Pediatrician On board with ERFing!!!!

My youngest had his one month check up today and the Pedi started talking about the new "RF til two" deal with me and I looked at her and said Yes I know. My 2.5yr old and almost 4yr old are still RF you have nothing to worry about with the baby! To which she said, "That's great! It is safest after all! Why would you not do what is safest for your kids!" After which I could not get her to stop talking! Like I was a God send or something!
I was well prepared to defend myself with the almost 4yr old still RF with data (which I brought with me, I always carry it in case I run into a parent who might need the advice, I have a print out in my diaper bag with extra copies!)
Since she said last time car seat safety was the safety topic for today's appt! She covers safety topics at each appt, different every time! And lest you know most of the time ahead of time so if you have questions you can bring them with you!

I was about floored with her being so on board with ERFing!

Yea! Progress is being made!

Sounds like a good pediatrician. I hope more doctors get on board and start passing along the information to their patients.

That's great! I fully expect my ped to ask at DS' 18 month appt if he's been turned around forward yet.

He was aware of the AAP's recommendations when I mentioned it at the 12 month appt, but followed up with something to the effect of, the problem is most seats won't hold a toddler that long.

So of course I talked about the 35-40 lb seats that were currently very easily available. He said that was great, he hadn't heard that, but he didn't seem too concerned about changing his recommendations.

The peds around here, some of them, are telling parents that the law is changing to 2 and 30.

My ped has never asked us if the kids were RFing or FFing, and I have never brought it up. I kind of wish he did now so he can tell parents about ERFing and what not.

My kids pedi is a big fan of ERF'ing. She says she informs but in the end, it's the parents decision after the kid hits 1 & 20. She says the hardest part of her job is seeing parents come in with expired, broken or not all there seats.

She works with mostly people in extreme poverty, so even $45.00-$50.00 for something like a Scerena is a pipe dream for a lot of her clients to be able to go and buy.

At my DS's 12 month checkup, my ped talked to me about keeping my kids RF until 2. (At the time my kids were all RF, at 12 months, 24 months, and 39 months.) I was pretty pleased with her saying that, but she had no idea that there were seats that RF to 35 or 40 or 45 pounds. I gave her a quick rundown of seats available and heavily emphasized the Scenera and MyRide, since a lot of her patients are financially in need.

That's awesome! BabyS has her 1yr appt today. If this pedi doesn't ask, I plan to ask him his thoughts. I know Sofi's previous pedi was on board (infact, I still need to get some cards to her she requested).

I have had 3 different pediatricians for my kids and not one of them has ever mentioned car seat usage. I think all peds should discuss it.

aclayton74 said:

I have had 3 different pediatricians for my kids and not one of them has ever mentioned car seat usage. I think all peds should discuss it.

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Thank you! Some parents may never hear a word of car seat advice if nothing ever comes from their pedi! I strongly agree they should.

I was floored when she brought it up at my baby's 1wk check up, but did not venture further to see what she said about my older two RF past the "recommended age of 2" since my FIL who gives me grief about it all the time was with me! But at one month check she brought it up again to RF til 2, so having older two with me I said "Yea these two are RF still too" kind of to gauge where she stood on it! And she was ecstatic to hear that!

babygirlsmom1005 said:

My kids pedi is a big fan of ERF'ing. She says she informs but in the end, it's the parents decision after the kid hits 1 & 20. She says the hardest part of her job is seeing parents come in with expired, broken or not all there seats.

She works with mostly people in extreme poverty, so even $45.00-$50.00 for something like a Scerena is a pipe dream for a lot of her clients to be able to go and buy.

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If finances are an issue for people at my Pedi office the local police Dept has a program to get them free seats and she refers them, they give out sceneras!

Awesome. I really love how it's a topic she covers at the one month old appointment. :thumbsup:

Not at 10, 11, 12 months old when the parents are so excited that they get to finally turn their "big boy" around.

Parents need to know about the recommendations ASAP. Like while pregnant! Or at least before 6 months old.

DS ped made sure he had a carseat at his first apt at 2 days old, but never brought it up again. I mentioned it at his 15 month checkup that he was still rear-facing and asked how long he should stay that way. He gave me a funny look and asked if A was still comfortable like that. I said yes and he said as long as he's comfortable and is within the weight range it's fine. So, not really onboard or against I guess.

When my SIL had brought my DNi to the hospital (it was a bigger hosp, Children's... not just our local one ) she came back here to me with a pamphelt and all, announcing "omgosh! Now they're saying that kids should remain RF until at least two!"

Really? Really? Does that mean I was right three years ago when I told you that about your first child?

Guess it's good that the word is finally getting out! I love hearing when docs are on board with it!

That's great!

At DS's 12 month appointment, he was just under 20 pounds and our pedi announced with enthusiasm that we could turn him forward facing now. We had just moved him into his MR with the intention of keeping him rear facing as long as possible. I didn't say anything to her about it one way or the other, since I was new to ERF and didn't feel prepared enough to explain to her why we wouldn't be turning him anytime soon.

Shortly after that I heard about the new AAP recommendation about keeping kids RF until age 2. I'm hoping that information made it to my pedi's ears! Unfortunately, every mom I know with young children has turned their kids FF at the 20 lb, 1 year mark. One of my friends even told me a tech told her that it was illegal to keep them RF after that point in our state!

Little Ps Mama said:

One of my friends even told me a tech told her that it was illegal to keep them RF after that point in our state!

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That is funny! :ROTFLMAO:

I think they misunderstood the written law (which we all know is the bare minimum) to be mandatory.

The word is getting out! I was told last week that our town's peds are saying to RF to at least two now! :thumbsup:

That's great... I spent months convincing my mom to keep my little sis rear facing and so she asked Olivia's doctor when she was almost 1 and I was pleasantly surprised that she didn't tell her the 1 and 20 thing. She didn't make me thrilled though as all she said is "your daughter is right...1 year is too young but 18 months old is fine for FF" I took Olivia to her the other day because my mom hs been super sick and thought it was best I took her in with my stepdad (God forbid he left the house with Livi ALL ALONE!).... I wanted to bring it up badly but we were "squeezed in" as it was and so I felt bad for the other sick kids waiting that she had to see. Next time it's going down though! I am going to print out some stuff to give her.

I love our pedi, she is the best in town and really great. However, car seat safety in one area she is lacking. When DD1 turned 1 I asked if it really was safer to keep her rearfacing and if she rec. that I do so. She said yes. (I would have no matter what she said, I had already made up my mind but wanted to see where she stood.) She had never brought up car seats at all. Each well check she brings up topics that are important for that age, so I would have thought car seats would be a one year appt topic, but nope.

DD1 has a friend a little younger who goes to the same ped. My friend asked if it was ok to turn her forward facing and she told her yes. So, I guess on car seats, as long as it is legal she will go along with whatever it is you are wanting to do. This friend of mine feels the ped knows everything about everything (which, don't get me wrong, is not far from the truth, she has been a ped for well over 20 years but still loves learning more and more and gets so excited when she gets to put her knew knowledge to use, really an awesome DR) so even though I told her over and over why I was keeping DD rearfacing, she went ahead and turned her little girl at 1 year, she may have waited a month or 2 after her bday, but no more than that.

Now with DD2, I was hoping things had changed since DD1 turned 1. Two months before DD2's 1st bday I was talking to someone with a new 1 year old about ERF and she said that her ped had just mentioned that to her. I was so excited and asked her what ped she goes to. My thought at that time was "I could just kiss her" Ok, not really! But, I do plan on saying something to that dr about it because it is so wonderful that there is at least one ped in town that is advocating ERF.

So, DD2's 1 year appt came around. I was hoping she would mention car seats. Nope, not at all. I thought about asking to see what she would sayk, but didn't. I was really just disappointed that she didn't even bring it up. You know, even if she had said that she is a year old now and it is ok to turn her, that would have been fine. Would have opened the door and then I could have let her know that there are better ways and get her looking and learning about about ERF and then passing the word.

Same friend as before. She has a DS a bit older than DD2. I asked her about his 1 year well check and she said nothing at all was said about car seats.

Maybe I will have the guts to talk to her about it at Libby's 4 year wellcheck. If so, I will post about it!!

That is great! Bram's ped doesn't seem to be against it, but she hasn't been advocating it, as far as I know. She never mentioned carseats to us once, not even at the 1yr check. At his 4 year check though we were discussing his weight gain (or lack there of) and I said "yep, he's still rear facing in his carseat!", just to see what she'd say. I was half expecting her freak out or maybe even say that he had to be in a booster (being 4 and all) but she just kind of giggled and said "well I guess so!".

So apparently she is on board, but she's kind of a MYOB type of doctor. She just sticks to the basic check-up and the obvious issues (like DS's weight). It would be really cool if she'd start advocating ERF'ing though because its pretty much unheard of here. The only two people I know IRL who ERF are my sisters (well one is only planning to because her baby isn't born yet... but he has a Radian 80SL in Metro on the way to him from his favorite Auntie).