My friend was recommended . . .

[Jewels]

The Cosco 3 in 1 seats! She was telling me how it was her last prenatal class and the health nurse who was doing the class told everyone that she nationally certified carseat tech and wanted to know if everyone had bought their carseats yet!? The whole class said yes they had and she said that was too bad. She was going to recommend skipping the infant seat all together because they are outgrown by 4 months. She said the AO, AOE or Enspira were a better bang for your buck because they do newborn to 80lbs. I talked to my friend and said there were other options for around the same price (the AO @ Walmart $159, AOE $189-219, the Radian $199) that would last longer using the harness and then get a dedicated booster (since the 3in1's still expire after 6yrs and then you still need another booster!). She agreed and I am sure she will ask me when she is ready for the next seat.

[broken4u05]

WOW she was a tech and said that.

[papooses]

We're not supposed to *recommend* a specific carseat -- especially without knowing the vehicles year/make/model info.... The "best" carseat fits the child, fits the vehicle & is always used correctly :whistle: I was taught that we may provide information on seats that we know to fit the child + vehicle, educating the parent to make the ultimate choice based on whichever they find easiest to use correctly (& also what the child is most comfy in, not to mention affordability). It's just common sense not to encourage parents to buy 3-in-1s during pregnancy with the expectation that it will last until the child is ready to ride without a booster :twocents:

[Loves2sing]

That sounds kind of fishy. Makes me wonder if she was really a tech at all!

[Jewels]

We're not supposed to *recommend* a specific carseat -- especially without knowing the vehicles year/make/model info.... The "best" carseat fits the child, fits the vehicle & is always used correctly :whistle: I was taught that we may provide information on seats that we know to fit the child + vehicle, educating the parent to make the ultimate choice based on whichever they find easiest to use correctly (& also what the child is most comfy in, not to mention affordability). It's just common sense not to encourage parents to buy 3-in-1s during pregnancy with the expectation that it will last until the child is ready to ride without a booster :twocents:

So do thing change if they are in Canada?

[mominabigtruck]

Is it just me or has anyone noticed alot of the "I'm a tech thing" lately? I don't think the AOEs are necessarily bad, I mean they fit newborns well and are a great rfing seat. If you don't buy an infant seat and spend $150 on an AOE and then $100 down the road on an apex your really not out anymore money then you would be for a marathon especially since the apex converts to a booster.

[Simplysomething]

Yeah, but apparently it makes a not so hot booster, so you'd have to buy another dedicated booster anyway.

[Stresch]

I was taught that we may provide information on seats that we know to fit the child + vehicle, educating the parent to make the ultimate choice based on whichever they find easiest to use correctly (& also what the child is most comfy in, not to mention affordability).


That explains why at my first seatcheck (back before Sanna was born) the tech sort of casually mentioned that she found that the Snugride tended to fit all vehicles. This was after we determined we could get an acceptable (not great) install on the Babytrend, but only outboard.

And she was right: the snugride fit much much better.

[papooses]

So do thing change if they are in Canada?

I'm not sure what you mean...?

The "best" seat is the one that fits the child + vehicle & is always used correctly, no matter where you live -- except that it must also meet the legal requirements for that geographic location.

[Jewels]

I'm not sure what you mean...?

The "best" seat is the one that fits the child + vehicle & is always used correctly, no matter where you live -- except that it must also meet the legal requirements for that geographic location.

Sorry I meant about this
We're not supposed to *recommend* a specific carseat -- especially without knowing the vehicles year/make/model info....
Should that be the same in Canada and in the US?

[snowbird25ca]

The Cosco 3 in 1 seats! She was telling me how it was her last prenatal class and the health nurse who was doing the class told everyone that she nationally certified carseat tech and wanted to know if everyone had bought their carseats yet!? The whole class said yes they had and she said that was too bad. She was going to recommend skipping the infant seat all together because they are outgrown by 4 months. She said the AO, AOE or Enspira were a better bang for your buck because they do newborn to 80lbs. I talked to my friend and said there were other options for around the same price (the AO @ Walmart $159, AOE $189-219, the Radian $199) that would last longer using the harness and then get a dedicated booster (since the 3in1's still expire after 6yrs and then you still need another booster!). She agreed and I am sure she will ask me when she is ready for the next seat.

You know, she was probably a registered nurse who had completed the carseat instruction course for proper use. Certified tech here in most parts of CAnada means a completely different thing then it does in the US. When ds was discharged from the NICU and they did the carseat check, his nurse that day was one of the certified car seat "tech"'s that does checks at the fire stations when they have them. She has big pudgy fingers, and made us LOOSEN ds's harness because there was *supposed* to be room for 2 fingers and not just 1 finger at the collar bone. This after me telling her about the pinch rule and that he was wearing a fleece outfit that was squishy. :rolleyes: So anyways, I don't have much faith in the techs here in the province, especially when they're just a trained nurse or health nurse. I think folks like us car-seat safety fanatics who take the course are more reliable to do checks & likely have more info right at this moment then many of these "trained" nurses. Anyways, that's my :twocents: based on my experience with taking dd's seat in for help installing it when we switched her from her infant carrier to the AO at 4.5mos. And they installed it very poorly and couldn't answer my questions. :thumbsdown: I fixed the installation when the weather warmed a bit a couple weeks later & that was when I realized how bad it'd been. (The base should've been removed for a latch install because we couldn't get it tight enough, the angle was way too upright for dd's age and head control. There was a full 1" of wiggle room. The nurse "tech" made it sound like the base was too hard to remove and didn't even bother to try... didn't recommend trying a seatbelt install to see if we could get it in better - you get the picture...)

So anyways, carseat tech seems to not have a ton of meaning here in Alberta anyways, in terms of best practice info, but it's worth getting the certificate or whatever certification here in the province so you can provide "official" info to friends and family and be one of the few who do know what they're doing at seat checks. :whistle:

Sorry I meant about this

Should that be the same in Canada and in the US?

Not a tech, but my answer would be yes. Anyone with proper training *should* know that not all seats fit all vehicles and not all kids will fit a seat until they are big enough and old enough to be in a booster. But I"m not so sure this kind of thing is part of the training here? There's a mom here taking a course when Calgary health region offers it in the next few months, so hopefully we'll find out more what the training here in Alberta is actually like. :whistle: Maybe I've just had bad experiences?

[Jewels]

So anyways, carseat tech seems to not have a ton of meaning here in Alberta anyways, in terms of best practice info, but it's worth getting the certificate or whatever certification here in the province so you can provide "official" info to friends and family and be one of the few who do know what they're doing at seat checks. :whistle:

I have signed up for the class, but it keeps getting cancelled :thumbsdown: So I am still waiting.

[papooses]

Glad snowbird answered that question :)

There are different "levels" (amounts) of training here, too, though -- many nurses only get 1/2 the education time of certified techs, some only watch a video! Many seatcheckers are merely practitioners with about 1/4 the education certified techs & they must be supervised by a technician.... The ideal is to be an *educator* not just an installer :o

[beeman]

Where do we sign up for the course up here in Canada?

[Jewels]

Where do we sign up for the course up here in Canada?

I don't know if you noticed but there is a new Canadian forum (http://www.car-seat.org/forumdisplay.php?f=17) here to ask questions. If you go to where the carseat forum is, the Canadian forum is in there by/above where the carseat review is. Here is a thread (http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=14590) that discuss' your exact question.