Car Seat Handout for New Parents?

Hey there. I'm during my OB rotation for nursing school and I got to do my first patient education on car seat safety!!! She had a safeseat and had absolutely no clue how in the world to operate it. Of course I was swooning b/c i haven't really played with them upclose and my friend saw the car seat and felt the need to go "Ohhhh goodddd, car seat queen is going to get on her high horse now" Sorry I feel adament about child safety, friggen sue me! And to make matters even more unfortunate the mom was in the "first time new mom fog" so i'm sure all my teaching went flying out the door. That's okay, i totally understand.

Buuutttt... I was wondering if anyone could point me into the direction of SIMPLIFIED (think like 5th grader) car seat directions. Nothing too intense, just maybe has pictures or very concise wording to help these new moms out. I know me being a new mom I couldn't remember anything unless someone wrote it down for me so i'm looking for an informative pamphlet that could do the same thing.

The nurses there want me to do a "car seat for dummies" lecture with basics of keeping baby safe that they can teach the new moms b/c they don't know anything and I said i'd get back to them (because i'm not even certified so i'm not sure I could do anything like that) but they were really interested in getting info gathered for their new mommies to take home with them so they know some car seat basics.

Sorry for the long winded post. I"m just so excited that I helped out my first mom today! Yiipppeee!!!

I don't know of any simple handouts that discuss carseat DIRECTIONS (as in, how to install and use) because all seats are different. But http://carseat.org/ has awesome handouts.

I get what you're saying. I was just looking for basic info that can be used no matter what the seat it

i.e. Straps need to be tight and not loose hanging off le bebe.
Chest clip needs to be armpit level
Handle needs to be in a downward position

Thanks for the website, i'll check it out!!!

There's probably handouts covering that kind of thing at carseat.org.

Man, I totally had some like that when I was doing seatchecks through our Women's Clinic, but they're saved on a disk & my laptop only takes the memory stick thingy (I'm not very technological, LOL, sorry if that's not the correct terminology)

Is she pregnant now? If so, then the techs at the Yahoo CPSforHealthcare listserve might be able to help you out....

I've been meaning to find my OB-related CPSafety stuff again, but haven't even had any luck getting any local area doctors/midwives to let me do my last required L&D observations for ICEA certification, so I have time (which means I've just been focusing on other things instead) -- I'm sure this situation can't wait until after my vacation in March, but I'm planning to get this together then (in hopes that I can do my birth observations at the Rez hospital)

GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN

Is she pregnant now?

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Nope the girl I was helping out was completely delievered and being discharged for the first time. She was absoltuely in a mom fog being bombarded by thing she makes sure she does. I was just looking for something really short (maybe with pics) that give BASIC info about general infant seats. If i can't find anything, maybe i'll get creative and just make my own. I'd prefer something in English and Spanish b/c we have a huge Spanish speaking population here, but ummm i can't make my own b/c i don't speak Spanish!

I'm sure this situation can't wait until after my vacation in March, but I'm planning to get this together then (in hopes that I can do my birth observations at the Rez hospital

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Nope, were off the OB floor in mid march and we go to a ginormous Childrens Hospital in Chicago so I won't be doing any newborns and new moms the rest of the semester.

I remember that new mom fog from the first time too!! What if you could show them instead of telling them? Would it be possible to get a used seat and a doll to do a demo? I was much more likely to remember something I was shown than something I read or was told. I would of course send home a handout of some sort also! Just a thought!!

Amaris said:

I remember that new mom fog from the first time too!! What if you could show them instead of telling them? Would it be possible to get a used seat and a doll to do a demo? I was much more likely to remember something I was shown than something I read or was told. I would of course send home a handout of some sort also! Just a thought!!

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Absolutely. I put the baby in and buckled him up myself explaining what I was doing while I was doing it, but again, i don't think my teaching really took. I'm certainly going to help them put the bambino in but I do really want something to give them to take home because at least they'll have some type of reference to look at when they're home and settled.

These are pretty helpful, although not specific only to new moms....
http://carseat.org/Resources/75_misuse_ck.pdf
http://carseat.org/Resources/3_Make.pdf
http://carseat.org/Resources/406_nonEnglish.pdf

These are specific to RF....
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFbasics.aspx
http://www.cpsafety.com/PDFfiles/RearFacingBrochure.pdf

The Carseat Lady's printables for Health Care Providors
http://www.thecarseatlady.com/for_p.../for_pediatricians_and_cps_professionals.html

MissMommy928 said:

Nope the girl I was helping out was completely delievered and being discharged for the first time. She was absoltuely in a mom fog being bombarded by thing she makes sure she does. I was just looking for something really short (maybe with pics) that give BASIC info about general infant seats. If i can't find anything, maybe i'll get creative and just make my own. I'd prefer something in English and Spanish b/c we have a huge Spanish speaking population here, but ummm i can't make my own b/c i don't speak Spanish!



Nope, were off the OB floor in mid march and we go to a ginormous Childrens Hospital in Chicago so I won't be doing any newborns and new moms the rest of the semester.

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if you get something together and/or don't find any spanish material...i could perhaps help you translate it. just let me know.

The USAA Educational Foundation has a booklet entitled "Are You Using it Right? A Guide to Installing Child Safety Seats" that is very general. The booklet has many pictures describing correct vs. incorrect use. It isn't perfect, but it does get the point acrossed. Their website is www.usaaedfoundation.org. I don't know if they still provide free copies, but they did when we ordered them for our Check up events.

MissMommy928 said:

I was just looking for something really short (maybe with pics) that give BASIC info about general infant seats. If i can't find anything, maybe i'll get creative and just make my own. I'd prefer something in English and Spanish b/c we have a huge Spanish speaking population here, but ummm i can't make my own b/c i don't speak Spanish!

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I think I have a pamphlet in Spanish, I gave it to my non-english speaking parents, and I think I gave one to a friend and my SIL. I can try to find them when I go to their house but I won't be flying there until the third week of March. I got mine from a package call California five or something like that. If you need help with translation I can also help.

Ack! I just noticed my thread was moved! Why is it moved? Did I post it in the wrong spot?

Thanks so much for giving me such great resources. I haven't seen anything i'm specifically looking for but I do have some great handouts that you guys have linked me too. Also, thanks for the translating services. I feel like I should pester you guys for Spanish nursing stuff b/c i'm totally Spanish illiterate. I think over the summer I might take some type of Spanish nursing course b/c i'm just lost. I know hola, febre, vaccunaes, gracias, denada, and comprendae (sp?). Tthhhhaatttss about it and I need to know more because like 50% of the people i'm dealing with are Spanish speaking and I have no idea what they're saying unless I find some type of translator which sadly takes forever!