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Because celebrity mom after celebrity mom has been thrust into the public eye [3] recently as a result of mom shaming, seeing a photo Olivia Wilde shared of Otis in his car seat — with his chest clip in the wrong location — made me think: "here we go again." However, I was proved wrong, as what took place in the comments section of Olivia's post was an encouraging safety conversation that should honestly be the norm in situations like this.
Olivia shared the sweet photo of 3-year-old Otis snuggling a Buzz Lightyear doll [4] while sleeping in a car seat during the family's visit to Los Angeles. "Both my kids had a hard time adjusting from subway cars to car seats when we came to LA for some work recently (translation: they screamed 100 percent of every ride) until we FINALLY found the right seats," she wrote. "Safety is obviously not something you wanna mess around with. Find the right car seats and install them correctly [5]! . . . Keep your maniacs alive and well, so they can scream at you for other reasons, like when you accidentally fracture the granola bar before handing it to them. The horror!"
Although her post was about the importance of safety, a few people pointed out that the way Otis was strapped into his new seat wasn't exactly safe [7]. Rather than tear her apart, as many of us are used to witnessing in these instances, commenters went in with thoughtful advice and constructive criticism [8], mom to mom.
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"His chest clip should be at his sternum not his belly, serious internal injury can occur to his abdomen with the chest clip that low in case of an accident. Before everyone starts, I'm not judging, just passing on valuable information," one wrote. Another, who noted that she's a car seat passenger safety technician, added: "I wanted to pass along some safety information if I could! One mom helping another. I see that your cutie's chest clip is at belly level. Make sure you bump that up to armpit level."
The commenter continued, adding a few more general safety tips [10] not only for Olivia but for anyone in the comments with babies in car seats and offered for anyone to message her directly if they had additional questions.
Also make sure you have the straps at or slightly above for forward facing and at or below for rear facing! Make sure the straps are nice and snug. Make sure you always top tether the car seat when forward facing children. Also make sure there is less than 1 inch on movement at the belt path. Also make sure you use seat belt or your car's LATCH system [11] when installing a car seat. Never both. Make sure you keep your little ones harnessed until they max out of their seat limits. This is a great seat! Keep up with the great work you do and you are a great mom . . .
Let's continue to help one another get through this crazy parenting ride together and lift each other up, not tear each other down.