Baby gear expert: Best & worst baby products, car seat safety & baby-proofing basics

27:00Law does not automatically equate to safety. Yeah.

27:03Jamie Grayson:Like you're still safe, but it's not like the safest possible thing you can do. So a lot of states, the law is one year and 20 pounds. Some states don't even have rear facing car seat laws, which is wild to me. Uh, we want to, we operate on like a good, better, best scale when it comes to car seat safety across the board and good means you're following the law. Better means you're going above that. And then best practice means you're basically maxing out the rear facing limits of your seat. Okay. So a lot of car seats like your flow has a 50 pound rear facing weight limit. So you can use that for a long time rear facing.

27:37Jamie Grayson:Now we want to go to at least two years old rear facing because a baby, 26 % of a baby's weight is in their head when they're born and their spine is all cartilage and it doesn't start to harden until about four. And that process goes all the way through puberty. So in a rear facing seat, if you were in a crash, that seat is designed to move with their spine and stabilize and support their head and their neck. Okay. That's part of like diverting the crash forces from your directly on your child. In a forward facing seat, the only thing holding them is that harness. So if you are in a crash, their head will move forward significantly and it takes a quarter of an inch of stretch in their spine to do significant like life altering damage to a child.

28:23Wow.

28:23Jamie Grayson:So you want to keep them rear-facing until at least two years old. Go past that. Keep going as long as possible. You don't need to rear-face until seven or eight. There are countries that do that, like over in Sweden and a couple other places in Europe. But rear-face until minimum of two years old. Just keep going past that as long as possible. Wow. That's really, really good to know. That's very important. Law does not equal... Safety. Safest. Safest. Are you looking for something simple and delicious to add to your wellness routine, especially this time of year, something that's tasty? Well, I used to put regular honey into my food, but Manukora puts all the other honeys that you will try to shame.

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29:59That's manukora.com, N-A-N-U-K-O-R-A.com slash two parents for$150 off your first starter kit. I actually had a question that I wish we asked off the top, but I think what what I find so interesting about this conversation is most of the time we talk to like one of our friends or parents they'll know like a lot about one or two things and the one or two things that they know about like often you know they have the strong opinion on good or bad but what I love that you're bringing to the table here is like you just ripped off 15 to 20 stroller names so like how have you gotten so much um like expertise on all this like what does that process

30:46Jamie Grayson:look like i mean i literally when i was working at the store at bye bye i would go to other stores on my days off and i would like play with everything and watch tell people purchase stuff and i would read everything i could online youtube had just started so i would watch youtube videos own strollers and now because i've been doing this so long and i all these companies like i have in my phone i can i either go to their headquarters um i can get almost any baby product on the market sent to me very very quickly um and i just play with stuff to be honest and because i i've always had a crazy brain it's like an actor i retain things very quickly yeah so to me it comes in very handy with like specs and instructions and safety information.

31:32Jamie Grayson:Um, and it is just like a lot of play time I have in my apartment in Denver at the moment, I would say I have around 70 car seats. Um, yeah, I have a, I have a store attached to my apartment that I use as an office. So I have like giant rolling racks of car seats. I probably have 40 to 50 different strollers and stroller wagons. I've got around 20 high chairs, probably 50 to 60 different baby carriers. I have more stuff than like most stores do. Incredible. Yeah. Wow. Let's talk about the baby carrier really quick. Yeah. So is there any difference between the Artipope carrier, which is a very high price point, can be$300 up versus one that's$60?

32:17Safety wise, is there a difference?

32:19Jamie Grayson:There can be in terms of safety. There are regulations in America that carriers have to meet. A lot of carriers from Europe, like Arte, sometimes they don't meet those standards. So it's a little different. And I'm not saying that they do not. The difference in price a lot of times has to do with fabric, in terms of how how it's made, how it's constructed, how limited the release is, et cetera. So price doesn't correlate to safety? No. By any means in the carrier? No. And I guess like what I... But hold on, but Amazon's a different story because the original question we were gonna ask you was the Amazon carrier versus an artipope, but Amazon, we now have learned, can have knockoffs on it.

33:06So you have to be careful.

33:07Jamie Grayson:You don't want to get a carrier that like you have never heard of, that your friends have never heard of. So you wanna stick to like looking at stuff like ergo tula becco boba uh baby bjorn you know art of pop is fine i don't like the company right um but you want to make sure it's not like some random offshoot thing okay like hope and plum for example do you know them great little company i would say like they're a more ethical american version of art of pop oh um they're terrific lovely lovely people um and she does a lot of videos online combating like one of the biggest problems because I get mouthy and I have no filter one of the biggest problems people have with Artipop is their some of their marketing they don't have good fit they don't have good positioning for babies and that is dangerous for consumers to see because as consumers we learn through media and what we absorb so if you have a caregiver seeing like oh the baby is supposed to go in it like that but meanwhile in the photo baby's face is covered up you can't see that their airway is open their head is too far down you can't kiss it like there are things that if a company is not doing correct marketing imagery with their product more than likely they actually don't care about their product right and so and so the to you know double down on those tips keys to safe carrying in the carrier are position where you can kiss their head you see that their airway is unobstructed you can see their head anything else faces of you you want them higher up than you think.

34:39And then what about the M shape for the legs?

34:42Jamie Grayson:So with baby wearing, this all started with marketing, you know, about 20 years ago. And there's not a baby carrier on the market that you can link hip dysplasia to. Baby carriers cannot cause hip dysplasia. They can exacerbate it if it is a problem, if they're diagnosed or not. So to kind of combat that, you do want them in a proper position. And we used to put babies in and almost like a froggy position with their, you know, legs bent up inside. We don't really do that anymore. Uh, and you want kind of like that pelvis tilted, but back, um, supported knee to knee. Obviously it gets much easier as they get older.

35:21Jamie Grayson:Um, you know, but there are carriers out there in the beginning. You can use wraps. Um, there's a really good carrier by Ergo. They made one specifically for newborns called the embrace that is excellent it's an excellent little carrier for a newborn and then you can transition into like a bigger soft structure carrier but it's more important as they're bigger to be in that position because if they are just kind of dangling out it doesn't help you support your own body weight um and then you're less comfortable and less likely to baby wear okay that is this is so the m is so helpful to hear it's all it's all very good to know because like i lived in the carrier and obviously when i started you know didn't realize like what optimal uh what the optimal position was and so going into baby two uh want to be very dialed in especially i put so many of my friends onto the carriers like i think like dads and babies and carriers is like it's the best the new age i love wearing babies yeah i love it it's the best it's like a hormone thing I feel it immediately and it's just it calms me down it's the best that's the sweetest it is for me I love dads and baby carriers um I love it and gunkles and getting in the well the best is the gunkles thank you yes um I'd love to talk about safety standards across different types of products yeah so you touched on it with the car seats but what is like what is there a safety standard for car seats and then a different safety standard for other products like carriers or toys cribs Yeah, cribs.

36:51And just like, how do parents know how to navigate buying something that has been tested and approved versus just like what has great reviews on Amazon? And is it just buying, make sure if you buy from specialty, you buy from big box, you're good. If you buy from trusted brand, you're good, but don't buy from brand that looks like a knockoff-ish thing on Amazon.

37:13Jamie Grayson:Yeah. So basically with that car seats, for example, there are federally regulated standards with those. With strollers, there are standards. There are multiple tests strollers have to go through before they can be on the market regarding like tip test and like entrapment hazards. High chairs have standards regarding like the leg hole openings. Baby carriers have standards. Some things do not. And those are what we would call like an unregulated product, for example. and the best category to look at an unregulated product in is actually car seats so people go into stores and you see like the mirrors for the back seat and like extra pads for the harnesses and vehicle seat protectors and all of these things and they can say that they are crash tested there are no crash test standards for any of these products they're just making shit up and so So these products, when used in conjunction with car seats, they can affect how the harness is properly tightened.

38:13Jamie Grayson:They can mask an improper install of a car seat. They can become a projectile in a crash. And they void the warranty of the car seat. So specifically with stuff like that, even though the product itself is fine, you don't want to use it with a car seat. Okay. Is the mirror bad, the back-facing mirror? Mirrors, this is one of those like we live in gray situations. So mirrors, it's not like they are inherently bad. This is what we would consider a you have to use your own judgment call. So try to use your baby in the rear-facing seat without the mirror. Okay. If you find that something is driving you so crazy that it is affecting your mental and emotional health and you're not able to drive safely because your kid is screaming.

39:03Jamie Grayson:or like you have to keep your eyeballs on them, get a mirror. But what I would want you to do is go to a store and actually like touch it and feel it. You want to get them as soft as possible. Some of them are very rigid. And what we do, and this is fun to try at home, is anything you would put around your kid, hit yourself in the face with it, like in the head. And if you don't like the way it feels, do not put it back there with your child. So if you get a good soft mirror and you find you need to use it, install it on the seat adjacent to your child not directly in front of them oh and then turn it yeah tilt it yeah that makes a lot of sense because that way it's less likely to just like fall in your kid's face yeah especially if you got in a wreck and it came off you've heard of glp1 drugs right unless you live under a rock i would think you have glp1s are all the rage but not quite the all-natural solution that some people would prefer this podcast is sponsored by veracity Welcome to an all-natural way to slim down, get energized, and sharpen your focus.

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40:47So make the switch to GLP-1s the natural way. Head to veracityselfcare.com during their Black Friday sale for up to 50 % off your order. once again that's veracity v-e-r-a-c-i-t-y self-care.com for up to 50 off i love this concept of unregulated versus regulated parts of um of baby gear so i think from a regulated perspective feels pretty um pretty clear on what path parents could follow so i'd like to talk more about unregulated so what are other unregulated part like maybe are cribs regulated cribs are so So like other unregulated parts of the baby gear world that we need to be focused on. Toys kind of comes to mind.

41:34Jamie Grayson:There's no super regulations for toys. Now, what we want to do with like young children, if you can get a tube that people test with or just use like a paper towel or toilet paper tube, any toys that can go through that tube, they fit and drop right through it. You don't want around a younger child because that's obviously a choking risk. um so pay attention to like labels and i think one company out there that does a really solid job with labeling their toys is love every um because they love they're wonderful they're wonderful um they work with a lot of montessori educators like different educators and child development experts to make sure that the toys are developmentally appropriate um i'm just a big fan of them um you know another company like you look at you know lego duplo situation you know those big honking chunky toys in the beginning great obviously you're not going to use the tiny ones when they're little yeah but what a great tip to assess if something is a choking hazard or not throw it down a tube throw it down a tube genius it would have that would have been like that's how much paper towel we go through that is not going to be a problem in terms of finding an easy tube to do it no i'm sure we have it at home um i want to ask some of these okay i would love to i would love to talk about uh cribs and crib safety um is that on your list no but do it okay Okay, so over the first, call it 12, 13 months of her life, she slept with nothing in the crib.

43:00And for the first time, a couple days ago, a stuffed animal that was knitted by her mother is now in the crib. I put it in there because I see all these babies playing with things. And yesterday morning or the other morning, she woke up and she played with it probably for 20 minutes before we got her. It was a very sweet moment. So what is best practices around when things should go in the crib, if ever? Like, are we making a mistake and it should come out?

43:31Jamie Grayson:I would not stress out about a toy after a year. Okay. For the first year, if you're adhering to, like, the standard, like, best practice situation with a crib. And to me, it's like, what's best? Nothing goes in the crib. Okay. We don't want bumpers. Bumpers are outlawed in most states now. So no bumpers, no extra blankets, no pillows, no stuffed animals, no mobiles within easy reach of a child. No lovies. Yeah. Well, no, a pacifier, a lot of people actually recommend a pacifier. I mean a blanket. Oh, blanket. The thing I call, sorry, lovies are the animal with the blanket. I saw you do this, so I was like, oh, you're fine.

44:10Jamie Grayson:No. No that. And typically, you want them swaddled if you're going to swaddle. Some people don't agree with swaddling. Some people don't do it. Some babies also don't like it. But nothing for that first year. After that, it's like if it's a little toy that's not like an enormous squashy stuffed animal, at that point, babies are sitting independently. They are rolling. They have head and neck control. So unless there's a medical situation, that would not be a concern. Now, it is different if they hadn't met some of those milestones. you want to eliminate asphyxiation risks, like big plush things.

44:46Jamie Grayson:But once those things are hit. Yeah, it makes all the sense in the world to me because there's no, what is there to gain from putting something in the crib over the first 12 months? Nothing. It really is nothing. And now, why did we put this stuff to Enderman? Literally, so for her interaction. She cuddles with it. We literally, we saw it, it play true. And a thing like that is fine because you also think like based on your thought process with sleep, are you going to use your crib as where they sleep but it's only for sleep or are you going to use it to like, I got to do something real quick and you're going to throw some toys in there.

45:26Jamie Grayson:Like, is it going to also become a place for activity? Right. You know, and there are two different things. Right. But I could see how you, I mean, I get both. Yeah. Yeah. it's yeah we i don't know if that was it may have been by your choice but it sure is it sure as heck wasn't intentional on my behalf that she's only in the crib if she is sleeping yeah she's never been in there to play i thought that that was a thing i thought you were supposed to just put them in there to sleep so i don't know it wasn't intentional i just um i know you have a long list of questions okay i want to go through these um okay top three baby products that make parents life easier and kids life safer um i would say in terms of necessities in the beginning let's just assume get car seats out of the way you know that's that would not be one of them um a good high chair okay um people will spend like a thousand dollars on a stroller you're going to use for a couple years and like get a like for a lack of a better word jankity high chair that doesn't really do anything.

46:25Jamie Grayson:High chairs are super important in terms of family interaction at the table. If you can get one with like a fully adjustable foot support, and there are several on the market now that are great, that is terrific in terms of not only proper posture for them at the table, but as they're learning to eat and also because they're sitting at 90, 90, 90, it helps them keep their airway open as they're learning to eat solids. You know, there are a lot of things with a good high chair. And I think that's absolutely worth the investment. Do you have a high chair that you recommend? Oh, I have several high chairs, yes.

46:59Jamie Grayson:I do love a trip trap. I've been a trip trap human since the drop. I sit in one. I have my name engraved on one and I sit in at my desk. It's a great little chair. There is a high chair. Mockingbird has an excellent high chair right now. It is right now. it's cheaper than a trip trap it in theory it does the same kind of foot adjustment as a trip trap does it doesn't like go to 300 pounds like a trip trap does but where this high chair kind of beats every a lot of other high chairs right now it's the only one on the market with a silicone strap so all the other harnesses are cloth so when food gets on them they're disgusting and with the silicone you can wipe it and put it in the top rack of a dishwasher so it's much easier to clean there's a great little high chair made by cybex called the limo l-e-m-o that is excellent and i have two of those at my kitchen island for when people come over for board game night and it's all one-handed adjustment to like adjust the seat depth the seat height it's great it looks way more streamlined than a lot of other high chairs what's it called uh the cybex limo there's another chair the bugaboo giraffe is terrific um very upset ours has not been named Do you know what we have?

48:10Jamie Grayson:Yeah What do you have? Stoke The Stoke Stoke Do you have a trip trap Or a click? Oh wait is that Okay wait I don't know Does it look like an L Does it look like Like a Z kind of thing On the side? Trip trap Is it made I was thinking that And then we have this This cute little thing That goes on our bar We have the trip trap Trip trap's great Okay amazing Good for us Trip trap is great It's a great high chair I didn't know They've been around forever So the guy who designed that Peter Opsavik he worked uh in ergonomic office seating so he designed the trip trap for his children and then he he has a book called rethinking sitting that i actually own because i'm a dork and uh years later he designed a high chair called the nomi think of like the middle of ergonomic for his grandchildren so he did like decades of work in ergonomic seats so the nomi is kind of like it's not trip trap 2.0 because it's a different company but then stoka bought it so trip trap is stoka bought trip trap no it's been trip trap since the drop stoka is it used to be called the kinder seat then it was changed to the trip trap but do multiple companies make a trip no no oh okay okay okay there's only one okay okay got it i love that high chair because it's with you as you know because you sit in it um cute colors we love colors we love colors i never use the cushions on it we do dirty but they're so dirty but they get really cute They're adorable.

49:37So, okay, so high chair.

49:39Jamie Grayson:Yeah, high chair's good. What else? High chair's good. I would say in the beginning, just because I don't think people get into enough, a good baby carrier, honestly. Okay. Baby wearing, if you are able to do it, because some people physically cannot, if you're able to baby wear, that is like a game changer as a caregiver in terms of being active, staying mobile, like being able to do things with your hands. also in terms of bonding and development because they also consider that vertical tummy time, which is excellent. Did not know that. Yeah, yeah, because they are holding their head up. They're feeling your ribcage move, adjusting accordingly.

50:16Every time I ask Alex about the situation, she's like, I don't know. But what does Bubz do most morning? She did it this morning. Lay on you. Like when she'll come over, like today, came down the stairs and she came and said hello and then I'll take her to the couch and I'll lie down and she just like, I was a huge carrier person and she just like replicates the position she had on the carrier and like snuggles for like 15 seconds and then just scampers away. We are monkeys. Yeah. And I will say, it is a great way that I have found for the non-mother to bond.

50:52Jamie Grayson:100%. And that was a very big bonding moment. That was definitely the first bonding, first way I bonded with our daughter. My sister, so the oldest kids are twins and they're 15 now, but they were born. They came home from the NICU. I left New York and moved in with them for six months to help. Amazing. And it was the best. But in the morning, the first thing I did was I would pre-tie a wrap or a baby Catan so that when the babies woke up, I could just go and just wear the baby all the time. And it's also something I would tell people. If you are using a baby wrap, pre-tie it before you leave the house if you're driving anywhere.

51:28Jamie Grayson:and that way you can drive and you get somewhere to take the baby out of the car seat. Oh, that's really smart. You keep the tails of the wrap off the parking lot that way. Yeah, that's really smart. Just keep it tied. Yeah. And just like dealing with that. Pre-tie it. When you're in the car seat and they're just like, you know, probably making some form of noise. Guys, let's talk about master class because it's a great thing to give yourself or to give somebody else because they are online courses taught by experts. It's a way to do continued learning or to start something new if you have a new hobby later in life.

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53:15Jamie Grayson:carrier um and i would say like in the beginning even though you may not use it a whole lot it's like a good bathtub oh yeah that's a good you know some people like you some people will shower with their baby or like just put them in the big old bath and bat like take a bath with them but if you need it like a good bathtub like one that's easy to clean and doesn't like there's one that has like a cloth hammock in it but like they get disgusting and nasty and okay i like that good bath okay a good bath the bath was something that was not on my radar but we ended up getting but i We definitely have the one that gets gross and dirty.

53:51We do. With the hammock on it.

53:53Jamie Grayson:Have you ever seen the Flexi Bath? No. It's also made by Stoker, or Stoker owns it. They did not invent it. Okay. But it's almost like a window box for what you would put plants in, and it accordions out. So you can collapse it and clamp it shut so you can store it, but it has gaskets in it to give it a little bit of stretch, hence the name. But it's super easy to clean, and there's a little spout in the bottom that you just undo, and then you can buy a stand for it. and there's another is it babu or babo bath it's either an o or u where they have one with legs the flexi bath has a stand where the bath is elevated so you're not all hunched over so you can actually stand and watch the baby elevated oh if you don't do it in a sink or something they're great that's yeah amazing okay did not know that i didn't know those existed okay what are three popular items parents should avoid um this is controversial but wipe warmers a lot of there i don't i think it's a waste of money wipe warmers for like your baby wipes oh my god no my favorite product why listen no that's fine though and that's fine but if you're out and about and your baby's got to get used to a cold that's true it's true it's true i didn't know wipe warmers existed and then she was born and somebody was like get this $20 wipe warmer.

55:12I got it. I feel like it's almost for the parent more than the baby. I just sit there and I would think of it's 3 or 4 in the morning and just have a nice little warm thing on her bottom.

55:24Jamie Grayson:It is fine. This is not the end of the world. This is great that you said that. It's a hot topic. I'm on the record saying my favorite random product is the wipe warmer. You know what wipe thing I really love is a dispenser that has like a weighted plate so you can so you can pull the wipes out one-handed that is a wonderful game changer that one's good do you have the oxo one what okay the oxo when i remember when it first came out it's also crazy that we have that downstairs and a wipe warmer upstairs and you know what the wipe warmer now only causes problems because of the light it's a disaster if they cover it oh no yeah okay so wipe warmer number one um this is this is a i would say this is even more controversial than the wipe warmer and ubi what's an ubi the diaper pill the ubi ubi bi why it does nothing for the smell okay first it does not do a damn thing for the smell because you have to open that big lid at the top and it just comes out at you there's nothing containing it i think because it is metal inside like it doesn't absorb smell but you can't use like liquids to clean it if something happens because it will rust okay um it is also because you have to use a hand to operate it if you get a diaper pill that is foot operated you can have one baby one hand on the baby changing their diaper and deal with like dropping the diaper in and in ubi you need like a hand over here and like it doesn't stay in place and the foot situation would be a game changer and she started opening it gets fun for her to open now so that's diaper decor is the way to go oh i didn't even know there was another option is that is that is that so we were just at a friend's house taylor and they had one and like you put it in the top and then you like hit a button and like that there are a couple that do that now it could be the prince lionheart twister which is also another really really good option those are the two i normally recommend okay um the twister you have to use their bags diaper decor you can use any but use their bags because it's basically like a long sleeve of bag that you're in charge of trimming to whatever length you need so you're not wasting a lot of plastic okay um and it's great and like if something happens you can actually use like bleach or whatever to clean it inside and oh okay okay i like this three and it's also like not like nothing will ever keep 100 of the smell out but if you're if she's getting in now diaper decor has a lock on it so they can't operate the flap so like keys remotes none of that that's great yeah okay what's the third i just see bubs like every day taking an item and putting in anything third um on i'll go back to the unregulated car seat products because everybody gets these things and they're not necessary yeah i mean that's the okay i like that so you're talking about the straps the harness covers the mirrors the the video cameras like all of that okay yeah i mean the idea of it like flying off and hitting your baby is very scary i love doing it on the seat beside it yeah okay what's one baby safety topic that's not on most parents minds um i think people obviously people take car seat safety very seriously but i don't think they do enough research in it because i i literally just had a woman like two days ago you know i got a hold of her on tiktok somebody tagged me in some stuff she got this car seat from a friend and it didn't have a manual and she just guessed it how to use it and manuals are there for a reason and i know like you know some people reading comprehension is rough like whatever but there are so many other resources now.

58:55Jamie Grayson:YouTube usually has a video. Companies will put a video up on YouTube. Also, when Coco hit, a lot of these companies started doing like virtual seat checks for people. So you can call up a company and they will oftentimes help you virtually, which is great. There's also another organization called the National Safety Council that does virtual seat checks if you can't find a local tech. And I just say car seat in general because based on what you read, we have anywhere from like a 60 to 80 percent misuse rate with car seats which is far higher than it should be yeah way higher than it should be what do you think about um in turn what's what's the most important thing to do in terms of baby proofing a couple things i want to add also with this securing the mirrors to the wall and then baby cleaning products not baby cleaning products cleaning products being exposed uh with cleaning products like one of the things that makes everybody the craziest or like the tide pods because people want to have an aesthetic and put them in a jar and make them all cute that makes them too easy for kids to get and bubs loves a tide pod we had to secure that you gotta keep them away you gotta keep them away um so keep everything locked if you can lock it all in one cabinet that's great but also like look at what products you're using for your own house because if you're putting like toxic like cleaning products all over your floor when your baby is crawling around their hands are going to be in that.

1:00:15Jamie Grayson:Also don't take strollers and shoes inside the house. If you, if you don't wear your shoes inside, that's a really good way to cut a lot of bacteria down. Um, when it comes to baby proofing, there is an organization called the international association for child safety. I A F C S. Okay. That is the organization for professional baby proofers. Um, I would go through them, find somebody. There are people again who do like, they'll walk you around. You can walk them around the house they can like address certain things for you do they prove it uh there are people will come to your house and do stuff too yeah yeah we did one round we went like pretty i think pretty um intense on it pretty intense on it like but you don't know you don't know every stairway gated every electrical cover uh yeah mirrors mounted uh but we don't know yeah covered all cabinets I think people go a little.

1:01:08Uncovered cabinet, she's allowed to go into. Okay. So we know what's in there, and those are things that she can take out and play with.

1:01:14Jamie Grayson:I mean, I played with, like, mason jar lids as a kid. It's great. I didn't have access to Cascade, you know? Right. So there's a difference. Right. Okay, let's see. No, I asked all my questions. I did it. Did we miss anything? I don't know. You think we should bring up? And you think we should talk about as parents looking to keep babies as soon as possible? I just think don't be afraid to ask for help, honestly. Like, again, like we were kind of talking, like you don't know what you don't know. And there's a difference in the space between an influencer and an expert. And I think sometimes people get those two intermingled.

1:01:55Jamie Grayson:And people refer to me as an influencer, which like whatever. But I have influence because of my expertise in this space. You know, it's very specific what I do, which is why I surround myself with other people who do different things. So don't be afraid to get help, but make sure you're vetting who those people are. And also like we can't. It's something we talk about in car seats a lot. It's like we can't let perfect be the enemy of good. Yes, totally agree with that. I think what you're saying about expertise versus influence is really important because one thing that we try to do on this podcast is ask questions.

1:02:31and be like, we don't know what we don't know. The carrier is a perfect example. He had the carrier wrong. People were commenting it. So we're like, okay, let us go look at it. But one example where we do good is like she's always in a life jacket. People are like, that doesn't happen enough. And we're like, water safety for us is just like, it's huge, huge. But I do think, I think people sometimes think because you have a following, you are an expert. And I always try to say like, I'm not an expert. I'm learning with you. Whereas like you are an expert, which is why we ask you questions. And we can't be afraid to sit here and be like, when can you put a doll in the crib yeah just like you know you get you get nervous to ask the question but it's like a lot of people are thinking it yeah and I think a lot of people

1:03:10Jamie Grayson:if you don't live in like a more urban environment and there aren't these classes available to you like try to find some good classes on the internet like they're my friend Holly up in Vancouver um she and her sister run a company called Safe Beginnings and she is wonderful wonderful wonderful They do in-person classes, but you can go to her website and get like first aid classes. There's a virtual CPR. There's baby proofing information. So you at least have access to that information virtually and it's solid, even if you don't have an in-person resource near you. That's so good to know. He's from Vancouver.

1:03:45So when we go back, we always look for people to interview.

1:03:47Jamie Grayson:I love Vancouver. It's the best. I love it so much. Do you know about it? No, but I think that could be an interesting one, particularly on the topic of CPR. I was going to say CPR. I cannot. Holly is like my ginger Canadian sister, and I could not recommend her more. She's wonderful. It also feels like CPR training is something that we should be doing. It feels like every three to six months. Totally agree. Because we did the class initially, and you always just want these refreshes. You want to feel comfortable doing it if you need to. We had a choking one time, twice actually, and it's like to turn her over and you have to be comfortable.

1:04:28One was definitely scary. Yeah. And I think a lot of people, they have scary moments because you're trying to solve it.

1:04:34Jamie Grayson:That is one in terms of safety. Not enough parents take CPR. It's a big one. Alex set that up within the first couple weeks. Good. But you do it in the first couple weeks, but it doesn't really become appropriate until month six plus. so taking it then would yeah it would be better so we refreshed um thank you you were fabulous tell people where they can find you online please um instagram it's just the jamie grayson on tiktok it's the baby gear guy because i had to get a new handle when my account got banned oh um so that was really fun and then next year i will be on the road with an event series called babies and bumps and we have 15 cities next year and we've added Austin next year, which is very exciting.

1:05:19Jamie Grayson:Yay! Yeah. I want to say, no, Houston is November 1st and then we go to Denver. I can't remember the dates, Lincoln, Bio, et cetera. There you go, Lincoln, Bio. We love that. We will be there. Absolutely, absolutely. That's very exciting. Okay, amazing. Thank you for all the tips. There's nothing more important than safety in what you do, so thank you for walking us through it all. Thanks for having me. This was awesome. Thank you. Thanks for listening to another episode of Two Parents and a Podcast powered by Just Media House. If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to like, subscribe, comment, rate, and review.

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