Re: Worst Baby Buys
I had a C-sec so we didn’t go anywhere much. But later I would have her in my lap.
See the average traffic speed within the city in Pakistan is much slower than the western world. So it’s alright that way.
If we’d go out of city, i would sit in the back, with my baby.
Re: Worst Baby Buys
Tommee tippee bottles and pacifiers. Baby refused both and is EBF.
I went crazy on baby clothes. Now she has so many I dnt know what to do with them.
otherwise everything I bought we used a lot.
Oh and baby bjorn. My husband bought it and never wears it. And it hurts my back.
Re: Worst Baby Buys
The posts on car seat made me post in this thread.
It’s a very wrong assumption here in Pakistan that babies are safe in mom’s lap and you don’t need a car seat.
I had a horrible car accident on Islamabad-Lahore motorway, back in 2008. My youngest wasn’t even an year old then and I had her in car seat. I was driving and something terrible happened during driving (basically a petty little argument among kids) and in my silly attempt to pass the tissue box to them during driving, car’s power steering moved in the wrong direction and things went out of control then and there…
We ended up falling in a ravine after hitting a tree with three burst tyres…thankfully we didn’t run into any other vehicle on the road at that time while crossing three lanes at once. My side was on floor and the other side was up in air. I have mashaAllah 4 kids and all were with me. I could hear two of them screaming in horror, eldest was much composed and kept telling me to dial emergency services number, though I was unable to comprehend whatever he was saying at that time. In all this mess, I couldn’t hear my youngest who was tied in her car seat n her seat was on my chest at that time but I thought, Allah forbid, she is probably no more!!!
Thankfully however, or I’d rather say, miraculously none of us was harmed in this terrible accident, alhamdulillah. I got just one bruise on my forehead and my neck was quite stiff for few days, but alhamdulillah x 100000000 my kids were safe. And above all the baby, stayed safe which was impossible had we not tied her down in the car seat.
So good roads or bad, slow speed or not, please for the sake of your safety, never ever compromise on safety protocols. These laws are in place to help us.
Re: Worst Baby Buys
^ I agree with you afia I never had a bad accident with baby thank Allah!! but I am ADAMANT against all opposition to always travel IN car seat and seatbelts for baby and we travel a lot! so whether baby hates it or not whether anyone else hates it or not, car seat all the way!
I really like my graco stroller. I use it as a sleeping system for baby, as a storage for toys, as a highchair substitute all in one. It is really paying off super dooper way!
Re: Worst Baby Buys
Yep here they dnt even let you take baby home without car seat.
Re: Worst Baby Buys
Did you have the car seat in the front or the back?
I’m in favour of car seats, I was just saying that infants are safer in mom’s lap - in Pakistan.
In the west, and that’s just my perception, things in the name of health, safety and security are taking it too far. I mean a car seat is safe, I get it, but the dependence on it and feeling unsafe without a car seat is… I don’t know… too much maybe?
I mean do see how families on a motorbike travel in Pakistan??? 6-8 people in a ride for 2 (if that!)… I see them I start praying for their safety, thinking at least I’m in a car and such.
So it’s relative I guess. You think we’re idiots, I think they’re idiots, they think we’re both idiots.
Re: Worst Baby Buys
Oh my baby was huge so he wasnt feeling comfortable in the infant carseat it was sooo small…we bought one of regular size(it was infant carseat too) but was comfy for him…so we never used that ‘gift’ …
I live in middle east we dont have restrictions here too…but I’ve used whenever we were in the car…
Re: Worst Baby Buys
There is no such thing as “too much dependence” on safety equipment when it comes to your kids, IMHO. People travelling on motorcycles might be uneducated about the perils of it but that doesn’t mean they’re safe from accidents, kwim? I bet if they had a choice they’d rather be buckled into a car too.
Car seats are designed to hold your infant or toddler in place should a crash happen and the safest ones have a lot of thought and research put into them - the same way seatbelts are designed to prevent older passengers from being launched out of windows and windshields which almost always means certain death. Pakistani traffic might be slow but a truck or a bus hitting you at 60kmh is still going to do significant damage to you and your vehicle. Why would you ever gamble with your child’s safety or your own? You might think in a crash you would be able to hold on to your kid but you have no idea what the impact might be doing to you to really be able to say it’s the safest place for your kid.
You must use the car seat with the seatbelt to prevent it from being tossed around in the case of an accident, and never place a car seat in the front seat ever. The safest place is the seat behind the driver.
Re: Worst Baby Buys
This is just rubbish. I guess you have no idea of what happens in an impact, even at slow speeds.
And just because other people do extremely stupid and unsafe things, it doesn’t make your situation any safer.
Re: Worst Baby Buys
Umm really can’t think of anything.. We have a very limited collection of toys, I never went crazy with my baby registry/ shopping, didn’t have any if those extras like wipes warmer, diaper pail etc and I have honestly used everything that I ever bought.
Oh except dr. Browns bottle.. My son didn’t like it so we exchanged those with Tommee tippee.. I had about 10 of them. For my second child, I just got the new nipples and use the same bottles so totally worth the money.
Speaking of car seats in Pakistan.. We took our car seat with us when he was 4 months old.. My bil had Toyota corolla ( somewhat new model) but apparently they never installed the back seat seat belts so we couldn’t even use it. I hardly took him outside then.. He traveled in my godi but I was sooo scared .. It just fudnt feel safe bit alhamdulillah we came back home safe and sound.
Re: Worst Baby Buys
Agree with everybody who is saying car seats are a must NO matter where you live/drive. mom’s lap will be no more once the mom herself gets thrown out of the car.
Re: Worst Baby Buys
Firstly,car seats are not ‘safety gone too far’.
Secondly,a car seat is never meant to be placed on the front seat.
I was in Lahore a few weeks ago and with the network of new roads and flyovers etc made,the average vehicle speed is not that slow that we can assume its ok if a kid is in a parent’s lap.People drive really fast and sometimes erratically,so God forbid incase of an impact,it can be serious,esp for a tiny baby.
I have seen it before many times that people use a car set (or the look alike carry cot thing) just as a thing to carry the baby in.I have seen it being placed in cars parallel to the seat (instead of being fastened perpendicularly to the seat) and that just kills the purpose of the car seat.Though I am not saying every one does that,but generally people tend to ignore the importance of a car seat.But then when many drivers do not want to put seat belts on,why would they think of belts/restraints/seats for babies/kids.Also many cars don’t even have the facility to install a car seat in them in the back seat there.
Re: Worst Baby Buys
Too much? How can something that can potentially SAVE your child’s life in case of an accident be too much? 
I don’t get this.
Re: Worst Baby Buys
Car seats are designed in a way to protect your baby in case of an accident and it getting hit with impact.
I mean even looking at a baby in a car seat you’ll see how the sides are elevated in a way to provide protection … that’s something moms arms aren’t able to do. When it comes to the safety of my child nothing I do will ever be too much! You can never be too safe and as a mother I’d rather be “too safe” than sorry.
Honestly, buying and strapping your child in a car seat is the easiest thing ever. I don’t get all the excuses by people in Pakistan (and other countries who don’t “believe” in these western products), wouldn’t you want to do what’s best for your child? I have seen and experienced the traffic in Pakistan and it is NO WAY “slow” or “safe”. 
Re: Worst Baby Buys
OK i don’t know why you are taking my personal opinion with such hostility. i think things are heating up for no reason.
If I was to move to Central Africa I think food scarcity wouldn’t matter to me as much (it would to an extent) as it might to you.
Anyways it is a useless debate. You guys think it’s crucial, i respect that.
Re: Worst Baby Buys
^ It’s really not a useless debate. Everyone has made valid logical points. I’m sorry stoppit’s was the only response that struck a chord with you though.
Re: Worst Baby Buys
It wasn’t an opinion. It was a statement and an incorrect one at that.
Re: Worst Baby Buys
Buttons if your baby is still a baby baby i would really encourage you to look at some safety videos on youtube. Especially real ones. There are people out there, real people, in real traffic situations who regret not using car seats. There were horrific videos of kids who survived “mother’s laps” but were so injured and their recovery.
I showed HALF a video to my husband to convince him as he is a Pakistani in thinking completely and we do live in Pakistan.
Plus the fact that we know a family personally whose daughter would be my age if she survived a car accident at 1 yr of age. She was sitting in the front in her mother’s lap and went flying through the windshield and died. The parents never recovered from that incident.
I was not advocating mom’s lap over car seats. I remember cars like suzuki mehraan from my days, and they were so useless in terms of safety that my guess is that putting your baby in car seats in such car may actually give you a fake sense of safety, where safety is not present
In any case, I was thinking more of a slow moving traffic in cities where kids nit just travel in cars, but in rickshaws, tongas and back of suzukis.
Motor way is another ball game.
Re: Worst Baby Buys
Sure, I agree with you. A carseat was among the first few things I purchased. See here:
Do I need a carseat here you think?
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/19935618.jpg
I understand that need one here:
incorrect…from your perspective.
Exactly my point. Lol but I’m surprised they didn’t jump on your case though !!