This is probably the most obvious statement made in any of my posts, but when travelling in a car, your child must be secured in a rear facing child car seat, a forward facing child car seat, a booster seat or adult seatbelt dependent on child's height. It must be fitted correctly, it must be properly fastened and adjusted to fit your child and it must meet Australian/New Zealand standards.
This Raising Children website is an invaluable resource and will give you all of the information you need to help you make the correct decision about child car safety.
https://raisingchildren.net.au/preschoolers/safety/car-pedestrian-safety/child-car-seats-restraints
CAR SEAT
After many visits to Baby Bunting, and hours and hours of research, I bought the Safe N Sound Compaq MKII and was more than happy with it. Lulu stayed in that seat until around her 4th birthday and then we moved to the Britax Maxi Guard harnessed 0-8 years car seat. She did have a little bit more wriggle room in the Compaq but going to the Britax meant we got more value out of it going forward.
This is entirely up to the parent, but I decided to continue with the 5 point harness for as long as possible. I tell Lulu that if racing car drivers have 5 point harnesses to stay safe, then she can too!
There is a lot of debate about when to turn your child to forward facing. Some parents will keep their children rear facing until they are at kindy. That's great. If it works for you and your child, do whatever you need to do to make your family feel comfortable and safe. Make the decision for you and you only.
I turned my child at the age of about 13 months. On the majority of her rear facing car rides, she was an absolute nightmare traveller on even the shortest of trips. As for a visit to see friends across the other side of town - that ended up not being an option. My blood pressure couldn't cope with 40 minutes of high pitched wailing. Miraculously, the screaming and crying stopped the minute I turned her to forward facing. I don't know if she was getting carsick, or just wanted to be able to see where she was going but it was a joyous relief to not have to listen to screaming for a 10 minute journey to Woolies.
CAPSULE (or NOT CAPSULE)
In the early stages of choosing baby paraphernalia, I made the decision to either have a capsule or a bassinet for my pram - but not both. The pram bassinet won out in the end because I figured I'd get more use and value out of it.
There were a couple of reasons why I didn’t buy a capsule. The first was due to lower back problems. I was worried that having to not only carry the weight of my baby but also the capsule, would put extra strain on an already sore back. The second reason was even simpler ... I just didn't need a capsule. I would lift my baby from the carseat and move her to either a waiting pram, or baby carrier, or we'd be at home so she could go straight to her bassinet, cot or play space. I couldn't ever imagine when I would use a capsule, and so, I didn't buy one, and never ever felt I needed one.
CAR WINDOW SHADE
In the harsh Aussie summer, this was a no brainer. In the olden days when I was a baby, my Mum flung a cloth nappy or towel in between the car window and window frame and wound it up quickly before it slipped out. That flapped around as we drove along and kept the sun off my pasty white newborn skin.
These days, car window shades have become much more high tech and act to protect against damaging sunlight, UV and glare.
My original one was a mesh fabric Outlook brand. It slid over the top of the door frame and clipped under the door. It flapped around a bit on the freeway but it certainly blocked out the sun. I bought one for each of the back windows.
With a car upgrade, I bought a custom fit magnetic window protector for each of the back windows and love them.
BRICA REAR VIEW MIRROR
This could well be sitting right up at number one on my list of Most Useless Things I Purchased. This bloody thing moved every time I put Lulu in her seat. I couldn’t ever see her properly and it frustrated me to tears. I was happy to see the back of it ... (see what I did there?!).
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