Cold Weather and Safe Car Seat Use

[dogmom327]

Well "cold" might be a bit of an understatement. I recently moved from Portland, Oregon to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I hear it's about to get insanely cold here. I'm trying to figure out the logistics of keeping the kids warm while using the car seats safely (which I understand means not having them in heavy winter coats when buckled in their car seats).

Any tips?

[sahmmie]

I'm in North Dakota, so I understand COLD!!

What I've done for years with my kiddos is this. I buy them thin fleece or thermal type jackets to wear in their car seats and a heavy winter coat to bring along. Once they are buckled into their seats I help them put their coats on backwards until we get to our destination. Once we arrive I have them put their heavy coats on over their thin fleece/thermal jacket for the trekk outdoors. It's annoying at first, but we all adapt in time. It is harder when they are all young and need help zipping up, but it gets easier as they got older.

Supposedly you can get kids into their seats safely with coats if you put them in with it unzipped and then slide the straps over their shoulders, buckle, and then zip up the coat, but I found this to be impossible. I read about it on carseat dot org  You may want to go over their and ask them about it, but I couldn't get it to work for me.

I imagine your infant is still in an infant seat that you carry with you, right? Or do you have her in a convertible seat. If she's in an infant seat you might like something called "Bundle Me."

http://www.laylagrayce.com/b/JJ-Cole-Bundle-Me-Car-Seat-Stroller-Liners.aspx

[Maedze]

Originally Posted by sahmmie 

I'm in North Dakota, so I understand COLD!!

What I've done for years with my kiddos is this. I buy them thin fleece or thermal type jackets to wear in their car seats and a heavy winter coat to bring along. Once they are buckled into their seats I help them put their coats on backwards until we get to our destination. Once we arrive I have them put their heavy coats on over their thin fleece/thermal jacket for the trekk outdoors. It's annoying at first, but we all adapt in time. It is harder when they are all young and need help zipping up, but it gets easier as they got older.

Supposedly you can get kids into their seats safely with coats if you put them in with it unzipped and then slide the straps over their shoulders, buckle, and then zip up the coat, but I found this to be impossible. I read about it on carseat dot org  You may want to go over their and ask them about it, but I couldn't get it to work for me.

I imagine your infant is still in an infant seat that you carry with you, right? Or do you have her in a convertible seat. If she's in an infant seat you might like something called "Bundle Me."

http://www.laylagrayce.com/b/JJ-Cole-Bundle-Me-Car-Seat-Stroller-Liners.aspx

Heh, your advice was great right up til the end, LOL.  You absolutely cannot use the Bundle Me in an infant car seat.  They are not tested, cause the harness to fit incorrectly, lead to greater risk of head and neck injury and potentially ejection.   They're just like pouffy coats...they compress in an accident.   

The shower cap style of infant seat cover is a good compromise though :-)    

[sahmmie]

Really? My kids have been out of infant seats for years and I didn't know this. I loved my bundle me, but now that you mention it I do remember that I ended up cutting the back of it off because as made the bundle me did not allow the harness to fit correctly.

Thanks for pointing this out.