Do you always remove babies coats etc before putting in car seat?? Even when it's freezing?

[Chopsicle]

I don't have time to heat the car up before putting my 9 month old in and it's started to get a frost so it's really cold at the minute.
Too cold for me to put him in without warm clothing.
What do people do? Obviously I want him to be safe but also don't want him to get cold..

Didn’t even have a coat to wear at 9 months. Nice little fleecy all in one suits do the trick, no hoods though as they ruck up - maybe a hat and a blanket tucked in. Just hooked them out of the car like that, definitely not getting in the back to put coats on (not sure where you’d put the other DC if you did that - sit on them or leave them outside in the road?

If you have more than one child to get a coat on or off you get out of the car, set up the double buggy, take out the child most likely to kick off first, sit them in the buggy, put their coat on, strap them in. Walk to other side of car, remove child 2, sit them in buggy, put coat on, strap in.

If no buggy the same but the child least likely to wander off first. If you have a bolter though you probably have a buggy for them.

As PPs have said, DD is nearly 6 and still doesn’t wear a coat in the car. I don’t wear one either because, ignoring the safety aspects for a minute, it’s ridiculously uncomfortable to drive in and I’d be melting in minutes.

My children are grown and it's not something we did. However with my 6 year old GS my DD advised me to to do this. Recently GC was clearly feeling lazy and told me that as he was now 6 he was allowed to keep his coat on in the car! I did have to check myself before I automatically believed him

I always take the coat off, strap in the seat and a blanket over them. I'm thinking of getting a hot water bottle, now LO is older. When we get to nursery I do get in the back and put the coat on or we hop our of the car and do it ok the pavement real quick

I have three children and they don’t wear coats in the car.
First thing I do is get the pushchair out of the boot. Then I get the oldest DC out (aged 5) and she puts her coat on while I get the second one out (aged 4). 4 year old puts her coat on while I get the baby (9 months) out, and I put his coat on while the girls wait on the pavement. It’s not difficult at all.
I get that it’s harder with bolting toddlers but I imagine you’d have a buggy or something for them anyway.

@mistermagpie put a sign up on the nursery door to inform parents.

My dd is 10. This isnt new! Mine worse a thin, but amazingly warm fleece for the car, i kept blankets by the front door ready to go in the car.

Now theyre older in a morning before school dh makes them a hot water bottle each for the car and they grab their own blankets.

I'd rather she have a cold blanket on her for 2 minutes than die in a car accident because her straps weren't tight enough. 🤷‍♀️ My DD's coat lives in the boot of our car in winter, I keep a little blanket on the back seat for her, she's not complained (much) yet.

If you do work in a place you can access parents, there's a good information sheet printable by BeSafe, our paediatrician's waiting room has it put up there :)

www.besafe.com/en/travel-safely-during-winter/

Now theyre older in a morning before school dh makes them a hot water bottle each for the car and they grab their own blankets.

@CalleighDoodle that's so lovely! They must have a cosy journey.

So, you dont put a coat on them....how tight do you do the straps up then? Where does it end. These are 3 way straps and some coats aren't that thick, and...you can tighten the straps. I'm not going to get all stressed about this one.

Darwinism in action.

@M0reGinPlease dont worry. They find other things to complain about. Like who is looking out of the other’s window... who is putting their feet too close to the other...

As soon as they get out of the car at school, i get their hot water bottles for the rest of the journey.

@CalleighDoodle 😆

I always took coats off to secure my three in their car seats, and they are aged 24, 20 and 17 now.

I don't know if that was the actual advice over 20 years ago, but with a bulky coat on the straps just looked too loose no matter what I did or how I tried to tighten them. So I figured out myself that they were safer without the coat on. It just looked that way.

I used to put them in the seat and tighten the straps, then tuck the coat over the top of them as if it were a blanket. Or I took a small cellular blanket out to the car.

When we arrived wherever we were going I just got them out, pulled the coat onto them quickly and plonked them into the buggy. No need to fuss about it, especially beyond the newborn stage. They won't perish from a 30 second blast of cold air.

I also never wear a coat in the car myself. I take it off to get in and put it on again once I have got out.

I usually take a blanket for in the car. If I forget one I fold the snow suit of put the coat over their legs.

When I lived in New England (-15 to -20 in the depth of the winter) they still took their coats off before getting in the car seat. We used blankets. When getting out I unbuckled them, put the coat on and out they came. They survived several New England winters unscathed. And everyone around me did the same as well. So it’s not a ‘new’ thing.

My oldest is 9 and they all still take their winter coats off in the car. We're in the south of England and it is very rarely under 0 so they never freeze to death in the few seconds it takes to put a coat on.

We all wear coats in the car, always have done. Surely you just pull the car seat straps more tightly over the kids' coats?

Surely you just pull the car seat straps more tightly over the kids' coats?
You can't pull them tight enough to compensate for the compression of the padding under the force of a car crash - the straps will always be too loose.

@MrsJBaptiste the point being made is that, especially in an infant car seat (three point harness as opposed to a pretensioned seatbelt) and especially with a thick winter coat, you can't tighten the straps enough to be safe. You're leaving a huge air pocket between the baby and the harness that's supposed to be restraining them.

I'm not disputing anything but I'd love to see some actual stats on this.

www.goodeggcarsafety.com/blog/top-10-child-car-seat-safety-tips.html

"Im not disputing anything but I'd love to see some actual stats on this."
Good luck looking..I couldn't find any on line of kids being thrown out of coats because the straps are too loose. The video I've seen where a model in a red puffa jacket falls out..you can clearly see the straps aren't on properly in the first place, they are half way down the childs shoulders, and the child is in a forward facing seat.