Friday, December 31, 2010

The Carseat Lineup...Photos, Specs and Reviews

Carseats. You know your child needs one. You know about the risks of facing a child forward too early. But which one do you choose? With a multitude of companies and models available, it can feel overwhelming to make a carseat decision. Carseat questions are almost the most frequent ones I receive, so I wanted to write a blog post on the topic.

Please note that I am not a carseat tech and I am not paid by any carseat company. I am not a professional and simply explored the carseat market on my own, from the perspective of a mother trying to choose from a variety of seats. I encourage all parents to explore carseats in person and with their child before settling on any seat. Why?

The best carseat is the one that you can install correctly into your car every time and the one that your child can ride in comfortably and securely every time. Brand, price, marketing, cup holders etc will not protect your child if the seat is installed incorrectly or used incorrectly. 


To review the carseat safety topic, check out my carseat album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050936&id=1063989483&l=72be442e5b


And Jennifer Mann's safety summary: 
http://guggiedaly.blogspot.com/2010/12/cpst-clarifies-benefits-of-rearfacing.html

You can also find a spreadsheet of specs here. This is probably the "gold-standard" for specs.
http://sites.google.com/site/carseatmeasurements/


Meet the models:

DD (Dear Daughter) is 26 months old, 36 inches tall and weighs 29 pounds. She is currently rearfacing in a Roundabout, True Fit or XTSL. DS (Dear Son) is 3 months old, 26 inches tall and weighs 17 pounds. He is currently rearfacing in a Snugride32.



Here are the carseats, from lowest price to highest price. The specs are a quick measurement with a tape measure and no child in the seat. I am including my measurements for a general review and do not claim they are gold standard.

Cosco Scenera40


The Cosco Scenera40  is the cheapest seat on the market. It is basic and has thin padding and one cup holder. The new model now rearfaces to 40 pounds, but notice that it still only forward faces to 40 pounds, so you will be buying a second seat later down the road.
Cosco is part of the Dorel company (includes Safety 1st, Eddie Bauer, Evenflo, Disney, etc). Many people remain wary of this company's quality, so I found this defect a bit funny.



Still room to rearface (RF).
Specs:
Price: $50
Weight: 40/40 (40 rearfacing/40 forwardfacing)
Shell height: 23 (determines how long a seat can be used)
Base width: 15 (important to know for cramped or small middle seats)
Widest part: 18 (helps for those who are installing multiple seats)
Lowest slot: 7 (helps to know if newborns can use or not)
Highest slot: 15 (determines how long a child can remain harnessed)

Graco Comfortsport


The comfortsport feels pretty luxurious, actually. It's padded and squishy. DD likes it and had it as one of her early seats. The primary concern is that it rearfaces to 30lbs, the lowest on the market. So unless you are getting this seat as a gift or almost free, it does not make sense financially to buy it.



She's leaning forward, but has already outgrown this seat for rearfacing.
Specs:
Price: $90
Weight: 30/40 
Shell height: 22
Base width: 11
Widest part: 17
Lowest slot: 7 
Highest slot: 13

Graco Myride65
This seat is a mid-range, basic choice that will probably serve the needs of most people fairly well. It has a shorter shell height than most other seats at 24.5 inches, but that is not severely short. It appears to do a great job at securing newborns and has a newborn insert. It is fairly easy to install in most vehicles. If puzzling multiple seats side by side, it can be hard to find seats that will install next to the myride. Otherwise, if you're not sure which seat to get or feel overwhelmed, this one will probably do the job just fine for you.




Specs:
Price: $130
Weight: 40/65 
Shell height: 23
Base width: 12
Widest part: 21
Lowest slot: 8 
Highest slot: 17

Evenflo Triumph65
I have little to say about Evenflo seats b/c I have not used them. I have heard techs complain that they can be hard to install and some of the weights/heights do not appear to make them economical choices. But other than that I have no comment.

Very thick padding, would seem best for younger babies.


DD already outgrew this seat RFing.
Specs:
Price: $140
Weight: 40/65 
Shell height: 22
Base width: 14
Widest part: 21
Lowest slot: 8
Highest slot: 17

Safety 1st Alpha Omega
This seat previously had a bad reputation, but the newer models have a higher shell and higher harness weight, making it a potential option. You can read about the changes here: http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/1032699/safety-1st-3-in-1-convertible
I still don't like the seat. There's something upright and stiff about it that DD does not like and it has lower weights compared to other seats. Also, many people think this seat will be their one and only purchase, but the booster mode tested as a "worst pick" as it tends to fit the majority of children unsafely. For the price, you can find other seats that fit better and last longer, even if they don't carry the all in one claim.



Specs:
Price: $160
Weight: 35/50 
Shell height: 24
Base width: 16
Widest part: 18
Lowest slot: 10
Highest slot: 16

Britax Roundabout
I own the Roundabout because I found last year's model on steep clearance. Britax does have a feeling of sturdiness and luxury. I initially didn't like the Roundabout and was even going to sell it, but used it as a backup one day and DD actually asked to stay in it. The Britax signature base puts the seat up higher than most other seats, so this might be a good option for kids prone to motion sickness. Another thing I noticed is that the curve of the sides supports small children. If considering Britax seats, it might be especially important to offgas the seats as they tend to have higher toxin ratings at http://www.healthystuff.org. (I recommend all seats be offgassed/outgassed.)




Specs:
Price: $160
Weight: 35/50 
Shell height: 25
Base width: 14
Widest part: 18
Lowest slot: 10
Highest slot: 16.5

Safety 1st Comfort Air
The marketing on this seat really catches the attention of a lot of parents. I am not impressed. The seat is similar to the Alpha Omega frame; fairly unpadded, rigid and straight, cheapo feeling. It's narrow, so fluffy kids might be uncomfortable. And the headwings will not fit perfectly at every stage. They seem to work best for older toddlers. The tall shell and harness height, so those with tall/skinny kids liked it, but the company came out recently, clarifying that there are absolute height and angle restrictions:

http://guggiedaly.blogspot.com/2011/06/safety-1st-clarifies-complete-air.html





Specs:
Price: $180
Weight: 40/50 
Shell height: 25.5
Base width: 17
Widest part: 18
Lowest slot: 10
Highest slot: could not measure the highest slot height as the seat was broken.

Evenflo Momentum 65 DLX


Specs:
Price: $200
Weight: 40/65 
Shell height: 23
Base width: 14
Widest part: 21
Lowest slot: 7
Highest slot: could not measure the highest slot height; sign specified 50 inch max. height of child.

Evenflo Symphony 65
Remember to measure from the hard plastic shell of the actual seat. A child has outgrown the shell when they have less than one inch of hard shell height.


Specs:
Price: $200
Weight: 35/65 
Shell height: 23
Base width: 15
Widest part: 21
Lowest slot: 7
Highest slot: 15

Britax Marathon Classic
Ah, the seat that arguably was the first to drive change in our market of convertible seats. Britax is a renowned carseat company that most parents highly regard. As I mentioned under the Roundabout, these seats are certainly luxurious and feel well-built. But the features once considered special are now standard. That being said, the Classic Marathon's price has dropped from $279 to $159 and it is now steel-reinforced. Are these options enough to keep it on your list? It's certainly worth considering.

Lowest slots are too high for newborns (as are any 10" slot seats).


Britax did NOT increase the shell size! :(


Specs:
Price: $200
Weight: 35/65 
Shell height: 24
Base width: 14
Widest part: 20
Lowest slot: 10
Highest slot: 16.5

Learning Curve True Fit
I own this seat and like it. It is a low, wide and tall seat that will fit bigger/taller kids. At least by my measurements, the shell measured taller than the XTSL. I also like how accesible the installation paths are (you can pull the fabric back to see what you are doing). That being said, it has an infinite harness and for many kids (especially petite or small kids) you have to tighten and buckle the harness in a certain pattern. This IMO increases the risk of not using the seat correctly. I listened to a lot of advice and tried a lot of things and was NEVER able to harness my toddler correctly. I gave the seat to her older uncle to use forward facing as he had no problems with it. With the lower rearfacing weight (35lbs), tallest shell that might not fit in small cars and the harness quirks, this seat might not work for a lot of people.


Specs:
Price: $150-180
Weight: 35/65 
Shell height: 26
Base width: 14
Widest part: 19
Lowest slot: 10
Highest slot: 17

Sunshine Kids Radian XTSL
This seat is not the BEST, nor is it even the EASIEST install for most vehicles. It is, however, the only seat that rearfaces to 45lbs on the American market. And it is the slimmest seat, which allows parents to install more than one seat (and get 3 across in most vehicles). It does not rearface correctly in many smaller vehicles and the latch might be incompatible with some vehicles. Search http://www.car-seat.org to see if your car is compatible. 




Random Carseat Comparisons




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Thursday, December 30, 2010

A CPST Clarifies the Benefits of Rearfacing Beyond Babyhood: Guest Post!

Compiled by Jennifer Mann, CPST since 2007. Photos copyright Jennifer Mann.


"As you might have noticed, Facebook has been a bit bombarded by crazy people talking about how babies should stay rear-facing until at least age 2 (gasp! the nerve! the horror! how dare they!).

Oh wait. I'm one of those crazy people, also known as Child Passenger Safety Technicians (CPSTs) certified by Safe Kids Worldwide. I thought I might try to explain why techs, child passenger safety advocates, and concerned parents are so impassioned about this topic.

The Stats
Rear-facing children are FIVE times safer than forward-facing children.

Crash Dynamics
The majority of crashes are frontal collisions. In any crash, everything in the car (people, objects) will travel to the point of impact very quickly (fractions of a second). In a frontal collision, this means you, as adults, will be thrown forward with only your seatbelt and possibly an airbag to slow you down. Likewise, a forward-facing child will have only his or her harness straps to help the body slow down and stop (of course, they don't have the airbag). This leaves nothing to stop the head from continuing to travel forward.

The problem is the bones surrounding a child’s spinal cord do not ossify (harden) until ~3 years old. The spinal cord can stretch ¼ of an inch before detaching. A crash can stretch the spinal cord up to 2 inches, depending on the severity of the crash. So a younger child's spinal cord could detach from the head in a bad crash(known as internal decapitation).

A rear-facing child, however, is thrown into the energy-absorbing foam in the restraint shell, which distributes the crash forces evenly along his or her entire head, neck, and spine, keeping the body in alignment and protecting the spinal cord. This is why children in Sweden ride rear-facing until 4 or 5 years old. Incidentally, Sweden has very low injury and fatality rates as a result of motor vehicle crashes.

The Problems
Okay, so let's break all that down a bit.

1) A forward-facing seat cannot restrain a child's head (in the same way that our seatbelts cannot restrain our heads). The harness can only make contact at the collar bones and hip bones, but the head continues to travel forward.

2) The bones around the spinal cord don't ossify until age 3 on average. So the spinal cord is not adequately protected, especially in a severe crash.

3) Let's face it. Kids have big ol' noggins. My son did/does! "It's like an orange on a toothpick!" (Sorry, that's a line out of one of my favorite movies.) They're bobble heads! Actual numbers now: In a young child, the head makes up ~25% of the total body weight, whereas in an adult, the head is only ~6% of the total body weight.

And in a crash, you take the weight of the object multiplied by how fast the car/occupants are moving to determine the estimated crash force. For example: a 5 lb. head x 20 mph = 100 lbs. of crash force being flung on an inadequately protected spinal cord in fractions of a second. Ouch!


So now let's put those three problems all together:
Unrestrained big, heavy head + inadequately protected spinal cord = real potential for a broken neck/spinal cord and possible subsequent death

There is simply no comparison when you look at the crash tests. Those crash tests convinced me to turn Emily back rear-facing at ~3y8m (no, that's not a typo), after she'd already been forward-facing for two years (she did not resist the switch thankfully because she's an equal opportunist and wanted whatever little brother was getting! No joke!). She finally turned forward-facing again at 4y7m (nearly a year later), when she hit the 33-lb. rear-facing weight limit of her Britax Marathon. Her brother, Zach, was rear-facing from birth to 3y2m, when he reached the rear-facing weight limit.

The Potential
A broken neck. 18-month-old Joel was nearly killed in a crash that broke his neck. His grandfather has now thrown himself into child passenger safety advocacy:http://www.joelsjourney.org/

Micah, who also suffered from internal decapitation:

More links
A new AAP article recommends rear-facing to at least age 2:http://aapnews.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/30/4/12-a



Awesome summary and answers to other questions, including those pertaining to rear collisions: http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/StayRearFacing.aspx

Another great summary (from overseas, which is why their harnesses look a little different): http://www.childrestraintsafety.com/rear-facing.html

If someone you know has a baby who will be turning a year old soon, please forward this information to him/her.

If you already knew all this but need some YouTube sap to get (usually well-meaning, but misinformed) family and friends off your back, check these out:

Remember that every step toward the adult seatbelt is a step down in safety. Turning your child forward-facing is NOT a milestone to look forward to and it's nothing you want to rush."


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Friday, December 24, 2010

Ian Daly's Birth Story (Photo heavy!)

Everyone is here in this photo at about 30 weeks.
Here I am at 40 weeks, 6 days, the day before Ian is born.


Around 1am on September 22nd, I noticed I was having consistent, light surges. But whenever I tried bouncing on the birth ball or walking, they faded away. It wasn’t until about 3am that I noticed I had to breathe through them and nothing was making them fade away. By 5am I was nagging at DH to hurry up with the birth pool.

Dear husband (DH) assembling the birth pool at 5AM.
I asked him to do a cervical check b/c one of my concerns with my first birth (also a homebirth) is that I got into the pool too soon and possibly stalled labor. (Side note: a debatable topic in the birth community.) Anyways, I was still 4cm dilated but 100% effaced. I didn't have to ask him to check me, but I wanted his opinion. Perhaps I felt reservations, remembering my previous birth and how I relied on the birth tub as a form of escaping from the contractions. Was I truly ready to open up to my body and welcome my baby?

The hot pool was wonderful. Around 6am, Zon and my little sister woke up and wandered around, snapping a few photos (thank you, little sis!) Zonnie, unfortunately, could not understand that the baby was NOT going to arrive in 3 minutes like they do on youtube haha. She wanted to see in the pool and see my vagina, b/c as she said, “BABY COME OUT NOW!!!”

My sister and my daughter snoring away while I was in early labor.
Zon thinks a baby is about to pop out any minute!
By 8am, my body was like clockwork running in a pattern of two surges. The first surge was intense and powerful. I was giving in and feeling my body literally opening. Amazing, but not at all like my first birth. These surges were painful, too. Not crippling or excruciating, though. They reminded me of that “last mile” in an exercise routine, where you can choose to fight the pain or give in to the pain. Where that stitch in your side either makes you give up or makes you push harder. For a thousand and one reasons, (the primary one being that I told Ian he was COMING OUT OR BUST haha) I developed that “good anger.” Not sure how to explain, except again if you are an athlete, you know that energy, that emotion? That driving moment where you take a deep breath and dive into it? I was doing it! I was telling those contractions to BRING IT ON! I wasn't running away from them or trying to minimize them.

I moved back and forth during contractions, vocalizing, "oooo" and "aaaa." I also utilized a lot of positive self-talk, saying things aloud such as, "I can do this" and "I am birthing my baby."
The second surge surprised me, though. It was a pushing one. At the end of the surge, my entire body would push and I'd make involuntary grunting noises. For those who have read Zon’s birth story, you know that I never felt the urge to push in labor with her. This was a different animal. I now know what other women are talking about when they compare pushing to vomiting, or claim their “body brought the baby down.” It was amazing. At the same time, I was worried because I have read that pushing too early can irritate the cervix, causing a “lip” that extends labor. I could still feel my cervix and seemed to be at 7cm. I wasn't sure what to do.....should I trust my body and push, or should I try to pant and breathe through them? I decided to compromise and hold off a little bit longer, but not enforce the "rule of 10" in stone. I told myself one contraction at a time.

In between contractions I was breathing, resting, sensing, loving. What you can't see here is my support group. My DH talking quietly and lovingly to me, my sister snapping photos and saying, "Wow! Wow!" at the power of it and my little girl jumping up and down and asking, "Where's the baby?"
So I began to pant through the contractions, then let my body do what it wanted at the end, but I did not add to the pushing. I did this for about an hour until *I* felt instinctively that it was time. I gave over to my body and it started pushing all by itself for every single contraction. I was making these primal grunting noises and holding DH’s forearms, squatting in the birth pool. The power of it was mind blowing. I had surrendered and was completely aware of every little sensation. I could feel him moving down down down. I found it comforting to feel his head, give it a rub and tell him we were almost done! I was also checking to see if I was developing a lip…which I wasn’t! Pretty interesting, huh? I later read more about this and learned that mamas with OP babies might start pushing before full dilation due to the way the baby's head enters the cervix and canal. It triggers pushing sooner. This might not be a bad thing, either, as it seems to aid with positioning and help bring the bigger portion of the baby's head down the canal.

My mom stopped by to drop off some Arnica as I was moving around in the tub. I felt primal, animal at the time and paid very little attention to the conversation, but I remember managing to ask where my other sister was because she was going to videotape and photograph. My mom freaked out as she had forgotten, and ran out the door to grab the camera stuff and my other sister. Zon ran after them and left with them. Surely not an issue I thought. My mom lives 2 miles away.

Well, in the time it took her to drive over there and back, little Ian made his entrance! I felt his whole head move onto my perineum and knew I needed to change position. He was fully Occiput Posterior, also called Sunnyside up (face up). This means the largest part of his head was pressing downwards. It gave me the mental image that my backside was going to split! I moved to all fours and showed DH how to support my perineum. I tried to breathe through the contractions as Ian came onto my perineum. I didn't want to tear. But as I was feeling him and feeling the strength behind those involuntary pushes, I realized it wasn’t happening. His entire head popped out in one contraction, then he rotated and basically shot into DH's hands.

Daddy caught his son! 
That moment of kneeling in the sun, pushing Ian out, hearing the excitement in my husband’s voice and being handed a wet, scrunchy beautiful baby is the best moment of my life. There are no words to describe the way the world stood still as DH and I sat together and took turns holding Ian. I touched him, and smelled him, and squeezed him and listened to his little cries.

The first time I hold Ian, about .2 seconds after he popped out of me lol.
Counting every toe and finger!
Although Zon unfortunately after all that excitement missed the actual birth, she, my mom and sisters literally walked in moments after Ian was born. So she got to see him and hold him immediately.  I moved from the pool to the couch, we cut the now-limp umbilical cord and then Ian had some milkies.

Ian's first latch! I latched him on this way out of habit, but we spent the rest of the day practicing the breast crawl. It was very helpful for my uterus, too. :)
Ian's first smile is reserved for his daddy! 
Trying to fit him into the sling to weigh him. He was 10lbs, 2oz!
The placenta was very sticky, meaning it did not want to detach and I was not clamping down quickly. It was an anterior placenta, too. It took a lot of massaging to coach it out, but we avoided cord traction and inserting anything to remove it of course. I bled during this, but not profusely and once the placenta was out, I was fine. DH later rinsed off the placenta and sectioned it for raw smoothies.

The reality was that I did tear, despite all my efforts. And I decided it was the type of tear that I wanted stitched up, although I encourage mamas to research other options and to realize that going in for stitches is not the only option. My family stayed at my house, held my baby and toddler, took photos, cleaned up the entire place, emptied the birth pool and made lunch while I was getting stitched up at the local hospital. Don't you just LOVE when people do amazing things for you?

The doctor who stitched me was respectful as well and did a very nice job stitching my tear. I also asked the nurses to take a blood sample and run it to check my 'crit (hematocrit) levels due to my slow bleeding. The numbers came back just fine. :) Nonetheless, the ER supervisor tried THREE times to solicit circumcision! Each time I said, "No, thank you" and she continued to pressure me to schedule it. I was tired and wanted to fly under the radar and get home to my baby. I found myself biting my tongue so as not to get into a debate with her. As a staunch advocate for human rights, it was hard!

Hanging out together while I was getting stitched up!
I birthed under the Harvest moon, as captured by http://www.drmomma.org.
Ian was born at home and is a
Cloth diapered (and EC'd on the side)
Sling ridin'
Tandem nursin'
Sleep sharin'
Rear facin'
Vaccine-free
...intact little guy!


Much love and thanks to everyone who helped bring Ian into this world and provided a positive, supportive community, especially Michelle R. for donating her La Bassine birth pool.

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