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greatn posted:Yeah if the plane crashes that car seat is gonna save his life. Actually, there was a case here where the only survivor of a plane wreck was the kid in the carseat: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=812_1193735173 Alternatively, there have been cases where the only death was the unrestrained infant: http://news.ca.msn.com/local/north/nunavut-crash-prompts-call-for-child-seats-on-planes That being said, flights on the whole are quite safe, so your risk is ultimately low. Airlines put parents in a lovely situation by offering the entire lap child thing to begin with. Flights are so expensive for families, and buying a seat for your kid is considered a luxury. Especially since kids under a certain age with their own seat need a carseat for that seat, but you aren't guaranteed that it will fit, and it's drat near impossible to get the airlines to provide accurate seat dimensions. So even if you buy your kid a seat, if the flight attendants say no to your seat, you're out the money with nothing to show for it. Yet I'm not allowed to have my purse out, but a baby on my lap is A-OK. I'm flying to Chile with my youngest in about 10 days and I've booked the infant cot for him the whole time (usually this is only available on international flights), but that's really only useful when they're super young and flying with them is easy anyway. My older one I started using a flight harness for him when he was about a year, and it works more or less ok. I do wish there were better options (like on-board 5 point harnesses or special plane seats) for kids.
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Jan 5, 2014 00:45
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greatn posted:I looked it up and about 60 people per year are injured by turbulence in the United States, out of about 800 million passengers. You're literally much more likely to be struck by lightning in a given year. That said, the FAA does recommend child safety harnesses. Right, I said it was rare but it does happen and the long shot statistics don't much matter if you happen to be the one or two in a million.
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Jan 5, 2014 01:04
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On the last 2 flights i've taken to Italy I took Lufthansa and they had a child bassinet area in the front of coach and coach +. I'm not sure the parents actually needed to buy an extra seat and the kid was strapped in the whole time. Maybe look into that? It had this crazy clip in system but there were little latch thingies on the A330 that were built for it.
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Jan 5, 2014 03:43
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There's also the concern that the airline may rough up your carseat if you check it (even gate check it). Given that almost all carseats are supposed to be replaced in the event of even a minor collision, it's not out of the realm of possibility that a worker dropping or tossing the seat (common behaviors with luggage) could impact the safety of the seat. Personally, we've gate checked a stroller twice safely stored in its travel bag and had it be damaged on return to us, so I can't imagine what they would do to a carseat, where you are dependent on the condition of the seat to keep your child safe in a car accident.
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Jan 5, 2014 04:33
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There's really no good choice if you can't afford to buy an extra seat (as we couldn't, this summer)--either you take your chance with a rental seat that's possibly expired and possibly been in an accident, or risk your car seat getting damaged. We did the latter. I'm looking forward to being able to use a Ridesafe vest when my little guy gets older and we travel out of country.
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Jan 5, 2014 18:39
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How worried should I be about chipped paint and lead poisoning? We live in a really old house. I mean this thing has got to be at the very least in the 100s of years old. It's not in the best condition and I occasionally find chipped paint on the floor. My 6 month old just started pulling himself up with the assistance of things. And one of those things is a window that has some chipped paint. I tried to clean it as well as I can, but I'm still paranoid. I'm making a WIC appointment soon and I think they do lead poisoning tests, but I'm still concerned and don't know much about it. I'm also afraid if I Google it I will just become more paranoid!
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Jan 5, 2014 23:07
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We have a window like that and just put some of those bumpers over the sill. I don't know anything about the chips.
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Jan 5, 2014 23:15
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Goobish posted:How worried should I be about chipped paint and lead poisoning? We live in a really old house. I mean this thing has got to be at the very least in the 100s of years old. It's not in the best condition and I occasionally find chipped paint on the floor. My 6 month old just started pulling himself up with the assistance of things. And one of those things is a window that has some chipped paint. I tried to clean it as well as I can, but I'm still paranoid. I'm making a WIC appointment soon and I think they do lead poisoning tests, but I'm still concerned and don't know much about it. I'm also afraid if I Google it I will just become more paranoid! In my state, finger sticks for lead have to be done by the ped at 12-18 months, and then repeated a couple years later. You can paint over it and seal it in (if it is lead paint anyway--the paint is probably not as old as the house). Or cover it with an edge bumper like they make for fireplaces and tables. Like...this stuff.
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Jan 6, 2014 03:07
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I'm a real estate appraiser and if we say there is peeling paint on an older property it is assumed there is lead paint. Banks make a huge deal out of it. All the paint has to be thoroughly scraped into a drop cloth which is then used to catch all the paint that comes off and is taken off property for proper disposal. Then the surface is repainted. If you suspect lead paint in your house I'd say be very vigilant with upkeep to make sure all those surfaces are safe.
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Jan 6, 2014 08:10
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What's a good gift for a 2-year old? My friend's baby has suddenly become a tiny person and I've been invited to a birthday party for said tiny person. Mom is a Woman of Science, has a doctorate and manages the local Arboretum, and Dad owns and runs the most amazing game store (board/card/RPG games) ever, to give you an example of the household. 
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Jan 6, 2014 15:32
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Only advice I can give you is to ask the parents.
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Jan 6, 2014 15:42
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Anyone have any experience with a baby getting x-rayed? Rory had his 9 month check up with the community doctor, and despite everything looking fine for him, the doctor suggested getting him x-rayed to rule anything out because I had some pretty severe hip issues as a child, and ended up having a major surgery when I was 10. I've no problem with the appointment, because if I can avoid having him go through that nightmare, that's terrific. I'm just not sure what to expect.
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Jan 6, 2014 16:01
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Groke posted:Only advice I can give you is to ask the parents. Pfffffft, what fun is that? Really just looking for suggestions of toys/books your kids may have loved around that age. EVG fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Jan 6, 2014 |
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Jan 6, 2014 16:15
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EVG posted:Pfffffft, what fun is that? Really just looking for suggestions of toys/books your kids may have loved around that age. My son is turning 2 in a week and he is just entering the wonderful world of Butts are Hilarious. I'm getting him Chicken Cheeks by Michael Ian Black. If you feel butts are beneath him (ha ha) there is tons of merch of little-kid versions of superheroes, stuff that Dad can enjoy with him. Maybe a set of those Hulk hands? Or, appeal to Mom's science-ness and get him an ant farm. I know my kid would be constantly pulling me over to watch the "bugs", if he had one.
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Jan 6, 2014 16:54
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Chicken McNobody posted:My son is turning 2 in a week and he is just entering the wonderful world of Butts are Hilarious. I'm getting him Chicken Cheeks by Michael Ian Black. Hah! That's hilarious - I actually gave the dad a set of growling hulk hands for his birthday a few years back. That shows how mature we all are.  It's a daughter, actually, but they are not stuck on gender roles. (Her name is Kara - after Starbuck if you ask dad, after supergirl if you ask mom).I'll hit up a book store (if I can find such a thing still in existence) and look at what they have - was thinking maybe some beginner books with Greek or other mythology would be awesome, if I can find any for such an early age for readability and reduced swan-rape and the like.
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Jan 6, 2014 17:31
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Dandy Shrew posted:Anyone have any experience with a baby getting x-rayed? Rory had his 9 month check up with the community doctor, and despite everything looking fine for him, the doctor suggested getting him x-rayed to rule anything out because I had some pretty severe hip issues as a child, and ended up having a major surgery when I was 10. I've no problem with the appointment, because if I can avoid having him go through that nightmare, that's terrific. I'm just not sure what to expect. I can answer this in a couple of months, Anna is going in for a checkup of her hips in early March. (She'll be around 13 months by then.) She had immature hips when she was born, and used a Frejka's pillow for four months. She's only been checked with ultrasound earlier, because the bones aren't dense enough to show up on x-ray that early. The ultrasound went fine, though. I hope Rory's hips are fine! Hip trouble sucks.
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Jan 6, 2014 17:45
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EVG posted:I'll hit up a book store (if I can find such a thing still in existence) and look at what they have - was thinking maybe some beginner books with Greek or other mythology would be awesome, if I can find any for such an early age for readability and reduced swan-rape and the like. There are some books kind of like that - I got my kid a Jabberwocky board book. A couple places do some rad versions of classics for toddlers. Books are always my favourite gifts to receive.
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Jan 6, 2014 19:25
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Dandy Shrew posted:Anyone have any experience with a baby getting x-rayed? Rory had his 9 month check up with the community doctor, and despite everything looking fine for him, the doctor suggested getting him x-rayed to rule anything out because I had some pretty severe hip issues as a child, and ended up having a major surgery when I was 10. I've no problem with the appointment, because if I can avoid having him go through that nightmare, that's terrific. I'm just not sure what to expect. Liam had his hips x-rayed at 11 months (and several times since - eventually had 2 surgeries to fix his problem, because his diagnosis came too late to fix the problem with a pavlik harness or frejka pillow). It isn't being particularly difficult - basically just "put him on the table, hold him in this position....ok, now hold him in THIS position....now this way...Ok, we're done." We go to Children's Hospital, so they're super fast and good at getting kid and baby xrays done with minimal fuss and delay because it's all they do. Just you know, have him wear easy to remove clothing, and if at all possible try to arrange the appointment on a day where someone of non-childbearing status can go in with him. They really try to avoid having me in the room for Liam's x-rays as much as possible (even though I'm not pregnant and I keep telling them I'm totally done having kids), so we try to schedule appointments so my husband or my mom come along for it. He *does* cry, but mostly that's because he's got a fear of white coats (I can't blame him for that, I'd hate doctors too if I had his medical history) and because he doesn't like being held in place for 5 seconds. He generally starts softly crying the instant we turn left from the hospital entry doors to head for orthodpedics. I don't think it's the x-rays that are the problem though, it's the memory of the surgeries, the casts, and the cast removals (oh my god, THAT was traumatic). Last time we were in ortho for a checkup, any time anyone came into the exam room he scowled at them and said "Go away, monster." Fionnoula fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Jan 6, 2014 |
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Jan 6, 2014 22:05
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EVG posted:What's a good gift for a 2-year old? My friend's baby has suddenly become a tiny person and I've been invited to a birthday party for said tiny person. One of those Melissa & Doug (or any brand of) wooden stamp sets of baby zoo/farm animals.
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Jan 7, 2014 01:14
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Get Duplos or some other age appropriate puzzle, though I suspect dad has that one covered with his job. Look around for board books. Board books are great since they take toddler abuse and can be cleaned. Bath toys are always useful. See if she has any interests. My daughter is really into vehicles right now ("I wish I were a pilot" is her favorite book right now), so she's just DELIGHTED by the remote control car I got for Christmas, and wants me to help her play with it all the time.
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Jan 7, 2014 14:03
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Just get the parents a Kohl's gift certificate.
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Jan 7, 2014 14:14
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My 23-month-old loves this Sånd stuff from Brookstone. It's more expensive than regular sand, but it falls apart very slowly, has a neat texture, and is easy to clean up. It's kind of like a sand/playdoh mix. Another good simple thing would be to get a little plastic caboodle and stuff it with art supplies. Paintbrushes, washable paint, crayons, glitter crayons, chalk, and then wrap it up with a huge pad of paper.
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Jan 7, 2014 17:28
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Hdip posted:I'm a real estate appraiser and if we say there is peeling paint on an older property it is assumed there is lead paint. Banks make a huge deal out of it. All the paint has to be thoroughly scraped into a drop cloth which is then used to catch all the paint that comes off and is taken off property for proper disposal. Then the surface is repainted. Yeah hand scraping is preferrable to mechanical sanding or scraping as that would make dust fly everywhere, you still get some particles getting into the air with hand scraping but way less. If you wet the material down as you scrape it should reduce it as well. Depending on the size of the area there are a few non-toxic chemical peels that you can apply that work pretty good in the right environment. You paint/roll it on and then cover with a piece of paper and let it dwell, the paint disolves out and you easily scrape the resulting paint putty goo into the paper and dispose of it. You should definitely be wearing disposable coveralls with eye glasses and a respirator to limit your exposure, or if you don't give a poo poo just do whatever. Lead is not a huge deal but it can be. To contribute something less fatalistic. Our kid loves airplane rides, she's flown probably 5 or so times on domestic flights up to an hour and half. From potato stage to toddler stage. When she was younger we just saved a bottle for when we were ascending and she would hit that and go to sleep the whole time. Now that she's a bit older she plays around more and then passes out and goes to sleep. The drone of the engine makes her quite sleepy. We are going on an international flight in February and it will be the longest one she's been on yet (4 hours) and it will probably be harder to entertain her the whole time but I don't anticipate any meltdowns. Going to bring a little pouch of toys and snacks and her bottle and she'll play around until she passes out. So far she's just been riding on our laps but this is the last year she flies for free and is required her own seat. We have brought our own car seat and just checked it with the baggage and gotten one from the rental company. Both are a pain in the rear end but at least when you bring your own carseat you know what you're getting. We never had a problem with it being damaged and I believe the airline would replace the carseat if they were at fault. We use some Diono thing and it packs up nice for air travel but it's designed for that. I'm not worried about the car seat being 'bumped' and invalidated, just look at your carseat when you get it back from damage. Both of these issues are liability legalese, lead paint is really only dangerous when you start ingesting or inhaling it. Kids eat paint chips off the wall so there is that. Car seat manufacturers tell you a bump to their carseat will gently caress it's integrity because if your kid dies they will be sued to ruin. Neither is good so everyone is trying to cover their rear end. The best thing would be to remove it but the other thing would be to make it so it's not flaking and chipping everywhere. chemical_combat fucked around with this message at 18:53 on Jan 7, 2014 |
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Jan 7, 2014 18:48
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Whenever we do long trips either in a car or on a plane, we try to get some new toys. Not fancy anything, but new to the kids. Usually target dollar bin stuff like coloring books and things like that. We have a goodie bag and pull out a toy they've never seen before when they get restless.
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Jan 7, 2014 20:11
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When my son was 3 he was not a great plane traveler, but the trick that worked for us was wrapping up little tiny things like small toys and tiny candy bars and saving them for the worst parts of the trip when you absolutely need distraction. We even took some of his toy trains and wrapped those up and he was utterly charmed to discover them as a surprise.
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Jan 8, 2014 06:45
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How bad does moving time zones suck with toddlers? We're moving from the west coast to Illinois by April (time line isn't set in stone just yet), so I'm curious how bad it's gonna be. Thankfully me and C are flying (with his own seat) while his dad drives the uhaul out, so at least there's that. Is there anything we can do to prepare him for the transition or is it better to just move and let him adjust naturally?
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Jan 8, 2014 20:09
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You'll be getting further exacerbation from FDR, since in addition to moving two hours forward daylight savings time will kick in and move you another hour ahead.
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Jan 8, 2014 20:32
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Sockmuppet posted:Are we doing something wrong? I'll tough it out if that's what it takes, but for now I feel like I'm breaking my baby I didn't break my baby! She now falls asleep after five minutes of fussing at night, and she'll allow her dad to put her to bed, AND during the day she'll go to sleep in her pram without me having to wheel it about, I can just put her in it and she'll toss and turn a bit, cry a little, then nod off. I feel like I'm getting a whole new lease on life here. I went to choir practice yesterday!
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Jan 8, 2014 21:03
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Lullabee posted:How bad does moving time zones suck with toddlers? We're moving from the west coast to Illinois by April (time line isn't set in stone just yet), so I'm curious how bad it's gonna be. It's only two time zones; it won't be that bad. We fly to Minnesota and Wisconsin from California a few times a year. Each time we just let David adjust sleep on his own but try to do meals and snacks on Central time. He's usually totally on Central time by the third night.
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Jan 8, 2014 22:38
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Lullabee posted:How bad does moving time zones suck with toddlers? We're moving from the west coast to Illinois by April (time line isn't set in stone just yet), so I'm curious how bad it's gonna be. We went from New Jersey to Hawaii for vacation, and Alex was adjusted within a week. Your kids will self normalize. Volmarias fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Jan 9, 2014 |
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Jan 9, 2014 01:36
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Amelia's starting nursery tomorrow morning - can't believe we're at this point already. Just two mornings a week to begin with. It's a lovely Montessori in my village and should give her a fantastic start. Hope she's OK with it - we've been reading her Spot Goes To School (I don't know if Spot the Dog exists in the US, but his books have been around at least since I was a child in the UK) to prepare her, but she does want to go anyway to be like the slightly older kids she knows from the childminder. Forgot to get her a bag, so I've just been to the 24-hour Asda to find one so has a proper one on her first day. Only managed to find a lunch bag, which may be a touch too small. It's Peppa Pig though, which she loves, so hopefully my wife can make it work in the morning. 
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Jan 9, 2014 02:01
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 Reporting in to the megathread with a Parenting Fail story. My almost 7 month old has a buckle fracture in his left arm above the wrist, and spent the night in the hospital night before last because I put him down on a big easychair "just for a second" and turned my back. He fell off the chair, luckily onto carpet, but still hard enough to cause the buckle fracture. Because he's so young, I was home alone with him, and he had a fracture, this triggered an investigation by the hospital's Child Safe teamThey kept us (well, I could've left obviously but no way I was leaving him alone there) overnight so they could do full bone scan xrays in the morning. Between the initial xrays of his arm, the xrays after they put his cast on, and the full body xrays the next morning I fully expect X Men mutant powers any time now for both of us. (Trying not to even worry about the xray exposure.) The xrays, exam, and interview with me obviously showed nothing, we live with my parents and they were both there too and I hope it was obvious that he was very cared for and it was just a terrible mistake. We were released after being there for 22 hours and just have to follow up with an peds ortho specialist in a week. I fully understand the need to investigate and they can't take the risk of letting a child fall through the cracks, and it was handled sensitively but oh God was I terrified. I have no reason to be, but you can't help it, you know? I kept the door to his room open all the time so they wouldn't think I was... I dunno. Ugh. Talk about feeling like the Worst Parent Ever. I know it happens, and I am not beating myself up TOO much, but his lovely shoulder to fingertip cast is a huge huge reminder of "hey world look, I did something dumb and it hurt my child" and mom guilt. It could have been so much worse so I am so grateful that it wasn't. He was so, so amazing through the whole ordeal. He didn't even get so much as a dose of Tylenol, he didn't at all seem to be in pain once the initial shock of falling wore off. They almost didn't even xray him at the ER because he was smiling, happy, and didn't seem bothered when they poked and moved the arm, but I pushed for it because he had been not moving it at all until we got to the ER. Thank God they did. He slept through the cast being put on, and I really think he thinks we brought him to a cool new place where a different set of people would come visit him every couple hours and tell him how cute he was. I had a high chair and a swing that I could've put him in, but I was "in a rush" and put him at risk just to save a few seconds. So not worth it. I think the cast hurts me more than him, both emotionally and physically. It's scratchy and rough, so my hands are a mess from him waving it around and my already winter dry skin, and he keeps bashing me with it. I think we all got colds from the hospital, too. So hi, I'm a 37 year old single mom with an almost 7 month old who is the smiley-ist, happiest, most good natured baby ever.
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Jan 9, 2014 21:17
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I've had 6 or 7 broken wrists so I think I'm qualified to say. That baby is ADORABLE in a cast. I'll also add. Good job on knowing your baby was hurt. You took care of him when he needed taking care of. Hdip fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Jan 9, 2014 |
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Jan 9, 2014 22:24
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Oh man, that sounds so scary! Glad it went as well as it did, and yeah, that kid is just happy to be here! At a playdate yesterday one of my daughters "friends" (I say "friends" because they're all 6 months old) pulled herself up to sit, her mum turned her back for two seconds, and the kid faceplanted onto a toy and cracked her forehead open. There was blood everywhere and her howling set off all the other babies (except my little sociopath, who just smiled and seemed to be fascinated with all the commotion  ). I've done my fair share of "it'll just take two seconds, I'll just...", so it's good to be reminded that accidents do happen. Hope he heals up fast!
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Jan 9, 2014 22:38
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poo poo happens, it's how you respond and learn. My oldest once had 7 staples put in her head to close up a giant gash in her scalp. They're going to trip, fall, get cut, bit by insects, break more bones and all sorts of crap. It's part of living.
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Jan 9, 2014 22:43
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I'm going to second the "great job pushing for what was right for your baby" and getting the x-ray done. I think most parents have been where you are, though. My son had a changing table mishap (fortunately, he was perfectly fine), a friend's son has had two concussions through no fault of the parent, another friend had her son need the tip of his pinky reattached... it only gets worse when they get older.
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Jan 9, 2014 22:45
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John Hodgman was just talking about how once his kid was seven or eight he started to relax, and began to nod off while he was playing with boats in the bathroom sink, then suddenly heard a hair dryer come on and moved faster than he ever has in his life to the bathroom to grab it. His kid thought the sailboats needed some wind, had the hair dryer like an inch above the water.
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Jan 9, 2014 22:52
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Wojtek posted:My little monster is 19 months. She won't do her bedtime ritual for the last 3 weeks. Anytime we put her in her crib she wakes up immediately and screams until she's taken out. If we leave her in there, she will eventually make herself throw up. Wife isn't sleeping well and I work so I can only take her all night on weekends. We haven't slept in the same bed in over a month now. Help.
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Jan 9, 2014 23:04
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Regarding child injuries, my daughter was dropped by her uncle at 17 months and broke an ankle. That was a long night/next day. When I asked the doctor about it, though, he said that they see that kind of stuff all the time, and kids are pretty darn resilient. It was also pointed out to me that apparently children who have a broken bone early in life tend to grow up less anxious, though I can't cite any literature on the subject. Said uncle also had a broken ankle before 2 thanks to a gliding rocking chair, so he joked (once we determined that it really wasn't utterly terrible) that he was just passing on the tradition. I think all parents/caretakers have one (if not several) "I just turned my back..." stories. They just seem to happen, sometimes worse than others.
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Jan 9, 2014 23:31
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I had my then four year old on my shoulders at Disneyland. We were walking on Main Street and i turned to go into an ice cream parlor. As I walked through the door I smacked his forehead right into the top of the door frame. Father of the year, tyvm.
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Jan 10, 2014 01:01
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