I think the whole coat-in-car-seat hysteria is entirely overblown.

In just a few short years, even when your kids are riding in booster seats, they will be relying on the car's seat belts which are a lot less tight, and will, by design (so that you can move around in the seat), yield several inches in a collision before locking in place.

This coat worry is yet another Mommy nonsense fear.

--mechanical engineer

My kids are wearing fleece hoodies under their coats and the coats go over them like blankets in the car. We just hustle getting into and out of the car.

We don't leave DD in her coat when she's in her carseat and she won't wear her hat when she's in the seat either. So, I bring a blanket and put it and DDs coat over her once I strap her into the carseat to keep her warm. Then I put the coat on her when we get to daycare and I run her inside. Her hands still get cold but it's the best we can do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We keep our car in the garage so that when we go to daycare, it's warm enough. She wears a blanket. When I pick her up from daycare, my car has gotten warm from me driving it over there.

My struggle is the mom shaming over my kid not wearing a coat. It's hard to get coats on her, so it's not a 10 second step when we get out of the car. I typically just hold her close to me and run into the grocery store quickly and then try to wrestle with the coat. But inevitably, an old woman will comment on what a bad mom I am.

It was probably one of my family members who shamed you. There was a full debate on Christmas because my cousin didn't have a hat on her baby when they were moving her from the house to the car. Not even a parking lot! Just a driveway! Why must older women always say something?

I think it's lack of education. My older female relatives say things like "She'll catch a cold if she doesn't wear a hat" or they think being wet/cold is related to getting sick. No. That's fake.

The Gap primaloft coats are similar to the patagonia (non-down though) and are car seat safe. We don't have our car in a garage, either, so kids wear coats in the car seat. A good test is to tighten it as much as possible with the coat on, and then see if it's tight enough when the coat's not on. If it is, then you're fine. We also keep a couple of blankets in the car.

We also have like, a 10 second walk from the house to the car and from the car to daycare, so I'm not going to stress if a hat or mitten is pulled off. The kids are not going to get frostbite.

Anonymous wrote:We keep our car in the garage so that when we go to daycare, it's warm enough. She wears a blanket. When I pick her up from daycare, my car has gotten warm from me driving it over there.

My struggle is the mom shaming over my kid not wearing a coat. It's hard to get coats on her, so it's not a 10 second step when we get out of the car. I typically just hold her close to me and run into the grocery store quickly and then try to wrestle with the coat. But inevitably, an old woman will comment on what a bad mom I am.

It was probably one of my family members who shamed you. There was a full debate on Christmas because my cousin didn't have a hat on her baby when they were moving her from the house to the car. Not even a parking lot! Just a driveway! Why must older women always say something?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We keep our car in the garage so that when we go to daycare, it's warm enough. She wears a blanket. When I pick her up from daycare, my car has gotten warm from me driving it over there.

My struggle is the mom shaming over my kid not wearing a coat. It's hard to get coats on her, so it's not a 10 second step when we get out of the car. I typically just hold her close to me and run into the grocery store quickly and then try to wrestle with the coat. But inevitably, an old woman will comment on what a bad mom I am.

Oh and she keeps taking off her shoes and socks anytime she's in the car. Fun times.

+1 -- story of our lives when we were running errands over the weekend. 2 seconds in the car and we hear the Velcro of her shoes and then her pulling her socks off, going "ack!" (her word for off). I open up the car door when we get to our destination and see our 14 month old laughing and swinging her bare feet at me. kids are insane.

as for the coat -- I would've ordered her a onekid road coat, but by the time we learned about it, we had already dropped a ton of cash on a Patagonia jacket, so we normally just unzip the jacket and try to do the straps underneath it. next year I think we'll pick up the road coat.

I keep their coats on and make sure the straps are TIGHT and the chest clip is positioned correctly. I have yet to see a crash test video claiming coats are dangerous where they've actually TIGHTENED the straps and have the chest clip in the right place.

In the afternoon, we remove coats normally, since the car is warmer after it's been sitting in the sun all day.

This week I'm just using a puffy snowsuit in the car. My car is parked on the street, not in a garage or driveway, so it's not possible to warm it up before we get in. Additionally, my entire drive is within the city, so I don't really go over 25 mph at any point. The straps are as tight as I can make them. It's not ideal, but the risk is minimal.

Anonymous wrote:We keep our car in the garage so that when we go to daycare, it's warm enough. She wears a blanket. When I pick her up from daycare, my car has gotten warm from me driving it over there.

My struggle is the mom shaming over my kid not wearing a coat. It's hard to get coats on her, so it's not a 10 second step when we get out of the car. I typically just hold her close to me and run into the grocery store quickly and then try to wrestle with the coat. But inevitably, an old woman will comment on what a bad mom I am.

OP here - we don't have a garage, and we don't have remote start on the car. I've gotten shamed for running him in quickly, too, even though wrestling his coat on would leave him exposed to the cold longer than a sprint would. At least now he's two and will keep a hat on?

I warm up the car outside - and I also carry a blanket from the warm house to cover them with. Sometimes it gets kicked off but at least it helps for a minute. I also usually put a sweatshirt or fleece on them for the car ride (but not anything puffy).

Last year I sprung for an expensive Onekid car coat for my then 1 year old. This year I got the Snozu coat from Costco and just leave it unzipped. The real test is whether the straps are looser, so if you can pull it tight enough that you can take the coat off and it would still be adjusted correctly, then you're good.

If there is a solution that doesn't involve taking the coat off or spending $100 on a coat that will be worn for a few months, I'd be happy to hear it. Otherwise, it is what it is in this weather.

Anonymous wrote:We keep our car in the garage so that when we go to daycare, it's warm enough. She wears a blanket. When I pick her up from daycare, my car has gotten warm from me driving it over there.

My struggle is the mom shaming over my kid not wearing a coat. It's hard to get coats on her, so it's not a 10 second step when we get out of the car. I typically just hold her close to me and run into the grocery store quickly and then try to wrestle with the coat. But inevitably, an old woman will comment on what a bad mom I am.

Oh and she keeps taking off her shoes and socks anytime she's in the car. Fun times.

We keep our car in the garage so that when we go to daycare, it's warm enough. She wears a blanket. When I pick her up from daycare, my car has gotten warm from me driving it over there.

My struggle is the mom shaming over my kid not wearing a coat. It's hard to get coats on her, so it's not a 10 second step when we get out of the car. I typically just hold her close to me and run into the grocery store quickly and then try to wrestle with the coat. But inevitably, an old woman will comment on what a bad mom I am.

We don't let our toddler wear his coat in the car, but it is so cold right now as take off his coat and get him into his car seat. Other than the super expensive Patagonia jacket, what are other parents doing to keep their kids warm yet safe?