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Babies A-Z: Your Baby’s Life Depends on Your Car Seat

Is it really necessary to put your baby in a car seat if you’re only going a block or two? Well, let me ask you something.

Would you skip using a condom because you’re only having a quickie?

Yeah. Let that sink in a minute. Not using a carseat because you are not going very far is the same logic as not using a condom because you are only going to have a quickie.

As a new mom, when you go to pick out your baby’s car seat, you’re bound to have a lot of questions! And for good reason!

According to SeatCheck.org: 8 Common Car Seat Installation Mistakes

Not using the right child safety seats for a child’s size and age;

Not placing the child safety seat in the correct direction;

Incorrect installation of the child safety seat in relation to the vehicle’s air bags;

Incorrect installation and tightness of the child safety seat to the vehicle seat;

Not securing or tightening the child safety seat’s harness and crotch straps;

Improper use of locking clips for certain vehicle safety belts;

Not making sure the vehicle’s seat belts fit properly across the child when using a booster seat; and

Using a defective or broken child safety seat.

Why should you take the car seat decision so seriously?

According to the CDC, more than 650 kids under the age of 12 were killed in auto accidents in 2011.

And nearly 150 thousand kids in the same age group were seriously injured in accidents.

Of those who died, a third were unbuckled and not using pr0per car seats.

The CDC’s Recommendations for Risk Reduction for Every Age

Buckling children in age- and size-appropriate car seats, booster seats, and seat belts reduces the risk of serious and fatal injuries:

Car seat use reduces the risk for death to infants (aged <1 year) by 71%; and to toddlers (aged 1–4 years) by 54% in passenger vehicles.²

Booster seat use reduces the risk for serious injury by 45% for children aged 4–8 years when compared with seat belt use alone.³

For older children and adults, seat belt use reduces the risk for death and serious injury by approximately half.⁴

Which car seat is best for your baby?

There are a ton of different car seats on the market today, with a wide variety of features. Check out this handy infographic from the CDC for the basics.

You need to take this particular decision pretty seriously. Remember that the car seat you choose will be what protects the baby if there was ever a car accident – it can literally be the difference between surviving an accident or not!

Car Seat Recommendations from the CDC: Know the stages

Make sure children are properly buckled up in a car seat, booster seat, or seat belt, whichever is appropriate for their age, height and weight.

Birth up to Age 2: Rear-facing car seat.
For the best possible protection, infants and children should be buckled in a rear-facing car seat, in the back seat, until age 2 or when they reach the upper weight or height limits of their particular seat. Check the seat’s owner’s manual and/or labels on the seat for weight and height limits.

Age 2 up to at least Age 5: Forward-facing car seat.
When children outgrow their rear-facing seats they should be buckled in a forward-facing car seat, in the back seat, until at least age 5 or when they reach the upper weight or height limit of their particular seat. Check the seat’s owner’s manual and/or labels on the seat for weight and height limits.

Age 5 up until seat belts fit properly: Booster seat.
Once children outgrow their forward-facing seat, (by reaching the upper height or weight limit of their seat), they should be buckled in a belt positioning booster seat until seat belts fit properly. Seat belts fit properly when the lap belt lays across the upper thighs (not the stomach) and the shoulder belt lays across the chest (not the neck). Remember to keep children properly buckled in the back seat for the best possible protection.

Once Seat Belts Fit Properly without a Booster Seat: Seat Belt
Children no longer need to use a booster seat once seat belts fit them properly. Seat belts fit properly when the lap belt lays across the upper thighs (not the stomach) and the shoulder belt lays across the chest (not the neck). The recommended height for proper seat belt fit is 57 inches tall. For the best possible protection keep children properly buckled in the back seat.

Install and Use Car & Booster Seats Properly
Install and use car seats and booster seats according to the seat’s owner’s manual or get help installing them from a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician.

Find a child passenger safety technician.

Don’t Seat Children in Front of an Airbag
Buckle all children aged 12 and under in the back seat. Airbags can kill young children riding in the front seat. Never place a rear-facing car seat in front of an air bag.

Seat Children in the Middle of the Back Seat
Buckle children in the middle of the back seat when possible, because it is the safest spot in the vehicle.¹³

Use Proper Restraints Every Trip
Buckle children in car seats, booster seats, or seat belts on every trip, no matter how short.

Always Wear a Seat Belt
Set a good example by always using a seat belt themselves.

Sometimes the car seat is even sentimental to the mom because it is the item that is going to carry baby home for the first time from the hospital.

So when picking out a car seat ALWAYS ask questions! No question is a dumb question when it comes to your child’s safety!

Now comes the fun part! All car seats come in different colors and designs! Get creative! Make your baby’s “second home” unique and comfortable!

Tell me how your experience of going and purchasing your baby’s car seat went, in the comments below!

Additional Resources for Car Seat Safety and Selection from the CDC

What Works: Strategies to Increase Car Seat and Booster Seat Use

CDC Vital Signs: Child Passenger Safety – Buckle up every age, every trip

CDC Feature Article: Child Passenger Safety

Buckle Up: Restraint Use State Fact Sheets

American Academy of Pediatrics: Policy Statement – Child Passenger Safety

Find a child passenger safety technician

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: Parent’s Central

IIHS: Child Safety

The ‘Wal-Mart’ Stigma: Who are the ‘real’ people of Wal-Mart?

by Melina Ann

I am an adult who had never shopped at Wal-Mart a day in her life until last year.

Okay, my mother and father might have taken me when I was a child. However, as an adult I had never willingly gone to Wal-Mart.

I knew that there was a certain negative stigma that comes with Wal-Mart and the people who work or shop there. I knew dirty people who worked at Wal-Mart.

I saw, just like everyone else, photos of people at Wal-Mart showing off their back boobs and men in Speedos checking out. I read the Google “fat costumes” article about Wal-Mart and their lack of decency. I was totally turned off by that store.

I felt like the people who shopped at Wal-Mart were below me. I don’t wear sweatpants out in public…like EVER! I don’t have crazy hair! I don’t have back boobs! I don’t wear nude leggings either.

I dress appropriately for my age. I love my kids and would never strap them to the bottom of a cart. I would never have poop stains let alone leave the house with them. I have self decency.

It seemed that the people who went to Wal-Mart did NOT!

I was wrong. I will be the first to admit it. I went to Wal-Mart last year. I learned so much about people and myself during this time.

1. Not everyone who goes to Wal-Mart is homeless – The people who shop at Wal-Mart are not homeless nor do they lack common sense. Some dress like they have no place to live but those people are the ones who don’t care what others think about them. I want to be more like that. I want to be able to walk out of the house in the middle of the night in my pjs to get meds for my kid without feeling judged too. (however, I will never leave the house without makeup) That must feel liberating! I am too judgmental of myself.

2. You look better than 99.99999999% of everyone there – Let’s face it. Wal-Mart is known for it’s crazy looking people. Need an esteem boost? How about a little pick me up? Go to Wal-Mart! I don’t even have to walk all the way inside sometimes. Just walking up to the door is enough for me.

3. You DO NOT have to wear spandex to shop at Wal-Mart – From photos on the web I was for certain that you had to wear spandex to shop at Wal-Mart. Preferably nude, two sizes too small spandex. I have since learned that you do not.

4. Their prices are great – We all know that some stuff at stores is priced higher. I’m not saying that Wal-Mart doesn’t do that too. However, I am saying that when I shop at a regular store versus Wal-Mart I do end up spending less. (What’s a “regular” store? Anything that is not Wal-Mart I consider a regular store.)

5. It’s an everything store – Groceries and clothes and electronics and paint and car repair and pet store and automotive store and why wouldn’t you shop here store? I was naive. I can now go to Wal-Mart and have my tires rotated, get a new car key made, while waiting on my living room paint to be mixed, grab the kid’s soccer shorts he needs for school, the daughter’s jewelry was fixed and is ready to be picked up at the jewelry counter, and I can get dinner for tonight even hot food all at one place. That’s a win, win, win!

I do not see people taking photos ever. I was always worried I’d be in the background of a Wal-Mart person’s photo shoot.

I have never witnessed someone posing in the dairy section for their senior photos.

I haven’t seen people having sex on the futons either. (bummer?) I do see strange people but that’s part of the fun.

I had totally the wrong idea of what this store was. Wal-Mart is just a regular store with a little something extra…everything!

I’m waiting for a nail salon and photo studio to come to our local store. Then my life will be complete.

www.QueenBeeing.com/DIY

My Inner Geek on Why Walmart’s ‘Fat Girl Costumes’ Were (Probably) Google’s Fault

by Angela Atkinson

“I found there was only one way to look thin: hang out with fat people.” ~Rodney Dangerfield

You’ve probably heard about the whole “Walmart fat girl costumes” debacle by now, right?

If not, let me give you the skinny (pun totally intended). Basically, for a short time on Monday, there was a section in the Halloween department on Walmart.com that was labeled “fat girl costumes.” It looked a lot like this.

Of course, everyone and their brother totally wigged out, calling for the head of the one who dared to type such a thing into Walmart’s categories section.

“It’s not clear where the original description was penned by the budding Shakespeares behind Walmart’s website copy or someone else,” wrote Jezabel’s Anna Merlan. “Walmart’s costume section, in other words, is truly the hottest of messes. Let’s start taking bets on how long it’ll be until the Fat Girl section disappears and we’re subjected to a totally sincere apology from a retail giant who really really cares (about taking your money, in return for a shitty costume).”

“Halloween, brought to you by Walmart — the best time of year to make fun of any woman over a size 6,” quipped HuffPo’s Nina Badahur. “If you want some actually clever costume ideas, check out our list here.“

While I definitely can’t tell you the name of a person who allowed that label to go public, I can tell you one thing: it is most likely NOT because someone hates all women, fat women–or any women. I’d like to think that it has nothing to do with any kind of ISM–sexism, fatism, you know–isms– but rather, I’d like to believe that the cause is much more simple: plain old SEO–search engine optimization.

How SEO Could Make Walmart Call You a “Fat Girl”

See, as an internet professional (aka geek), I know a thing or two about how search engines work. And when companies try to code in automatically generated search terms, they use algorithms that often pull from Google searches (and other search engines). And though it was obviously a mistake that it became an official category, isn’t it possible that the term “fat girl costumes” were searched so often when people ultimately ended up purchasing a plus-sized costume that it became a recognizable term for the search engines?

And, I don’t know, it’s possible that Walmart’s site is so sophisticated that it could use the top-searched matched term as a label for its categories. Or is it?

In any case, I’d like to believe that the Walmart web folks don’t hate our plus-sized sisters–rather, maybe they’re just SEO experts and/or crazy hackers who got carried away with their awesome technnology.

To be fair, WalMart later released a statement that reiterated that “this never should have been on our site. It is unacceptable, and we apologize. We are working to remove it as soon as possible and ensure this never happens again.”

What do you think? Should we be taking this whole “fat girl costumes” deal very seriously?

My Secret Shame: I hate myself for loving you, @WalMart

by Angela Atkinson

I am about to come out of the shopper shame closet. I hope you’re sitting down. My name is Angie and I am a secret Wal-Mart shopper.

A secret Wal-Mart shopper is not to be confused with a Wal-Mart secret shopper, mind you.

A secret shopper is a person who offers his employer a glimpse at what a real customer would experience, and generally the employees never even know they have been “shopped.”

But as a secret Wal-Mart shopper, I do not hide my identity to the people at the store (though I feel a little dirty, shopping there, not gonna lie–but seriously? Sometimes my inner cheapskate comes out and drags me there, reminding me that there is no reason to pay more money for the exact same item I can buy elsewhere just because I have Wal-Mart shame. Don’t judge me. I just don’t see any logic to it.

However, it’s safe to say that there is a certain lack of concern for customer service, at least in some Wal-Mart stores in my area.

Goodbye, forever?

Well, one evening a couple weeks ago, I thought I was finally ready to end my secret Wal-Mart affair. I’d spent more than an hour gathering up $500 worth of groceries, household items, toiletries and school uniforms for my kids (all under one roof, and that was enough food to feed my family for literally three weeks!)

Again. I just can’t help myself. I’d have spent at least twice that if I’d bought all of that locally.

And then, I waited in a single line with 16, 17, 18 other customers, a line that over the course of ten minutes kept me in the same spot but continued to get longer.

If I didn’t need all that stuff, I swear I’d have walked right out of there!

Proof of the power of social media: I am writing this post in which I am publicly admitting my secret and tawdry affair with Wal-Mart.

A man next to me in the line who was really sweet and totally reminded me of some awesome outdoorsy dad type offered me his place in line, even though my cart was formidable and would clearly cost him an extra 30 minutes in line, if this checker was really moving as slowly as she appeared to be.

She seemed to be in slow motion. It was making me a little testy. Ha, that might be an understatement.

I thanked him and politely refused the offer, pointing out the whole cart thing.

The Tweet of Defiance: My Pseudo-Dramatic Social Media Moment

Anyhoo, that was about the time I decided to tweet my displeasure about this situation with a bold shout out to @WalMart. I was feeling all kinds of bold and justified.

Note to self: never shop at the Ferguson @Walmart again. One line open, 16 carts deep, not moving. Seriously? Turn down.

— Angela Atkinson (@angieatkinson) April 29, 2014

After my tweet of defiance, I noticed that within 3 or 4 minutes, like three new lines opened right up.

I am not saying it was the tweet. I am just saying it was a super fun coincidence if not.

I looked around at the relieved congestion and the people feeling less stuck and the mood lightening and smiled. (Meanwhile inside my head, I’m feeling like I am some kind of Wal-Mart shopper super hero, like my mad social media skills totally saved the freaking day. Like, I reached out and told on them via Twitter, and Mama Wal-Mart made them play nice…ahh….)

But really–I know, it could be a coincidence.

Well, then what should’ve and almost did permanently end my secret Wal-Mart affair happened…I came face to face with the checkout girl, who, by the way was an absolutely gorgeous teenager.

Unfortunately, her mother nor her employer had taught her how to talk to people. The first thing she said to me, after announcing “there’s no waiting on 10,” was, “uh ma’am, I’m closed.”

That was about the time I almost cried and started a public scene at Wal-Mart, totally blowing my secret cover. This was so unlike me, but damned if I didn’t just give up my spot in that other line that had refilled my spot and gone four big carts deeper.

It was a hard day, y’all, and it was nearly 10 p.m. at this point. I just wanted to go home.

I guess the beautiful checkout girl sensed my desperation, because she took pity on me and allowed me to stay.

I got this impression she was trying to leave, because she then informed me that she had seen me in the aisle earlier and she felt sorry for the checkout person who “got me.”

You know, because I was buying so much stuff…from the store…that she works at…ahem.

No seriously, she really said that. At least the part about feeling sorry for the checker (herself, as it turned out–karma’s a bitch, ain’t she?).

My #1 Customer Service Tip to Anyone Who Gets Paid by a Store, Shop or Other Business That Depends on My Money: Don’t make me feel guilty for spending it there!

That was about the time I told her that if I worked at Wal-Mart, I’d love customers who come in and spend that kind of cheddar on a semi regular basis (don’t judge me! It’s usually once quote month or less and I totally support my local businesses, too…but please note that I personally know a few people who have worked at Wal-Mart over the years, and that, in my opinion, counts as supporting locals.

Heck, I worked for American Studios, the company that previously subcontracted as Wal-Mart’s portrait studios, in my college and slightly post college years. I personally never worked for Wal-Mart but I suppose I would’ve never had those opportunities (and back then, top notch training) were it not for uncle Sam (Walton).

Plus, I am interested in this whole mother’s day campaign that is featuring products from woman owned companies, but I am saving that for another post.

(Which reminds me, tune in all week to find out what I’ll be revealing about myself at Queenbeeing.com – it’s related…sorta. But it’s definitely huge.)

So, the checker sort of redeemed herself by getting all the groceries in bags and helping me load them into the cart. That was cool…except that she also made me feel like I should have apologized for buying stuff from her employer…but I think if I were her employer, I would want to, I don’t know, teach these people to stop acting like they hate their customers.

But here is why, at present, I haven’t broken up with Wal-Mart yet!

Wal-Mart’s Social Media Geniuses: I can’t quit you!

Like I said, maybe it was just a coincidence that directly after I tweeted, the floodgates (aka checkout stands) miraculously opened up. But then again, maybe not. See, once I got home, I noticed that Wal-Mart had tweeted me back!

@angieatkinson Thank you for letting us know about the long lines at your local Walmart. We value what our customers have to say. -Jes — Walmart (@Walmart) April 29, 2014

After thanking the Wal-Mart tweeter, I got this:

@angieatkinson You’re welcome. Have a great night! -Kinga

— Walmart (@Walmart) April 29, 2014

As a total social media geek, I just can’t quit a company that has that kind of sharp customer service on its side–despite the fact that it sells its products for “irresponsibly low” prices, according to Daniel Tosh. (And come on, that’s a whole lot of the reason I can’t stop, let’s be honest!)

With all of this being said, I’m fully prepared to have the Wal-Mart hating-party rain down its disdain on me–I can take it. Let me have it–I deserve it. I hate myself for loving Walmart.

How do you feel about Wal-Mart? Let me hear it in the comments section, below!