound of that babys head cracking on the floor out of her mind. scared me enough to rethink it.

Suction cup window shades are not ok. Most of them have the ability to clip ONTO the window and then you roll it up which is fine, but suction cups only are not. Suction cups are to unreliable and can fly off and the shade then becomes a projectile.

Aharee, no as long as he is within the height range of his seat his legs will be fine.

She stated that this is not applicable in Europe, everything she said was true the only thing I will disagree on as being a CSPT is the window shades are okay to use as you don't attach them to the carseat and I have left my daughter in the car for a small window of time but its also at your own discretion, I live in a very rural small town and feel safe enough to pay for gas without getting her out everytime, but I usually pay with card anyways so I don't usually have to go in but sometimes ill grab all my stuff out of the car and get it in the house and then grab her but like I said its at your own discretion

My son is 4 months old but when his legs are straight they hang out of his car seat. Is that bad?

Yes it is true. Besides that the AAP,NHTSA and my certifying body (Safekids) advise you against it, most shopping carts even tell you not to do this as well as nearly all carseat manuals also state very plainly that it is ill-advisable. Shopping carts are very unsteady and not centered well in the first place. Adding possibly 30 lbs to an already off centered cart is asking for trouble.

@zolebro That makes more sense to me than damaging the carrier. I've never experienced the cart tipping, but I guess it could happen.

the shopping cart thing scares me. most carts are not made to hold a carseat. even if it does clip to the cart it moves the center of gravity on the cart and can cause it to tip over. i would just rather be safe than sorry.

I like the tips you posted, but my carseat was never damaged by clipping it into the cart...and it was advertised being used that way. They also advertised it as clipping into a stroller. Are you sure that this is true for all carseats?

reminder that there are different rules for different areas and we have a global community on bb!

No, they are not all facts. A few are your opinion. Which is completely ok and great. But not for everybody.

They are facts, you don't have to like them but they are indeed facts. But let's start with rearfacing it is 500% safer for kids to remain rearfacing as long as possible. The AAP's recommendation is just that. By clipping your infant seat to the cart you are damaging the mechanism that holds the seat into the base. Winter coats can compress in an accident and your child can be ejected from the seat...and in MANY states it is ILLEGAL to leave children under a certain age (usually 12-13) unsupervised in a automobile.

The aap reccomendation is a minimum of two years, the law might be 1year and 20lbs but that is before we knew how much safer it is to rearface

Reading through all your 'tips' I have to say I don't agree with them all. A few seem to be more of your opinion then facts and tips. Bare minimum for rear facing isnt 2 years, it's one. Leaving baby in car to pay for gas is a personal preference. I do it. Our infant car seat clips to the top of the shopping cart. And my daughter wears her coat in the car seat. It's always nice and snug. And it's not a snowsuit, it's just a coat.

we have a great winter blankie thing that was made for car seats....it is awesome! it is thin fleece outline and hat with buttons that have a blanket flop over baby to fully cover....then when in seat....blankie goes back and voila...covered and safe! in our super cold weather (-19 as i type) this has been an amazing purchase! it goes to zero exposure for baby if needed!

slingsandmore.com

Never put a blanket over them before clipping them in. You'll forget lol

yay!! I am taking a course to become a carseat inspector in May! I can't wait to become certified and do all the events my #1 carseat pet peeve is putting the carseat ON TOP of the shopping cart! and forward facing too early!

I never thought about the shade things that r suction cupped to the window or toys being on the car seat. I have some really cute toys for the car seat too. Suppose he can just hold them and play with them?

Yes!!! Also don't forget that rear facing is 5x (500%) safer, you really don't think it could make that much of a difference but look up crash test videos its amazing the difference, if their feet are touching the back of the seat that's all okay, the saying goes broken legs cast it, but a broken neck, casket.