Is car seat research really valid?

amother

Smokey

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 7:05 pm

amother [ Magenta ] wrote:

Are cribs also controversial?
How about bibs?
Boots?
Kitchen cabinets?

Curious...

Cribs? Definitely. Co-sleeping until old enough for a mattress on the floor, Montessori style. Cribs get safety recalls all the time!

Bibs also! Let a child learn to eat neatly without having an enormous bulky apron hampering their movements.

Boots are also controversial. They are not good for feet which need lots of flexibility and circulation.

Kitchen cabinets? Obviously, you should be using drawers, and no uppers. Duh.

amother

Magenta

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 7:08 pm

amother [ Smokey ] wrote:

Silver paper?
Plastic
Water
Fruits
Meat
Chicken
Soap
Moisturizer
Mattresses
Towels
Lenses
Chemo
Cars
Gas
Fire
Toothpaste

(Partial list)

amother

Smokey

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 7:14 pm

Silver paper I.e. foil? This is an old controversy. Aluminum safety and all that.
Plastic? Environmentally unsound.
Water? Copepods. Nuff said.
Fruits? Only organic.
Meat? Veganism is where it's at.
Chicken? Do you know how they are treated?!?
Soap? Antibacterial soap is actually pretty bad for you and the environment.
Mattresses? Organic cotton is fine. All others off-gas something awful.
Towels? I air dry, saves so much laundry!
Lenses? Really bad for the eye. If a watch leaves a mark on a wrist, how much more contact lenses on a sensitive eyeball!
Chemo? Often hastens death. Overused in cases where there is no hope, and quality of life (and length) would likely be improved.
Cars? Use bikes. Read MrMoneyMustache to understand why.
Gas? Reliance on terrorist countries. Nonrenewable resource. Switch to electric vehicles if you must.
Fire? With plenty of care. Menorahs burn down many houses every year.
Toothpaste? With fluoride, oh yes there is controversy.

We can fight about anything you want!

amother

Magenta

Sun, Feb 23 2020, 7:36 pm

amother [ Smokey ] wrote:

We can fight about anything you want!

My point. 👍

Cellphones
Dandruffs
Acne
Baskets
Cavities
Fillings
Antibiotics
Vitamins
Herbs
Tuna
Salmon
Dishwashers
Dishes
Foam dishes

Its spooky I can literally write a controversial thing about everything I look at.

(Now of course you'll ask how come I see dishes and a dishwasher at the same time? Aren't the dishes supposed to be inside the dishwasher?
Well, That's a controversy in and of itself)

gamanit

Mon, Feb 24 2020, 1:02 am

I know everyone thinks this question is a joke, but in reality, it's more complex. While the survival rates were not even to compare once an impact has occurred, having a baby in a car seat increases the odds of being involved in a collision in the first place. One of the leading causes of car crashes is distracted driving. There is not much that can be more distracting than a crying baby. Of course, if a baby is happy to be in the car seat it's better to have him/her in there. Most babies aren't too thrilled about it though. In addition, with children that weigh more than 45lbs, according to Consumer Reports, it's safer to have them in a booster seat with the regular seatbelt than in a five-point harness

banana123

Mon, Feb 24 2020, 1:09 am

gamanit wrote:

Okay, but is it having a baby in the car that increases the risk of crashing, or having a baby in a car seat that increases the risk? Or, is it having a baby in the car seat in the back seat instead of the front passenger seat?

About the boosters, in Sweden children rear-face until age 4, when they switch to a forward-facing booster which uses just the car's seatbelt. Worth looking it up, it's very interesting.

gamanit

Mon, Feb 24 2020, 2:10 am

banana123 wrote:

Having a crying baby, which happens more if the baby is harnessed into a car seat and not in the mother's arms.

I've read all about that. I used to be gung ho about car seat use, my kids were rear-facing at the age of four and everything. I've since read a bit more and experienced a bit more and now have a more balanced approach. Like everything, the truth is more nuanced.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne......html

In this article they say that 10% of moms polled had crashed with their baby in the car, mostly due to distraction: https://www.parents.com/parent.....fety/

banana123

Mon, Feb 24 2020, 2:55 am

gamanit wrote:

Okay, how do you see mothers being able to keep both hands on the wheel if they are holding babies in their laps?

gamanit

Mon, Feb 24 2020, 3:01 am

banana123 wrote:

Okay, how do you see mothers being able to keep both hands on the wheel if they are holding babies in their laps?

Ideally someone else should be driving and the mother should be available to care for her child but if it were possible to turn off the airbags for the driver a mei tei baby carrier should work. I used one on the airplane when I flew with a newborn and there were no bassinets available. Note that this is not ideal in the least but neither is a screaming baby. It's better to have a baby in a rear facing car seat in the front passenger seat with the airbag turned off. This way the baby could be given a bottle without the mother turning around (another common cause of crashes)

banana123

Mon, Feb 24 2020, 3:15 am

gamanit wrote:

Okay, I hear that. It also makes sense to say that it might be better for the mother to wear her baby even with the air bag, since it reduces the risk of a crash and places only she and her baby at increased risk (higher crash risk means higher chance others will also be injured).

I'm starting to think the solution is more along the lines of convenient and cheap public transportation, and a reduction in the number of private vehicles on the roads.

But why aren't noise-canceling headphones an option? That would allow the mother to concentrate on the road without being distracted by the baby's crying. To me that seems like win-win. The vast majority of the outside noise is also irrelevant - sirens usually come with lights, and honks are usually just angry drivers.

Hashem_Yaazor

Mon, Feb 24 2020, 4:55 am

gamanit wrote:

Once there is someone else driving, mothers can take care of their babies in the back seat and the driver doesn't need to be distracted...

Hashem_Yaazor

Mon, Feb 24 2020, 5:00 am

banana123 wrote:

But why aren't noise-canceling headphones an option? That would allow the mother to concentrate on the road without being distracted by the baby's crying. To me that seems like win-win. The vast majority of the outside noise is also irrelevant - sirens usually come with lights, and honks are usually just angry drivers.

Totally disagree. Sirens are heard a long time before lights show up in the mirror, giving the driver adequate warning to move over. Honks are not usually the result of angry drivers in most places outside of highly pressured urban driving nightmares, they serve as important warnings that you're drifting into the wrong lane, etc

banana123

Mon, Feb 24 2020, 5:01 am

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

Sirens you have a point.

Honks, guess it depends where you live....

rakcna

Mon, Feb 24 2020, 5:18 am

I still am not sure if this is a serious debate or just satire. I find this super ironic if it is not satire considering the number of motor vehicle accidents that I dealt with yesterday at my job in a level 2 trauma center. While this is only anecdotal, 75% of the adult victims yesterday alone ended up intubated, 25% of that number were under the influence. The 25% who were either admitted to a medical/trauma/observation floor or released after treatment were all restrained drivers. Hen you look at the pediatric metrics, 62% were in car seats or properly restrained for age and weight and were either released after treatment or held for 23 hour observation. The only pediatric death was a child who had been taken out of the car seat “just for a minute “.

gamanit

Mon, Feb 24 2020, 9:12 am

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

Once there is someone else driving, mothers can take care of their babies in the back seat and the driver doesn't need to be distracted...

Crying babies are distracting even if the driver doesn't need to care for them. The question is if the mother has already tried everything to calm her baby down while leaving the baby strapped in, should she continue leaving the screaming baby in the car seat thereby increasing the chances of a collision or temporarily take out the baby to get the screaming to stop.