Wednesday 10 September 2008

Some assvice needed....

We have pounded right into spring, wait, maybe even summer within the course of a week. Yesterday was a blistering 37 C (that's 98,6F!) and spring has only sprung like 9 days ago. But I won't complain, I am actually ok with the heat - a real summer baby - you can tell I was born in the heat of summer.

So, we will be leaving on Saturday on a week long holiday at the seaside. It is about a 9 hour drive - this includes rests every 2 to 3 hours as the South African road safety agency call for. We will be doing it in one stretch, leaving early to try and catch some sleep time for the kiddos. Then, we are holding thumbs (gosh and praying, wishing, whatever) that the DVD will keep them entertained. December on our long annual road trip, The Little Miss was a real trooper - she did so well (and this was still in the truck - no DVD). And The Boys were still small enough to sleep most of the time. But the memory of our holiday just before The Little Miss' first birthday is still etched in my mind - it was pure hell. It was so bad, that she and I actually flew back and H and the Puppies drove back on their own. That was pre-DVD. And she was a real drama queen. And she had huge separation anxiety issues - which none of The Boys seem to have at present. But this is my problem - Little man L is still about a pound lighter than the weight at which we are allowed to tum the car seat towards the front facing position. So he will be the only little critter not able to watch the DVD. Not that I am totally sure they will actually be watching it - I have only twice played them a DVD and they seemed only mildly interested. But hell, anything to make the trip easier.

So, do I actually turn him around, or let the poor child watch the back of the seat for the whole trip? Please give me some feedback - what would you do?

8 comments:

  1. For what it is worth...
    In the US, and in Pennsylvania in general...babies have to be a year old and weigh at least 22 lbs to sit in a forward facing carseat. We still have our monsters in their rear facing seats even though those carsets are only rated up to 25 lbs. We are stuck in the middle...I am buying new carsets next week since our monsters will be 11 months old and are well over the 22 lbs. It has to be safer than squeezing them into smaller seats that aren't even rated for their weights. I think the companies do a lot of testing on carsets in crashes and there is always a little wiggle room. They, of course, will never publicize that data, I'm assuming to cover their hind ends in the even of litigation. Some moron out there will put a 3 year old in an infant seat and something bad will happen....

    Hoping that the trip goes smoothly.

    Our next road trip is a 7 hour trip to Mom and Dad's for Christmas...The kids slept the whole time when we went at Easter. I really do not think that we will be so lucky this time.

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  2. My first response would be to keep him rear-facing! For safety purposes. My boys are HORRIBLE in the car seat. Road trips are hell for us, so I do feel you pain! Good luck and have fun on vacation!

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  3. i want to tell you to just turn it around because it is what i would want to do for a road trip...but in the end i know that i would play it safe and leave the carseat rear facing. could you leave both boys' carseats rear facing, that way the only one able to watch the dvd would be little miss a? good luck on your drive and have a great trip!

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  4. I'm sure this will go over like a fart in a phone booth........i say turn the poor lil guy around. it's only a pound and it's not like something magically happens at that weight to make them stronger or more stable.
    Another possibility would be to have them both face back and put the DVD player there....would Lil Miss mind?

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  5. I would turn him around. we did it and it quieted a lot of screaming on long rides. it was like a whole new world opened up to them.

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  6. Our boys are 11.5 months old and we just turned their seats around yesterday. Their legs are so long that they were no longer comfortable rear-facing. And in our sedan it was getting impossible to get them in/out of the seats that way. They are (we think) 22-23 lbs and 26-27 lbs. I figure 2 weeks is not that big of a deal and since they look so big no one would question it if we got stopped and they asked how old they were...

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  7. Oh man! Tough one. Good luck with your decision...I'm not sure what I'd do!

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  8. I don't know...I was kind of a carseat nazi...I went by the edict that the child needs to be 12 months AND over 20 lbs. But, I have friends that turned their kids around early and nothing happened...I think you just need to follow your gut.

    What about putting a mirror on the seat Little L is facing so that he can see the DVD also?

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So what's on your mind?