What Most Parents Overlook and Car Seat Mistakes to Avoid | Ep. 105

0:00Hello, mom friend. Welcome back to another episode of the learning to mom podcast and the last episode of season two. Holy cow. I'm so thankful and grateful to have you here to heads up real fast. First, the guests audio is a bit wacky. So if this is your first time tuning in, this isn't normal. And secondly, with the start of season three, we have a new podcast cover picture coming and I'm so thrilled about it. I feel like it encompasses the vibe of the Learning to Mom podcast so much better than the current podcast cover art does. So when you see that next week or going forward, do not be alarmed.

0:42It is the same awesome podcast just with a new face. But in case this is your first time tuning in, my name is Layla and I ask the experts all our first time mom questions so that we can be less overwhelmed and more informed. Each expert guest comes with their own perspective and background, so please note that the content presented in this podcast is designed for general educational purposes only. Hi, Sarah. Welcome to the Learning to Mom podcast. Thank you so very much for being here today. Hi, Leila. Thanks so much for having me. It's going to be a really great episode. This is one that I really wish that I could have had.

1:20I think so many of my intrusive thoughts was around safety and the car seat and baby proofing and all the things. So I'm so excited to get to chat with you today because I think it's going to help so many women. Fabulous. I'm really happy to do it. Well, before we dive in, do you mind telling yourself, telling yourself, telling the listeners a little bit about yourself and what spurred you to get into baby safety and child passenger safety? Sure. So I am Sarah Habersick. I'm the senior manager of safety advocacy and consumer care for Evenflow. So I have the good fortune now to do safety full-time and work actually in the juvenile product industry, which is really fun.

2:04But I started this career 17 years ago now. I was working at a at large children's hospital and had just started and was told, hey, you're going to run these things called car seat checks. So we show up at our first event and I'm putting up tents and I had some car seats in the van and all I could do was, you know, say hi to families. And I came back from that event and it was really hard to get these technician people to show up that I needed there. And I felt kind of helpless that, you know, I should be able to do more here too. So went back to the office, found a course to become a nationally certified car seat technician and did that.

2:43So that kind of started everything and everything kind of spurred from there that it really, it feels a bit like a calling. Well, I'm really, really excited to kind of get into everything. So without further ado, the very first question that I have for you regarding car seats is how can parents choose the right car seat for their newborn? There's so many out there, Like what, where do we start? So really breaking it down into the simple pieces, you have kind of two options as a new parent. You can start with that infant car seat, or you can start from the beginning with that larger multimode convertible or all in one car seat.

3:21Most of those are really very acceptable to use from birth. You just kind of have to think about the pros and cons and which type is going to be better for your lifestyle and what you think you need for your family. So, you know, starting with that infant car seat, typically an infant car seat means it has a carrier and it has usually a base that goes with it. So lots of flexibility there. It means you can install that base. It doesn't take up as much space in your vehicle. And then you can just clip that infant carrier in and out of the base as you need. You can also then usually purchase a stroller that works with your infant carrier.

3:59So generally, I tell folks, if that is what you want, you want to be able to have that flexibility. You want that infant carrier, the extra bases, the stroller. Go look at strollers first. Find a stroller that you really love because that piece of that system is what's going to last you a lot longer. So that's option one. Option two is you start with that larger seat to begin with. And most of those start at four or five pounds. They're completely appropriate to use from birth if your child fits. There's no law. There's no hospital that can require you to start with that infant car seat. So if you want to start with the larger seat, you can absolutely do that.

4:39And I find that a lot of families that, you know, feel really passionate about baby wearing often prefer not to use that infant car seat. Because if you know that when you get out of the vehicle, you're just going to wear the baby, then there's really no need necessarily for that infant car seat. And you can start and invest your money because car seats are expensive. you can invest that into that larger car seat that you're going to need from the beginning. So when you're looking at the big car seat, if that's the route that you choose, regardless if that's at the beginning or if it's just time, okay, we got to get the baby out of the infant car seat doesn't fit anymore.

5:16What things do you look for there? So most of these products are going to start at four or five pounds, but there's a handful of them that start a little bit higher that are like 10 to 15 pounds because that brand intention is that you do start with an infant per seat and they want you to wait and use this larger seat when the child is getting a little bit bigger. It makes it a little easier on their end if they don't have to design it down to that smaller infant and they assume that most people will make that transition around nine to 12 months sometime. So I would love, you know, if you're going to use this from birth, make sure it can be used from birth.

5:53And then think about how long you want to keep that child rear-facing. So the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends keep kids rear-facing as long as possible. It's better for their head, their neck, their spine in a crash. The way that that rear-facing car seat is designed, the child moves with that car seat in the crash. So it's really protecting that head, neck, and spine. Not that forward-facing isn't safe, but that rear-facing the shell of the car seat is absorbing more of those crash forces. So we say keep them rear facing as long as possible. So now there's products on the market. Most start or most will max at 40 pounds in that rear facing mode.

6:33So convertibles all in ones give you that option to be rear facing until about 40 pounds. But there's a number on the market today that go up to 50 pounds. So you can think about those things. Certainly there are price differences in all of these car seats. And you shouldn't feel bad looking at the price because that is an important part of deciding which car seat is right for me. And it's important to know that all car seats meet the same federal test standards. So we have a federal motor vehicle safety standard. We have to meet these regulations. And regardless of price point, all car seats on the market have to meet that regulation.

7:11So you should feel confident in making your decision, even if that decision is really being, you know, guided by the price of that product. Yeah. I do want to say something real fast on that because I saw this reel or something in the news about it, even that that's the case. If you're buying from like even flow or Graco, or you're like at target or something that does not count. If you just Google like car seats and then it takes you to what's that one site that's like Timu or Timu, that's not safe. You need a brand. So yes, that's, there's definitely a situation and you know, the ability to purchase products online makes things more complicated now because you can purchase from anywhere, you know, Walmart, Amazon, Timu, all of these sites, any site that allows a third party seller, there's the opportunity that something that doesn't belong in the United States can show up in the United States.

8:10I'm very glad that we went down that rabbit trail. I want to talk more, I guess, about what to look for because we didn't know when we were looking and we regret not knowing this of like your seat can't hit the, I don't even know how to ask this. Could you just talk about that safety? And like, that's kind of important to know when you're shopping. Cause my husband's pretty big. He's a really tall guy. and so he hates our car seat because he's smushed up against the wheel. Yeah, so that is definitely something to think about and something to consider. Like car seats, when you install them in your vehicle, they're going to take up some space.

8:50They're not small, any of them, but infant car seats are a little bit smaller. So generally, the infant carrier is going to take up less space. When you move to that convertible or all-in-one, I can pretty much guarantee it's going to take up more space. And when I talk about space, I mean, there's width to it. So it's going to take up that seating position in the backseat and has some width. But there's also depth. So the distance between the back of that car seat and that front passenger seat or the driver's seat in your vehicle, that car seat is taking up space there. And it's going to potentially impede the ability of that adult occupant in one of those front seats to be comfortable and to be able to adjust their seat as they would like.

9:32So, you know, it's one of those things to talk about. Like, where do you put the car seat in the back of your vehicle? I always want to make sure families understand they are totally fine to use. Any seating position that your vehicle manufacturer hasn't expressly prohibited, you can use those seats, but you have to think about who is the occupant in the front seat. So if you're choosing your husband is super, super tall, needs to be able to sit back appropriately so that they can be either a passenger or a driver in the vehicle, you're going to want to think about, well, what position am I going to put this car seat in so that they can still sit in the right spot?

10:13And for me, it's, you know, all right, that means probably I can't adjust in the vehicle that he drives all the time that my husband drives. I knew that he needed this amount of space and I can't change that. So I'm going to need to put the car seat in either the center or the behind the passenger position because I can change how I would sit if I was a passenger in the vehicle. But as the driver, he really needs the appropriate amount of space. You need to have the space between the steering wheel, the airbag, you know, all of that stuff. You have to be able to sit where you can sit comfortably as the driver.

10:47So you definitely want to think about that and think about, you know, on those convertibles and the all-in-one car seats. Sometimes you have some adjustment. So, you know, we typically give you a recline indicator on that product. And sometimes that's a range. Sometimes the line and the recline is what it is. And, you know, you're stuck with the amount of space that car seat is going to take up. But sometimes if you look at that indicator, you'll see that it's a range. which means I could have that seat more upright or I could have it more reclined. If it's more upright, it's going to take up less of that front to back seat depth and might be a better option if I know that I need to be able to adjust that front seat to, you know, accommodate a taller adult occupant in the front seat too.

11:32So talking about installing it correctly, because I think we just touched a little bit on that, what are some of the biggest mistakes that you see parents making when installing their car seats? My husband used to hate all the clean, non-toxic laundry detergents out there because they either didn't work, left our clothes smelling weird, or felt like we were choosing between clean ingredients and your clothes actually having been cleaned. because when your baby has a blowout or your gym clothes reek or the towel in your laundry bin has been wet for two days, you don't want sort of clean and you don't want, well, at least it's non-toxic.

12:11You want clean, clean. That's why when we switched to Truly Free, my husband has never once complained. He loves this stuff. It's non-toxic, yes, but it legitimately works. and they're safe for our kids, safe if I were to get pregnant again, safe to have a newborn, breathe it in through their crib sheets. Because at the end of the day, I'm not choosing between clean ingredients or clean clothes. I want both. So if you've tried clean brands before and felt like you were sacrificing performance, try Truly Free. It is husband approved. And you can get 30 % off by being a listener of the podcast by going to the link in the episode show notes below.

12:53Again, head to the link in the episode show notes, use that link and the code learning to mom for 30 % off their non-toxic laundry detergent or anything else on their website. I got you back. First, often people really want to put that child and that car seat in the center, which is fine. But then also people really want to use the lower anchors. And there's this idea out there that the lower anchors are safer or better to use than the seatbelt. So first myth, I'll say, not safer, not better necessarily. The way you install that car seat is whatever you can do correctly that gets you a good, solid installation.

13:29The issue with lower anchors and that center vehicle seat in particular is that you don't always have lower anchor bars in the vehicle in the center seat. So I see that a lot. People often, you know, they want to use the center. They want to use lower anchors. So they put lower anchors in the center. And usually it's not okay to do that. You can certainly use lower anchors in one of those outboard seats that is a lower anchor position, if that's what's available in your vehicle. You can always use the seatbelt. You could use the seatbelt in that center seat if you don't have lower anchors available there.

14:03We don't use both of them together. So that's another big miss that people think, well, one is good, so two must be better. We don't do that. Lower anchors are not safer. They were designed to take away some of the confusion with using the seatbelt, but they add a level of confusion too. Number one misuse is things are just too loose. So it's not enough just to route the seatbelt, buckle it in and call it a day. It's not enough just to connect the lower anchors and think you're good. You got to get that installation tight. You want to make sure that you get it within that inch so that it is nice and snug.

14:41And then on our big seats, typically you've got two different belt paths. You can use this product rear-facing or I can use it forward-facing. So there's two different ways I can install it. So it's critical that you open that instruction book. You review that information in advance. Don't be afraid to call because if you're having an issue, we can help you with that. And that's for any brand. We want to help you feel comfortable, feel confident in what you're doing. And if you have a question about it, I promise you somebody else has had that question too. So you should never feel bad that you don't understand what's going on.

15:17Car seats can be complicated and just ask because that's why we have customer service reps. All of our customer service reps are also car seat technicians. We want you to feel really comfortable with that work. That is so good to know. I've never thought about like, you can just call. Never thought about that. Okay. Before We're moving into the other areas of safety still related to car seats, but I guess more so just like passengers, child passenger safety. What are some other guidelines or topics that we should talk about? So a few things that come to mind for me regularly. Um, when you're, especially on that infant car seat, if you're going to start with that infant car seat, you're going to use that carrier again, super flexible, lots of options there.

16:08However, anytime the infant is in the infant carrier, they need to be fully harnessed always. So that means if you're using it on the stroller, you're always fully and snubbly harnessed. If you are carrying that infant fully snubbly harnessed, when you go into the grocery store, if you're going to place it in the shopping cart, we don't really want you to place it in the shopping cart, not only placing it at the top. And I know that there are shopping carts that have like, here's your infant car seat thing, like put it on here and give a little strap. The problem with that is number one, it's a fall hazard.

16:46So you have now put this heavy infant car seat with child, you know, on this thing that yes, was sort of designed to hold the infant carrier, but it's at the top, at the handle of that shopping cart. And there have been many reports of injuries from that shopping cart than tipping over. So you're introducing this fall and tipping hazard risk when you do that. But more importantly, you're also not guaranteed to be placing baby at the appropriate recline angle. And especially for infants, we have to, as adults, you know, we have to be the ones to protect their airway. They've got this big, heavy head.

17:23They don't have, you know, the musculoskeletal structure to be able to hold up that head on their own. So, you know, we cradle them, we hold their head. The same goes for your infant car seat. We as car seat manufacturer have to make sure that that infant car seat stays reclined at an appropriate angle so the child's head can stay back and their airway can stay open. So when you move from, you know, that infant carrier and you place it in that shopping cart, that shopping cart isn't designed to hold the infant carrier in the right spot. So there's not a guarantee that your infant car seat, even if you put it in the basket, is going to be in the correct position.

18:03So it's always better if you're going to use it, you're going to place it in the stroller that was designed to be able to use that infant car seat because part of that stroller to infant car seat compatibility is having that infant car seat at the correct recline so that the airway is protected. So that's probably like the biggest thing when I see pictures that like gives me anxiety is seeing pictures of infants in an infant carrier on a stroller or in a shopping cart and not harness. You know, there's just a lot of risk there and a lot of fall risk that, you know, always better safe, keep them fully harness when you're using that product.

18:42And really to go a little bit off my soapbox here, but it goes for any children's product. So if the product comes with a harness, you should be using the harness because the harness is what's going to keep them in the appropriate position in that device. Okay. Yes. No, this is so good. Quick story for you. So back in 1938, Congress passed a law to govern the safety of beauty and personal care products. That law banned 11 ingredients found in cosmetics. We've learned so much about the ingredients that harm our hormones, fertility, and long-term health since. And still nothing new has been banned, even as new lab-made chemicals keep hitting the market.

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20:38Yeah. One of my biggest intrusive thoughts in post-apartum was anything that was related to getting the baby in and out of the car, specifically grocery shopping. And I don't think I'm alone. I think this is a lot of women's like intrusive thoughts and fears is like, I'm going to be approached. I'm taking so long getting in and out of the car. Something bad is going to happen. So do you have any tips for how to keep baby and ourselves safe when unloading and loading the car with groceries in a busy parking lot? Yeah, I think, you know, just being aware of your surrounding always. I think that's where, you know, infant car seat on stroller can be super helpful that you've already got baby fully harnessed in that infant car seat.

21:22So you're ready to just put them right into that base in your vehicle. That's a really quick transition then getting in and out. You know, I think being aware that you do have to lock brakes on strollers and that that should just be regular habit that anytime I stop the stroller, I'm going to lock the brakes too. Because my bigger concerns are less about like a random person coming up to me in a parking lot and more about if I let go of the stroller and turn away, is the stroller going to go rolling down the parking lot? So always just good habit, stop, put the brakes on always. So that's just a part of what you do with that stroller.

21:57And that way, if you do have to let go and turn to get something ready to put the child into their car seat, you don't have to worry about turning and my stroller just goes rolling away from me because that I think is a really big concern always too. What is your thoughts on the sticker of baby on board? Because I have thoughts. I personally don't want to advertise what's happening. Exactly. So I don't use them. I, yeah, I mean, Exactly. I'm like, I don't want people knowing that it's going to take me longer to get in and out of my car. Right. And I don't know that like from a vehicle safety perspective, I don't think other drivers change their behavior because they see that you've got an infant on board either.

22:48I get a lot more questions about identification stickers on car seats for crash purposes. So you're in a crash and, you know, if something happens to that adult occupant, you can't speak for the infant. A lot of people have an interest in like, do I put this sticker on? Let's talk about that. That wasn't even a question I had for you today. And now I got to know. More intrusive thoughts to you. I mean, I think the thing is, like from a, again, from a car seat manufacturer perspective, adding a sticker to your car seat is not going to change the crash worthiness of that product. However, there's a lot of information on those labels on your car seat.

23:30And we do have concerns about people stickering over labels that have relevant and important information so that you or anybody using your car seat understands how to use it the right way. And a lot of that language we put on labels is actually federally required. More importantly, I work with a lot of first responders. First responders are not trained to look for that kind of information on a car seat. And especially in a situation with a child who may or may not be able to verbally communicate back to that first responder, they can't assume that that child in the car seat is the child with that that goes to that sticker.

24:08So even if they found the sticker, that could be a sibling. It could be a neighbor kid. It could be anybody. if your child has a medical condition that you do need a first responder to be aware about, they need to wear a piece of medical jewelry because that is what first responders will look for. So, so helpful. Okay. We are running out of time and I want to make sure that we talk about baby proofing. So firstly, what, because we're just running out of time, want to do this quickly. What are the big things that we need to make sure that we baby proof in our house? So baby proofing, you know, starts when kids get mobile, you know, so you've got a little bit of time.

24:49So it's not something you need to panic about right away with baby, but you do need to be thinking about at the time that kids are starting to get mobile and crawling around. So big, big risks, furniture and TVs and tip overs, you know, all TVs are sold with straps to adhere, like to attach them to the wall. And nobody wants to do it, but it is so important. And coming from a children's hospital where I spent the first half of my career, there are so many devastating injuries that happen from both furniture and from TV kind of tip overs. So do attach those things. Think about your taller dressers.

25:28Think about the TVs. Think about bookshelves. Try not to put items that kids will naturally want to have, like stuffed animals and toys, on these upper shelves either. Keep those down at arm's reach for that child so that they're not tempted to climb to try to get something. They can access the things that they might want right there. Other big areas to think about are, you know, I am not a fan of putting a lock on every cabinet door, but you want to make sure you lock those things that can be poisonous. So think about underneath my kitchen sink. That's where we keep all the cleaning supplies for the kitchen and for our downstairs area.

26:10So make sure that's locked because those things are actually very dangerous and poisonous. But, you know, if they get into the cabinets that have pots and pans, you know, as long as it's not glass that they're going to throw on the ground, like I always wanted to give my kids the opportunity to come in and to kind of play with those things that were safe and appropriate for them to access while limiting the access to the things that can be really dangerous. Also, think about that in your bathroom. So if you have cleaning supplies in those lower cabinets, those are cabinets that should be locked.