Thread: four wheel drive baby

Actually, it was easier out in the bush when LS was a baby. Now he can run around & get into strife whereas before, where you put him is where he stayed .

Originally Posted by Numpty's Missus

The old cane bassinette's were all that was available pre early 1980's.....they were not exactly what you'd call secure in an accident

In a previous car my older brother got the front seat as a baby. Dad removed the front passenger seat and built a frame to take the basket. Then put a flyscreen sort of mesh over it to hold him in if they crashed.
Must not have wanted to do that to the new Volvo.

once the baby has some head control its all good.

when we started taking alex out it was in a rewards facing seat with a light shoulder harness to help stop him rocketing out in the event of a front on and a strap over his blankets to stop him from coming out in any other event.

he loves it and Im gravely dissapointed that I couldnt take him and connie to the cape in big red.

We had our middle child out on day trips at only a few months old. Current bub has been to ill for any trips other than Hospital.

Our car seat is one of those convertables. just get extra head support like scouse said and they will happily sleep or wake and enjoy it.

Originally Posted by Utemad

In a previous car my older brother got the front seat as a baby. Dad removed the front passenger seat and built a frame to take the basket. Then put a flyscreen sort of mesh over it to hold him in if they crashed.
Must not have wanted to do that to the new Volvo.

My parents went off to a parachute maker and got them to sew up a mesh guard 1" super stiff webbing strips sewn about two inches apart. This went over the basket and attached to another strap or two, that ran down the back of the seat and bolted at each end to the seat belt mount.

I had a harness, over both shoulders and around waist in the same stiff webbing, it attached to another vertical strap, and could slide up and down the strap.

Dunno where I got the obsession with car seats from.

Originally Posted by Bushie

All of our kids have been 4wding and camping from a very young age, my (now) 21yo daughter was away with us for 5 weeks, when she was 6 months old, crossing the Simpson.

If you take reasonable care and use a bit of sense then I can't see there being any problems.

As for
all it means is that you travel a bit slower, stop more often and take your time to smell the roses. If you want to travel with bub - put your mind to it and away you go.


Martyn

Absolutely. We have been out 6 or more times with our baby Zoe. She is now 7 months old and has already done calcup dunes twice, the powerlines track in perth, plus other outings.

My wife is an occupational therapist and has some inkling of whats happening inside her head. Violent shaking of the head is not advised, but with appropriate padding you can prevent this. Ironically its probably the touring side of things that tends to be worst, with the repetetive corrugations hammering away at the car. The real fast stuff up over dunes has to be managed, ie don't go balls to the wall.

The likes of the extreme stuff like powerlines on a wet a muddy saturday in July, is not so bad cause we just crawl it, ie everything just happens in slow motion which is ok, with again, appropriate padding and support around her head.

On the up side she is probably the easiest to mamage of the three kids, (the others are 5 and 8) as she just smiles, eats, (necessary feeding stops), and sleeps.

Have edited this post say, that good brand, fully reclined rear facing baby seat, in the middle of the back seat will protect and minimize the movement of the car for her.
cheers
Nick

Oh yeah, upper end of the Safe and Sound range - Royale and something beginning with P - have significantly better padding than the other models.