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Winter coat for wee one
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Anonymous
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Definitely do not put the child in the car seat with a puffy coat on. Someone else on this site posted this link during a snowsuit thread: http://babyproducts.about.com/od/carseats/a/carseatcoat.htm
The link basically says that anything bulky will compromise the safety of the child in the seat. One expert saw a case where an infant was ejected from the carseat, but the snowsuit was still belted in fine. Very scary. You probably won't have a one-fit solution. I would recommend thin layers and fleece for the car seat, or thin layers and blankets in the car. Then you can have thicker wear for walking or for the stroller. I like the bundle me for the stroller, no safety issues there. |
Anonymous
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PP here, this is advice of the expert:
Keep Baby Warm and Safe Even if you can't safely use your child's winter coat in the car seat, there are ways to keep baby warm when temperatures drop. Here are Ellis's ideas for ensuring your baby is warm and safe in a car seat. * For babies in an infant seat, dress them warmly in normal clothes, like a shirt, sweatshirt, long pants and a hat. Buckle the child into the infant seat, then cover the baby with a light blanket tucked around the sides. Make sure nothing is behind baby's back! Finally, add another heavier blanket over the top of the infant seat. * Also for infant seats, there are car seat covers available that fit over the whole infant seat once the baby is buckled in. These covers have a peep-hole so that baby's face remains uncovered. Ellis advises parents to be sure the child is buckled up under the cover, though, as it's easy to forget when the buckle is out of sight. * For older babies and toddlers, take the child's coat off before buckling them into the car seat. Once the harnesses are secure, put the child's coat on backwards over their arms to keep them warm without compromising safety. * Whenever possible, warm up your car before putting the baby in the vehicle. * When buying winter coats, keep thickness and car seat safety in mind. Polar fleece jackets and snowsuits are warm but thin, making them a smart choice for winter baby wear. They also have a test to see if the jacket is too thick: put baby in the coat, strap them in. Take baby out of coat, strap baby back in---see how much space is left over....if baby is game for this! |
Lab
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| For when kids are too young to put it on themselves, I am a fan of those full-body fleece suits too -- convenient and efficient. Get one that zips up so you are not trying to stuff the kid into it. For when riding in carseat, we just kept a blanket in the car to toss on top until the car heat was pumping. Once kid is old enough to put on coat herself, I have found that I have little control over what coats she wears on most days. I consider myself lucky if I can get her to wear anything warm enough, so I've found it's best to have an assortment around and hope that one of them satisfies the kid's fickle brain on any given day. We're lucky in that we get lots of hand-downs from cousins so lots of options are available. Also, I've found that tons of great coats are available from your local thrift store at crazy prices. DW often comes home with $40 clothing items that she picked up for under $3. Coat selection might be kind of thin now, so maybe that's not a good short-term solution for you. Good luck! |
Anonymous
| But what do you do if you don't have a garage? Do you just take your infant outside in their regular clothes until they get in the car? Our 5 month old DD just went into a convertible carseat (facing backward of course). We were using a bundle me in the bucket seat, but we had borrowed the bucket seat and had to give it back. Do you just wrap them in blankets to get them outside and then use the bundle me in the carseat? It's so confusing. My mom also bought 2 snowsuits and I didn't realize you couldn't use those in the car!! |