Do you let your child eat in their carseat? - Page 2

mamadelbosque · 11-03-2009, 01:52 PM

DS drinks water and eats snacks almost every time we're in the car and has for at least a year now (hes 2.5 now). We mostly do annies bunnies, occasionally cheerios, dried cranberries, french fries, chicken nuggets, hash browns, trail mix... I have thought about choking once or twice but, tbh ds has NEVER choked - we did BLW.

I only allow water in the car cause' I'm not OK with cleaning up juice/milk thats spilled (and yeah we do sippies/straw cups but spills still happen on occasion!!)

ETA: and we almost never are on more than 2 lane roads, and I honestly can't remember the last time I was on a more than 4 lane highway (2 lanes each way)

JL83 · 11-03-2009, 02:15 PM

DD is 3 and still RFing.

We commute 45 minutes each way and we've given her water in the car since she was little.

I'd say it's been in the last 4 months or so that we've felt comfortable giving her food to eat. It's normally a cheese stick or granola bar.

Shami · 11-04-2009, 08:43 PM

Hi! OP here...forgot I had asked this question...foggy mama brain.

Some of you said that you feel comfortable just pulling over quickly if you need to. My fear is that with true choking, I thought, and I could be mistaken, that the victim doesn't make any noise.

Hence, the question, what if I don't know she is choking? What if I think she is sleeping? Ew...I don't like to even picture this scenario.

She is still rearfacing and planning to RF for as long as I can get away with it. I suppose I need to get a mirror.

Thanks for all the replies!

snoopy5386 · 11-04-2009, 08:50 PM

when DD was RFing I had a mirror.

riverscout · 11-04-2009, 08:57 PM

I must need to go to bed because I read the title as "Do you let your child eat their car seat?" and was a bit confused for a second

.

Anyway, I let my daughter, who is FF, eat in the car sometimes, but usually only small things like bunny crackers or O's cereal or something like that. And she always has her water with her.

I'm not sure what I will do when my son, who is RF, gets to the point where he might want a snack too when we are on the road. I do have a mirror and his sister could be a lookout too, but the thought of it makes me a bit nervous.

dachshundqueen · 11-04-2009, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shami

Hi! OP here...forgot I had asked this question...foggy mama brain.

Some of you said that you feel comfortable just pulling over quickly if you need to. My fear is that with true choking, I thought, and I could be mistaken, that the victim doesn't make any noise.

Hence, the question, what if I don't know she is choking? What if I think she is sleeping? Ew...I don't like to even picture this scenario.

She is still rearfacing and planning to RF for as long as I can't get away with it. I suppose I need to get a mirror.

Thanks for all the replies!

That would be drowning - AKA in small kids, "the silent death".

Liz

cedoreilly · 11-04-2009, 09:03 PM

I am guilty. My DD has dance straight after school two days a week and I have to serve snack in the car or else she will get nothing. If I feed her, I have to feed everyone including the two year old. Long trips, I pull over for them to eat. I so hate serving food in the car. The kids never pick up their wrapper or anything. It drives me NUTS!

leighi123 · 11-04-2009, 09:43 PM

I dont generally allow food in the car, because its messy. He is rearfacing so I cant see him, but Im not really worried about choking, just the mess!

lifeguard · 11-04-2009, 10:40 PM

True choking (not gagging - which most people refer to as choking) means the item is completely blocking the airway & there is NO air passing through & therefore no sound.

Gagging doesn't really bother me but in the case of a true case of choking I do not feel I could quickly enough pull over safely, get out of the car, run around it & get ds out of his seat to perform the heimlich. I also do not let him eat unless one of is sitting right beside him. I'm sure as he gets older I'll relax on this.

Shami · 11-04-2009, 11:10 PM

[QUOTE=lifeguard;14628134]True choking (not gagging - which most people refer to as choking) means the item is completely blocking the airway & there is NO air passing through & therefore no sound.

Gagging doesn't really bother me but in the case of a true case of choking I do not feel I could quickly enough pull over safely, get out of the car, run around it & get ds out of his seat to perform the heimlich. I also do not let him eat unless one of is sitting right beside him. I'm sure as he gets older I'll relax on this.[/QUOTE

Yes this is what I thought, too.

nikkiethridge · 11-04-2009, 11:30 PM

Oh yes.
He's almost 2 but has been having snacks in the car seat since i've felt comfortable with him not choking on anything (10 months). He works up an appetite at the park so he gets a snack on the ride home to keep him happy until I can get us to the house to make lunch.

kirstenb · 11-05-2009, 03:05 PM

I let him eat the small pack of crackers they have by the door of daycare every night on the way home. That's really the only thing I let him eat because I don't like to clean up the mess. He is pretty hungry at this point so they are usually finished before we even get to the end of the street. Choking isn't some that really concerns me, though I wouldn't give him foods in the car seat that might have a higher choking hazard. DS talks the whole way home so if there was a moment he was quiet and I was worried all I would have to do is say his name and he would start up again.

zippy_francis · 11-05-2009, 03:43 PM

DD1 is 2 and she on occassion will get goldfish or cheerios. Sometimes chicken nuggets on the go. And water ONLY in her sippy cup. I have never had choking fear because she is FF and I can see her in the mirror. DD2 still RF and no need for her to eat on the go at this point. We nurse before we go on long distances. I think DD1 was almost 18 mo before I would give her anything on the go and she was FF at that time. I honestly have never feared DD1 choking, I can keep a good eye on her and I hand her 'bites' as she requests. I feel I have so many other fears like, crazies on the freeway, that I just cant imagine worring about every possibility. My biggest issue with eating in the car is the mess. My car is not fancy by any stretch of the imagination, but it is my car, and I am still paying for it. I don't want it trashed, and I want my kids to learn to treat their things nice, because hey, it may be our car for a LONG time. I feel the same way about our house, I don't let DD1 take her sippy cup out of the kitchen with anything except water. Milk or juice must be drank at the table.

**SparklingGemini** · 11-05-2009, 03:57 PM

Yup. DD is rearfacing and eats in the car all the time.

We use a mirror and she's a very good chewer. I think there are more things in this life to worry about.

elmh23 · 11-05-2009, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lifeguard

True choking (not gagging - which most people refer to as choking) means the item is completely blocking the airway & there is NO air passing through & therefore no sound.

Gagging doesn't really bother me but in the case of a true case of choking I do not feel I could quickly enough pull over safely, get out of the car, run around it & get ds out of his seat to perform the heimlich. I also do not let him eat unless one of is sitting right beside him. I'm sure as he gets older I'll relax on this.

Your ds just turned one. At that age, my kids didn't get food in the car (only a sippy cup of water.) By the time they were much older (18m for dd, 2yrs for ds), they had proven they could handle eating without someone right by their side all the time.