Wearing Coats in carseats

[marciemp]

What is everyones take on wearing coats in car seats? No coats, light jackets? What do you do in Canadian winters when it is sooooo cold? Is it possible to wear a wintercoat and still get harness tight enough? I know off season, but I have been wondering, as it can get so cold here, even now, my DD was wearing her winter coat to church yesterday! I usually pull the bottom of the coat through the harness and it seems to get quite tight. I know I have read that a child should never wear a coat in their car seat, but this is usually an American article, and in most states their coldest doesn't compare to here. I think my family often thinks we are cruel because on most winter days, when it is not minus 30 or 40, we run our kids in and out in no coat, since putting coats on and off 3 little ones is hard. We park in the garage at home it it is usually bearable on all but the coldest of days, and rarely freezes. I don;t usually wear a coat either, since the work of getting our kids into the car by myself over heats me! (I read in a twin article that you can tell the mom's of twins as they are the ones out in the middle of winter with short sleeves, that would be me) But when it is REALLY cold I leave their coats on, is this a no no?
Thanks

[QuassEE]

It's all about layering and what materials you use. It's definitely possible to wear coats while in a carseat, we just advise not using BULKY or PUFFY winter coats since they can trick you into believing that a harness is tight when in reality it is not.

Here's the test to see whether or not the coat is appropriate for a harnessed seat--
Strap your child in, with their coat or jacket on. Then unstrap them, remove the coat, and re-harness the child. If there is slack in the belt beyond what you would be comfortable with (eg. you can get more than a couple of fingers under the harness, you can pinch the harness, or you can get your hold arm in under the harness) then the jacket is not appropriate. Even with the lightest of jackets, there will be some additional slack in the harness it's just a matter of how much...

There are some materials that compress really well under a harness, and do offer a lot of insulation.. Fleece is a good example of such a material. Most carseat techs I know have a fleece shell for their kids, and remove a thicker or more waterproof outer jacket before buckling.. then you can throw on the extra layer over the harness once you've put your child in.

Another option that people use is purchasing blankets that are heated via cigarette lighters. Canadian Tire sells these. People who have remote starters have a huge advantage here, since they can warm their car up before getting in...here in Vancouver, we obviously don't use remote starters but a minute or two of cold isn't going to hurt.

-Nicole.

[Neatfreak]

We spent every winter except this one in either Calgary or St. John's, and my daughter is still harnessed. In the winter, even as an infant, she'd wear a fleece jacket under the harness (and usually fleece pants or overalls as well), and then she'd have blankets over the harness for additional warmth. I'm sure that she was as cold as I was until the vehicle warmed up, but I think that is a lesser crime than putting her in a puffy winter parka.

On the really cold days, like -40, my car wouldn't start, so we weren't going anywhere, anyways!

[BudgieStew]

For DD we bought a super thin but super warm snowsuit.

Seriously it is thin....my MIL hates it since she think warm equals giant and puffy.

I bought it from this store http://www.mountainbaby.com/item.php/molehill_snowsuit.html

MEC also sells super thin but warm winter gear for younger\older children.

I myself do not wear a winter jacket most of the time.

I just throw on my cheap CT fleece and I am good to go. Although on the days this winter that I needed to dig the van out of 7 feet of snow I would put on a snowmobile suit. I do keep a warmer winter jacket along with blankets in the van for just in case.

[Neatfreak]

I do keep a warmer winter jacket along with blankets in the van for just in case.

I think that is really important in the winter, and something that I did, too. A full snowsuit from MEC for my daughter, actually, and extra hats, mittens, and snacks for everyone in case we ran into trouble.

[canadianmom2three]

Here's a great piece written on the topic by one of our canadian members.....http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=29772. We sort of have a compromise in the winter...if it is possible for me to warm up the car (we have no garage) and have the kids get in, they wear their coats out to the car, get in the car, shut all the doors, then take off the coats and buckle up. For short trips around town where there is a lot of getting in and out, we leave the coats on, but route the harness under the front of the coat, so that the harness is up against the shirt, and the coat is over the harness (this doesn't work as well with coats with attached hoods - Jen's method does though). I only have one in harness, so it works well for me, just takes a bit of time to get it all correct. The coat is still behind the child, but it passes the 'test' in that the harness is equally as tight as it is when in shirt only. I find that a good thin coat (Columbia is good for this too) is less bulky than even some bigger sweatshirts (GAP fleece are my worst)

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t120/canadianmom2three/IMGP1800.jpg?t=1211890858

[CDNTech]

Old Navy and Walmart are where we tend to get our thin warm coats. They are generally sufficient for all but those rare - 35 days (we're in the Calgary area too)... for those days, we hibernate! ;) If we have to go out, then the coat trick works for the bulkier coats as well... it's just a little more difficult to do.

[snowbird25ca]

The fleece sweater that you see my dd wearing in my signature pic is what she wore in the truck on cold days. She'd wear her winter coat out to the truck over top of the sweater, then take the jacket off and leave the sweater on.

We tried the winter coat trick, but it didn't work with her jacket and with ds it didn't work at all. (Much more suited for bigger kids, my ds is a good size, but there isn't a coat that would work with him - find a thin enough one that it would work with and it's ok to leave on under the harness so it's pointless even bothering with the coat trick.) Once her coat was separated when the weather warmed up, it worked, but with her it's just as fast to put the coat on and take it off as it is to pull the coat through the harness straps - and she actually prefers to have her coat off and will want to take it off even when she's wearing a thin one that would be ok. :shrug-shoulders:

So I'd probably look for a layer suitable for leaving on under the harness like a fleece sweater, and then just remove coats and use warm blankets in the vehicle. It's a pain, but then again, everything about getting out the door in the winter when it's really cold is a pain. My experience though is that trying to leave winter coats on with the coat trick actually didn't save any time and in some cases didn't make it so the harness was anywhere near tight enough, so you still have to check tightness by seeing how much slack is in the harness after removing the coat & rebuckling them since even thinner jackets can leave a lot of slack depending on the fit of them. My kids have always been warm enough with a fleece sweater and blankets. And dd is very good about complaining if she's cold, so I'd have known if it was a problem. ;)

[Mara1973]

Here are some other pics at how much slack is created with a coat on as well.

http://www.puddlejumpers.ca/winter.html

Mara :)

[canadiangie]

Both my girls wear mec one piece fleece suits. Layering is key to keeping warm, so I start with an undershirt, then a long sleeved snap-shirt ("onesie"), sometimes a thin fleece vest, then some warm pants, warm socks, wool booties or warm boots, a hat, mittens. Then the fleece suit. Then if it's really cold I wrap each kid in a blanket to get to the car. Then buckle and layer said blanket over kid.

The main issue with coats in the car is bulk, puffiness and slippery material. I love a basic/cheap nylon 2 piece snowsuit for playing outside, but they just aren't safe for use in a car seat.