Searching for a stroller drove me absolutely crazy. I literally stressed over it for months - it was crazy. After a couple of months, I chose one reasonable travel system, and then what my mom refers to as "The Cadillac of Strollers" and its matching car seat. Then I took another month or so to make a final decision. It was probably hell for my poor husband. We were in Buy Buy Baby and Babies R Us constantly "test driving" each stroller.
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| Britax B-Agile with B-Safe infant seat Retails for $399 |
On one of our test driving trips, I happened to have a mid-size pocketbook with me and went to throw it into the basket...it didn't happen. The basket was way too small for me.
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| UppaBaby Vista Retails for $729 |
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| UppaBaby Mesa Infant seat Retails for $279 |
**On a side note, we did receive the stroller as a gift when it was 20% on Black Friday** from pishposhbaby.com (I actually love that website so I'll hopefully write another post on it later).
But seriously - I do love the Vista/Mesa combo. I love the versatility and the bassinet option. I go for lots of long walks with my dog and fully intend to continue to do so with the baby. For this reason, I fell in love with the bassinet. My biggest concern now is that my daughter will hate the bassinet.
Over the last five years, I have learned that no matter how much money I spend on "high end" toys for my dog, his absolute favorite things are the [free] sticks that he finds outside, and the cheap $2.50 stuffed toys from Petco. Hopefully my daughter follows suit.
NOW for the safety part of this post.
A few months ago, a colleague mentioned how her brother and sister-in-law had taken their car seat up to their local firehouse for an inspection. I had never heard of this before. Then my cousin asked when we were going to be installing and having our seat inspected. I guess this really is a thing?
Hubs took the car seat manual along with our car manual, followed all of the instructions, and installed the seat. We kept the seat in the car when we went out to dinner just to see what it felt like to drive around with it, and boy were we surprised. The entire seat rattled as we drove! Maybe an inspection wasn't so silly after all.
My cousin directed me to this website and I did a quick search by zip code. I chose a state certified collision center that is about 3 miles from our house and made an appointment for April 17 (yesterday). As it turns out, we had several things wrong with the way the seat was installed. The owner of the shop was very thorough and went through each and every issue with me before correcting them. Here is a snippet of yesterday's inspection:
1. The first question he asked: "Do you have a mirror that attaches to the seat so that you can see your baby as you drive?" I did not, and he told me that he frequently argues with people to remove them. They're not crash tested and if they fly off in an accident, they can cause severe injury to the baby (especially to their head/face). We will not be getting a mirror.
2. We had the car seat on top of this Prince Lionheart 2-Stage Seatsaver. Again, this is a product which is not crash tested and in the case of an accident, can impede the car seat's range of motion and ultimately result in further injury to the baby. Sure, it protects the leather in our car, but I'd rather protect our daughter. So this will be returned to Buy Buy Baby tomorrow.
3. Hubs installed the Mesa in the middle seat. The owner said that it is actually a misconception that this is the safest place for the baby. In the result of a t-bone collision, then yes. It is the safest. However, in the event of a front end or rear end collision, then having the car seat behind the passenger seat is actually the best.
He explained how if the car seat is behind the passenger seat, then the passenger seat (and passenger) itself serves as a shield for the baby in a front end collision. There is no such shield if the baby is in the middle seat. The baby is also shielded by the higher back seat that is on the passenger side (which again, is not in the middle).
Lastly, he showed me how much easier it would be to get the baby out of the car with the car seat on the back passenger seat. In case of an accident, it is definitely better to not have to climb into the middle of the car.
4. He then removed the base from the middle and installed it on the passenger side. And wow did he tighten it up! He actually climbed in and got on top of the base in order to get as many clicks out of it as he could. Needless to say, it doesn't rattle anymore!
5. He told me that if the car is ever involved in a collision at a speed over 20mph, then the insurance company must and will replace the car seat, regardless of whether or not the baby is in the car. In fact, even if the base is the only thing in the car, the insurance company will replace the entire thing. Good to know!
Hopefully I don't get into an accident, but you never know. All I can say is that I am SO glad that I went for the inspection. I feel like I learned so much and have such peace of mind now. Oh! And did I mention that it was free? Apparently most certified places perform the inspections free of charge.
So one last time, if you haven't already done so, have an inspection. You can find a certified inspection center at this website - http://www.safercar.gov/cpsApp/cps/index.htm
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