# Puffy Coat Question



## Belia (Dec 22, 2007)

I searched through the first 10 pages of this thread and am actually quite shocked that I don't see this question, but how do you cold-weather mamas DO this?

DS is in a convertible seat, and I know I can't buckle him in with a big coat. But I pick him up from daycare every day and we have a little walk from the daycare center to the car. Putting him in a lighter-weight fleece for the walk works somedays, but it was zero degrees the past 2 days!!!

Do I walk him to the car with his big coat, then take it off before loading him into the seat? That seems cumbersome and COLD as well. I'm at work all day, so if I leave a blanket in the car I'm then throwing a cold blanket over him once he's buckled, which kind of defeats the purpose.

Seriously... how do people DO this? What am I missing??


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## Limabean1975 (Jan 4, 2008)




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## paquerette (Oct 16, 2004)

Have you tried a poncho over a polar fleece jacket? The poncho should open up on the sides so it doesn't go under the buckles, so it doesn't factor into the puffiness issue.


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## Maedze (Dec 16, 2008)

Get a 3-in-1 jacket. I promise it's not a big deal...I do it with not one but THREE kids in harnessed seats, a minimum of four times a day, every day of the week









3-in-1s have a nice layer of fleece underneath with a waterproof windshell on the outside. Walk to the car, remove the top layer and buckle your child in. He will be plenty warm for the few moments it takes to get him into the car


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## Limabean1975 (Jan 4, 2008)

IS there such a thing for babies? Do you have a link for these jackets?


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## Chryseis (Jul 28, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Maedze* 
Get a 3-in-1 jacket. I promise it's not a big deal...I do it with not one but THREE kids in harnessed seats, a minimum of four times a day, every day of the week









3-in-1s have a nice layer of fleece underneath with a waterproof windshell on the outside. Walk to the car, remove the top layer and buckle your child in. He will be plenty warm for the few moments it takes to get him into the car









This is what we do. I got my daughter's coat at Target, my son's at Old Navy. Old Navy seemed to have several in smaller sizes. I will also often just take off their coats when we get them in the car, too. My daughter can't stand wearing a coat in the car, but she likes having it on top of her.


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## Oliver'sMom (Jul 17, 2007)

I have a car seat poncho for ds that we love. It makes this whole process WAY easier.

http://www.carseatponcho.com/


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## hottmama (Dec 27, 2004)

My kids wear a sweater and a coat, and we take coats off before buckling up. It only takes a second to take the coat off.


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## Limabean1975 (Jan 4, 2008)

What about snow pants? Huge pain in the you-know-what to take those on & off at every stop, but my nearly-4-year-old sure needs them on there's snow on the ground.


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## an_aurora (Jun 2, 2006)

nak

If the car is cold they sit in their seats for a few minutes until the car starts getting a little warmer, then they take off their coats and we buckle.

My kids have never worn snow pants going out & about, but if your kid wears them, try the coat test with those too: buckle in the kiddo wearing normal clothes (pants, a light jacket)n and tighten the straps so they pass the pinch test. Take kiddo out w/out loosening the straps, put on the pants or coat, and try to buckle. If you have to loosen the straps, you can't waer those in the car.


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## littlemizflava (Oct 8, 2006)

what i do most will think it is wrong but the straps are tight.. in the fall when they are wearing a thin fleece/fall jacket i adjust the straps from summer wear. when winter comes the jackets both dc have are downfilled and will squish. always making sure hood is up on their head and not behind them in the seat. I DO NOT loosen the straps at all. it is easier for me then removing the jackets. i have done this and it dont work for my kids they go nuts. i have thinner jackets to wear when going in and out of the car. they had sherpa linned jackets but they are not used when it gets too cold.


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## bscal (Feb 13, 2006)

Ok, I live in the South so it doesn't get _that_ cold here. But we still have our colder windy days. Here's what we do:

I warm up my car before we leave home. We walk out to the van with all 3 kids dressed in their coats. Hop in the side door of the van and shut the van door behind us. Then, in the nice cozy warm van we take all coats off, buckle into carseats and the kids put their arms through the sleeves of their coats backwards (or just pull the coat over them like a blanket.)

When we arrive somewhere it's the reverse. I unbuckle, we put coats on and then get out of the car.

Often we'll chuck the coats into backpacks because at preschool we go through carpool so they get out right at the door. And when I pick them up after preschool they pull their coats off as their climbing into their seats.

If we're going somewhere at night I do take blankets with us... like if we go to my parents' house for dinner. I'll take the blankets inside with us and chuck them in the dryer for 10 minutes before we leave to go home. Then we can dress the kids in their pj's and cover them with blankets in the car and head home for bedtime. (My parents only live 6 miles from me but usually my 2 1/2 yr old and 4 yr old are out cold by the time we get home).

Beth


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## SamiPolizzi (May 23, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Oliver'sMom* 
I have a car seat poncho for ds that we love. It makes this whole process WAY easier.

http://www.carseatponcho.com/

That looks amazing. I'm buying one.


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## Maedze (Dec 16, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Limabean1975* 
What about snow pants? Huge pain in the you-know-what to take those on & off at every stop, but my nearly-4-year-old sure needs them on there's snow on the ground.

Snow pants should not be worn in a harness. I'm curious, is your child actually walking through the snow to the car?

We tend to stick to the shoveled areas between the house and the car


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## Limabean1975 (Jan 4, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Maedze* 
Snow pants should not be worn in a harness. I'm curious, is your child actually walking through the snow to the car?

We tend to stick to the shoveled areas between the house and the car









*I* try to stick to the shovelled areas, but he sure doesn't!!

I definitely know snow pants should not be worn in a harness - my question was what the heck do you do about it?


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## Maedze (Dec 16, 2008)

Ah, I see.

Well, like I said, I make them stay out of the snow









It's pretty simple for us. Snow suits/pants CANNOT be worn in a harness, and mama ain't fightin' with a snow suit x3 every time we get in or out of the car. The rule is, when we're going to and from the car, you walk nicely on the shoveled walk. If by chance we're making it out before the plows, hang tight at the front door and mama gives you a free ride


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## butterfly_mommy (Oct 22, 2007)

The other day I picked up my friends daughter at preschool and she was wearing snow pants and her jacket. I took off her jacket but left her snow pants on, I did not have to adjust the straps at all on my Radian when I buckled her in and she was in the car a few hours earlier without her snow pants on and the straps were nice and snug and passed the pinch test. I just made sure the pants were smoothed out under the straps.

DS wears a thin fleece one piece snowsuit in his True Fit and it passes the test of still having snug straps without any adjustment with the suit off. When it is really cold he will wear the fleece suit and then his ski jacket on top and when we get to the car I will take his jacket off.


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## Everrgreen (Feb 27, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Oliver'sMom* 
I have a car seat poncho for ds that we love. It makes this whole process WAY easier.

http://www.carseatponcho.com/

Love it! Unfortunatley they don't ship to Canada. Any Canadians know of an online store for something similar in Canada?

ETA - Sorry, they do ship to Canada, but it costs $26!!! Yikes - that's not happening!


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## NotBroken (Oct 4, 2007)

You could always try finding one on etsy.


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## Erica09M (Jul 28, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gillian28* 
Love it! Unfortunatley they don't ship to Canada. Any Canadians know of an online store for something similar in Canada?

ETA - Sorry, they do ship to Canada, but it costs $26!!! Yikes - that's not happening!

They're easy to make too.


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## KurumiSophia (Nov 28, 2007)

Not trying to hijack but how in the world do you convince the other people in your life to do the same re: taking the coats off. My MIL and I battled over it all last winter and now instead of fighting me on it, my husband and MIL have simply adjusted the straps to fit her coat under them leaving me ready to scream. (this is the same MIL who refused to replace DD's carseat after an accident, forcing me to get a free one used from a friend. As far as she's concerned, I don't know anything about safety in cars.)


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## chickabiddy (Jan 30, 2004)

This probably makes be a bad-word, but I insist on that the same way I'd insist that they don't feed my 3mo french fries or take my 6yo to a R-rated movie -- if they don't respect my rules for my child, they don't spend time with my child without me.


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## babymommy2 (May 14, 2009)

"cold" can mean a lot of different things. I wish more people who are replying would state what temp. they are talking about.

On days that I drive my child to school he wears snowpants in the car. We never wear them for general going out to stores, etc, but he needs them at school as they dont' go inside until the bell rings. It is a pain and I know not the safest ideally, but what alternative is there? Take him out of the car take his coat off and and put on snow pants on the side walk in the cold and dress him up again? All this in the parent drive through lane in front of the school, where the expectation is drop off your child as fast as possible and get out?

We also wear our winter coats in the car regularily. I dont' buy ones that are super slippery or extrememly fluffy, but there is some bulk there. Today it is
-36 celcius. There is no way a polar fleece or poncho would work in this cold of weather. The cold itself is also a danger at that temp. It isn't a problem going from house to garage, but when it is that cold, even 5 minutes in a store and your car is completely frozen by the time you get back to it. I won't go out today because of the cold, but there will still be school tomorrow, and groceries to buy, etc. Life doesn't stop when its that cold, at least not where I live.


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## Erica09M (Jul 28, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *chickabiddy* 
This probably makes be a bad-word, but I insist on that the same way I'd insist that they don't feed my 3mo french fries or take my 6yo to a R-rated movie -- if they don't respect my rules for my child, they don't spend time with my child without me.

Exactly.

I don't compromise to anyone on my children's safety in the car. Not to my husband, not to my sister, not to my mom, not to my mother inlaw. I'm the one who has done the reading of the research and studies (in terms of all car seat safety, not necessarily about winter coats). I have flat out pulled the car seat into the house and dressed my daughter up in her winter coat to show my husband the difference. If he still fails to see it, then I'll put my child in the car every single time as to not inconvenience him (which I'm sure is what it would be all about). My sister, mom, inlaws, etc. have not done the research that I've done, so on this topic their opinion doesn't really matter. It's about facts, not opinion.

Thankfully my husband agress (or at least he doesn't go against) anything I have to say regarding their car seat safety. And luckily my family follows my wishes, and my kids are never left in the car of my inlaws. So it all works out


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## triscuitsmom (Jan 11, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *babymommy2* 
"cold" can mean a lot of different things. I wish more people who are replying would state what temp. they are talking about.

On days that I drive my child to school he wears snowpants in the car. We never wear them for general going out to stores, etc, but he needs them at school as they dont' go inside until the bell rings. It is a pain and I know not the safest ideally, but what alternative is there? Take him out of the car take his coat off and and put on snow pants on the side walk in the cold and dress him up again? All this in the parent drive through lane in front of the school, where the expectation is drop off your child as fast as possible and get out?

We also wear our winter coats in the car regularily. I dont' buy ones that are super slippery or extrememly fluffy, but there is some bulk there. Today it is
-36 celcius. There is no way a polar fleece or poncho would work in this cold of weather. The cold itself is also a danger at that temp. It isn't a problem going from house to garage, but when it is that cold, even 5 minutes in a store and your car is completely frozen by the time you get back to it. I won't go out today because of the cold, but there will still be school tomorrow, and groceries to buy, etc. Life doesn't stop when its that cold, at least not where I live.

Also in Canada and the windchill gets way colder than "cold" is in a lot of threads on here (here being MDC in general) for sure.

The boys don't wear winter coats in their carseat. Not coats that mean we have to loosen the harness over what we could tighten it if they were in jeans and a sweatshirt. For the really really cold days one thing I've found that works is the "carseat trick" which I learned about on car-seat.org We put Tobias in his seat, unzip his warmer jacket (not super thick but thick enough it would require me to loosen the harness some to get it done up without doing this) and then pull both sides completely through the harness. Do the harness up and then zip the jacket up over the harness. Doesn't require loosening it at all at that point.

I guess for me cold temperatures or not I will not drive with my children at risk of ejection in the car if we were in an accident. Loosening the harness to get them in a poofy coat that will compress in an accident can put them at risk of that. Not worth it for me... I'd rather do everything I can to make them safe in the car if I do have to go out in the car.


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## an_aurora (Jun 2, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *babymommy2* 
"cold" can mean a lot of different things. I wish more people who are replying would state what temp. they are talking about.


I responed earlier, and I live in Alaska







. Today it's warm because it's snowing, at 18*. We manage without having the kids in winter coats in the car, even when it's -35 (so -37C).


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## sehbub (Mar 15, 2006)

Our temperatures haven't bottomed out yet, but the windchill can certainly get below 0.

Coats are either on or off in the car. Most of the time they're off, but occasionally the kids want to leave them on.

1) Adjust the harness with the child in normal clothing. NO coat.
2) Unzip the coat and open it
3) Put the child in the seat and, with the hood up, pull the sides of the coat under the side straps of the harness
4) Buckle the harness
5) Zip the coat OVER the harness

This has worked every time, is approved as safe by registered car seat techs, does not require manipulation of the harness at all, and reduces the "I'm coooooooooooold" whines to the bare minimum. As an added bonus, it keeps my youngest daughter from unbuckling her chest clip while I'm driving.


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