I am not sure if any of you can relate, but i think car seat installation is a pain in the butt! After reading the manuals and manuevering my body in the backseat trying to hook it up…then recruiting my husband, and then after my girlfriends husband helped, it was snug SO SNUG! Until yesterday when I was vacuuming the car and I hit the seatbelt release accidentally. Well, I could not get it back in!!! My hubby moved it over and hooked it up however, I knew it was not tight enough and I wasn’t confident he thought it was installed properly either. Arrrghhhh….I needed a fix ASAP. I wasn’t going to take any chances!
When I was out west the firefighters did the installations. It was great because you could drive up and someone would help you out- and hey, those firefighters can be pretty handsome….not a bad deal. But since being in Ontario I discovered that you have to wait for actual clinics from the City which can take months to get into. St. Johns Ambulance no longer helps either. It is all through the clinics held quite often at a local car dealership at 6 pm- YUP- right in the middle of bedtime routine.
SO after calling the “clinic” number today and being told I had to wait until the END OF MARCH I just about lost it. The lady was kind enough to refer me to a place called Secure Munchkins. This service is AWESOME! The owner used to work for St. Johns Ambulance and knew the demand for proper car seat installation and that the wait was long. So she launched Secure Munchkin! She will come to your home ($80) or you can go to her ($40). If your car seat is installed ok and you go to her- no charge. I liked that and thought I would share it. She had so much to share on car seat safety and installation. I was shocked and felt so silly for not knowing very important things. I had NO idea that you are not supposed to have your child in a bulky winter coat in the car seat- it compromises the safety of the child. She suggested to put your child in a light fleece, then in the seat, and then drape a blanket or their heavy coat over them. Secure Munchkin also has clinics at various baby stores around the Halton Region. Very handy!
If your car seat moves at all- front to back, side to side- you MUST get it checked!!! It is so scary to think that a huge percentage of car seats are installed incorrectly. I was happy to spend the $0 and freeze my butt off today while she showed me the ropes and educated me. There is always time and money for safety- especially when it comes to my angel!
I hope this post gets you to double check your car seat and tighten it up, or take it in for a check or reinstall.
Cheers to 2 “S” words that I love- SLEEP & SAFETY.