I have to agree with concerns about any alterations to carseats and suggest
a possible alternative.  This issue is up there with my concern when I see
infants brought in their buckets with the hospital receiving blanket stuffed
between the infant and the buckle - parents saying the discharge nurse put
it there to make the baby fit better!  YIKES!

My carseat observations started from personal experience, my daughter
*screamed* the second she was placed in her bucket as an infant, it would
have been torture to all involved to leave her in it if we were not in the
car.  Upon recommendation from a friend we got a Britax carseat (I have no
financial relationship to these people and no vested interest in selling
their product and get nothing for telling this story) for unrelated reasons
(its the safest carseat available in the US and very easy to use and very
durable) and the second I put my daughter in it she was happy as a clam.  It
was so remarkable that I took the cover off of each seat and was shocked to
look at them side-by-side to figure out what the difference was.

Dee is absolutely right - there is practically no padding in your typical
bucket.  What is there is wimpy low density foam that is flattened by the
smallest baby.  There is no way that thing can be comfortable to a tiny body
that should be cradled and snuggled.  The Britax is all foam, most of it is
EPS foam (which is high-density and is mainly responsible for its high
safety rating - along with 5 point harness, integrated locking clip, ease of
adjustment of the straps, and excellent tether design), and the design for
baby's lower back is especially noticeably different from your typical
bucket.  There is much more support of baby's lower back than in other
seats.

My favorite part about this seat (other than the fact that it goes 5-40# and
we've had one for 4 years and one for 3 years without a single problem) is
that it is not removable from the car as an infant carrier.  So, mom's get a
safer seat that is more comfortable for babe - AND motivation to sling baby
or at least carry baby in arms.

Many parents hear the price for this seat ($200+) and have small heart
attacks and say "I can't spend money like that on a *carseat*!"  I point out
to them (often the same parents who spend $1000+ on a crib and many hundreds
on a stroller) that this is a very important piece of baby equipment, lasts
for many years, and gets daily use, also they are paying for safety, not
necessarily for a pretty gadget.

As for weighing in on "wide" precursors to GER(D) I wouldn't be at all
surprised if this bucket phenomenon had something to do with it.  TOTALLY
anecdotally and unscientifically - I know many families with GER(D) babies
and many families with GER(D)-free babies - one of the only distinctions I
can think of is whether baby gets carted around consistently in a bucket or
in arms/sling.  Hmmmm.  All bf at least for some amount of time, most of the
GER(D) babies end up on some kind of prescription medication.  Another thing
that comes to mind is "high intervention" labor/birth.  I hesitate to say
which came first, to me this is something of a chicken and the egg problem.
My biggest concern with the high prevalence of GER(D) that I've seen is many
families end up advised to discontinue bf as someone says something to the
effect of the problem being a "breastmilk intolerance/allergy" (?!?!).

Katherine Shealy
T-5

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