Flats & Handwashing Challenge 2013 Day 1

I'm participating in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry in which cloth diapering parents are handwashing diapers for a week in order to prove that cloth diapering can be done without a washer or dryer. I am blogging about my experience all week.

Today's blogging prompt is "Why did you decide to take the challenge?"

I decided to take the challenge for a few reasons:

• I'm a cloth diaper blogger. It would be kind of lame if I didn't do this!
• Connect with other cloth diaper bloggers.
• To show that cloth diapering can be done even in less-than-ideal conditions
• To practice for worst-case scenarios like marshall law or storms of the century. Ok, I'm sort of kidding, but with all the crazy things that have been happening in the world lately (Boston, blizzards/hurricanes), this does seem a little more real. Just call me MacGyver.
• To try again after a difficult time with the flats challenge while moving across the country two years ago.
• Because I actually love flats.

How's it going?
Since Penny uses the potty, I am just working with one kiddo, and Olive is only 4 months. It's a nice age for this challenge because the breastfed poo is relatively easy to work with. No washing so far since it's just the morning of day 1, but stay tuned. I am planning to wash every night this time around. I think one of my challenges last time was that I waited until I was almost out of diapers so that I only had to wash a couple of times. But that resulted in huge loads of diapers to wash, which was exhausting and hard. Plus, I was washing in a hotel room. This year, I think one of the biggest challenges for me will be to blog every day this week. Since having Olive, I have become sort of a once/week blogger, but I will do my best. Two kids and gorgeous weather makes me want to get out of the house instead of tapping away on my computer!

Who's playing along? Anyone?

Flats & Handwashing Challenge 2013

I have decided to participate in the Flats & Handwashing Challenge 2013! This is an annual event where participants agree to use flatfold diapers with covers for one full week and wash them only by hand. No washer. No dryer. If you're a long-time reader, you may remember that I participated two years ago when the challenge was first introduced. Penny was just 4 months old, and the week of the Flats Challenge just happened to coincide with our cross-country move from Virginia to Nebraska. I really wanted to be part of this big cloth diaper blogging event, so I went for it and participated despite the craziness of being a new mom and moving across the country with a 4-mo old baby. The posts I wrote about the Flats Challenge can all be found here, but basically I found it to be pretty tough. I remember reading about other participants' experiences and thinking that they seemed to be handling the challenge much better than I was. Well, duh! Looking back, I think I was crazy trying to handwash diapers for the first time in the middle of such a stressful week, so no wonder it seemed more difficult for me. Last year, I just sort of missed the challenge. I had stopped following most cloth diaper blogs because it seemed that all they did was reviews and giveaways, which got tedious, so I was just kind of out of the loop.

This time around, I'll be home in my normal environment with access to the right supplies and enough space to set up a washing and drying station. I also have a lot more experience with cloth diapers in general and flats in particular, and hopefully that experience will serve to make the whole thing a bit more smooth. Olive is a great age for it, since she isn't on solids yet, and Penny is fully potty trained. What do you all think? Anyone want to join in the fun? Flats can be bought or made for very inexpensive or even free, and there are lots of resources at the link above. Looking forward to the challenge this year! Let me know if you are joining in so that I can follow you.

Cloth Diapers and Daycare: One Mom's Story

I am so excited to share this post with you all today, as it has been in the works for awhile. One of the most common reasons I hear for parents not using cloth diapers is related to daycare's lack of cooperation. Many people say that their daycare doesn't allow cloth diapers or doesn't like them. However, this is not an insurmountable problem! Two years ago, I wrote this post with some suggestions on approaching your daycare regarding CDs, and I noticed that it was a popular one. I have been wanting to do a follow-up post, but since I am a stay-at-home-mom, I don't have personal experience with cloth diapering in daycare. So, I recruited a friend to tell you all about her experience. Katy is a speech-language pathologist and mom of an adorable 2-year old who lives in Florida. She also has a true talent for photography. We met in graduate school, and I am so grateful to her for taking the time to write this post and sharing a sweet photo for the benefit of my readers.

Hi Cotton Bottom Mama readers!

Before I had our little monkey, the thought of cloth diapering crossed my mind, but I wasn't completely sold on it. Since we knew that I would return to work after maternity leave, I wasn't sure if daycares would allow it or what their feelings were on it.  When we toured different daycare facilities, I casually asked if they allowed cloth diapers. Most places responded "we haven't done them before", or "we will do them only if it is medically necessary".  I didn't want to do CD only when we were at home, so I decided to play it by ear.  When Baby C was about 2 months old and I was still on maternity leave, I decided to CD full time (the diapers we bought came with a 30 day trial period, so if we didn't like them or I didn't think it would work at daycare, we could return them with no questions asked). Turns out I loved CD and I couldn't get enough of that fluff! The daycare we use is a facility that provides care from 8 weeks of age through pre-kindergarten. They have 3 infant classrooms, with 6 babies in each classroom (with 2 teachers). They hadn't ever used CD before but since we had a doctor's note that we had to use CD because of eczema, they were more than willing to work with me (both the daycare director and our teacher were friendly about it).  

CONFESSION: C didn't really have eczema when our doctor wrote the note. Our pediatrician thought it was ridiculous that we had to have a note, so she said, "What do you want me to write it for?" I shrugged my shoulders not knowing what to say, and she said, "How about....for eczema?"   So I said, "Sounds great!" I was so glad she didn't mind doing this for me, but unfortunately I have the worse guilty conscience ever, so I waited until C had diaper rash and then turned in the note. I would think that most doctors would be supportive of writing a note for daycare to CD, so talk to your pediatrician about it- if you are nervous or think they may be weary, you could always mention/bring in research about the reproductive harm that disposables cause secondary to dioxin.  

The daycare provided our state regulations and their specific policies (sometimes your facility may have more strict rules than the state). To make CD work at daycare, I had to:

1) Provide a doctors note stating a medical reason we needed to use CD
2) Provide enough all-in-one CD each day (I took 6-7 diapers in for a 9 hour, day but we usually had a few left over. They change diapers at least every 2 hours unless in the middle of nap. We used Bumgenius and Fuzzibunz).
3) Provide a securely covered plastic container that was not accessible to children (I bought a mini trash can with lid and placed our wet bag inside each morning). The daycare teachers were helpful in rearranging their current trash system to fit our additional trashcan in a locked compartment.
4) This trash container had to be cleaned and sanitized each day (which for me meant taking out the wet bag with dirty diapers upon pick up. I offered to sanitize each day but they said the custodians could take care of that. I also used pail deodorizers to ensure there was no CD lingering smell - didn't want the teachers to have a reason not to like it )
5) It took a little education of daycare providers. We did have some leaks (especially if baby C "floated" to another classroom). I had open and honest communication with our teacher at all times. We had 'lessons' on the best way to fasten the diapers to prevent leaks, etc. The teacher was more than willing to work with me and never said anything negative to us. By the end of the year, I even had teachers asking me for advice on where to get some CD for friends or themselves :)
Each state has different regulations, so be sure to search your state's DCF child care standards for the most recent information  (http://nrckids.org/STATES/states.htm). I also thought this flyer had good information. 

If you have any questions, let me know. I am so glad that I worked up the courage to be the first to CD at our school. We loved it!

What a great story! I especially love how Katy stepped outside of her comfort zone to convince her daycare to use CDs. For more advocacy materials, here is a link to information about dioxin through the World Health Organization, and here is a research summary regarding chemical exposure through disposable diapers. Thanks again to Katy for taking the time to write this post. If you have any questions for her, you can send them to me at cottonbottommama (at) gmail (dot) com, and I will be sure to get you some answers.

Homemade Larabar Balls

I found a new favorite use for my Vitamix. I stumbled across this website and thought it would be fun to try to make some Larabars. Larabars are super yummy energy bars made from simple ingredients like nuts and dried fruit. Healthy and delicious is one of my favorite combinations. Add in "homemade", "easy/fast", and "recreated for less money", and we have an instant favorite. So far I have made the cherry pie (almonds, dates, dried cherries), apple pie (dried apples, raisins, almonds, walnuts, dates, cinnamon), carrot cake (almonds, walnuts, dates, raisins, coconut oil, coconut, cinnamon, carrots, and pineapple, which I didn't have so I substituted with apples), and chocolate chip cookie dough (dates, cashews, chocolate chips) recipes. They have all been easy and delicious. We made a batch for playgroup, and they were a huge hit with everyone. Luckily, we don't have any allergies in playgroup because there are all kinds of nuts in these recipes.

I buy all of my ingredients at Costco because that is where I can find the best price, but some day when I am a bajillionaire, I will buy all organic from bulk bins and not have any packaging. But the price difference is so huge that I can't justify buying them anywhere but Costco right now. I am looking into Tierra Farms though and might buy from there once I can do some price comparisons.

More details are available at Rawified, but you basically dump all the ingredients in the Vitamix or food processor and process until it forms a chunky paste. It doesn't have to be completely smooth–I appreciate the chunks. On my Vitamix, I mixed at about a 7 for a minute or so, making good use of the tamper. For the cookie dough one, I just processed the cashews and dates, then mixed the chocolate chips in by hand. For my first attempt, I added the chocolate to the Vitamix at the end, and it melted pretty quickly and made more of a brownie-flavor. I made mine into tablespoon-sized balls instead of forming into bars so that we have smaller portions, but I think this would be a great granola bar or energy bar substitute if I could figure out a good storage system. Waxed paper maybe? Or small glass-locks?

These are so healthy, easy, delicious, and fast that they are great to have on hand at all times. Penny thinks she is getting a real treat when she's really just eating fruit and nuts. Love that!

For more details on why I love my Vitamix and my affiliation, see this post.

Conversations with Penny Winter/Spring 2013

The latest edition of Conversations with Penny, age 2, for your enjoyment.

2/10/13
P: Bye bye.
E: Where are you going?
P: Whole Foods.
E: What do you need there?
P: Soft pretzels. Two soft pretzels.
E: I hope you have enough money.
P: Oh, have to pay. Daddy, get me some money.

2/20/13
E: We have 20 minutes before school. What should we do?
P: Eat.
E: Ha! What do you want to eat?
P: Pomegranates.

3/6/13
P: Your water's in the oven, Mommy. I'm cooking it.

3/9/13
P: Is that your iPad, Daddy? I forgot my iPad. (Gets her magnadoodle.) I'm gonna watch a show on my iPad.

3/12/13
P: Can I have some wine?
J: How old are you?
P: I'm three. And a half.

3/18/13
P: Astronaut. Astronaut.
E: Do you know what an astronaut does?
P: What?
E: Goes into outer space and goes to the moon.
P: Does he go to the Apple Store too?

3/22/13
J: Daddy remembers that chair from when he was a little boy.
P: Are you a little boy now?
J: No, I'm not a little boy. What am I?
P: A girl.

3/23/13
P: I want to go downstairs and watch the news.

3/24/13
P: (to Josh) I gave the blanket to Mommy because you didn't listen.

4/2/13
P: (pointing to Olive's head) That's cradle cap. Don't touch the crap?

4/11/13
P: Do we have ham, Mommy?
E: No.
P: Do we have green eggs?
E: No.

4/14/13
E: Don't pull Olive's ears.
P: I'm not pulling them. I'm putting her listening ears on.

4/14/13
E: Don't play with your food.
P: I wasn't playing with it.
E: What were you doing?
P: I was squeezing it.

4/16/13
P: Can I have more vitamins?
E: Tomorrow.
P: (next day) Is it tomorrow now?

4/18/13
E: Ok, you want an orange. Do you want anything else?
P: A bacon cake. And some cashews.

Caroline's Cookies

My friend Caroline introduced me to these cookies, so I'm calling them Caroline's Cookies. These are gluten-free, sugar-free, vegan, and delicious. And they make excellent use of browning bananas.

Ingredients:
browning bananas
oats
mix-ins (optional): chocolate chips, raisins, cinnamon, dried fruit, etc.

Mash bananas with a fork and mix in oats. I used 1/2 cup oats with 2 bananas. Add mix-ins as desired. Bake 15-20 mins at 350. Stores in fridge for 2-3 days.

I used cinnamon and raisins in mine. Yum! Penny devoured them. I love when she thinks she is getting a treat, but she's really getting healthy food instead. Score.

Earth Day, Real Diapers, and Infertility Awareness

Not only is it Earth Day today (Happy Earth Day!!), but it is also Real Diaper Week and National Infertility Awareness week. What a busy week!

We try to make every day Earth Day in our house, so we aren't really doing anything in particular to celebrate today, but Olive and I did participate in the Great Cloth Diaper Change on Saturday, which always coincides with the week of Earth Day. Here is a sweet photo that I snapped of Olive just moments before the big change.

Isn't she just the sweetest? I used a BG Freetime in Lovelace for the change. We attended the second largest event in the US, which was super fun. They had lots of giveaways and swag, and it was really fun to be around so many cloth diapering families. It was also nice to spend the whole morning out with Olive. Penny and Daddy did their own thing since P is no longer in diapers. Penny is such a ball of energy and curiosity, and Olive is such a chill little trooper, so Penny tends to get most of the attention when I'm with the two of them. This was a nice chance to focus on this little muffin for a morning.

The GCDC kicks off Real Diaper week, so if you're looking to boost your stash, there are some great deals going on this week. Keep your eyes out! In fact, I think I will join the fun and offer 5% off in my Etsy shop this week. Use coupon code CBM5OFF. I mostly sell stay-dry hemp cloth diaper inserts, but you can use the coupon on anything. I have some super cute upcycled mommy & me hats in there too. Real Diaper week reminds me of the flats challenge. I am thinking about participating again this year. I did it two years ago when Penny was 4 months old, I was new to CDing, and we were in the middle of a cross-country move. I think it might be a little easier this time around, and Olive is a good age for it. Anyone else thinking of joining in?

Lastly, it is also National Infertility Awareness week, in honor of which, Circle & Bloom is offering 35% off ALL programs! It doesn't matter if the program relates to fertility or not. I have previously shared about my struggles with fertility, my experience with Circle + Bloom, and other fertility stuff, and I can't say enough awesome things about this company. Follow this link and enter NIAW35 to get your discount. They have programs for fertility, sleep, pregnancy, sexuality, and more. In full disclosure, I am a C+B affiliate.

 

Busy week for sure. And it is finally starting to warm up a bit here in Chicago, for which I am incredibly grateful. Getting some sunshine sure makes a huge difference in my mood. What about you?

Felt Foods

 Making felt food is super fun. It is a little hard not to get carried away once I get going. Here are some goodies I have made for Penny's play kitchen so far.

The bacon and eggs whip up in minutes and are a perfect gift for toddlers and preschoolers. The only thing that's a little bit of a bummer about felt food making is that it sometimes requires hand-sewing, which I usually try to avoid at all cost. But of all these foods, only the muffins needed to be hand-sewn. I used a paper muffin cup as a template and especially love the pinking shear cut edge on the pink felt muffin cups. I think it adds a little something, don't you? The rest were machine sewn, and felt does not fray, so it's really easy to work with.

There are 8 bajillion felt food tutorials out there, so if you want to make some felt food, just google it. I will, however, link you to this tutorial for the felt cookies because it is just adorable.

Olive at 3 months

It is a cold, rainy, gloomy day in Chicago. I was so super tired this morning when Penny woke me up at 6:30. It was the perfect kind of morning for sleeping in, and it was so hard to get out of bed. Olive got the memo about sleeping in, but Penny apparently did not. I dragged my butt out of bed and got to yoga this morning, and it was so totally awesome. It felt amazing to get back to it after such a long break now that Olive is old enough for the nursery. Now Olive and I are hanging out at Starbucks while Penny is at preschool. She is snoozing away, and I am enjoying a delicious soy latte (half caff b/c of nursing). Since Penny's school is only an hour and a half long (less by the time I get her inside, pottied, hands washed, etc. etc.), it's hardly worth going home, and Olive seems to sleep better when we're in noisy places. So we usually go to Starbucks, and it is one of my favorite times of the week tinkering on my laptop with good coffee while she snoozes. I usually just order coffee, but I splurged a little today. I think I am the only person who orders decaf coffee at Starbucks because they always seem to have to brew a new pot for me. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to do this, as I'm sure Olive will get more particular about her sleeping habits as she gets older, but for now I am enjoying it.

In general I have been able to enjoy Olive's newborn phase so much more than Penny's. The first few months of Penny's life were completely consumed with feeding her and trying to boost my supply, and it is all such a blur in my mind. Olive is now 3 months old, and although it has totally flown by, I have been able to enjoy the sweet, cuddly, sleepy newborn phase. And now she's not even really a newborn anymore. She is starting to show more personality and loves to kick her feet. She smiles big gummy grins all the time and is generally super happy. She loves the activity gym and bouncy seat and of course her big sis. She rolled over a couple of times really early on, but I think it was kind of a fluke–I would put her down on her tummy with her hands under her chin, and she'd kind of stretch out her arms to flip herself over. No back-to-tummy rolling yet. She is also not much of a comfort nurser–in fact, if she's not hungry, she will refuse the breast and will actually cry. That is so different from Penny. But my supply has been really good, for which I am eternally grateful. It really makes parenting a baby SO MUCH EASIER!

We are starting to get into a pretty good routine.  Olive usually sleeps on the go in the morning when we're out doing whatever the activity of the day is. We get home for lunch, and then we all lay down in Penny's room after lunch for books and nap. Penny has a full size bed on the floor. When P falls asleep, Olive and I go into my room where she either snoozes on me while I catch up on email or watch some tv on the ipad, or we play a bit. If I can get both girls to sleep at the same time (rare indeed), I will squeeze a little sewing in. Once Penny wakes up, we either go for a walk, go to the gym or park, or just play at home until dinnertime. I got something like this bath sling, and it has been a total godsend. With it, we can bathe both girls together in the big bathtub, which simplifies the evening routine greatly. They bathe together, then we do massages with coconut oil. This is a new thing for us that is really fun. It really deserves its own post. Then I bundle Olive up and put her to bed while Josh does books and lays down with Penny. Olive is usually ready for bed before Penny, but I hope to get it together enough to do evening books with both of them one of these days. Maybe once Olive gets on a better nap schedule. When is that? Like 6 months? Here's to hoping. I think Penny didn't nap consistently until a year, and even now it is sometimes difficult.

I am wearing Olive in the Ergo or ring sling on occasion. I'm not wearing her as much as I'd like because a) it's cold and b) she does so well sleeping in the car seat. She really loves that thing and just snoozes away in it. When I wear her, I can't talk because my voice wakes her up. But once summer comes and she isn't needing to sleep so often, I hope to wear her more.

Laptop case

I got a new laptop in the fall, and of course I needed to make a new case for it. After considering many options, I went with this tutorial. I really just wanted a simple sleeve to be able to toss my laptop in my purse or diaper bag without taking up much space. The tutorial was pretty easy to follow, and I love it!

Winter Blues and Easter

It is hard lately to find the time to write more than a few sentences, and I really miss it. There is something about getting my thoughts written down that helps me process them. March was a tough month this year. Usually February is my hardest month, but I think the new baby high carried me through February, and then the crummy March weather around here really made the winter seem extra long. We have also been grappling with some personal junk lately with housing and tenants and other not-so-interesting stuff that is stressful. Illness has been in abundance. I spent part of yesterday in the ER with terrible abdominal pain. They never did really figure out what was going on, but at least I feel better. Anyway, I am happy that it's April now and enjoying the slight increase in temperature. Even though I take lots of Vitamin D, I think there is something to getting actual sunshine, and I think the lack of being outside is a real contributor to my annual winter blues. By the end of the season, my reserves are just empty.

In general, I think we are doing really well with our family of four, but there are definitely days where I feel like I didn't do so great as a mom. I try to remember that the important thing is that I'm trying. I'm trying to be patient and loving always, and the times when I fail at that goal do not make me a bad mom overall. Most days are good ones, and I really do have such sweet little girls. Penny is terrifically imaginative and playful, and Olive is just a total sweetheart to the core. I don't know how I got so lucky.

On that note, I have been thinking a lot lately about how many kids we want. In some ways, I am so thrilled to be mom of two girls, and in other ways I feel like I want more kids. I know we don't have to decide right now, but it's something I think about a lot and keep going back and forth. I think with just the two, we can do a lot more with and for them. Money wouldn't be so tight, and we could travel more–not only potentially exotic adventures, but also just to visit family. We are a plane ride away from most grandparents, aunts, and uncles. I can't imagine the circus of trying to travel with 3 or 4 kids multiple times a year. Even just piling everyone into a car on a daily basis sounds like a feat! But on the other hand, a house full of kids sounds like such fun. I love to have people around, and I think it was a little boring growing up in a house with just two kids. The families I knew who had 4 or 5 kids just seemed to have so much more fun, and I want a house full of laughter and fun, so who knows.

No matter what though, I don't think this was my last pregnancy. I have recently fallen for the idea of becoming a surrogate. Given my age and history of uncomplicated pregnancies, I think I would be a good candidate. But I would need to find the right couple. I would only do it for a family who valued natural childbirth and midwifery care and was willing to do induced lactation. I don't know whether I will find that, but I think it would be an amazing experience. I know when I was trying to get pregnant with Penny, I had lots of worries that I wouldn't be able to have a child of my own, and it was terrifying. I think becoming a surrogate would be somewhat of a "thank you" to the universe for being able to have babies. Plus, I really love giving birth and want that experience again. And I (mostly) loved being pregnant.

Sorry there's not much order to this post, but I will also share a few pictures of our Easter. Because of my illness, I never got the girls in their Easter outfits, but we did manage to do a little egg hunt for Penny and of course an Easter basket.

I made Penny some felt muffins and a chef's hat for her play kitchen, and I made the girls matching stuffed bunnies. Penny also got an ink stamp with her name on it, an eraser for her chalkboard, a lollipop, and some fruit snacks. Her Easter eggs were filled with dried fruit.

Hope you all are enjoying the beginning of spring!

Easter Eggs

Penny was under the weather on Sunday, so we had to find some things to keep us busy at home yesterday while we waited the obligatory 24 hours before visiting with friends. We are normally out of the house all morning, so it is tough for us when we're stuck inside. I will admit that we watched way more TV than I usually allow. Ah well, we also made popcorn and these amazingly delicious, easy, healthy-ish cookie dough bites (go make them NOW!). The Vitamix is perfect for this recipe, and they are yum yum yum yum. We also dyed Easter eggs. I dyed them raw because we love eggs around here, but not so much in the hard-boiled variety. We will see whether I live to regret that decision. You know me well enough to know that I would not use artificial/petroleum-based dyes for my eggs. No, ma'am. We used all natural stuff. We made pink using beets, yellow using tumeric, and we attempted green with spinach, which did not work out so well.

For pink, I chopped the beets, covered them with water in a pot, and let them boil for 30 minutes or so. I kept the beets and may make the PPK beet burgers tonight- yum! I poured the beet water into a bowl, let it cool, then added a half cup vinegar and the eggs. For yellow, I poured about 2 tablespoons of turmeric in a pot with water and boiled for a bit. Then I let it cool and added vinegar and eggs. I let them sit for an hour and got some good coloring.

I boiled spinach, but never really got a nice green color to the water, so it was a bust.

I think next year, I will do these colors again, but also do blueberries to make blue. Then I could mix the different colors to make green, orange, and purple too. Here are some other colors to try.

Penny got this learning tower for Christmas, which is so perfect for helping with kitchen projects. She loves it, and I appreciate that I can keep her contained and safe while she's helping me.

Sock Leggings

Check out these cute baby thigh-high socks. I upcycled them from a pair of adult knee-highs that I found for $1 brand new at a thrift store. I used this tutorial from Joyful Abode. It was super easy–took about 15 minutes. I love argyle.

They are a bit big for Olive, but she will grow into them and will probably even be able to wear them next winter. They are especially awesome for baby-wearing and will come in handy when she learns to crawl.

Car Seat Safety Part 2

After I published this post about car seat safety last week, I got some feedback and additional tips from some car seat aficionado friends. While it's all still fresh, I thought I would go ahead and publish this follow-up post. Here are some more tips!

Don't switch from a convertible seat to a booster too soon. Along the same lines of not turning the convertible seat from rear-facing to forward-facing too soon, there is no rush to get your kiddo into a booster. They are safer and more secure in convertible seats than boosters. The bare minimum for a booster seat is 4 years AND 40 pounds, but most kids aren't able to consistently sit appropriately in them until about age 6. This means keeping the seat belt in the appropriate position 100% of the time. And, it probably goes without saying, but don't ditch the booster too early either. Here is some helpful information on determining the appropriate time to make these changes.

Read your manual. Every seat is a bit different, and most of your questions can probably be answered by reading your manual. I could probably read mine in its entirety in about 8 minutes. That's 8 minutes well-spent if it saves a life.

Be wary of second-hand seats. Once a car seat is in an accident, it is no longer safe to use. Damages to the seat are not necessarily apparent to the untrained eye or from the outside at all. However, they are not safe to use at this point. Insurance will cover the cost of new car seats, but some people may try to sell off the old ones to get some extra cash. You may be putting your child's life at risk by buying a used seat.

Also, the tip to avoid coats/bunting in the car seat is a hot topic. I posted a few ideas in my last post on this topic, but here are a couple of additional ideas for staying safe AND warm in the car:

• Keep blankets in the car to throw over the kiddos once they are strapped in. Fleece ones are especially great for this purpose, as they are lightweight/inexpensive and can easily be cleaned or replaced. As a bonus to this strategy, the blankets might serve to keep your seats clean if you have rear-facing kiddos with muddy shoes.
• Take coats off before getting in the car, and then throw the coats over kiddos once strapped in. They can wear them backwards and stick their arms through the arm-holes.
• Your kiddos won't freeze in the 2 minutes it takes to get them strapped into the car without their coats and then get a blanket or coat on top of them. They may, however, die in an accident if they are ejected from their seats due to bulky layers.

Thanks to all of my car seat expert friends for their help with this post!

Car Seat Safety

I am not a car seat safety technician or any kind of expert in car seat safety, but I do know a few people who are certified car seat safety technicians and are very passionate about car seat safety. They have so graciously educated me in this area, so I wanted to share a little information that I've learned along the way to help keep all kids safer in the car. I know if my children were involved in a crash, I would want to know that I did everything in my power to make sure they were as safe as possible. Here are the ways I am doing so to the best of my knowledge and ability.

Car Seat Safety Technician Inspection. Most cities have regular car seat inspections, so check to see if some kind of inspection program is available to you. At safekids.org you can locate your nearest coalition for more information. You can also find out about becoming certified yourself at that website. These safety technicians are incredibly knowledgeable about car seat installation, and it never hurts to have an expert check your work. Apparently 80% of car seats are installed incorrectly, so even if you think you have everything right, it's not a bad idea to get it checked out.

Extended rear-facing. Kids are 500% safer in an accident when they are in the rear-facing position. Five-hundred percent. It is beneficial to your child to stay rear-facing as long as possible. AAP recommends at LEAST two years. That doesn't mean that it's a good idea to turn your child's car seat to forward facing on their 2nd birthday. It means that two years is the absolute minimum, but that it's a much better idea to keep your child rear-facing until they outgrow the rear-facing height or weight limits for your seat. This could be 4 or 5 years of age or more, and some countries require children to be rear-facing until age 4. Forward-facing is not a milestone and shouldn't be rushed into. All parents want their children to be safe, and this is one way to make a big impact. For more information, visit extendedrearfacing.org

Avoiding excessive bulk and aftermarket products. Car seat straps need to be snug to the body in order to be effective. Kids have been ejected from their car seats because of bulky coats, bundling, and clothing. Snowsuits and winter coats should not be worn by little ones in the car. You can tell whether clothing is too bulky for the car by buckling the child into the car with the straps tight, then taking them out without loosening the straps. Take the coat off, then buckle them back in. If the straps are too loose without the coat, the coat is too bulky for the car. The carseat straps should be at the same tightness with or without the coat. Some ways to work with this:

• Put your kids in layers that can be removed or fleece jackets, which are usually thin enough to be safe in the car.
• unzip the coat, buckle and tighten the car seat straps, then rezip the coat on top of the car seat buckles.
• Use a compressible down sweater coat. Patagonia makes a fantastic (but $$$$) kid's down coat. It is thin but super warm, and you can sometimes find them on sale this time of year. They are regularly $89, but I just picked one up for Olive for next winter for $42.

Along the same lines, do not use bundling products like this one in the car seat. These are NOT safe in the car, and I'm not sure why it's even legal to advertise these products to be used with car seats. They can compress in an accident and eject the baby from the car seat. I own one of these bundle-me's, and I use it in my stroller only. If you need to keep an infant warm in the car, use blankets on top of the straps, or a shower cap style cover like this one. I have an Eddie Bauer one that is great. Basically, any product that didn't come with your car seat should not be used with your car seat between your child and the straps or your child and the seat.

Keeping toys off of the car seat. Toys should not be attached to the car seat while it's being used in the car. If the infant carrier car seat is being used in the stroller or whatnot, it's fine to attach a toy, but if the car seat is in a crash, toys can become projectiles and injure your child.

Correct adjustment. The straps should be below the child's shoulders when rear-facing and above the shoulders when forward-facing. The chest clip should be even with the nipples or armpits. It's called a chest clip (and not a belly button clip) for a reason. The straps should never be twisted.

Adhering to expiration dates. Car seats have expiration dates, which should be adhered to due to breaking down of the plastic components. Also, once a car seat is involved in a crash, it needs to be replaced. When disposing of an expired car seat, be sure to cut the straps so that someone else can't use it. And look for recycling opportunities in your area. Car seats are a huge source of landfill waste.

Do you have any other car safety tips? I am always open to learning more about keeping my kids safe!

3/18/13 Update: More car seat safety tips are published here!