Baby’s Death Shows How Important Car Seat Education Is for Parents
Louisiana mother Holly Wagner lost her 11-month-old son Cameron after a car accident. His death is the latest tragic reminder that many parents don't know the proper way to fasten a car seat and secure their children.
Wagner shared the tragic story about her son's accident and how he wasn't secured in the car seat properly by her boyfriend. The mother wasn't aware of the American Academy of Pediatrics car seat guidelines that recommend "parents to keep their toddlers in rear-facing car seats until age 2, or until they reach the maximum height and weight for their seat."
"No one told me I was doing it wrong," said Wagner (quote via Yahoo Parenting). "Even when I was discharged from the hospital after Cameron was born, the nurses couldn't assist with the car seat for liability issues. So I just did what I thought was correct, what my parents did when I was growing up."
Cameron was ejected from a vehicle, which was also carrying Wagner's other son Connor (3), driven by her then-boyfriend. Connor suffered internal bruising and broke his arm, while the boyfriend broke his leg and had severe head trauma. They both survived.
According to police, the ex-boyfriend hadn't fastened the baby car seat's main buckle around Cameron's waist, only buckling the arm straps. The man ran a stop sign and was hit by another vehicle, causing the car to flip multiple times and eject Cameron in the process.
Wagner revealed that she had also turned Cameron's car seat around to face the front just three weeks before the accident -- and nearly a year earlier than suggested by the AAP.
Cameron lived for two weeks on life support following the accident. On May 12, Holly Wagner made the choice no parent wants to make: to remove her son, who was effectively starving to death because nutrients weren't getting to his brain, from life support.
[via Yahoo!]