Do your kids heads flop forward every time they crash out in the car???

OMG, how crap is it looking in the review mirror and seeing them all crumpled up, it’s the pits!  Which is why I thought this might be something you guys would benefit from knowing about.

Just keep in mind, I am not an expert when it comes to fitting kids car seats and am definitely not the best person to give advice on how to do it.

I’m just sharing my experience, how it changed things and explaining why I reckon getting your kids fitted to their seats by a professional is totally worth the money spent.

The top pic is how the kids look when they sleep in the car now. The bottom one is how the kids looked when they slept for the couple of years before I learned what I learned. Sorry kids! 😬

 

 

I’ve had their carseats installed by a professional a number of times which was all well and good , but no-one ever taught me how to actually fit the kids to the seat. And, I mean, how hard is that really? I was pretty sure I was all over that bit.

I’ve bought special material bands to go round their heads, tried reclining the kids carseats and reclined the cars seats in an attempt to stop their heads falling forward. All with zero or little success.

So, I go into a new place I’ve never been before to buy new seats cos I’m convinced that Max has outgrown his. The guy in there tells me I don’t need new seats yet, but that it looks like I need a few tips when it comes to fitting them to the kids.

He tells me that once that is sorted I won’t have the head flop problem. I internally roll my eyes, think yeah yeah sure, and we go ahead and jump in the van with the kids. He runs me through all the important bits and shows me what I’m doing wrong.

The next week I head off to drive from Sydney to Cairns and back (approx 6000km) and you know what? NO HEAD FLOP. Seriously. Wouldn’t believe it unless I saw it. And it’s never happened again since.

Same car, same seats, same kids on the same sides. It was all about a few subtle changes, making sure the straps were tight enough and that the seat was adjusted correctly etc.

Anyways, this ain’t about me telling you how to fit your carseat properly cos I had it so wrong for so so long!

This is just a heads up that if you’re in the same boat there is probably a simple (and much safer) solution and if you go spend fifty bucks or so to get someone to show you then it’ll be the best fifty bucks you’ve spent in ages.

It was all really simple stuff that I just didn’t know, like the pic below where you can see that the flaps on the side of their heads are WAY above their shoulder level and the straps are twisted and loose enough for them to pull them off their shoulders. It makes me cringe a bit looking back at old photos.

 

 

Or this one where you can see that the padding near their thighs, that is supposed to be removed when they are three months old apparently, is still there. Who knew that???! Not me anyways…

 

 

I went to Pearce’s Child Restraints in Mona Vale, Sydney and they were awesome (I am not affiliated with these guys at all or being paid to mention them, I just had a really good experience and thought I’d share it.)

If you’re not in this area then jump on Google, do some research, and check out what’s available near you.

Check out this blog post on Pearce’s website for some tips when it comes to making sure the kids are correctly restrained in their seat – Keeping Your Kids Safe Every Day

Did the kids complain about having the straps tighter then they were used to? Hells yeah they did, of course they did, they’d been so loose for so long that they were used to it that way. I explained to them about safety and why it was important that they were tight (without totally freaking them out.)

I also just decided that I was willing to listen to the complaints for as long as took for them to get used to it because I don’t want to muck around when it comes to being safe on the road. We do thousands and thousands of km’s each year and this is something I want to get right.

Another bonus that came outta all of this is that the kids sleep for wayyyyyyy longer now when we are doing a long haul drive. I can easily get two plus hours of sleep out of them as opposed to about one hour when they were folded over in a right angle.

Here’s a pic where I’ve actually got it right…

 

 

I wish I knew all of this sooner, it would have saved a bunch of angst. Hope it helps ☺️

If you’re after different ways to keep them occupied when they’re not sleeping then check out perfect podcasts for family road trips or apps for road tripping with kids (that son’t involve screens) for some cool ideas.

Also, healthy (ish) snacks for road tripping with kids might come in handy too.

Have fun out there!

 

Lily

 

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