Safety while breastfeeding and riding in the car? - Page 2

[wendy1221]

Originally Posted by ThreeBeans

Roxy, it would be like that. We have dozens and dozens of crash tests that illustrate it.

I don't know WHO told you it was safe, but it definitely was not a technician.

Do you have a link to any of those? I'm intrigued that they would actually do crash testing involving and infant strapped to an adult over the seatbelt.

[ThreeBeans]

Crash testing is done with dummies not with real people

I'm imagining the laboratory right now

[ThreeBeans]

I bet they could get college students to do it if they gave them enough beer. hmmmmm.

Here, you, Johnny, strap Mikey in this sling. Yeah, I know Mikey is 250 pounds and MVP for the foozball team. Quit whining.

Get in the sling. GET IN THE SLING. IT'S AN EXTRA-LARGE MAYA WRAP, WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT!

Ok, Johnny, to make this more realistic, you're going to have nurse Mikey. What? Oh, no, I promise this isn't a porno. Here, have another Bud lite.

[Tofu the Geek]

Pulling off the road is always scary to me too. Sometimes the only place you have is the shoulder of the road and I'd hate to stop, have baby unrestrained, and someone hits our stopped vehicle (and this does happen).

I even read a story about a man who had to pull off the road due to vehicle trouble, got his family to get out of the vehicle and move far away from it to keep them safe, the vehicle was hit and thrown INTO his family hundreds of feet away from the vehicle.

So, isn't the only safe option really to take your vehicle some place not on the road, get out of the vehicle and go nurse some place safe? (i.e. restaurant, store, etc.) and then what do you do then when your hours away from any safe haven and your only option is to pull off the highway and park on the teensy shoulder that isn't large enough for your vehicle (so your vehicle is partially in the ditch and partially still on the road)? This was my last situation. Oh, and I don't get even an ounce pumping so a bottle of expressed milk wasn't the answer.

I think we need someone to invent extend-a-breast.

[MaryJaneLouise]

I think when people say "pull over" they mean go to one a rest stop, or fast food / gas station parking lot. ITA that the shoulder of a highway can be very dangerous.

[Tofu the Geek]

Originally Posted by MaryJaneLouise

I think when people say "pull over" they mean go to one a rest stop, or fast food / gas station parking lot. ITA that the shoulder of a highway can be very dangerous.

I guess my point was that where I live, those things are often hours apart. We don't have interstates with rest stops here so often all you have is a lone highway with the next town 3 hours away that may or may not have an open gas station depending on what time of day you are travelling. A mom could easily be in the position of having to be on the side of the road unsafely or breastfeeding while leaning over her child. Neither are good options. Off to design the extend-a-boob....

[queenjane]

Originally Posted by ThreeBeans

Crash testing is done with dummies not with real people

I'm imagining the laboratory right now

I think she meant...since you said there were dozens of crash tests proving what *she* was doing (riding with baby strapped to her in a sling) was dangerous...have there actually been crash tests, with dummies, dummy babies, and slings? I think that would be unusual (for the testers to even think of slings, rather than the dummy parent merely holding the child).

That being said, i would never ever ride with a baby in a sling...omg.

It would never have occurred to me that nursing while in the seat was unsafe until reading about it, so i would be less likely to do that in the future. (I probably will not have any more nursing babies tho...)...some have suggested sippy cups and/or bottles....but havent some here also mentioned that one shouldnt have "loose" things in the car, baby mirrors, toys, etc? Is a parent holding a bottle (esp a heavy glass one, considering the BPA issues! ) right in front of a baby's face while travelling also dangerous? Wouldnt that be smashed into the child, possibly blinding them or worse? How is that different than say, a toy bar attached to the carseat or a mirror etc? Arent all of those potential projectiles in the event of an accident? Probably better than the weight of a parent, but still.....

My vote would be for pulling to a safe spot, and nursing, if possible. If not, then i guess you gotta weight the risks and make that choice.


Katherine

[wendy1221]

Yeah, I KNOW they use dummies. I'm not a moron. But you said there was crash test data for this specific situation, which I find very interesting, and possibly exagerated. References?

[YesandNo]

I guess my point was that where I live, those things are often hours apart. We don't have interstates with rest stops here so often all you have is a lone highway with the next town 3 hours away that may or may not have an open gas station depending on what time of day you are travelling.

Well, there must not be many people on the road then right? So maybe the highway is (relatively) safe. I don't know, I live in Boston, the highways are PACKED here and in rush hour people are allowed to drive on the shoulder like it's a regular lane.

roxyrox, the fabric of a ringstring is not strong enough to (or designed to) withstand a crash the way a seat belt is. I would not be comfortable with your technique at all.

Well, you don't need to sit without budging, but for optimal safety, you should be upright, with your tush and back as far back in the seat as you can go and your feet planted on the floor.

Exactly - my husband is an auto safety engineer, and whenever we have passengers in the car he uses the rearview mirror to make sure no one is slouching too much. He says "don't make me tell you about the videos they make us watch."

[Tofu the Geek]

Originally Posted by YesandNo

Well, there must not be many people on the road then right? So maybe the highway is (relatively) safe. I don't know, I live in Boston, the highways are PACKED here and in rush hour people are allowed to drive on the shoulder like it's a regular lane.

I was thinking highways, as in the road you travel to get from one city to another city many hours away, are you thinking the same? or do you mean freeways? I guess I don't know what your traffic is like there so maybe your highways (i.e. interstates) are that busy.

[EviesMom]

We don't drive much, but when we do they are long trips, and I think it was a revelation that it's not the stopping to nurse that takes forever, it's the transferring a sleeping babe back to the car seat. We park the car (at a rest area; I would never pull on the side of a highway to nurse), I get in back but don't take the baby out of the seat, and nurse him/her back to sleep while they're still strapped in. Then keep driving once baby's asleep and unlatched! Sometimes I stay in the back with baby, sometimes not. The car is parked, so there's no danger. It's not the way I prefer to nurse; and it's not good for my back; but it makes car trips bearable. I also think that with 2 kids, it gets a little easier. DS is very entertained by DD. Or it might just be his personality, IDK.

I can't imagine an interstate with exits hours apart... we go to vermont, and the exits are maybe 20 minutes apart, but honestly, if the babe started crying the minute we passed one exit, I'd try to comfort but otherwise he/she would have to cry for 20 minutes until we got to the next exit. I don't mind nursing in parking lots for closed stores; but I don't think I've ever been traveling at an hour when an exit had literally nothing open.

[vbactivist]

Originally Posted by roxyrox

Oh for gd sake! An airbag would be coming from the opposite direction. If I am strapped in, and baby is strapped in over my seat belt, in the back seat, it is not remotely like an airbag.

I can assure you, my baby was a lot safer like that than screaming in his carseat (physically and emotionally)

I'm with you I think there is too much extreme alarmism on this board regarding car seats. It's all about weighing risks vs. benefits.

[ThreeBeans]

Originally Posted by wendy1221

Yeah, I KNOW they use dummies. I'm not a moron. But you said there was crash test data for this specific situation, which I find very interesting, and possibly exagerated. References?

Oh I'm sorry, I misunderstood you I wasn't trying to make fun of you, I know you aren't stupid


No, what I was saying is that we have dozens of crash tests showing various scenarios for unrestrained people in a crash. I know there is a video out there showing what happens if a baby is secured to the mom and it was pretty horrifying. I didn't save the link because honestly I never thought I'd have to tell someone it wasn't a good idea I'm sure one of the other techs has it though

[ThreeBeans]

Originally Posted by vbactivist

I'm with you I think there is too much extreme alarmism on this board regarding car seats. It's all about weighing risks vs. benefits.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH.


Don't confuse alarmism with common sense.


This stuff is the reason we have to have car seat laws at all

[an_aurora]

ITA. It's not being alarmists, it's trying to keep kids safe from people who don't understand or care about the danger involved.

My DH lost a cousin when his aunt took her out of her infant seat and was holding her in a Snugli nursing her. They were hit by a drunk driver and the newborn was ejected. Just because there isn't a crash test video showing it doesn't mean it doesn't happen in real life!

[wendy1221]

I totally agree it's not being alarmist. I do have a very close friend who DOES, and I just don't discuss car safety with her anymore. She DID have her kids in very good seats (I recently bought her used Regent for my ds2.) but she doesn't have a problem with her kids getting unbuckled to reach something, or having them ride in the front, seat, etc. I personally am not really comfortable w/ that stuff, but it's her choice, you know?

As for travelling with a baby, highways always have emergency pullovers. Believe me, I use them all the time, and a cop has stopped to check more than once and every time told me it was perfectly OK to use the emergency pullovers to nurse my baby. It's MUCH safer than a regular shoulder, and it's definitely better than getting flustered trying to reach the next exit with a baby screaming. If a truck needs to use it, there's plenty of room. THere's usually enough room for 2-3 tractor trailers in a standard emergency pullover. And sometimes they even have picnic tables and trash cans.

It's also very easy to pump and give the baby a bottle if your baby takes one. I've done this before as well, and washed my pump parts in rest stop bathroom (with my own soap and towels.)

And I'll admit it, I have done the lean over with the boob trick, but I have enormous stretched out boobies. I don't have to actually lean over the car seat. I just have to turn a little sideways and bend over a bit and my 10 inch long boobs can reach. I'm not really comfortable with it, but after being in the car for 12 hours or more, you get a little tired of pulling over every 20 min.

[aja-belly]

i was able to nurse marvel in her carseat (and did almost anytime we went anywhere for several months). i did not have a shoulder belt on - and i know it was not as safe for me. my boobs are pretty long though and in her old carseat i could nurse her easily without leaning over her.

i would definately want her in a carseat if we got ion an accident and not in a ring sling. i also wouldn't want her in front of me to absorb the impact of my body. how horrifying.

[Ironica]

Originally Posted by wendy1221

Do you have a link to any of those? I'm intrigued that they would actually do crash testing involving and infant strapped to an adult over the seatbelt.

No link, but there are crash test videos showing what happens to an adult who is belted into the back seat. They often hit the front seat. It's not too difficult to imagine what would happen to a baby between the adult and the front seat.

Originally Posted by vbactivist

I'm with you I think there is too much extreme alarmism on this board regarding car seats. It's all about weighing risks vs. benefits.

Replace "car seats" with "c-sections" and see how you feel about the sentence now. :-/ Women DIE from unnecessary surgery. Babies DIE from lack of proper restraint in an accident. That's not alarmism, that's truth.

[Nicole_ac]

Originally Posted by fujiyama_mama

No idea. We just park the car and take them out of thier seats!

Yes me too, it gives DD the opportunity to be out of the car seat for a while as well.

[PassionateWriter]

i nursed my son a few times (i can think of two times) when we were on long trips and i found it difficult to wait to be able to pull over safely (weather was bad, i didnt feel good pulling to the shoulder in a white out basically).

it was not safe. it was either do that or listen to him upset (and yes, i did nurse before we left but most of the time he fell asleep in the car seat..this was an exception). i chose to do what woudl lead us all to a more peaceful and less stressful ride..but it was certainly not safe.

its not alarmist to explain that certain practices are not safe. i dont get that train of thought here. we should all seek to do what is safest, right?