Carseat history and history of use?

The photos of an old car seats got me thinking about how my parent's used car seats. Basically I'm trying to figure out if my parents were behind the times or just average. I was born in 1986 and my sister was born in mid '89. My mom swears at one time we had a total of six carseats, 3 in each car, right after my sister was born (we were 2 3/4). She would ride in the back with two of them and one would be in the front seat. But when I was 2 1/2 my brother almost cut off his finger and I remember sliding all over the backseat trying to get a better look. . So if we did use them it wasn't all the time. When we moved across the country when my sister was 2.5 I know she was in something for a few months because my grandparents pitched a fit about her using it. My parents were always very strict about buckling up but someone always got to ride in the front seat (at 4 years old) and the lap belts weren't tight. I remember 'double buckling' a LOT and laying down in the backseat. As long as the seatbelt was somehow buckled it was OK. My sister was 44 lbs at 2 years old but after a horrible flu went down to 26 lbs. My mom doesn't remember if the seat she used had a weight limit. So after my long ramble...when did car seat use become normal? I guess it varies by area too. Even today in Michigan we have an 'under 4' law and I see 2 year olds in just seat belts all the time. Were there any laws then? On a side note, my mom (born in 1950) is supportive of my car seat ways. She still thinks I'm nuts and has no idea what a booster is but we're getting there. :thumbsup: The other day she asked if DD was too big for the Regent (I had to loosen the straps a bit) and when I laughed and said it would fit her at least 5 more years she looked at me like I had two heads. Better than my ILs though, they never required anyone in the backseat to wear a seatbelt and still don't. There's a magical forcefield, didn't you know?

I never rode in a carseat. ever. We didn't even use seatbelts regularly until I was in middle school, and then it was by my own choosing. We used to lay down the seat in our suburban and make a bed out of sleeping bags for road trips and we would fight over who got to lay across the luggage in the back window. There was also more than 1 period where we had more people than seatbelts. Imagine if you will- a family of 7 in a 1977 toyota Corolla.

Yeah, CPS is new to my family, but my parents support it.

I have pictures of me in a shield booster at age 5/6 in 87/88. There are pics of me in an infant seat, too, but the snow suit that I was in, and the blanket covering the whole thing make it difficult to tell how the harnesses were.

My parents were ahead of the times, but just barely.

I was born in the late 70s and my brother was born in the early 80s. We both had carseats and then sat in "boosters." (They were big heavy rubbery things.) I know I sat in a booster through 5th grade, but that was only so I could see out the window and not get carsick.

I know carseats were being used in my area by the early 80's. I remember families I babysat for using them and it didn't seem strange to me. I bought my first seat in 1990, maybe 1989, it was a Strolee seat with a vinyl cover, but it actually had a 5 pt haress and you could remove the OHS, which I did. I remember there being quite a selection of seats at Toys R Us at that time.

I was a lap baby for the most part, but my mom mentioned that in the late 60's/early 70's that both my brothers were in "carseats" of some sort.

I was born in 1979 and there are photos of me as a baby (like, under a year old) in a brown vinyl carseat. I have no actual memories of riding in any type of carseat or booster, though, just loosely buckled seatbelts, sometimes laying down in the backseat, sometimes standing up between the front seats for a better view , sometimes sitting on Papa's lap, while he let me shift gears!

My sister was born in 1993 and my mom did better. She had either an Evenflo or Fisher Price infant seat, and a Fisher Price T-shield forward-facing seat (can't remember if she rear-faced after the infant seat or not), and then a Gerry shield booster. My mom's car had shoulderbelts outboard and she would have been safer outboard in a highback booster, but my mom was brainwashed into the "center is safest", PERIOD, mentality, and figured the shield booster made that lapbelt position safe. I'm pretty sure that shield booster had a 60 pound limit, so my sister was riding in just a seatbelt by 2nd grade. Still, again, for the time and our geographic area, using any kind of child restraint to 2nd grade is unusual.

This pictorial guide to child restraints might be useful and interesting to some of you: http://carseat.org/Pictorial/0_PicLink.htm

I was born in 1978. I rode in a rearfacing only infant seat that had a black vinyl cover. It stayed in the car. Later, I had a FFing five-point seat with a brown vinyl cover. I remember my mom covering it with a towel to try and protect my legs from the hot vinyl, so I must have been in it until at least age 3 or so.

I was born in 1980 and while I don't remember riding in a carseat, my parents insisted I did ("best one money could buy!"). I do remember riding in a shield booster until age 6-7 or so. I was a small and lightweight child, but am still very impressed they kept me in a booster for so long.

My brother was born in 1986 and I distinctly remember him having a carseat. I remember riding in the backseat with him on the way home from the hospital, and he was RFing. I think it was a Cosco (maybe Century?). . but I know for sure it was a T-shield. He rode in that for a few years but I don't recall him using a booster. He may very well have, but I'd have to ask my parents. He was a larger child, though, and maybe they felt he didn't need one.

We were never allowed to ride without a carseat. And when we got out of them, we always had to buckle up. My parents checked our seatbelts to make sure they were tight and didn't let us put the shoulder belt behind us (though I would try and sneak it).

I think they were pretty progressive for the time. And as bonus, they totally understand why I keep my DD RFing and harnessed. . and I trust them completely when she's in their care.

Out of my region and the people that I know of, it's only been in the last MAYBE 6-7 years probably less that "commonfolk" have made it a requirement that their child sit in a carseat past the age of 2 in order to ride in a vehicle, their passengers use seat belts, and that there not be more passengers transported than there are seatbelts. That being said, I know of families on both ends of the spectrum. I know parents who are very up to date on what's safest and making sure the carseat is welded in the car and then I still know families who only use carseats because they know the law says they have to. You should have heard the stink that everyone (myself included , I know better now) made when they made the law that kids had to stay in a booster seat until 6 years old. Especially since PA's law is 8 years old. Every excuse under the sun was made as to how it's "not fair" to the child to still be in a booster seat and how they'll be made fun of and so on and so forth. There was no talk about safety. None. Honestly, I think until VERY recently, most people (around here at least) were/ are using seats because they have to and because it's a convienent place to put their child. I don't think it has/ did have anything to do with safety for many families. As for my childhood, we hardly ever worried about what would happen if we were double buckled or sleeping on the floor of the van.

starlight said:

I have pictures of me in a shield booster at age 5/6 in 87/88.

Click to expand...

Wow, that makes me feal old, lol.

My kids are 30, 28 and 23. I had barely adequate carseats for them to about 4 yrs old and then lap belts only. That was what was available. I remember double buckling occasionally for short distances, vaguely knowing it was not the safest . I also remember thinking that the glass of the windows in the back seat of our crew cab was awfully close to my head and later, to the kids' heads when they got older. I usually had a pillow back there and thought about trying to put it between my head and the window if we got in a wreck (like I would have time...yeah..)

I hated it when one or more of the kids ended up laying down, with the lap belt across their middle sideways. Again, I vaguely knew it wouldn't hold them well, but when they fell asleep, there was nothing to hold them up. I am SO happy now that my 6 1/2 yr old granddaughter, who falls asleep often in the car, is held in safely and comfortably with her 5 pt harness.

Oh, and with three kids, I usually sat in the back, passenger side, by the center baby and one or the other of the kids sat up front . This was partly so they wouldn't bug each other, but also partly because I felt that if we did get in a wreck, the kids would still have one parent left, one way or another. Oooooohhhh. Then each time, I felt I was sacrificing one or the other child. I guess I am a real pessimist....

I was born in 1970. I rode in a moses basket on the bed, in the back of the van. I learned to walk, while riding down the rode, in the van. I didn't start buckling until I was about 24, after two accidents, neither my fault.

I was born in '62. My mom tells me I was in a basket that she either placed on the seat or floor of the car. She doesn't remember if any of us had car seats.

We were never allowed to ride in the front. We "always" had to be buckled, and yet at times I stood behind my dad, who drove, looking over his shoulder at the front of car as we rounded a turn, fascinated at how the hood overstepped the curve and yet managed to make the turn. I also remember getting up from my 3rd-row seat in the back of the wagon and waving at and playing peek-a-boo with passengers in cars behind us.

Oh, and all six of us (4 kids + 2 parents) would pack into my dad's '61 VW Bug to go visit grandparents in the next state. My little sister and I rode in the very back, over the engine (no seat or belts!), my older siblings in the rear seat, buckled, and then my parents in the front.

Kristin

Cam and I were both born in '77. He had a car seat, I didn't.

I was born in '77. My mom said they didn't have infant seats for children that age so she thought she just used a cuddle seat and buckled me in. When I was older she moved me to a carseat and then I had a booster seat. I saw the exact same booster seat that I had in a vehicle yesterday My mom said her friends made fun of her because of her carseat usage because no one else even used them

i was born in 87, and my mom made mention of an infant seat, but I know by 3or4 I was riding in seatbelt only, sometimes in the front seat by 6or7 (until I opend the door while we were driving, then I wasn't allowed. We were always buckled, and weren't allowed to put the belt behind our backs, I don't even think we thought of it.
DH remembers his brother in some sort of seat, they were born in 83and84, so I figure he had to be 2or3, but then they also later packed 6ppl in a single cab truck to drive to town.