I'm so proud of myself!

obnurse19

New member
You guys have given me so much good info and confidence! I am an RN in a labor and delivery unit. The other day, I walked into a patients room and found a visitor with a child in a baby bucket seat. I couldn't BELIEVE the size of the child. It was the length that shocked me actually. I politely asked the mom, "how old is your son?" She told me he was 13 months (I swear, he looked 2 1/2!) She was a totally sweet women and immediately began to tell me that he was underweight and needed to stay in this seat, (he was 18lbs she said).

I looked at the child in the seat and he was literally draping over both ends. The bottom of the seat ended at his knees, and his head was to the top of the shell. I pulled back the padding at the top of the seat, and showed her that the shell was not protecting him properly. (never mind there being an inch of shell above his head, there was NO shell!) He had outgrown this seat by height a long time ago. I commended her for keeping him rfing and told her how important it was. I encouraged her to go out immediately and get him a decent convertable seat that could rear face him till 35lbs. If money was an issue, I told her about the Scenera at Walmart, since she needed a seat ASAP. She thanked me repeatedly and I hope she went out shopping that night.

I would never have felt educated enought to be able to approach someone that was not already my patient. Thanks so much! Hope I did alright! I would have loved to go over a few different seat options, but I think I would have lost her. I honestly couldn't believe she kept him rf'ing that long. Most of the poeple I see have absolutely no clue about proper use of seats, and I am surprised her family/friends didn't pursuade her to turn him. HAPPILY surprised! I myself have large kids, and remember a secretary in our unit telling me it was FINE to turn my 8 month old FF. Thank goodness I knew better than that!
 
ADS

daycaremom2002

Active member
Good job. I have seen a few like that. :( Sounds like you handled it well. Hopefully she went and got a different seat and that baby will be rf for a long time!!
 

azgirl71

CPST Instructor
Job well done :thumbsup:! I am glad you had the confidence to speak up and potentialy save theat childs life.
 

obnurse19

New member
Oh yeah Vanessa I do. It is a pet peeve of mine (our hospital situation). We have no tech on staff. We have no info to give other than our state law. We are supposed to see the child in the car seat at discharge, but our hospital lawyer doesn't want us touching the car seat or making adjustments. Needless to say most of you would faint DEAD at what I see. We used to walk the patient to the car and make sure the child was rf'ing. The problem was we had no legal way to intervene.

I work very hard at getting the parents to adjust everything correctly. Sometimes I have to touch the seat. I try not to think about it too much though, I would feel worse if a child was injured and I knew the parents had it wrong.

I love having a captive audience and I do discuss ERF'ing, what happens when they get older, car seat brands etc. My poor family is at my mercy even worse LOL! I am PROUD to say I got my cousin's almost 5 year old out of an outgrown harnessed seat into a Apex (not my choice of brand, but better than a booster!) and she was in a booster in her g'ma car! She is now re-harnessed.
 

Zaiyne

New member
That is awesome!
I seen a lady in Kroger with her baby who was way to big for the 3pt seat he was in. His head was sticking over the top about an inch! Not to mention the loose straps and chest clip down at the buckle...
I was looking at the sippy cups for DS and looked extra long for a moment to step up and say something to her. Well he knocked his blanket in the floor when she turned her back to him and I said Ohh you dropped your blanket.. She turned and smiled at me and picked it up. I asked how old he was... he was only 5 months!!! We chatted a minute she told me how big he was at birth,she asked about my son after all that and I told her that he was really to long for the seat and that his head was hanging over the top not giving it protection it needed and that the car seat manufacturers say they should have an inch of shell above the head or they have out grown the seat... she then took the stand off attitude rolled her eyes and walked off. :eek: I wonder if she even took the time to buckle the seat in the car.:thumbsdown: This is the first person I have come across that didn't listen and fix what was wrong!
 

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