Lauren on Living

A Lifestyle Blog about Simplifying Healthy Living

Did You Know? // Car Seats

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Many thrifty and savvy parents are turning to places like craigslist for used baby stuff, while I generally endorse this, I advise caution when it comes to the car seat.  Unless you can guarantee that the car seat hasn’t been in a crash, it’s best to stir clear.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) car seats that have been in moderate to severe crashes need to be replaced due to the structural integrity of the car seat being compromised.  They do state that car seats that have been in minor crashes don’t necessarily have to be discarded as long as they meet ALL of the following criteria:

  • The vehicle was able to be driven away from the crash site;
  • The vehicle door nearest the safety seat was undamaged;
  • There were no injuries to any of the vehicle occupants;
  • The air bags (if present) did not deploy; AND
  • There is no visible damage to the safety seat

Many car seat manufacturers state that you need a replacement after every crash, regardless of severity, however it is to their financial benefit to say so.  In addition, if you have a car seat manufacturer warranty, it may be considered void if it’s been in a crash, so that’s something worth considering.

If your car seat has been in a crash and no longer deemed safe, I recommend cutting up the harness, tearing off the fabric and writing on it in permanent marker indicating that it has been in a crash, so that no one else tries to salvage and use it.

It is always safest to buy car seats new, but if you really want to get a used one I recommend getting one from someone you know and trust.

This is a great post about car seat safety.

On a side note: during winter, make sure you remove your child’s puffy coat before buckling them into their car seat.  In a crash the coat will compress and the car seat harness will be too loose to protect them as well as it should.  To keep them warm on a winter drive, cover them with a blanket instead.

Did You Know? Pregnancy Weeks Vs. Months

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When you get pregnant your due date is calculated roughly 40 weeks from the first day of your last period.  40 weeks.  I once heard a guest lecturer in one of my graduate classes say that most people believed that pregnancy was 9 months long, when in fact it was 10 months long and she backed this up by saying that 40 weeks, with 4 weeks in each month added up to 10 months.  At the time my mind was totally blown, but then I started thinking about it and I realized something that should have been blatantly obvious all along:  Most months are longer than 4 weeks.  There are exactly 4 weeks in the month of February (when it isn’t a leap year) but that’s the only month where that rule applies, for the rest of the months, that leaves 2 or 3 days unaccounted for, which over the course of a pregnancy can really add up.

So what am I getting at?  Well, if you want to wait until you’re 3 months pregnant to announce your pregnancy and you announce it when you’re 12 weeks pregnant, then you are announcing just over a week early.  During my first pregnancy I was one of those people.  I announced I was pregnant at 12 weeks exactly only to find out at 13 weeks that I had miscarried.   Had I waiting until I was actually 3 months pregnant I would have known about the miscarriage before making the announcement and I would have been able to avoid a lot of questions and explanations that I didn’t want to deal with at the time.

I can’t tell you how many times I hear women say that they are 5 months pregnant when they go for their 20 week ultrasound, or 7 months pregnant when they are 28 weeks along.  This just is not correct.  It’s like when someone says: “for all intense and purposes” rather than “for all intents and purposes.” More than anything I just want to educate people about what’s accurate and correct.

My 40 week mark is December 5th.  I was exactly 9 months pregnant as of December 1st, which means that by my 40 week mark I will be 9 months and 4 days pregnant…nowhere NEAR 10 months.  Just saying.

*As a side note, I think it’s worth mentioning that the average pregnancy actually lasts 41 1/7 weeks, which is why even though my due date is December 5th, I tell everyone I have until December 19th in the hopes that this will help quell all the calls and messages I have been getting from people who are lovingly over eager for the baby to arrive.*

Did You Know? Eating for Two

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Did you know that the whole “you’re eating for two and therefore you can eat twice as much” while you’re pregnant philosophy is a complete myth?  Well it is.  While it is true that you are technically providing sustenance for 2 people, yourself and your baby, it is not true that that means you can or should eat twice as much.  In fact during pregnancy you only need 300 extra calories a day (that’s like an apple and a yogurt cup).  So when people try to add food to your plate or tell you to eat more because you’re “eating for two”, just smile polity and go about your business OR you can give them a lesson on caloric intake during pregnancy, however I have found that this isn’t always received very warmly.  I generally recommend that pregnant women eat when they’re truly hungry.  I say ‘truly’ hungry because I find that a lot of women give themselves a free-pass to eat as much and as often as they want during pregnancy and that doesn’t always translate into eating because they’re hungry.  It could mean eating because they feel like indulging, or are bored and they justify it by telling themselves that they are eating for two.  Also what you eat matters, but I’ll be doing a separate post about nutrition in pregnancy so check back for that.