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Strollerderby
These little guys should still be facing backwards!
Ugh. Imagine trying to deal with an 18-month-old throwing cheerios and sploshing apple juice (well, maybe not apple juice…) everywhere while facing backwards in the back of your car? Sounds like a nightmare, but it’s the latest safety recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics, who changed their guidelines back in April to say that children should stay in rear-facing car seats until the age of two. A new poll out of the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital shows that the vast majority of parents (73%) use a forward-facing car seat with their children before 2 years of age, and a surprising 30% switch from a rear-facing seat before their baby turns one. Here’s why that’s dangerous: Continue reading »
How cool would your tween be about being relegated to a booster seat?
New recommendations out today say children should ride in rear-facing car seats until they’re 2 years old, and children who’ve outgrown front-facing seats should remain in booster seats until they are 4 feet 9 inches tall.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued separate but consistent findings that older children — sometimes as old as 12 — should remain in booster seats longer until a car’s lap-shoulder belt fits them properly based on crash evidence, which found that older children with ill-fitting belts can suffer from abdominal and spinal injuries in a crash.
Costco infant seat, made by Dorel
As Madeline reported yesterday, there is a massive car seat recall underway. 800,000 of the Dorel Juvenile Group’s car seats (which include Costco, Quinny, Edie Bauer and more) are being recalled due to safety restraint problems.
The car seats’ harness “center front adjuster” allows the strap to slip out, which is bad news in the event of a crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has apparently known about these problems for years, but made the decision to recall the seats yesterday.
Here are more details on which models and dates are affected:
Also, if you’re in the market for a car seat or are wondering how your existing one stacks up in safety ratings, here’s how to find out:
A Dorel Cosco infant car seat -- not part of this recall.
A maker of convertible, forward-facing and booster car seats is recalling 800,000 of its units sold between May 2008 and April 2009.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that Dorel Juvenile Group’s car seats are being recalled due to safety restraint problems. The NHTSA has known about issues with the company’s seats for years now — we reported on it in 2009. Continue reading »
Risks on the road
Today the National Transportation Safety board is holding a hearing about car seat safety in Washington. If recommendations are followed, it means big changes for parents. Apparently, we’re putting our kids at unnecessary risk daily.
More than poisoning, illness, or accidents around the home, car crashes are the number one cause of death for toddlers. And according to an NPR report, studies show five children die in the U.S. every day in car crashes.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has for years wrestled with extending the time kids should face backwards in the car.
In Sweden, for example, kids age 4 are still in rear-facing car seats – to me, that’s an amazing fact, because in this country most parents are chomping at the bit to flip their kids around. Here are the two main changes talked about in terms of car seat regulations for children. They would definitely mean big lifestyle adjustments for us parents of little ones: Continue reading »
New and Improved Infant Car Seat
I admit that when I first heard about a new product which makes installing an infant car seat easier, my first response was: “Are people so stupid they can’t do it on their own?”
I then did some research into the matter and learned that apparently, the vast majority of parents install infant safety seats incorrectly. So perhaps this new device is not such a bad idea after all. Continue reading »
My daughter at age 1, touring the stage of The Lion King.
Would you take a one-year-old to see a play?
The Wall Street Journal reports that Seattle Children’s Theatre and the New Victory Theatre in New York are among a new crop of American companies hoping you’ll bring your small children to see live work on the stage. In Europe, directors are asking children as young as 6 months to attend avant-garde performance art about being born, featuring lines like, “Embraced by water, embedded in my mum, warming and worry-free, just being.” Sounds horrible if you ask me, but I do believe kids should see live performance as often as they can. I took my daughter to The Lion King on Broadway when she was a year old, but we went on friends and family night. I’m not sure I would have risked her freaking out if I had to cough up a hundred bucks.
It’s Child Passenger Safety Week
Safe Kids coalitions will join the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this weekend for “Seat Check Saturday” on September 25. I just bought a new booster seat for my daughter (the Evenflo Maestro, which thanks to SD blogger Sandy, I’m happy to report has been rated a “Best Bet” by the IIHS) and I plan to have it installed by a professional this weekend at my local car seat check-up event. If there isn’t a Safe Kids event in your area, try your local police department, local hospitals or local fire department. Or, call DaimlerChrysler’s Fit For A Kid program at 1-877-FIT-F-AKID or 1-866-SEAT-CHECK. Booster seats have resulted in an 18% decrease in traffic-related injuries in children age 4-6, and many states require your child be in a booster seat through age 8.
Cold No Excuse to Be Fat
SD’s Paula announced yesterday that the common cold may be a causal factor in the childhood obesity epidemic. But Nancy Shute at US News and World Report says “the association between infection and weight is far from proven.” She notes that “the majority of the obese children in the study hadn’t been exposed to adenovirus 36, yet they were still fat. So the “obesity is an infection” theory doesn’t let anyone abandon a healthy diet and exercise in favor of antiviral medications.” Amen to that!
Do you love amazing music videos? And dogs?
Finally, let me (hopefully) be the first to introduce you to the latest viral sensation by video wizards OK Go. This song is called White Knuckles, but like with most other OK Go videos, you won’t really pay attention to the music. You will however be amazed by another of their astonishing feats of choreography – this time involving DOGS! Lots of them. Take a look: Continue reading »
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
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