Adele Barbaro thought she’d found a brilliant way to keep her son from slumping over in his car seat.
As Kidspot reports, the mom-of-two from Melbourne was on a road trip with her 3-year-old son, Harvey, whose head kept tipping forward as he slept. So Adele would reach back to prop his head back up — something that left her feeling carsick and only worked for a few minutes.
Finally, the mom had a brainstorm. She hooked her sports bra around the top of Harvey’s seat, creating a harness that kept his head from tipping over. Proud of her ingenuity, Adele shared the “genius hack” to her Instagram page.
That’s when she learned that her clever tip was, in fact, very dangerous.
According to Car Seats for the Littles (CSFTL), a consumer safety group, using any third-party product that didn’t come with the seat can be dangerous — that goes for aftermarket car seat accessories as well as sports bras.
As CSFTL explains, even small additions can affect the way a seat performs in a crash, resulting in serious injury or death. For example, pillows and headrests meant to support children and make them more comfortable can affect the placement of the harness or push the child out of the safe position in the seat. This could affect how the child’s head and chest move in a crash.
When readers informed Adele that her hack could put children in danger, she removed the photo immediately. She then re-posted it on Instagram with a prominent warning that declared, “Don’t do this. I was wrong.” She wrote:
I […] shared what I thought was a funny and clever little mum hack. But I was wrong. DO NOT DO THIS.
Adele went on to say, “I pride myself in sharing helpful and honest content,” and she was, “mortified,” to learn that she had shared something unsafe.
After posting her photo, Adele learned that the most important thing when it comes to car seat safety is to have the seat installed correctly — with the right level of incline. Given that she had the seat professionally installed and on full incline, she’s now questioning the seat itself.
Adele concluded with an apology to her readers for accidentally sharing an ill-advised tip:
“I am not perfect. I don’t always get it right, just like every mum. And although it was a funny post, I would never share anything that I thought was unsafe for children.”
We are excited to announce Dearly has joined forces with Mama’s Uncut. Helping Mom’s across the United States answer questions on life’s big challenges.
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