E4 Top 5 Tips for Car Safety

Dr Jen Recommends Top 5 Ways to stay safe in the car including:
1. Picking the right car seat
2. Reducing possible projectiles
3. Drive first
4. Entertaining the kids
5. Keep a "Go Bag" ready in case of emergency

Dr Jen Recommends the following products:  (Click the link to be redirected to each item.)
1. Britax Infant Car Seat
2. Britax One 4 Life All in one car seat
3. Doona Convertible Infant Car Seat & Latch Base
4. Safe Traffic System Ride Safer Travel Vest

(Full disclosure: These links may contain affiliations which result in a small commission. The products recommended here are actually used by Dr Jen & Brent.) 

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:04

[inaudible]

Speaker 2 0:04

Hello and welcome to Dr. Jen recommends . I'm Dr. Jen and I'm joined here in the studio by Brent AKA pharmacist and awesome husband. Thank you very much. So today we want to talk about the top five car safety tips when riding with infants and children. And so let's get right into it. Number one is kind of the obvious one, but it is the car seat. Uh, so when you leave the newborn nursery, that's actually something they have you bring into the hospital, even with you when you're delivering. And that is the dun dun dun the car seat. Um, so there are all makes and models , uh, lots of different brands. I know that Brent and I are sort of research junkies. And so it took us, I don't know how many, how many weeks to months do you think it took

Speaker 3 0:52

All the time looking? And we found the right one for us. It's great. I love our art .

Speaker 2 0:58

We did. So the car seat is obviously going to depend on the age of your child at the time. So of course we were in the, in the market for an infant car seat. Um, and I did want a true infant, not quite a convertible one yet because she was on the smaller side. It only six pounds, 10 ounces. And so we did , um , infant car seat and after loads and loads of research, we did , um , decide to go with the Burdick's car seat, that it was a wonderful brand. Uh , not only did they use steel reinforcements in their actual car seat design, they had an awesome roll bar that came with it as well. And the padding that is in the car seat is actually the NFL football helmet material. And they have a patent on that. So no other car seat company can use that other car seat companies actually use styrofoam. And so,

Speaker 3 1:50

Yeah, so the bricks, they don't work because they're still, they're not mostly plastic. Like some of the other ones are, they're certainly the safest, safest. They have crumple zones that are engineered into them. And , uh, you know, here's the drawback, they are heavy, right? So it's a little heavy in , and it was sometimes difficult for the grandparents to , uh , haul the kiddo and the car seat around as you weigh things and , and put them into perspective. We felt like it was the best car seat for us. It does have an adapter for our stroller. So that worked out pretty well for us. So we, we have one stroller that will last for her for as long as she needs bricks . We like it. We'll put a link in the show notes for you so that you can take a look at those. And we decided to stay with that company because we liked it so much as we moved up to her next car seat,

Speaker 2 2:40

Right. So we've gone now to a convertible car seat. So it will continue to stay rear facing , which we'll talk about in a minute, but they can also then turn it forward and it becomes a booster and all of that. So , um, it's kind of cool cause through the office, of course, I'm seeing lots of different children and infants in particular. And so it's really fun to see what car seats and things peop other people have chosen. And so there's kind of a big group of people that have got, gotten this car seat and it is awesome. It's a car seat and it becomes a stroller kind of all in one. So they literally pull the car seat out of the car and then flip down some wheels. Um, and so I know a lot of people have loved that one lately. And so we will put the name of that one down in the links as well. But my husband is six, three, and so would have been interesting seeing him push that, that little stroller car seat combo because he , he was a bit too tall for that when it sort of looked like he was pushing a , like a true, like a child's toy toy one.

Speaker 3 3:41

Yeah. So my back, thanks you. Yeah , we love our stroller and we will , we'll put the links as we said in the show notes, but , uh , drop a comment in on this podcast in Dr. Jen recommends , uh, tell us what you like about your car seat and your stroller. Let us hear from you now, the second car seat , uh , you know , that you graduated , um, see that she's going to is also from bricks . It's called the one for life model, right . As you described it , uh , it will last her for as long as she needs one until she is old enough to sit in a regular seat. Right ? So what are some of those recommendations?

Speaker 2 4:21

So right now the recommendations are until two years of age , uh, an infant and toddler need to be rear facing in the car. And so that is, that is purely because it is the safest way to ride in a car. So we are trying to protect our infants from that head on high speed collision. And so when they're rear facing and say, heaven forbid, you do get in a head on collision with somebody else. You know, the infant and toddler just sort of relaxes back into that seat instead of us adults who are forward facing, we ended up getting the whiplash and all of the other injuries associated with our bodies being thrown forward. So , um, so the current recommendation is rear facing until two. And I always tell patients this in the office, if you're , if your toddler at two years of age is sort of oblivious or does not care that they are rear facing , we actually want to keep them rear facing as long as possible for safety purposes. Now, of course, each car seat make and model do have specific height and weight recommendations of when they say you need to turn them around on them. Um, after that two years of age, however, if they're still within the capabilities to be rear-facing , I really would keep them rear facing as long as possible just for safety purposes.

Speaker 3 5:37

Yeah. And we liked that , uh , that roll bar that goes with it as well. So if you have a , um , uh , a car wreck goodness from bed and you have those forces going backwards and forwards, you're not going to have the car seat fold up on the car itself. Right.

Speaker 2 5:54

Right. Think of just your, your kind of mechanics I'm sitting here picturing this in my head right now, if you have a rear facing. So you're a little top-heavy ish, especially those convertible, that seat is huge. But , um , if we have a little bit top heavy rear facing car seat and you get bumped from behind then that is what was happening is that they were actually , um, they were kind of leaning over. So that roll bar will actually hit the seat and not allow the car seat to tip towards the seat. If that makes sense. So no matter what

Speaker 3 6:24

Kind of car seats you have, you want to be sure that it is installed properly. I know a lot of fire departments offer inspections where you can come by and they will check to make sure that your car seat is in the right way, because it's so important that things are lined up properly so that all of those design elements work when you need them.

Speaker 2 6:45

Correct. And oftentimes the hospitals also will check those. A lot of them have certain days and times, and especially with COVID , um , definitely call ahead. But in that newborn period, as you're leading up to the delivery and the day, you know, the days of your delivery, while you're still in the hospital, they do have people that can go out and check your cars before you drive off. That's sort of a terrifying day there when they literally hand you your infant and here's your discharge paperwork, and you are free to take this little human home. It was sort of, even for a pediatrician that day was a little scary and uncanny. I was like, really? You trust me to take this human home? Oh my goodness. But , uh, but uh, car seat safety is super important. And so follow the guidelines. I know we keep brochures at our office and I give them at every visit, especially when the child is about to age up in a car seat or be able to go to the five harness, then go to a booster seat. So we check those recommendations. So,

Speaker 3 7:38

And it's kinda cool that now they have these harnesses that can , um, if you have a child that is a little larger than the car seat will accommodate, you can actually harness this child into the seat with some the , what looks like it's , it's coming out of, you know, a jet of some sorts .

Speaker 2 7:59

It sort of looks like that. Jump, that jump seat that , um, flight attendants and pilots might sit in. So that is called a travel vest. And if exactly what Brent just said, if you have a child that is , um , overweight or does not fit into the car seat comfortably, then the travel vest is a good option that you can get and you can, a lot of stores do not carry those. So you would need to get those on.

Speaker 3 8:21

Yeah, we'll put some links into those. I mean, who doesn't want to align green glow in the dark travel vest when you're on a road trip?

Speaker 2 8:29

Right. All right. Let's move on our top. Our second top , uh , car safety tip is actually projectiles. And so projectiles in a car accident can literally be anything in your car that is not strapped down. And so , um, I always like to talk about the amount of toys and things like that, that we're giving children when they are in their car seat. Um, you know, I know they make a lot of fun, little ADAP adaptations to put on car seats, and these are not made by the car seat companies. These are just toy companies and things, giving you little, little things and gadgets to hang on to the car seat for them to play with. And so I always try to recommend to my patients not to attach those type of things on there, unless they're made by the car seat company or they are so securely fastened that they kept , they couldn't fly off. A lot of them are made with plastic parts. Uh , sometimes they're not even, you know, plastic on there, they're just kind of wound around the car seat handle. And so unfortunately what those end up being is, if you are in a high speed collision, those are projectiles that literally can hit your, hit your baby or toddler in the head, or even come up into the front and hit you , um , or a passenger in the, in the head. And so we like to minimize those type of things. Also, you know, technology, things like that, that they may be holding unsupervised just because of the same reason. I mean, an iPad or other screen at a high speed, right . To your child's head could definitely do some damage. So just be careful with things in the car that are not strapped down.

Speaker 3 10:03

Sure. So you want to be sure that , um, you know, your golf clubs are, you know, not just laid up in the back of your SUV or if someone has a purse that it's open and all these things can come flying out and , uh , damage anyone that's in the car, but specifically your children, you just want to be sure that they're protected. Right.

Speaker 2 10:24

So tip number three is, is an, is an interesting one. So this one is minimizing distractions and yeah. Hello squirrel. Now minimizing distractions is a, is a huge category. And you know, the number one thing we have to remember and trust me, my husband and I, although he is a seasoned parent as, as , um, his daughter and my bonus daughter is about to be 21. Whoa . Um, so we have, but we have a new infant and you have to remember to drive first , um , and let the other things kind of fall behind. And so we have definitely driven even lately with a screaming infant in the back. And so that can be, Oh, my blood pressure kind of goes up and I start kinda getting my heart rate up , uh , just thinking about it. But it's , it's the worst to drive with a screaming infant in the car. Would you agree?

Speaker 3 11:14

Absolutely. I mean, you know, you want to take care of the child, first thing, your natural instinct, let me reach back here and make sure everything's okay. And whereas that pacifier and where the bottle go, and where's the stuffed animal that always comes her down, but you have to drive first. You absolutely have to. And you can't, you can't be reaching back to try to reach the stretch and reach the car seat and drive at the same time. So there's some things that might be able to help you .

Speaker 2 11:43

Yeah. So number one, if you are in the car alone with your infant or toddler, that is now screaming in the background, you know, number one, you just want to, you want to take some good, deep calming breaths, and you need to realize too, that even though your infant is screaming in the background, they are strapped in securely. Obviously they're breathing because they're screaming bloody murder and that they are safe. And so if you find that you are getting distracted by them, or you're just, it's making you really sad or upset, you know, that best thing to do is to find a safe place to pull over. Um, you know, maybe try to find the next exit that maybe has a good gas station or restaurant so that you could stop and then get out and actually soothe or feed or whatever you need to do with your infant. If you do have the fortune of having a second person in the car, which is so important sometimes , um, and Brent can attest to this. I actually rarely ride in the passenger seat beside him. Um , only if she's asleep or in a really great mood that day. Otherwise I try to sit in the back with her just so that I can be that distraction or if she were to need something that I'm right there, that I could get something for. Um, so I love that, you know, obviously we're in our day to day, we do not always have the luxury of two passengers in the car with them. So, you know, drive first, try to pull over if you need to and know that your child is safe , um, cause they are strapped into their seat appropriately. Another thing that I always want to put in here , um, is definitely no texting and driving, you know, not only is it your life that you're protecting, but you've got your child in the back too. So I'm a , I'm kind of a stickler on that one. And I put my phone away for sure. And even though I'm on call 24 hours a day in my concierge practice, you know what, that is something that, you know, even if it is a text, it can wait until I'm somewhere safer to look at that. So those are my big tips on trying to minimize distraction. Um, you know, you do want to find fun things to entertain your, your child. And if it's an infant, you know, putting on some music that may be fun is always a great idea. L sometimes just likes to be talked to even. So we'll just talk and , and chat and she sings, but usually it, it ends up with some type of music being on and, Oh, she loves everything from jazz to Frank Sinatra to of course, you know, marijuana right now is, is all the rage with her. So we will put on that music and she dances so

Speaker 3 14:05

Clear . She does listen to Judas priest and van Halen, the police as well .

Speaker 2 14:11

That's awesome. But if you have those older kids too, and you are trying to maybe cut down on some of their screen time , um, I love I

Speaker 3 14:18

Spy that is always fun. The alphabet

Speaker 2 14:21

Game, trying to find something on billboards with all the, with all the letters of the alphabet, I've definitely played my fair share of the license plate game is super fun, but just trying to find creative, fun games that you can do in the car to kind of involve the whole family. And, you know, I love that when vehicles do have , um , some technology built in whether it's, you know, DVD players, things like that, and the built-in DVD players actually that is reducing projectiles because you're not physically holding something in lap. And they do make, you know, after model things that will hook onto seats securely. So as long as , as we're doing that, that is, you know , decreasing your projectile risk.

Speaker 3 15:01

So we've talked about having the right car seat, reducing the projectiles in the car, and then different ways that we can entertain different ages of children. What else do we need to know about car safety?

Speaker 2 15:14

So the number five car safety tip is the go-bag for emergencies. And so all of us have in our day to day planned , we are going from point a to point B, and it should take 10 minutes or 17 minutes, or if we're going on a longer trip, it may take eight hours. However, we can't always plan for those emergencies that we may have like a flat tire or, Oh my goodness. Running out of gas. I've almost done that before. That's embarrassing. I try not to do that with the child, but I am the worst at going to get the gas tank filled up.

Speaker 3 15:45

That is a truth beyond measure. I go ahead.

Speaker 2 15:49

When the car says, you still have four miles, I take that as you know, that is truth right there. So anyways, I should not do that with the child. Um, but having that emergency go bag is super important. And so the obvious things that we would need for a baby, if we are stuck on the side of the road, they are going to need food. Definitely. So having extra formula or, you know, if you're breastfeeding , that's awesome because you would have milk anytime you need it. But if you're not, you need to plan accordingly and have some bottled water, have an extra can of formula in a bag. We're going to need diapers and wipes. And then, you know, if it were nighttime or something and it did get colder , we need to make sure we have some blankets or some extra clothing just in case. Cause you don't know how long you're going to be out there. So, you know, with AAA and different things, most of the time, our weights would not be very long, but even a couple of hours in cold or reverse that a couple of hours in extreme heat , um , can be pretty serious. So kind of having that emergency bag with the essentials can be lifesaving .

Speaker 3 16:49

That sounds great. So in addition to our first aid kit, that we're going to keep in our car, we're going to have a go bag for the kiddos to make sure that they have everything they need in case something happens.

Speaker 2 17:00

You got it. So those are our top five car safety tips. Thanks for joining us today. And thank you, Brent, for joining me and you guys stay tuned to the next edition of Dr. Jen recommends

Speaker 4 17:11

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