Car Seat Safety | Mommy Loves Coffee

The Red CARpet Safety Event- Spreading National Awareness for Child Passenger Safety

September 12, 2011 By Christina

September is not just a special month for me personally, September is also dedicated to a purpose that I am extremely passionate about– National Baby Safety Month.

On Saturday I attended The Red CARpet Safety Event to help bring awareness and spread the importance of car seat safety. The event, held in Pacific Palisades, CA, was presented by SpokesMoms.com, sponsored by BRITAX & Buick, and held in association with Safe Kids USA– a non-profit dedicated to preventing unintentional childhood injury. Safe Kids and BRITAX presented attendees with valuable information, education and continued safety practices for child safety seats and car seat use leading up to Child Passenger Safety Week, September 18-24, 2011.

Event host Ali Landry hit The Red CARpet Event’s red carpet. Ali is due with baby number two next month. Photo Credit: Noah Graham Photography

During the event I listened as certified Child Passenger Safety Technician, celebrity mom and co-founder of SpokesMoms, Ali Landry, spoke about the importance of car seat education and proper installation; I watched the amazing Technicians from Safe Kids USA perform car seat installations and checks (and marveled over their installation check-lists); I drooled over the new Next Generation car seats from Britax and the newest cars from Buick; I met some amazing people all with one common goal– the safety of all children while on the go.

Every year, thousands of children are tragically injured or killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes. In fact, motor vehicle crashes in the U.S. are the leading cause of death for children age 3 and older. Roughly 3 out of 4 child safety seats are not used correctly. Securing children properly is the most effective thing that can be done to protect them in the event of a crash. Safe Kids USA will host more than 300 car seat checkup events during National Child Passenger Safety Week, September 18-24. The times and location for these events can be found at www.safekids.org.

In addition to Safe Kids’ efforts BRITAX, along with the celebrity parents that were in attendance, hope to drive national awareness for child passenger safety. Through their combined initiatives, parents will be reminded that,

Head injuries are not only the most frequent injuries that occur during front and side impact crashes, but also the leading cause of vehicle crash-related deaths for children up to 12 years old. (source: Child Injury Led Design and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia 2010)

Candace Cameron Bure from “Full House” autographs a Britax car seat that will be auctioned off online for charity. Photo Credit: Noah Graham Photography

Many of the celebrities at the event signed Next Generation BRITAX car seats, which will be given away on the BRITAX Facebook Page. Visit the BRITAX Facebook page September 24-29 and enter for your chance to win through the sweepstakes app.

You can also visit BritaxUSA.com to enter their I (Love) Head Safety sweepstakes. Three lucky winners will be selected each month and will receive a Next Generation BRITAX car seat. Contest runs September 2011 – December 2011.

In addition to the giveaways, BRITAX will make a contribution to Safe Kids USA for every “Birthday wish” to their Next Generation car seats made by BRITAX Facebook fans on their Facebook Page during Car Seat Safety Week September 18-24th, 2011.

I was fortunate to meet and mingle with many supporters and advocates for child passenger safety. I also took note that I need to keep an eye on SpokesMoms but more on that later… Everyone at the event was extremely sweet and eager to spread awareness. I just loved the Car Seat Ambassadors and some of their little baby bellies. Yes, Tori Spelling and Ali Landry are in their 9th month but they’re still so teeny and adorable!

Honorary Car Seat Ambassadors Tori Spelling and Kyle Richards, with host and friend Ali Landry. Photo Credit: Noah Graham Photography

In attendance at the Red CARpet Event were a group of honorary “Car Seat Ambassadors” – celebrity moms who have shown their dedication to bettering the lives of children. They included Tori Spelling, Kyle Richards, Ali Landry (above), Garcelle Beauvais (below), Samantha Harris, Constance Marie, Alicia Coppola, and Sarah Drew.

Honorary Car Seat Ambassador Garcelle Beauvais of “Franklin & Bash” Photo Credit: Noah Graham Photography

Filed Under: Car Seat Safety, Events, News, Parenting, Safety Tagged With: ali landry, alicia coppola, britax, britax car seat safety week, britax facebook. garcelle beauvis, britax giveaways, britax next generation car seats, buick, car seat ambassadors, celebrity moms, constance marie, events, i love head safety sweepstakes, kyle richards, Mommy Loves Coffee, national baby safety month, Red CARpet safety, safe kids, safe kids usa, samantha harris, sarah drew, spokesmoms, spokesmoms.com, The Red CARpet Safety Event, tori spelling, vtech Leave a Comment

The Car Seat Lady- Car Seat Information and Car Seat Safety

May 4, 2011 By Christina

There’s a lot of information on the web about car seats and car seat safety but I’ve found one site that is not only reliable, knowledgeable, and trustworthy, it’s easy for parents to understand. Just like most parents, I have my concerns when it comes to the safety of my children but I’m not a professional. Give me the straightforward facts with easy to understand directions and guidance and I’m happy! The Car Seat Lady does just that (and makes me soooo very happy).

I’ve always been passionate about child safety, especially car safety, for obvious reasons- there is so much that is out of my control while riding in the car (and I’m a control freak). After having my first son, my Mama Bear instinct kicked in full force and I immediately started researching different car seats and everything to do with car seat safety. I asked everyone I knew about car safety but compiling information in 2002 was a lot different than it is today. Not only were guidelines different in 2002, I came across 3-point harness seats and my son’s first infant seat looked totally different than they do today.

What I love the most about The Car Seat Lady is that she’s passionate about her work. She’s more than willing to help anyone who reaches out to her and provides up-to-date news and information on every aspect of car safety. She keeps her site fresh with information like any changes in guidelines, video explanations, detailed information on available car seats, installation help and what to look for when buying a car seat (and even when buying a family car).
I encourage you to bookmark this site, email them with any questions and share it with your friends and family as having a resource like this is gold for parents and parent’s-to-be. I place high value on the services and advice that The Car Seat Lady is providing.

The Car Seat Lady

The Car Seat Lady provides accurate, up-to-date information from NHTSA-Certified Child Passenger Safety technicians and instructors about how to keep your most precious cargo safe.

Here are just a few categories from The Car Seat Lady website. Each article has an index that goes through detailed information.

Rear-Facing Seats
Why, who, height and weight limits, types of rear-facing seats, placement in the vehicle, tips and more.

Forward-Facing Seats
Types of forward-facing seats, height and weight limits, placement in the vehicle and more.

Booster Seats
How safety belts should work, injuries, types of booster seats, carpooling situations, misuse patterns, injury patterns and more.

The LATCH System
Why use LATCH, Is LATCH safer, LATCH weight limits, which restraints have it, where are lower anchors, where are tether anchors, common LATCH mistakes and more.

How-To Videos
Installing infant carriers without the base, using a 5-point harness and more.

Information Links
NHTSA links, crash test and rollover ratings, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and more.

Product Links
Stroller compatibility, fleece covers, cargo barriers, taxi options and more.

Contact The Car Seat Lady
If you live in or near NYC (Upper West Side or West Village) or Baltimore, you can sign up for private installation lessons or if you are like me (on the other side of the country) you can email The Car Seat Lady with any questions. I’ve emailed back and forth with her over the past month- she’s extremely nice, knowledgeable and willing to help! You can’t ask for a better service or person to know, in my opinion.
Like The Car Seat Lady on Facebook- HERE.

Filed Under: Car Seat Safety, Mommy Resources, Safety Tagged With: booster seat safety, car seat checks, car seat installation, convertible car seat safety, Dr. Alisa Baer, infant car seat safety, Mommy Loves Coffee, Mommy Resources, the car seat lady Leave a Comment

AAP Updates Recommendation on Car Seat Safety

March 22, 2011 By Christina

The new recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics for car seat safety are out. The newest changes don’t surprise me one bit. There have been numerous studies done when it comes to car seat safety guidelines and everything I’ve read, in the past, points to the newest advice. In fact, the AAP and HealthyChildren.org have always suggested that parents leave young children in a rear-facing car seat as long as possible (beyond age one and 20 pounds) and have always instructed and stressed proper placement of a seat belt for older children.

The AAP’s new recommendations for Car Seat Safety

Parents to keep their toddlers in rear-facing car seats until age 2, or until they reach the maximum height and weight for their seat.

Most children will need to ride in a belt-positioning booster seat until they have reached 4 feet 9 inches tall and are between 8 and 12 years of age.

Children should ride in the rear of a vehicle until they are 13 years old.

Dr. Dennis Durbin, MD, FAAP, lead author of the policy statement and accompanying technical report said:

Parents often look forward to transitioning from one stage to the next, but these transitions should generally be delayed until they’re necessary, when the child fully outgrows the limits for his or her current stage.

A rear-facing child safety seat does a better job of supporting the head, neck and spine of infants in a crash, because it distributes the force of the collision over the entire body.
For larger children, a forward-facing seat with a harness is safer than a booster, and a belt-positioning booster seat provides better protection than a seat belt alone until the seat belt fits correctly.

A booster seat provides children with proper lap-and-shoulder belt positioning. The shoulder belt should always lie across the middle of the chest and shoulder, not near the neck or face. The lap belt should fit low and snug on the hips and upper thighs, not across the belly.

My 8-year-old son sits in a booster seat in my car but not my husband’s car. The reason he does not sit in one while in my husband’s car is demonstrated in the above statement- the seat belt does not provide a proper fit in my car but it does in my husband’s. Not once has my son expressed concern about his booster seat; in fact, we had him in a 5-point-harness through age 6. He knows it’s for safety because we talk about car safety with him.

I turned my toddler forward-facing when he turned 14 months. The screaming and general unhappiness while in the car prompted the turn, he was also well over the weight limit. I’m going to change him back to rear-facing. I believe that the AAP is there to give parents guidelines and these guidelines are in place for a reason. It’s not a requirement, and I know this, but I would kick myself if god forbid anything happened to my child because he was forward-facing in his car seat.

Here are some links with additional information-

AAP

healthychildren.org

NHTSA.gov

And a video by The Car Seat Lady