Crazy Things Pediatricians Say ...

Stats:
The child is 2 years 3 months; 17 pounds; not walking; wears leg braces.

Letter:
The consultant pediatrician writes: "This child needs to go in a front facing car seat owing to her length and very low weight."



For those interested in the background:
At work, I was trying to convince a foster mom to keep her foster baby rear facing. I wasn't sucessful. I tried the niceties first re. ERF and then the heavy handed, "you're breaking the law" stance (This child doesn't meet our bare minimum Canadian standards to forward face across not only the weight domain but also the developmental domain (walking)) and her length isn't that great --- she fit nicely with tonnes of inches of shell above her head in every rear facing convertible (infant/child seat) seat I tried her in.

Foster mom said she'd talk to the pediatrician.

This above quoted letter is what I got... and work is sufficiently content to allow this baby to forward face.

That doesn't even make sense. ?!

Is there contact info? Because I'd be calling that doctor and, um, educating him, and getting him to issue a NEW letter.

Are you the child's case worker? (what's your connection to the child?)

ketchupqueen said:

Is there contact info? Because I'd be calling that doctor and, um, educating him, and getting him to issue a NEW letter.

Click to expand...

What she said!

(I haven't figured out how to quote bits of replies), but here are the answers to your questions ....

Yes, I have contact information. Education done.

I am not the case worker. I am the car seat go to person at work. I teach foster parents about car seat safety.

Ontario.CRT.Jennifer said:

(I haven't figured out how to quote bits of replies), but here are the answers to your questions ....

Yes, I have contact information. Education done.

I am not the case worker. I am the car seat go to person at work. I teach foster parents about car seat safety.

Click to expand...

I think you need to pull the Transport Canada information and also get a copy of their carseat manual and Ontario law - actually, just Ontario law should be good enough, and provide it to your director.

A letter from a pediatrician does not make it ok to break provincial law. This isn't a parental choice thing - as the agency, you are condoning her doing something illegal. If she gets a ticket, she is going to be mad at the agency and mad at her pediatrician.

I would consider filing a complaint against the pediatrician if it's something you're able to do. I would think that he's thinking this is similar to a seatbelt exemption - but seatbelt use exemptions can only be written if the risk of wearing a seatbelt is outweighed by the risk of not wearing one - and in most cases, the risk of not wearing one is always going to be greater. The same is true for this child - she fits rf'ing, she is too light, and isn't walking. The risks of ff'ing far outweigh any potential (and non-existent) risk of rf'ing. If he is thinking that he's writing it similar to a seatbelt exemption letter, then he is incorrect in his knowledge regarding benefits and risks and needs to be educated. Sometimes a complaint is the best way to do this.

Foster parents are at a higher level of responsibility to keep a child safe - you would expect the birth parents to be legally restraining the child according to law - why is it ok for a foster parent to restrain the kid illegally?

(Not picking on you, ranting more about the director and the pediatrician.)