I have one my friend gave me called the Sling Ezze by Parenting Concepts and I don’t like it too much. It’s bulky and uncomfortable on my shoulders. What do you recommend? I want something lightweight, easy to put on and that will hold a 2 month old baby upright (facing forward or towards me).

My 2 1/2 year old refuses to hold my hand in parking lots & runs ahead to demonstrate his independence. When I try to hold his hand or pick him up to protect him, he screams, writhes, and bites. In the car, he loosens the five point harness on the car seat to free his shoulders and loosen his upper body from the restraint. He sometimes unbuckles the safety belt which secures the car seat to the bench seat in the mini-van. He hates the car seat! He wants to be independent like his 10-year old brother. Yesterday, when I was trying to get him into the car seat, he ran away from the mini van and into the street and nearly got hit by a car driving by. I’m at my wit’s end. It’s physically and emotionally exhausting. How can I rationalize with my 2 1/2 year old about safety issues??? I’ve tried the Barney safety videos, but to no avail.

Sorry, had to get the safety crazy in there i’m safety crazy!

I have a Brit ax Marathon and my daughter has started putting her arm through the bottom strap. Right above the crotch buckle but under the chest clip, she puts her entire hand under there. I almost freaked thinking her straps were way too loose, but they aren’t. I can’t tighten them any tighter or she’d be in an unnatural position. Is this small gap between her and harness normal? Is this unsafe?
Tina has twins – No she’s not getting out, there is no way she could get out lol. She just started doing it and i bet it’s because she’s slimming down (ever since walking) so she probably does have some extra room that she didn’t have before. But yeah, it’s tight at her chest and shoulders.

My son stopped using the car seat at 4 months old (the straps were too tight on the shoulders). His weight was 18 pounds and 27 inches long but most infant car seats claim the maximum weight is 20 or 22 pounds.
Just wondering how it was for other babies.

We have a 2000 Mazda MPV and two children. My 6-yr-old DD (53 lbs and 49" tall) is in a Graco Turbobooster (using it with the highback) and my 3 1/2-yr-old DS (34 lbs. and 41" tall) is in a Graco CarGo using the 5-pt harness. We never installed tether anchors in the van (I know, I know… bad us!) so I’m thinking of having the dealer install it now for my DS’s seat. Also, I saw that the Britax Regent is to be used with children up to 53" tall so would it be a waste to purchase one for my DD when she’s 4" away from the limit? Or should I go ahead and leave her in the booster and get a Regent for my DS since he has to get a new 5-pt soon anyway (the CarGo says to stop using 5-pt harness when child reaches 40 lbs and the shoulders are above the upper harness slots…but he is is nowhere near either yet anytime soon)?

My daughter is 3 and I can’t recall the right age to switch-her car seat is for a toddler her age and weight, but she is tall and with a winter coat on, the straps hurt her shoulders even with the protecter things there in the right place. Her cousins carseat works a bit better when he’s not in the car, but today he was and I had to take off a layer of her coat (2 part coat) for her to be comfortable. She hates getting in her car seat because of this though and I need to know when I can get rid of the thing:( Thank you:)

I have the maxi cosi mico (similar to cabrio in europe)
My daughter is 3 1/2 months old, weighs 11 1/2 lbs and is 23" tall.
She has really chubby cheeks and is so uncomfortable in the car seat as the straps dig into her neck and the head hugger bunches her shoulders up. Is it too early to remove the head hugger. Will it make the car seat less safe? Obviously safety is the priority.

I have a baby bjorn carrier and I really don’t like it, it hurts my shoulders and I can only carry my 16 lb son in it for about 20 mins. I would like something that I can use for my son now, but also for a newborn baby. I would like to sell my baby bjorn, and then use the money to buy a different kind of carrier. Which one do you recommend?

Ok, so my family has to go on an unexpected trip to seattle from Iowa it’s a 6 hour flight! and I have never traveled with a baby before. My daughter is ten months old. I would like to have some suggestions on how to make this as peacefull as possible. Any suggestions on quite toys besides book’s. Which I already have planned to take. and hand puppets.
Also has anyone ever used the car seat cover/carrier’s that have straps on them to place it on your shoulders and the wheels to move it "easily" through the airport. should I even buy one or will it be a wast of my time and money? And what should I expect from the airlines. Are they normally pretty good with passangers and young children. I guess since that family got kicked off the flight for thier daughter crying to much a few weeks ago it has made me nervous. We will be flying alsakan airlines and no I am sorry I dont’ have a choice on leaveing my daughter at home. I know some people are very against taking babys on flights. Thanks
thank you so much for the help and encuragment. Abby has just gotten tubes put in her ears yesterday and the doc said that she should do fine and wont have a prob with the ears poping. also she does pretty good in the car. she we coo for a while and then fall asleep after a while.
ooh and i read the airlines things on baby’s but it didn’t say if I needed to have her ss card or her birthcertificate. do I need those for her? since we need form of ID does she ?

Suggestions on how to get a first time mom through the airport with a 10 month old?
Ok, so my family has to go on an unexpected trip to seattle from Iowa it’s a 6 hour flight! and I have never traveled with a baby before. My daughter is ten months old. I would like to have some suggestions on how to make this as peacefull as possible. Any suggestions on quite toys besides book’s. Which I already have planned to take. and hand puppets.
Also has anyone ever used the car seat cover/carrier’s that have straps on them to place it on your shoulders and the wheels to move it "easily" through the airport. should I even buy one or will it be a wast of my time and money? And what should I expect from the airlines. Are they normally pretty good with passangers and young children. I guess since that family got kicked off the flight for thier daughter crying to much a few weeks ago it has made me nervous. We will be flying alsakan airlines and no I am sorry I dont’ have a choice on leaveing my daughter at home. I know some people are very against taking babys on flights. Thanks
the car seat is actuelly the one from 20 lbs up! since she just went to the bigger size. if it was the newborn seat I wouldn’t have a problem carring that through the airport. I just have heard that the car seats and strollers get really nasty being in the belly of the plain. also carring one that size all the way throughwould be difficult. so just wondering about the cover slips for them.

I get so sick of seeing so many parents buckling their babies into car seats wrong. It drives me insane! What’s the point in even using one if its not being used right? First of all, babies MUST remain rear facing until they are AT LEAST one year AND 20 pounds. That is only the minimum though. The longer you rear face your baby, the safer they are. Most car seats can rear face up to 35 pounds. If you have ever been in a crash, remember the tremendous amount of force it can put on your neck? Well imagine a little baby trying to hold their head up in a crash. They are simply not strong enough to withstand the force of a crash, which is why rear facing can save their life because the shell of the car seat absorbs the impact instead. Now as far as using car seats correctly..make sure the car seat is always buckled in very tightly. The car seat should not be able to move back and forth and be wiggled easily. Also, the straps should be very snug on your child. You should be able to get no more than 2 fingertips between the strap and your child’s shoulder. The straps should also always be on the shoulders, not slipping off the shoulders. The chest clip also always needs to be all the way up to armpit level. I see so many moms who have the chest clip way down by the child’s waist and the straps are way too loose. If you get into a crash like that, I can almost guarantee your child will be ejected from the car seat and possibly thrown from the vehicle because the strips and clip won’t be able to keep them in the seat. If the chest clip is down too far, the straps will simply fall to the sides of your child and the child will rip right out of the seat. And with older children..they should always remain in a booster seat until they are at least 4’9. The longer an older child remains in a 5-point harness, the safer they are. My son has the Graco Nautilus car seat and he can remain buckled in the 5-point harness until 65 pounds! I included links of pictures to show the correct and incorrect way to buckle your child. I just want to make sure everyone knows the right and wrong way to buckle their kids.

This first picture shows how unsafe the buckle job is. That child would be ripped from her seat in a crash http://www.safechildofmine.com/files/187…

This is how a baby should be buckled with the straps nice and tight and the chest clip up at armpit level http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/c…

At least watch this short a video about the importance of rear facing. Its very important information http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2DVfqFhs…
Well what the heck..sorry I’m not sure why the links aren’t working. Go to youtube and type in rear facing. Its the first video that comes up. Please watch!

opening for the car seat buckle?

Here is the pattern:

http://extrastellar.net/cjs_crochet6mosleepgown.html

The car seat straps will come down over the shoulders and the buckle should fit through the bunting between the legs.
Here’s a picture of the car seat- the bucle that comes between the legs is where the opening should be.

My daughter had a bunting like this many years ago, but it was store bought.

http://www.gracobaby.com/Catalog/Pages/productlistingPage.aspx?catid=10:41||1+10434:4294959420||1+34:72||1#/1363

ketchupk- thanks for your concern. This is not a car seat accessory, it is a coat for the baby that has a special opening for the car seat buckle.
A baby will freeze to death in the midwest without a winter coat!!!

I just got taken off restriction after having my surgery and I’m going to Kings Island Saturday. Does the Beast, Son of Beast, or Racer have shoulder restraints? The kind that go down over your head and on top of your shoulders, holding you against the back of the seat.

My son just turned two last month. He is a really big boy for his age and weighs 37lbs and is 38inches tall. I was wondering if I should put him into a high back booster car seat? The seats are for children over 30lbs and three years of age. He is the size of a three year old, so should I buy one now? He also looks uncomfortable in his current car seat because the belts hit really low on his shoulders. What should I do????

we have a 21 month old and i have disliked the stroller we got for him (before he was born) since day 1. the first time we took him to the park in it, my hubby tried to push it up a curb (with probaly too much force) and the wheels bowed. since then we’ve discovered it has no way to push the back of the seat all the way forward so my son can see his surroundings (like at the zoo) so i have to fold up a blanket for that. the axles have rusted (from being in the trunk of the car over the winter) and the infant carrier (it was a travel system) was recalled- so we wouldn’t be using it again if we have another baby. Soooo….i went this morning and bought another one (cuz i want to start walking at the mall and lose some weight) and i’m actually kind of embarassed by the old one…only thing, my hubby really won’t care, he’s good about not judging my spending habits…but it would be helpful if i can tell him how long i can use the new one…since the first thing he will say is "why?"
thanks, i read this morning (when i was looking at new ones online) that some are designed for 2-4 year olds….thats when i decided to get another one, i can’t use the old one for another 2.5 years. its a piece of junk…oh and it bruises my leg when i open it cuz it doesn’t have anywhere to put your foot when you unfold it and its HEAVY…gosh, i wish i would have gotten a new one sooner now.
i bought an umbrella stroller a while back cuz i figured it would be good enough and (obviously) i didn’t like our old one… they are too short for me and my boy is ‘robust’ so he looks like his shoulders are squished when he sits in it, they just don’t work for us…so i’m going to be selling that at a garage sale over the summer.
thanks guys…can you tell i’ve been thinking about this stroller thing for a while…lol…but like i said, the old ones been a thorn in my side from the first time we used it. i was actually made at my hubby for being too rough with it, but now i see it was just a piece of junk from the get go.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2668020

here’s what i decided on as a replacement for the next 2.5 years…i love it. it has everything the old one didn’t and i can buy a matching infant carrier if we do have another child in the future. (in case anyone is still reading this novel)
ha ha..to the person who said she wasn’t going to let her 2 year old use a stroller…ha ha..wait till you go to the zoo or the mall and see how much you get done without a stroller. you will basically spend your very short trip chasing the child away from strangers, other children, or basically the opposite direction of whatever your attempting to do. its a nice thought, but very unrealistic.