Thursday, May 27, 2010

The car seat challenge

A tip for those having trouble fitting their kiddos into car seats:

Quinn's giant cast does not begin to fit in our car seat. The car seat expert at Children's Hospital told us we needed to find a local expert to help figure out what to do, and she told us we could find a list of experts on the website of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. I searched by entering my zip code, and noticed that one name on the list was our county health department, which I figured would know the best person in town.

When I called and said I needed someone to help me with a mighty car-seat challenge, they immediately gave me the name of someone who does training sessions on fitting SN kids into car seats. I dialed him up and he turned out to be a police officer. It was 5 p.m. "I'll be at your house by 6," he said. And he was. Wow!

Even he had trouble. He said Quinn would definitely fit in a SN car seat, but said that one for a child his size would cost thousands of dollars. There are rental seats available locally for smaller kids, but not for kids his size. Yikes.

After much tinkering, adjusting and thinking, Officer Reeve figured out how to make it work. It takes some doing to get him into the seat arm first - good exercise for MaMa! - but he fits in snugly, safely and comfortably. We are SO grateful!

2 comments:

China Dreams said...

Never would have thought of the car seat issue-glad you were able to get help for it. In our part of the country, there are charitable programs to help people like you rent the seats you need for very little $, but other parts of the country don't seem to have them. Glad you were able to avoid the whopping expense of a special seat.

Tammy ~ Country Girl at Home ~ said...

Wow...I bet that WAS a challenge. So nice of the policeman to get there so quickly and work with you so diligently and without that huge expense too! Glad you have it figured out! You must GO....no slowing you down!

Have a great Friday!
Tammy