Pediatritions not following AAP recommendations?

outnumberedby6 · Sep 4, 2009

ran into a fellow mom at our schools open house and she has a baby that will be 1 years old in 1 month. at her last visit which was about 1.5 months ago her ped told her she could ff her daughter. because she was 20 lbs. of course i showed her our carseat rfed with my almost 2 year old 30lbs quite comfy in it. she was so upset she thought she was doing the right thing. 3rd girl and she thought it was always 20lbs. this has got to stop. i know peds are pretty oblivious about cs safety. well most are, they are busy with other aspects of medicine however "really?!" its funny too cuz they bought the britax advocate thinking it was the safest thing on the market so theyhad to have it. i told her of course she could have a 400 dollar carseat and if its used improperly or installed incorrectly its not safe. i wonder how many other parents out there are thinking the same thing. it was my line of thinking that it was 20lbs AND 1 year back when my son who is now 11 was born.

i told her to come on here and ask as many questions as she wanted. also gave her some good links. shes also going to be getting her child a booster after seeing how the belt fit my son without it and she has a similiar van. i told her to do the 5 step test. she said there was no need she knew the belt went acrossed her belly and neck. though she thought she was safe because she made her sit in a booster til she was 8.

its going to be a long year.

ketchupqueen · Sep 4, 2009

Unfortunately many peds are not up to speed on what is actually safest for their patients in the car. My husband took our third daughter for her 9 month well visit just last year and was told that since she was 23 lbs. "It's time to forward-face because seats don't rear-face higher than that." He (much more politely than I would have had I been there!) firmly informed her that our daughter's seat rear-faced to 35 lbs., and she would be rear-facing until she outgrew it. Perhaps you could drop off some brochures with her pediatrician?

SavsMom · Sep 4, 2009

I think all Pediatricians should have to become techs as part of their training - lol!
You see more parents that say "well my Dr said it was just fine to turn him/her around" - some even before they turn 1

I am lucky that my family practice Dr does keep up on the latest and was really happy to hear that I am keeping Savannah rear facing longer :thumbsup:

outnumberedby6 · Sep 4, 2009

my peds never even ask me about car seats. ever. though they have asked other patients mom that i am friends with. they should at the very least at our office be aware of the fact that our hospital "MOTT childrens hospital at UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN" has a buckle up program there full time ran by safekids. but they dont even know about it. sad.

seriously though i have ran into some people who told me that it was irresponsible of me to have my child rear facing that it was dangerous. one individual that told me this her husband is a nurse at Detroit Childrens Hospital. so she said her husband isnt worried so there must not be anything really that bad comming of it so she will keep him forward facing. !#*!
he must have blind folds on or work on one of the transplant floors or something. is all i can say. cuz i was in the picu at mott for 5 months and i cannot even remember all of the kids young and old i seen there from car accidents. and plenty didnt make it.

BW1426 · Sep 4, 2009

I'm working for the AAP right now. I have to say, I'm beyond frustrated by this. Both state and national AAP newsletters have discussed carseat safety and they just don't bother to read it. I understand they have a lot on their plates, but if it were about vaccinations you better believe they'd be reading it. It just frustrates me that we have these recommendations and policies, yet no way of ensuring doctors follow them.

outnumberedby6 · Sep 4, 2009

:yeahthat:

you bet your a$$ if it were vacinations theyve read it, memmorized it, and would have had little friendly note cards and posty notes everywhere!:twocents:

thepeach80 · Sep 4, 2009

The urgent care we always go to is a Dr's office during the day. There are several posters up and newspapers clippings in each room about rfing til 2 etc. Nothing like that at our office and my ped has 6 kids, her back up Dr has 10! I still remember the one mom I helped and got a new seat for at an event over a year ago. She came in w/ her 7 mos old ffing b/c the ped said it was o.k.! I have a mom on another board now w/ her 8 mos old ffing b/c the firefighter said she'd break her legs if she stayed rfing.

An Aurora · Sep 4, 2009

My ped is great; his office has two nurses who are also CPSTs and they give out good info.

Today I saw an ERF'ing toddler

so it must be getting out somehow. But then I also saw a tiny 7 month old FFing

safeinthecar · Sep 4, 2009

BW1426 said:
I'm working for the AAP right now. I have to say, I'm beyond frustrated by this. Both state and national AAP newsletters have discussed carseat safety and they just don't bother to read it. I understand they have a lot on their plates, but if it were about vaccinations you better believe they'd be reading it. It just frustrates me that we have these recommendations and policies, yet no way of ensuring doctors follow them.

You know, you might be on to something here. If we can push to have car seat blurbs added to other info, like vaccine updates, Drs might actually pay attention.

carseatcoach · Sep 4, 2009

outnumberedby6 said:
:yeahthat:

you bet your a$$ if it were vacinations theyve read it, memmorized it, and would have had little friendly note cards and posty notes everywhere!:twocents:

That's because vaxes are medical; carseats aren't. I don't expect doctors to be carseat experts or advocates, but I wish they would just keep quiet instead of giving out inaccurate information.

thepeach80 · Sep 4, 2009

I'm not sure I agree. A Dr may be the only carseat advice some people get, good or bad. Now if they're just going to talk crap, yeah, have them shut up. If they can take the 2 mins it takes to learn what the AAP says about carseats and share that correctly w/ their patients, that GREAT!

carseatcoach · Sep 4, 2009

I agree it would be great -- but my point was that I *expect* my doctor to know about vaxes and I don't expect her to know about carseats.

tarynsmum · Sep 4, 2009

My Ped (who gave me plenty of lip service when I spoke to her) turned around less than a month later and told my neighbor it was OK to FF her 17lb just-turned-1 year old.

I can't wait to hear what they say when DS turns a year. I may just try to play dumb and see what happens.

outnumberedby6 · Sep 4, 2009

chickabiddy said:
That's because vaxes are medical; carseats aren't. I don't expect doctors to be carseat experts or advocates, but I wish they would just keep quiet instead of giving out inaccurate information.

true, however, treating a child after an accident with whatever injuries may arise from it, is. the outcome can be quite medical. i think of my car seat as my insurance policy. its like,,,,an HMO, preventative care at its finest!

isnt that what vaccines are supposed to be for?

perhaps if they looked at it that way, and like the pp said paid attention to the AAP's reccomendations we would be getting somewhere.

thepeach80 · Sep 4, 2009

Sad thing is a lot of them don't know much about vaxes either.

carseatcoach · Sep 4, 2009

Well, we'll just have to disagree. I expect my doctor to practice medicine and stay up-to-date in her medical knowledge. I don't expect her to be a parenting expert and I'm not especially interested in her opinion on cosleeping, child-led weaning, schooling, carseat usage, or a whole lot of other stuff.

Dillipop · Sep 4, 2009

chickabiddy said:
Well, we'll just have to disagree. I expect my doctor to practice medicine and stay up-to-date in her medical knowledge. I don't expect her to be a parenting expert and I'm not especially interested in her opinion on cosleeping, child-led weaning, schooling, carseat usage, or a whole lot of other stuff.

While I totally agree with this, if a doctor is going to give advice on car seats, co-sleeping, child led weaning, etc, they should be up to date. Instead of saying- oh, he's 20 pounds, ff him- they should say- Here, take this flyer with the AAP's recommendations.

My doctor has never asked or offered advice on car seats. But hanging on the wall is the newest chart with current recommendations.

outnumberedby6 · Sep 4, 2009

thepeach80 said:
Sad thing is a lot of them don't know much about vaxes either.

:yeahthat:

EXACTLY

outnumberedby6 · Sep 4, 2009

Dillipop said:
While I totally agree with this, if a doctor is going to give advice on car seats, co-sleeping, child led weaning, etc, they should be up to date. Instead of saying- oh, he's 20 pounds, ff him- they should say- Here, take this flyer with the AAP's recommendations.

My doctor has never asked or offered advice on car seats. But hanging on the wall is the newest chart with current recommendations.

sad thing is: our pediatric docs in the icu new EXACTLY what was up. when we would get a call that something was coming our way over the radio, first thing they would often ask when the childs stats came in (this included wether or not they were restrained) "were they rear facing or forward facing?"

tarynsmum · Sep 4, 2009

chickabiddy said:
Well, we'll just have to disagree. I expect my doctor to practice medicine and stay up-to-date in her medical knowledge. I don't expect her to be a parenting expert and I'm not especially interested in her opinion on cosleeping, child-led weaning, schooling, carseat usage, or a whole lot of other stuff.

I agree with that, since that's how I approach my children's Ped. HOWEVER, most parents I know follow "the pediatrician knows best" policy. I swear, if I had a dollar for every time I've heard "my pediatrician told me ____"

Pediatritions not following AAP recommendations?

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