Car seats and winter coats

U

Unregistered

Guest
Okay, I get it, coats can compress in a crash which can lead to loose car seats. My problem is that where I am it is VERY Cold and there are certain times that I am not able to start and run my car for it to warm up before I go somewhere and it can literally take up to 10 minutes of driving before the car is warm. My daughter is almost 18 months, she is very small for her age and she gets cold very fast, there's no way she would make it 10 minutes in a freezing cold car without being cold. Yes I have blankets but the car seat itself is freezing from being in the car and blankets only do so much at first and they do even less if they've been in the freezing cold car. Also, she's only 18 months old, she rarely leaves blankets on long enough for them to be effective, there's no way she's going to leave her coat on backwards. I rarely strap her in with her coat as most times I am able to run the car first but when I'm in a situation where I am not able to run the car I have strapped her in her car seat in her coat. Yes I understand that when I take her coat off, obviously the straps are too loose, however, when her coat is on, it's tight. I strap it as tight as I can possibly get it while scrunching her coat to ensure that there is no way she can maneuver it or it can be squashed if god forbid there were any type of impact to the car. What I don't understand is WHY if you tighten the straps as much as humanly possible to the point where the coat could NOT be compressed anymore, is the car seat not safe? It's not like the straps are loose with what she is wearing. Of course I want her to be safe but I have to be practical here, in a situation where I have no way to start and run the car until it's warm, wouldn't it be better to strap her in her coat so she's not freezing? If all of the air is compressed out of the coat where the straps are places, why is it still unsafe to do?
 
ADS

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Because you're NOT likely getting the air out of the coat. You're getting what you can with human strength without wanting to hurt her. A crash will not have that consideration, and it will be much much much stronger (unless you bench press 6,000 pounds. I don't). How loose those straps are when you don't have the jacket on her is how loose they will appear as the rest of the air from everywhere else is pushed out.

In our tech class they showed us a picture of a snowsuit in a carseat. The parents had thought their child was in nice and snug. The *snowsuit* was in nice and snug. The baby went out of the snowsuit completely.

Have you seen this? http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=151522 The author lives in Alaska, so it gets pretty cold.

Wendy
 

Baylor

New member
Just leave it unzipped then zip it when she is in her seat over the harness. Same warmth. Much safer.

auto correct hates me
 

atw

New member
Unregistered said:
Okay, I get it, coats can compress in a crash which can lead to loose car seats. My problem is that where I am it is VERY Cold and there are certain times that I am not able to start and run my car for it to warm up before I go somewhere and it can literally take up to 10 minutes of driving before the car is warm. My daughter is almost 18 months, she is very small for her age and she gets cold very fast, there's no way she would make it 10 minutes in a freezing cold car without being cold. Yes I have blankets but the car seat itself is freezing from being in the car and blankets only do so much at first and they do even less if they've been in the freezing cold car. Also, she's only 18 months old, she rarely leaves blankets on long enough for them to be effective, there's no way she's going to leave her coat on backwards. I rarely strap her in with her coat as most times I am able to run the car first but when I'm in a situation where I am not able to run the car I have strapped her in her car seat in her coat. Yes I understand that when I take her coat off, obviously the straps are too loose, however, when her coat is on, it's tight. I strap it as tight as I can possibly get it while scrunching her coat to ensure that there is no way she can maneuver it or it can be squashed if god forbid there were any type of impact to the car. What I don't understand is WHY if you tighten the straps as much as humanly possible to the point where the coat could NOT be compressed anymore, is the car seat not safe? It's not like the straps are loose with what she is wearing. Of course I want her to be safe but I have to be practical here, in a situation where I have no way to start and run the car until it's warm, wouldn't it be better to strap her in her coat so she's not freezing? If all of the air is compressed out of the coat where the straps are places, why is it still unsafe to do?

Hi! I live in MN. Sounds similar weather wise and car warmup wise to you. We do use coats, but for the car very thin ones. Different from what we'd use outside on the coldest days. As in, we go straight from fall to winter without adjusting the harness kind of coats for the car (Patagonia puff balls). Hats and mittens are still aces. I don't warm up my car either...blankets help, even if they are cold. The seat itself will be cold and that's just the breaks, I guess.

If you are interested, there's been a couple of suggestions for coats on here from folks, myself included. I can dig up the links...

Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org
 

jheimes

New member
I use the shower cap with blankets under it for babies, but for my big kids I use a fleece jacket, mittens and hat and then throw a carseat poncho over that. I bring their full coats along in case of emergencies, but the poncho plus fleece jacket with mittens/hat seem to work most days if you park close enough. (The carseat ponchos are double thick polar fleece.)
 

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