Do you do coats in car seats?

[countdowntobaby2020]

I always thought coats in car seats were a big safety no so when doing the nursery run both my kids (3 and 1) travel in normal clothes with a blanket over the car seat. Then when we arrive at nursery it's literally straight in (I'm talking seconds) so I don't put the coats on, same on the return journey. I've stuck to this the last 3 years but on these last few days where it's been really cold I've just felt really guilty when literally every other child is getting out their car with winter coats on and I feel like they must think i'm crazy!
So just wanting a wider view, is this just a thing at my nursery or does everyone do big coats in car seats and I'm the odd one out?!

No coats on in the car. I don't, my teens don't and they didn't as babies. Really silly risk. No one freezes to death in a moving car.

Thick coats on in a car seat is an problem as it prevents you from tightening the straps enough. If the straps aren't tight enough on a child carseat then in a collision they can actually slip out of the seat.

I'm not sure how big of an issue it is with adult seat belts as they have the tensioner on them. Bit ovously car seats don't.

Oh yes, that makes sense. Thanks

@countdowntobaby2020 I do exactly the same as you and same age gap. No coats in the car seats. I do pop hats in them quickly as we dash into nursery.

We never have coats in the car seat, the kids do have fleeces though which are useful.

On the school run today I saw a primary aged kid arguing with her gran - gran insisted she wore a coat in the car seat, she was trying to explain "I can't as it's slippery" which is a fairly good explanation for a 5 or 6 year old but gran won was tempted to intervene but decided against as I happen to know it's less than a mile drive to gran's and any advice would not have been kindly taken.

No coats in the car for anyone.

I know what you mean I feel a bit bad when I take my daughter out to the car without her big coat when my SIL is dressing hers up in big snowsuits, hats, etc. The car heats up pretty quickly and I'd obviously rather her be safe and chilly for 5 minutes than the alternative

Nope childminder & every single time it's coats off once we get in car, can pop them or a blanket over knees to keep warm & put coars back on as you get them.out again, yes it's a faff & takes a bit longer( especially with several kiddies) but no price on safety. Don't doubt yourself.

Happy to be called ignorant, but surely this depends on age of the child? Ie it's one thing when we're talking about toddlers, and them being strapped with 5 point harness, rather than a 10 year old with a proper seat belt?

Absolutely not. I saw a video of a test dummy in a crash without a coat vs with a coat, and it terrified me to my core.

I know what you mean, we've had to go to the drs a few times recently - I've got 2 under 2 and find just getting out the house with them to be so hard! - and the walk from the car is too short to feel worth getting them both into coats (because I'm having to either get a coat on an unruly toddler while holding a baby, or getting a coat on a baby while trying to stop said unruly toddler running off into the car park), and I always wonder if the reception staff and drs are judging me for not having coats on them!

We lived in Canada when our first child was born. It was a huge safety thing there in the winter and they should know as it gets flipping freezing there! It was just drummed into you as parents, along with water safety both in summer and winter. As a result we've never done coats in cars. Instead the heat is on higher and we have blankets they can put over themselves. It's never been an issue. Coats then get put on outside.

No. Even adults shouldn’t be wearing coats in the car.

the no big or puffy coats rule also applies to adults. I have fleece blanket in the back that my DC pull over them if cold. Not concerned about a little bit of cold between the house and car. they are usually wearing a jumper and that is warm enough for the 30 secs it takes.

No coats in car except occasionally when we're doing the very short drive to the childminder- cars parked along the side of each road as no one has driveways and people queuing to pass, so everyone is absolutely crawling along. But even then I take it off unless it's properly icy.

Sorry to tag onto this thread with another query but I've been looking for an answer to this for a while and haven't found one - does anyone know whether a coat in a bike seat is ok? Its the same kind of harness, so I've been worried that perhaps not, but then speed of any impact is likely to be lower - and on a practical front, if they can't wear coats in a bike seat then they can't go out in on the bike in winter because they'd be so exposed and a blanket wouldn't stay on.

@Hardbackwriter in that situation I'd aim to layer with thinner fleece layers and then a final showerproof type jacket on top. I.e. nothing puffy. You dont want anything that can compress any further in the event of an accident.

I don't do coats in cars for the kids (though on occasion have kept on a light jacket) and have no plans to change this, but I'm a bit confused about the puffer coat compressing thing.

Surely if you tighten a car seat over a puffer jacket, you compress it by the straps already. I can see the problem if its not on tightly, but if you properly tighten, then surely the compression has already happened?

I do the same op but definitely always wonder if people judge me for walking my coatless child into nursery (for the 5 seconds it takes)

Not in the UK here.

My kids mostly refuse to wear coats anyway. The most I can get the to wear is thin layers (wool cardigans etc.) which are not very compressible, so I am fine with putting the bike seat harness on over the top of that.

We go a lower speeds than a car and are keeping to very quiet side roads and designated bike paths anyway and there is no speeding along the expressway etc. so my general feeling is that the rules that apply to car seats in cars don't really apply in such a strict way to bike seats - we don't do rear facing for toddlers, for example, all that kind of thing.

I'm in Japan, though. In the UK, the general set up and rules may be pretty different, so talk to your local city's cycling group on Facebook etc. to see what other people are doing.

(The Japanese are awful about car seat safety, by the way, so I always find threads like this interesting. Half the kids I see in cars in Tokyo have no car seat at all and are bouncing about inside the car, which gives me the heebie-jeebies).

Nope no coat in car seat here either. Place it over the top. My car is ancient and takes forever to warm up so I stick a microwaveable pillow on her lap otherwise she really is freezing.

Nope. I bought my kids a thin fleece jacket each from H&M. Car seat safe and keeps them warm. Then I put their big coat over them like a blanket so when they get out the car, it's already warm for them to put on.

I have been driving for close to 40 years -when was it decided that nobody should wear coats in cars and if it's that dangerous why have there not been safety campaigns relating to it?
Can anybody link any evidence-based research showing deaths/serious injury linked to coat wearing in the past and how that has reduced?

Good point, I've only heard about it from younger mums at work who I make handknits for their babies/toddlers. They commented how good they were for keeping them cosy in their car seats as coats are not recommended. Mine are all in their 30s and went in forward facing seats at a young age with coats on😬

If your gd js in a carseat, then please stop doing this.