On MSN today...

Found this article on MSN today and thought it was nice to see a money article mention never buying used carseats. It also points out that you should go get your seats checked by a technician.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.co...ealsOnline/10ThingsYouShouldNeverBuyUsed.aspx

I was at the hospital er recently and they had flyers up warning about the dangers of buying/excepting used car seats! They also have flyers everywhere with pictures of which seats for which kids and the recommendations. Now if they could only blow those up and get them in walmart - maybe in front of the carseat section too.

Wow!!! The hospital staff knew about used carseats? That is wonderful!! I think a lot of parents aren't aware that used carseats are a no-no. New parents trust that what the nurses and doctors in the hospital say MUST be right (my friend said that the nurse in the hospital told her she had to stop nursing if she had any injuries that bled because she could be introducing germs into the breastmilk. Consequently, my friend stopped nursing when she cut herself on a kitchen knife. She said, "but the nurse at the hospital said..."). So that is great that the message is now starting at the hospital!

Just a side -- can you believe that after having a nice conversation the lady who tried to call the police on me for offering to let them borrow my Scenera & Parkway because their 25# 11 month old was FF + 3 year old in a backless booster without headrest was a L&D nurse... said her supervisor has 20 hrs of CPSafety training checked the seats for her + her Ped. recommended the particular seat for the baby (a combination, not convertible) *UGH* It was a lot to bite my tounge & not let it become a "pissing match" (Oh yeah? Well I have 2 years of advocacy + twice as many certification hours, blahblahblah, LOL)

You'd think that with her being a nurse she'd be more likely to care about car safety. Though I guess with her being L&D, and not say... ER, she doesn't come across children or adults who've been seriously injured or killed in automobile accidents all that often.

I think sometimes though--people who say "my friend X is a NURSE/DOCTOR/FIREMAN and she told me Y..." are pulling the info out of their butts and attributing the info to X.

Which isn't to say that many many people are given incorrect information, because they definitely are. I'm just saying somee people will lie or invent to avoid owning up to the fact that they aren't doing something right.

Our local health department is in the same building as the WIC office. I've used both the health department and the WIC office --you go in one door, it's health department, go in the other, it's WIC... and there is a short hallway between 'em that they share. ANYWAY. There are tons of posters and bb's up with info about carseat safety and recalls, all over the place.

I was there one of the days they were giving out the free seats (I didn't get one, because I hadn't signed up. I wish I'd had, just because). They really make you pay attention when you go for that free seat. They really stress proper usage, etc. Of course, that does NOT prevent some people from completely ignoring all advice. So, whatever. You can give the info, and hope people will listen, right?

It seems right now there is a certain amount of backlash in some communities about safety products for children. They see it as coddling them. Because, as we all know, making sure kids aren't being needlessly injured is totally the same as giving in to their every whim.

I agree that just because someone is a nurse that they don't necessaily care about car seat safety. One of my friends is a nurse and she turned ds ff at 8 months and 16# because it was close enough and she wanted to use the dvd player built into the headrest. Same friend had a 3 pt infant seat becaus ethe pattern was prettier. Another friend who is a nurse superviser also went with the 3 point to "save money" and added the super thick strap covers, a huge insert, and put his coat on with the chest clip in his crotch.

I struck up a converstaion with nurse about how great it was that they posted the info and she hadn't even noticed, nor did she care.

The same hospital chain, Carilion, had a big safety day with a carseat check recently.

I also ok to wic, which in our town is the same desk as the health dept. I received a free seat from them and the class was super informative complete with scarrey crash videos. Then they went to each car and made you install the seat and they checked it! I didn't like the seat that much (an evenflo titan) but it was free which really helped at the time. The lady really knew her stuff.

When ds outgrew the titan by height I asked the same desk about getting help for another seat and they have no programs for boosters, even though their office in covered in posters about their importance. They also offered no suggustions about what to do with ds who was too tall. (I was able to get grandparnets to help with husky, fyi).