Part 1 – Getting things wrong even with the best intentions #CarseatFullstop

The what if’s are one of the masterminds behind mommy guilt.

Even with the very best intentions and ‘knowledge’, we sometimes don’t get it right. I knew that I had to have a car seat before I even fell pregnant. I already wanted to breathe fire when I saw kids standing around in cars and not properly strapped in but what I didn’t know, is how little I actually knew. We all make mistakes, we are human after all.

As a new parent, everyone’s opinions can be somewhat overwhelming and when you are being told to do something a certain way, you may not feel like you know enough to question, let alone process the information. We take information willing and with good intentions, however, what often happens is that information is not always correct.

BUT at CarseatFullstop we are a team of parents just like you and….

“We want to make sure that if the worst happens,
you KNOW that you have done every single thing you can to keep your child, or
grandchild, or niece or nephew, or any child you care enough to be travelling with – as
safe as they possibly can be.” – Mandy Lee Miller, #CarseatFullstop Creator & Director

In an attempt to share the knowledge I have learnt, I want you to understand that I have made mistakes; that could have had disastrous outcomes, I was lucky but the reality is…. many innocent children aren’t.

So this is me, being vulnerable and open, just wanting to share and educate parents on car seat safety.

My 1st mistake:

The trip home from the hospital – I’m embarrassed to even say it (Takes a deep breath and wipes sweaty palms) I held my newborn in the back seat. WHHHAAATTT! I know, human you know.

And it’s not because we didn’t have a car seat, we did (That’s what makes it worse)! BUT because the nurse convinced me that baby will need to feed in the next few minutes and I can just feed him on the way home from the hospital (+/-15kms) Needless to say he slept the whole way, we drove 50 on the freeway and I knew as soon as I got home that I never wanted to do that again.

People forget that advice given to a new mom, who is running on no sleep and mixed emotions, is extremely powerful. I took that nurse’s word for it, even though my gut was in a flat panic, I listened to her because the last thing I wanted to do was let my baby starve all the way home. Serious new mom syndrome but extremely real.

What’s scary about it, is I didn’t know :

You have less than half a second to react and it is scientifically physically impossible for you to hold onto a child in an accident because your baby’s weight will be multiplied by the speed of the car as well as your weight!
At 40km per hour the blow to your unrestrained child’s head making contact with
any part of the car is the same as dropping him/her from a second
story balcony onto concrete.
With the body weight of a child increasing dramatically, and their body size
allowing them free motion within the car; a child can be easily ejected through
the windows or windscreens.
75% of children that are ejected from a car die. The vast majority of those that survive are permanently disabled.
In South Africa, it is illegal to travel in a car with a child under 3 years old not
strapped into an approved child safety seat.

So to make matters worse, I continued to make mistakes that were uneducated-but-with-good-intentions. But does it matter though? Do I beat myself up for it? Absolutely! How did I rectify it? I got in touch with the people (Mandy Lee Miller, Peggie Mars and #CarseatFullstop) that knew all about it and I leeched myself to them. I educated myself, my family and as many friends as I could and I continue learning every day.

So for another mistake:

I moved my son forward facing at around 6 months because he had reached 9kgs! I can’t believe it either. Where was my head? Seriously lacking education, that’s where. I mean, after all, the car seat said 9-18kgs? It mentions nothing about age…. and he was a ‘big boy’, so I changed from the newborn seat (that went up to 13kgs – but I didn’t deem that as important information) to the Fischer price stage 2 car seat that I was given (9-18kgs forward facing). I was so excited that he would now be facing me. I drove with him a lot by myself, at that stage I was driving from Durban to PMB nearly every weekend before I moved there 3 months later. The weird thing is, it’s not like he even fussed in his rear-facing seat. He has actually always been a gem in the car, either he slept the whole way or happily entertained himself.

Being the correct weight for the correct seat is one of the most important factors to consider when moving seats or finding the right one. BUT its sometimes misleading, especially if you are like me and have an above average size child

Bu wait, there was more that I didn’t know –

You should never ever forward-face a child under 13kgs or 1 year’s old.
A baby needs to be in a rear-facing infant seat until they are 13kgs or their head is
more than 1 inch from the top of the seat back. This is usually around 1 year’s old.
A car seat harness is only tight enough when you cannot pinch the fabric of the
belt between your fingers at all. You should not be able to get more than 2
fingers beneath the harness and your child’s collarbone.The car seat harness should not be twisted at any point when fastened. The twists
compromise the ability of the harness to properly and evenly “catch” and
support the body in a crash.

One of the major learning curves to car seat safety is there are so many things we don’t know that we don’t know. That’s why it’s important to share these messages far and wide and with as many people as we can!

With statistics saying that up to 93% of people aren’t strapping in their kids… We ALL know
somebody who is adding to that number.
“You have the power to save a little life.
One share, seen by one person, who straps in one child, saves a life.
#CarseatFullstop. Every child. Every time. No matter what.”

Do you have an old car seat sitting in your garage collecting dust? That seat could be the difference between life and death for a less fortunate child. Why not consider donating it to Wheel Well, which is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Randburg, Gauteng, South Africa, run by Peggie Mars. The collect second-hand car seats in any condition and either; clean and refurbish the seats that can be made safe, or dispose of those that cannot be used, responsibly. There are parents that seriously can’t afford this vital investment new.

Don’t despair if you aren’t in Joburg, You can contact Peggie through the Wheel Well Facebook page and your car seats can be dropped off at any Renault Dealership and collection is arranged from there!

Please follow us on our social media channels and share them in your posts to
encourage others to follow along too.
www.carseatfullstop.org
support@carseatfullstop.org
https://www.facebook.com/CarseatFullstop/
https://twitter.com/CarseatFullstop
https://www.instagram.com/carseatfullstop/
https://plus.google.com/+CarseatfullstopOrg
Sign up for our newsletter

Please note: any and all collateral, branding, websites, collectables, concepts remain
the property of #CarseatFullstop and Mandy Lee Miller exclusively.