Car seat check

So I was educated just now on car seats. I opted for the "check" at the hospital instead of a 3 hour class. I'm glad I did b/c I'm sure in the class they showed crash videos and hurt kid statistics. I dont need to see that. And you'll see I got a LOT of info in just those 30 minutes.

Summary: My kid will probably scream and cry the entire time we are in the car b/c hes going to be rear facing with no toys until he's big enough for a booster seat. The seat belt has to go across their hips and not their stomach. So if you are ever in the situation where you have to drive my kid, you'll be driving my car where his seat is installed properly and he fits correctly.

They showed us how to properly tighten the harness in the infant seat and how it should sit on them and why its designed that way. It was really informative. If you are going to be taking my kid anywhere, you'll get a lesson from me on this. Its pretty much pointless to have a carseat unless you install and buckle it properly b/c they will just fly out of it in a wreck.

They said rear facing is the safest for a kid until the carseat cant hold them rear facing anymore (most convertible carseats are meant to be both), because it protects their spines in the event of a crash and their head wont whip forward. Most of the convertible ones will hold a kid up to like 40 pounds (i forget but it was as lot) or something rear facing. They even said mirrors are bad b/c when the kid whips back they can crack their head on it. This made me very sad b/c i want to use my mirror. Dallas drivers are really awful and i dont know where i am going half the time so its even more scary for me driving up here.

There was a guy there switching his seats to front facing and the ladies were ripping him a new one. He didnt seem to care, he wanted his kid to face forward. They said its up to the parents and most switch to front facing for convenience at around 12-18 months, but they don't recommend it. (they said they can bend their legs, they will deal with it, its their spine the seat is protecting)

I also discovered my explorer is really small. the carseat, even in the middle, touched the passenger seat (it was all the way back) and they said it couldnt so i had to move it up. i cant imagine how that works in smaller cars. i thought my car was big! false.

on a positive note, they were all raving about my carseat and said chicco is the best and easiest brand to install, they took it out of my car and made me re-do it and it was super easy. i had scott do it this weekend thinking i wouldnt be able to pregnant. they knew i could is why they showed me.

I failed to use capitalization when typing this. Sorry.