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• Think Your Baby's Car Seat Is Safe? Think Again

  In a withering expose published this week, the Chicago Tribune unearthed safety tests whose results raise questions about the dangers posed by several popular car seat models. The findings, which resulted from tests conducted by the National HIghway Traffic Safety Administration to determine the comparative safety ratings of cars, not the car seats inside them, were never released to the public, however, and in some cases were unknown even to the companies that make the car seats. Yet as the Tribune points out, such information would be of great interest to parents, who have to make choices about which car seat to buy based on nothing but the marketing mantras produced and promoted by the companies that make them. After the jump: what happened when car seats were tested in actual cars.  Read More... Posted Mar 04 2009, 09:59 AM by Kate Tuttle with | with 10 comment(s) Filed under: Graco, car seats, Car seat safety, evenflo, car seat, car crash, car accident, chicago tribune, car, crash test, national highway transportation safety adminstration, nhtsa, ray lahood

• Sarah Palin Sends Son Trig To Prison and Gets Complaint from the Public Safety Commissioner

  So you have a two-month-old child, instead of having a member of your family or staff take care of your newborn, you take your kid with you to…prison. And get a complaint from the Public Safety Commissioner in the process…   Read More... Posted Sep 08 2008, 01:06 PM by SunnyChanel with | with 17 comment(s) Filed under: politics, car seats, safety, alaska, sarah palin, s, prision

• Never Wake a Sleeping Baby

  Somehow, every conversation about babies winds up being about sleep. This is an observation and not a judgment.  When babies are wee, you can get a little obsessive about the things you don't have, like sleep and sex and clean laundry. Usually, the conversation is about how to make the baby sleep more  -- I don't know that anyone has ever had a talk about how to make a fundamentally well baby sleep less -- and what techniques to use to achieve that. Over on Parenthacks, a reader suggested a hack about letting your baby just sleep in her carseat.    Read More... Posted Jan 14 2008, 04:30 PM by Adrienne Martini with | with no comments Filed under: babies, car seats, sleep, crib

• Things Fall Apart: BREAKING NEWS Cosco and Eddie Bauer Car Seats Recalled

  Dorel Juvenile Group, the largest U.S. car seat manufacturer, is recalling popular models sold under its Cosco Alpha Omega and Alpha Omega Elite, Eddie Bauer, Safety First, and Alpha Elite and Alpha Sport brands. 19 convertible car seat models are being recalled because the harness that keeps the child in the seat may loosen, allowing the child to slip out. The recall comes after parents in Canada noticed that the straps loosened after use (thanks, Canada!)   Read More... Posted Sep 01 2007, 11:18 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: car seats, recall, Canada, things fall apart, cosco

• Youngest Babies in Car Seats: Death Risk?

  New parents have a hell of a lot to worry about. I remember being unable to sleep because I was obsessed with worry about whether my newborn was actually breathing, or trying to figure out what this sound and that one meant.  So I'm sorry to report that there's an additional worry for parents of newborns: it appears that there is a risk of sudden and unexplained death in less-than-one-month-old infants seated in car seats. Yikes. "While premature babies were not at increased risk, babies younger than one month old were almost four times as likely to die suddenly while seated, compared to the older babies. And babies under one month old whose deaths were unexplained were more than seven times as likely to die while seated, compared to older babies with unexplained deaths." Ever hear of a babymoon? It's the notion that a newborn's quiet getting-to-know-life time takes about the first six weeks. Parents who are able to do this stay more or less secluded with their new little person as much as possible in that time (and friends and family, or maybe a postpartum doula! help out with meals and cleaning and such). Utopian? Sure. Realistic? Not for everyone. But it helps take a potential tragedy out of the equation, if you can manage it. But that won't help the zillions of parents who don't have the luxury of (or desire for) a babymoon. And having one more thing to worry about is awful. Maybe next someone can figure out why this seems to be happening. I know I always cringed when looking at one of my little ones scrunched up in their seat in those early days when we did have to go out; I wonder if a very wee baby's natural curved position, not helped at all by being in a car seat, has anything to do with the phenomenon? Posted Jul 23 2007, 07:34 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: newborn, baby, car seats, babymoon, SIDS

• Car Seats Are Toxic. Oh No!

  I'm totally in a quandary now. I've gotten over the news and somehow managed to accept the fact that crib mattresses off-gas yucky chemicals and my son is breathing those chemicals on the off nights he doesn't spend in my bed (which is equipped with a foam mattress from Ikea that's clearly chock-full of its own chemicals), after all he has to sleep somewhere, but now I have to worry about his car seat? I think I need to go sit down a moment. Hang on.  Okay. I was going to take a couple of deep breaths but I think I'm afraid to now. But I like me some Huffington Post, and when I read something like "A new report released today by the Ann Arbor-based Ecology Center shows that chemicals including PVC, brominated flame retardants, and lead are found in car seats and can possibly lead to developmental and health issues in babies," I can't help but take notice. Say what? What are we supposed to do with this news? Kids have to be in car seats, there's no question about that, but now we have to worry about poisoning them while they're "safe" in their seat? There's something wrong here. Read More... Posted May 22 2007, 08:24 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: children, kids, health, car seats, activism, chemical sensitivity, toxic chemicals

• Oregon May Ban Kids from Riding in the Front Seat

  If your kid likes riding shotgun, you may not want to move to Oregon. The Oregon House Judiciary Committee is reviewing a bill that would revise some of the state’s rules on where and how kids can ride in the car. Among other changes, children under 13 would be required to ride in the backseat. Not a bad idea, in my opinion. Proponents of the bill argue that the chances of grievous injury and death increase dramatically when young kids are in the front seat. One study cited indicates that kids riding in the back are 37% less likely to suffer fatal injuries if an accident occurs. The bill would also tighten up height/weight requirements for booster seats, and would require infants under 12 months to ride in a rear-facing safety seat. (Hate to kick you when you’re down, Britney, but INSERT OBLIGATORY BRITNEY-AVOID-PORTLAND JOKE HERE)   While the bill met with no opposition from committee members, there were two who had some concerns. Rep. Jeff Barker was worried that his 89-year-old mother often rode in the back because, per the article, she was “smaller and more fragile” than a young kid might be. (To which I say, she’s 89; that’s a nice amount of time to have spent on this earth, so enjoy the view from the front, grandma.) Rep. Wayne Krieger was concerned that kids like his son, who weighed more than 200 pounds when he was twelve, might not fit in the back seat. (To which I say, um, a 200+ pound 12-year-old? Uncomfortable silence ensues.)   Posted Feb 21 2007, 02:34 PM by JasonAvant with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: automobile, cars, laws, car seats, safety, oregon, automobiles

• New, Safer, Child Car Seat Being Developed

  It's about time!  Car seat manufacturer First Seat has announced the design of a passive child car-seat that will "significantly raise the standards" for child car seats.  The company plans to apply new technology to more effectively deal with frontal impact, and also adds focus on side impact safety, for which there currently is no national standard. (Side impact safety was the focus of concern in the recent Consumer Reports brou-ha-ha.) The new design will limit rotational movements of the head, especially in side impact. It will enclose the child in a rigid shell while protecting the head with the same type of foam as is used in Formula One racecars. In addition, the child's shoulders are supported, minimizing neck strain.  Recent medical research has shown conclusively that the brain is injured by rapid rotational movements rather than by direct impact. Think about "shaken-baby syndrome", and you get the idea.  Specifically, side-to-side rotation of the head causes internal 'stretching' forces on the brain and causes portions to immediately stop functioning. Read More... Posted Jan 31 2007, 06:38 PM by Karen Murphy with | with 112 comment(s) Filed under: child, car seats, safety, First Seat, child seat

• 8-Year-Old Boy Sues Parents

  An 8-year-old Minnesota boy is suing his parents in state Supreme Court, seeking damages for the grievous injuries sustained when he was thrown from his mom's SUV because of an improperly-buckled seat belt.  Teddy Harrison, now confined to a wheelchair after suffering brain damage from the injuries that occurred in 2001, is suing his parents, Amy and Ted Sr., in a lawsuit filed on Teddy's behalf by his grandmother. Teddy's parents are hoping they will lose the case, because that would hopefully force their insurance company to pony up on their $100,000 policy. Wait.  Is that my head exploding again? The fallout from this case could be enormous.  It "could make it easier for parents of injured children to collect from insurance companies in certain instances, but caregivers and insurers could find themselves facing financial responsibility if a child gets hurt while riding in an improperly installed car seat." And as many as 82% of car seats on the road today are improperly installed, often due to the confusing LATCH system, which was supposed to simplify installation.  In addition, "motorists involved in wrecks with child-carrying drivers could try to skirt financial responsibility by pointing to a parent's negligent car-seat use".  So what are we to make of this?  It looks like either way, it's a good time to check out your local car-seat inspection station, to ensure that you're not one of the 82%, or that your child doesn't become a statistic like Teddy and have to sue you one day.  Posted Jan 08 2007, 06:00 PM by Karen Murphy with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: insurance, courts, car seats