Family

Help Emergency Responders Care for Your Child After an Accident With Mom’s Car-Seat Hack

EMT access to important information, such as your child’s allergies and other medical conditions, is crucial in emergency situations.

Updated

8 years ago

January 8, 2020

First for Women Staff

Being in a car accident is a terrifying experience — fender bender or not — especially if you have the little ones with you. If you’re uninjured, it’s easy to snap around to see if they’re okay. But have you thought about what you’d do if you were injured and unable to help them? If you haven’t, Twitter user Alexis Copas has found a simple solution that may help your family in a moment of crisis.

Her secret? Taping your child’s date of birth (DOB), emergency contacts, and medical information onto the side of his or her car seat. Copas shared the enlightening parent “hack” on Twitter, writing that she’d seen the idea on Facebook and was floored by how important this information could be in the event of an emergency or car accident — not to mention how easy it was to jot down the info and slap it on the side of her 10-month-old’s car seat.

Saw this on FB & wanted to share it here!!
As soon as I read this, I made one to stick on my child’s car seat pic.twitter.com/RcG1U6EAkI
— Alexis 🌞 (@_AlexisRuth) March 4, 2018

“It takes two minutes of your time to write out child’s name, DOB, parents’ names, DOB, emergency contacts and any medical conditions, any meds your child is on,” any meds your child is on,” read the original Facebook post, which was written by Kaitlyn, a mother and EMT from Anderson, Indiana. “This helps EMS a ton and can also help save your child’s life.”

You could think of this note in the same way you think of your “in case of emergency” list for your child’s babysitter or school teacher. If you’re going to leave a note for a daycare administrator, why wouldn’t you do the same for an EMT in the event of a worst-case scenario?

“Some emergency personnel don’t have time to search through personal belongings to find this kind of information needed, and having it on the car-seat helps them a ton when in a quick emergency,” Kaitlyn told Love What Matters. “The sticker is on the side of the car seat; when you open the door, it is very visible.”

Since the original post went live, the response from mothers everywhere has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Love this. Doing it ASAP,” one mother wrote. “Mom approved,” commented another.

Yes, the idea of your family being in a car accident is frightening — and even scarier is the idea that you might not be able to help your kids if the unthinkable were to occur. Yet part of being a parent is to be realistic about serious safety matters, and to do everything in your power to protect your precious kids. So, why not do your family a favor and grab a pen, some paper, and a little tape right now? If your child has a medical condition or allergy, this simple act could be lifesaving — and either way, it’ll help you breathe a little easier every time you get on the road.