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What happens at a Car Seat Clinic?

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Many times on the news you’ll hear that you should get your car seat checked.

Get your seat checked?? What exactly does that mean?

What happens at a Car Seat Clinic?Certified Car Seat Technicians who are very familiar with the tricks to getting each seat installed properly can help parents understand their vehicle, their child car seat and how the two work best together.

Because there are so many different car manufacturers with different vehicles and many different car seat manufacturers with different car seats, it can be very difficult for parents to get each car seat installed properly in each vehicle.

Looking for a car seat clinic near you?

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/safedrivers-childsafety-seat-clinics-1058.htm

What happens at a car seat clinic?

There are 2 types of clinics: by appointment and drop in.

  • By appointment has a schedule day and time for you to arrive; you are guaranteed to get your seat checked
  • drop-in clinics are open for a period of time but are first come, first served.  We always recommend that you come early and be prepared to wait. There is no guarantee you will get your seat checked if we run out of time to see all the people

Before you arrive:

You need to read the owner’s manual for your vehicle and for the car seat.  These two documents together show you (a) how the car manufacturer allows the car seat to be used in the vehicle and (b) how the car seat manufacturer allows for the car seat to be installed.

When you arrived at the clinic

You’ll meet the technicians who will be helping you with your car seat(s).

You’ll need to fill out some paper work about your child and your vehicle.

While you’re doing the paperwork, the technicians will be doing a quick check of how the seat is currently installed.  They will point out things that you have done well and things that will need to be fixed.

The technicians will then remove the car seat, check to see if it is expired and if it is suitable for the child who will be using it.

You will learn about the safety features of your car seat, proper use of the seat for your child (based on their height, weight and age) and how to install it in your vehicle.

Seeing the technicians from start to finish could take up to 30 minutes or more.

Common errors seen at the clinics?

  • seat is too loose
  • harness straps are too loose
  • hanress straps are in the incorrect position
  • harness straps are twisted
  • tether strap not used
  • tether strap not used properly and/or hooked in the wrong spot
  • rear facing child seat touches the front passenger seat(s)
  • incorrect seat for the size of the child
  • child moved into a bigger car seat too soon
  • child moved forward facing too soon
  • UAS and seat belt used to install seat (only should use one)
  • UAS is upside down
  • third party add-on attached to car seat
  • loose objects in the car
 
If you have any questions about the different types of car seats
and how to instal them, please see these articles I have written:

Looking for a car seat clinic near you?

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/safedrivers-childsafety-seat-clinics-1058.htm

Please note: I am a certified Child Restraint Technician in Ontario, Canada. Please check your local laws about car seats and always read your vehicle owner’s manual and car seat manual before installing your child seats.
 
This data will be updated as required.

pandora’s basement: opening the box

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Some of you may remember that I started documenting the issues with our basement:

Here’s a refresher in case you forgot, or are new and want to catch up:

That was back in March and April of last year.

I stopped talking about the basement.  Once we started working on the inside, the issues started snowballing and I got completely overwhelmed.  And a bit embarrassed.  I didn’t want to come across as a bad homeowner or a bad parent.

What we learned over the past year is too important not to tell the world.

We know a Home Inspector, Certified Indoor Air Quality and Mold Inspector.  He said that we needed to remove the drywall that had been wet because there was a risk of mold.

Just in case, he put up a protective wall of plastic so that dust and the potential mold spores wouldn’t go everywhere.  He did an air test to see if there were any mold spores in the air and sent that off to the lab.

Gemil started to take down the drywall and then with each step, the evil became more and more apparent.

“The “box” was actually a large jar given to Pandora, which contained all the evils of the world.”   ~ Wikipedia
This is the first post of the “Pandora’s Basement” series.  I hope that through these posts, I can help others keep their family safe.

Baby Steps: Simple Safety Tips

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Like a Mama Bear, parents will do everything they can to keep their children safe.  I know because I am one of those parents.  For the last 7 years, I have been protecting my babies bears.  Now I’m not going to suggest that we’re not going to worry any less but there are many thing we can do to keep our kids safe.

I remember as a new parent getting lots of advice from many different sources.  Here are some of the tips that I felt are important when my kids were still babies:

“Back to sleep” to prevent SIDS 
It has been recommended that babies are placed on a firm mattress on their backs to sleep. With the baby dressed in seasonally appropriate clothing there is no need for extra blankets in the crib or bassinet
If it fits through a toilet paper tube, a child can choke on it.

Since children like to put everything in their mouths it is very important to keep the small objects away. An easy way to know if an object is too small is to see if it would fit through a toilet paper tube.

There is a brand of toys that my daughters play with that are remarkably larger than the version I played with as a child.  Their’s don’t fit through the tube where the ones that I had do.

Baby gates are great for kids and pets

Baby gates are excellent for keeping kids in areas that are safe for them and away from stairs.  But they are also great for keeping pets out.  We have a dog and even though she is very tame and friendly, she is still an animal with instincts.  As much as pets need to learn how to behave around children, children need to learn how to treat a dog.

See things from their level

Crawl on the floor to see what they see.  What can they reach? What could potentially hurt them?  As you find things, you’ll move them up out of the way.

Be sure to secure heavy objects like TVs and bookshelves so that they cannot be pulled over onto the child.

As children are very curious, be sure to put child proof handles on all doors Just like with gates, you want to keep kids in the areas where they will be safe.  We had these on all the door leading outside as well as on the doors leading to stairs.

Don’t leave children unattended in the bathtub

Drowning is the second leading cause of death in children.  Too many parents walk away from the kids “for just a minute” and that is one second too long.   Children can drown in less than 1 inch of water.




Register all of your children’s equipment with the manufacturer.

There are so many items that children need that come with a registration card: car seats, strollers, jumpers.  It is important to register these incase the manufacturer issue a recall.  Manufacturers are constantly safety testing their products to make sure they aren’t going to hurt anyone.  If they happen to find something that needs to be adjusted, repaired or replaced, you need to know.  They will contact you to let you know if your product needs some attention.

I hope that you find these tips useful!  What do you recommend to other new parents?

car seats expire …and other car seat safety tips

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Yes, car seats expire.  Not all of them expire after the same amount of time.  It all depends on the manufacturer.

Why do they expire?

…because plastic wears out over time.  Especially in Canada where car seats are exposed to extreme heat and extreme cold over the years, the plastic expands and contracts and eventually isn’t as strong.

Where to find the expiry date?

Model number and date of manufacture
  • On the back, bottom or side of the car seat, the expiry date is imprinted in the plastic
  • It is on the sticker that has the model number and manufacture date
(Click on images to see more detail)
Expiry imprinted in the plastic
If you cannot find the expiration information on your car seat or in the manual, Transport Canada has a great website with a lot of information about child restraints (or car seats) including a

 

Car Seat Laws are different in different provinces

Across Canada, there are various laws that regulate the use of car seats.  These laws state what height, weight and age the child must be to use different types of car seats.  The biggest difference between provinces is the use of booster seats.  Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut don’t have any laws requiring children to use a booster seat.

Here is a good chart showing the laws across Canada (pdf).

Here are some general tips to know about your car seat!

  • Always have the proper child seat for the height and weight of your child
  • Depending on where you live in Canada, the laws are a little bit different.  Please see this table for what is required in your province
  • There are many different seat types:
    • Infant – rear-facing only
    • Infant/Child – can be used rear- and forward-facing
    • Infant/Child/Booster – can be used rear-, forward-facing and as a belt positioning booster
    • Child/Booster – forward facing only; 5pt harness and belt-positing booster
    • Booster – can be backless or high back
  • Always read the manual for vehicle that it is being installed in.
    • not all cars allow seats to be installed in all positions in the rear seats
    • not all positions in a car allow for the use of the tether
    • not all position in a car allow for the use of the LATCH / UAS
    • the owner’s manual will state where they have designed car seats to be installed
  • Be sure that your car has a tether bolt when using a forward facing seat
    • Cars made after September 1999 will come with the top tether bolt
    • cars made before that can have a bolt installed at a dealership
  • The LATCH system has been standard in vehicles since September 2002
    • you need to check your vehicle’s owner’s manual to see if your vehicle is equiped (there are usually 2 “button” markers on the seat to show where the anchors are
    • you also need to see which positions are allowed to use those anchors.  Some vehicles do not allow for the center position to borrow the anchors intended to be used by the outboard positions

  • You can use either the LATCH or the vehicle’s seat belt  — use the one that give you the tightest fit
  • The car seat should not be able to move more than 1 inch side to side at the belt path (where the LATCH or seat belt) goes through the seat
  •  Put your weight in the car seat when installing it (kneel in the seat) — this will push the seat into the passenger seat
  • Always check the car seat every time you put your child in – you can never be too careful
    • Check that the seat is tight and that an infant only seat is clipped in securely into the base
    • Check that a rear-facing seat is not touching the front seat
    • Check that the harness is clipped in properly
    • Check that the harness is tight (one finger between child’s collar bone and harness)
    • Check that the chest clip is at the child’s arm pits
  •  In winter time, do not put bulky winter coats on the children as this causes the seat straps to not be tight enough (during a collision the amount of pressure applied will compress a snow suit and make the straps really loose) – even though you think the seat belt straps are tight enough, they’re not.
    • This also applies to 3rd party “cuddle bags” for infant seats – do not put anything behind your child between them and the car seat.  The ones that just go over the car seat are much safer.  (read about compression above)
  • We do not recommend using second hand car seat without knowing the history of the seat.
  • If a car seat has been in a collision, NEVER use it again.  It MUST be replaced.

the one where a car seat warning opened my eyes

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Last week, I posted about the Health Canada warning about a product on the market that is being sold as a car seat.  Health Canada wanted to advise that this is NOT a car seat and should not be used as one.

Lots of people were taken aback with the idea that someone might actually use that in a vehicle for their child.  And honestly, I was too.

Car seat companies do a lot of research and testing.  They test the physics of collisions and how the human body reacts.  Because of this, children are recommended to be rear facing until 2.  The impact of an air bag has been tested and children 12 and under ride in the back seat!

Why would anyone put their child in this??

As the day passed, I got thinking.  This device is made in another country and the reason why Heath Canada had issued the warning is because it can be shipped to Canada. Because we have rules and regulations, only seats that have passed all the testing and labeled as such, can be used in Canada.  This device wouldn’t pass any of those tests.

Photo credit: http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/7771

Then it hit me.

There are countries in the world where the laws are different.

There are countries in the world that don’t have laws at all.

In circumstances like that, would this device help keep the child safer than without it?  Even just a little bit?  Is it better than nothing?   I don’t know.  Maybe.  Maybe not.

I do know that I am thankful for our laws and regulations.  I’m thankful for the researchers who make car seats safer and safer each day.  I’m thankful that I got trained an know how to properly install and use a car seat.

Now I’m curious as to what the laws are in other countries.  Even more curious to find out the number of countries without car seat laws at all.

I’ll let you know what I find out.