Back to Driving School

If it weren’t for other drivers, the roads would be a pleasant place to drive. Winter conditions don’t frighten me as much as the inept motorists I seem to be sharing the road with – maybe it’s just the time of day I drive to and from work that brings out the worst in people. We’re always told we shouldn’t be afraid of air travel because we’re more likely to be injured or killed in the car on the way to the airport; it is very telling when the police refuse to use the term ‘accident’ because ‘collision’ is more apt – it implies human error and responsibility.

Over the May long weekend here in Ontario, the OPP issued 468 charges for seatbelt offenses. Maybe we could use a physics refresher to remind ourselves that taking two seconds to affix that thin strip of fabric to ourselves when we get in the car will prevent us from flying through the windshield at 40km/h when the car stops suddenly in a crash.

This is important: 7% of Canadians do not use their seatbelts; 40% of collision fatalities did not use their seatbelt.

I can’t help but wonder if more seatbelt use would have improved chances in the deadly crash that killed eight people in Bathurst this May as they returned from basketball tournament in Moncton. Six of the eight victims weren’t wearing their seatbelts when the vehicle crossed the path of a tractor-trailer on an icy road.

Accidents happen fast (I’ll call them that only because ‘collision’ sounds a bit stuffy in this context). The speed in which cars can go from 60 to 0 is incredible and devastating. With so much power beneath us, it only makes sense to stop and think about what we’re doing. Let’s be careful, courteous, and stay alive out there.

Coffee Shop Can’t Spare a Cup of Hot Water

The day started as usual with my son and I heading out the door to run some errands.

Diaper bag: check.
Bottles: check.
Car bottle warmer: check.

About 20 minutes before bottle time I plugged in the car warmer and dropped in the bottle only to discover that my crappy $35 warmer has gone on strike and is not going to heat up my bottle. Thankfully it’s about that time when mommy needs a coffee, so to the drive through we go for our large café mocha and bagel with cream cheese.

“Please drive up to the window and I will give you your total there.”

I pay for my things and ask the man at the window if I could have a cup with hot water because my bottle warmer isn’t working. He says he has to get his manager and asks me to wait. The manager comes to the window and after rudely telling me that this isn’t a baby store tells me it will be $1.75 for a cup of water. I tell him I am willing to pay 25 cents but not a penny more for a cup of hot water.

Again he affirms there was a tap in the washroom for me to use otherwise I would have to pay $1.75. I tell him thanks but no thanks. I drive around the building park my car, take my son and the bottle out, and wait at the tap for 10 minutes for the milk to heat up.

You would think that the coffee industry could afford a cup of hot water, especially if they were reimbursed a quarter for being out a cup, but I guess they don’t get rich by being nice to a mother that needed a little help.

Traveling With Baby

At one time, visiting our parents was as simple as making sure the lights and oven were off and hopping in the car for a three hour drive. Now that we have a baby, that same trip can take up to six hours between getting all of the baby’s gear loaded (he has more stuff than we do!) and stopping to feed him when he cries. Traveling is a big deal when there is so much to be responsible for; it’s a wonder we are able to make it anywhere on time.

Our latest trick is to wait until the baby goes down for the night then load him into the car seat and take off. This technique means we can drive straight through without stopping for bottles and the baby wakes up at grandma’s house so there is a smaller period of adjustment. It can be very tiring to arrive at our destination so late, but the benefits seem to outweigh the drawbacks.

I was concerned about the advisability of letting the baby sleep in his car seat for such long periods of time. Doctors warn against letting babies sleep in car seats citing increased risk of SIDS but the problem factors seem to be unrelated to the child sleeping in the car:

• The airway can become blocked if the head is flexed forward
• When the head is flexed forward, the jaw contacts the chest, obstructing the breathing pattern
• This can happen when the restraint is not used and the child has poor control of their head – normally they are younger than 6 months of age
• The particular cases being warned about involved children being placed in car seats to sleep rather than during use as safety devices in vehicles

Car seats here in Canada are designed for babies to sleep in comfortably even when being transferred from the indoors to a car and back. Being able to load the baby without waking him up is convenient for parents and healthier for the baby. When used properly car seats reduce injury by 90 to 95 percent.

Back to traveling – is it safe to keep the baby in the car seat for those long trips? The answer is yes, provided breaks are taken when the baby is awake so he can be released from the car seat and allowed to stretch. An 8-hour non-stop trip in a seated position places a lot of stress on the baby’s developing spine so it is important to move him from time to time.