Michigan Prohibits Nursing in Moving Cars
July 28, 2009 by Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor
Filed under law, travel
Believe it or not, Michigan law used to allow babies to be out of their car seats if they were nursing. At the time I assumed it was a misguided nod to the Big Three and all things automotive. The car is king! Keep it moving! Despite the unsafe nature of the law, I appreciated the apparent belief in the importance of breastfeeding.
Michigan's Mackinac Bridge (Photo by Cece Chen)
The legislation now also prohibits removing a child from a car seat to nurse while the vehicle is in motion. Babies should only be nursed once the vehicle has been stopped in a safe place. With this change, Michigan is now eligible for additional federal traffic safety funds.
My spies tell me that some Michigan moms questioned why the new law specifically references breastfeeding. If you say that babies always need to be in their car seats when the vehicle is in motion, then arguably you do not need to say there is no exception for breastfeeding. However, the past exemption and recent cases of mothers driving while breastfeeding make the clarification a good idea!
What about you, moms? Have you ever taken your baby out of the car seat to nurse while the vehicle is in motion (you can post anonymously)? Have you ever gotten out of your seat belt to nurse your baby still strapped in the car seat (trust me, it can be done, even if it’s not safe)? Or do you always keep on driving with a screaming baby until it is safe to pull over to nurse?
I never took my son out of his seat to nurse him. I have taken off my seat belt to do the awkward lean over to nurse him. We were in a minivan filled with other Moms, and it was dark outside. Since I was in the back, it wasn’t illegal. I didn’t nurse him long. It was maybe 10 minutes before he fell asleep. I admit it wasn’t the safest thing, but I would do it again if in the same situation.
Most of the time it was just the two of us in the car. I pulled over at many questionable places to nurse him. We would stay in the car and I would feed him there.
I would definitely keep driving until it’s safe. It had never even occurred to me to do otherwise – accidents happen so quickly, it’s just NOT SAFE. I absolutely couldn’t live with myself if something happened to my baby because she was not in her car seat during an accident, especially one that could have been minor otherwise (they are incredibly protected in there, much better off then we are in a collision).
I think that he best way to go about this, is to try and plan your outings between nursings – when possible, of course. Sometimes (especially if you have older kids), it may happen that you need to go out, and are in the car when the baby decides it would like a nursing. You do the best you can, and pull over whenever you can. Which is not too hard: city, you can pull on the side of the road, or on a smaller side road if on a boulevard. Highway, next exit is likely 2-5 min away.
I’ve removed my son from his carseat to nurse him on several occasions. I’m not saying it’s the best thing but when you are stuck in Seattle traffic with a hungry cranky baby who will not take a bottle what can you do?
I’ve nursed with both of us in our respective seatbelts–not easy, but it does the trick when the baby is desperate and there isn’t anywhere to stop.
I have unbuckled myself and nursed while my daughters were strapped in their carseats. We have pulled over as well. While I would never suggest taking a child out of the carseat, I believe it depends on the situation what is the best course of action. Does everyone need a break, find a rest stop. No rest stop in sight, I would take my chances and unbuckle myself. Close to home, wait til we are there.
On a few occasions, out of desperation, I nursed my daughter while she was in her car seat. I left my seat belt on, actually, but removed the shoulder belt from across my torso. Not comfy. And in the end it didn’t work, my daughter hated the car seat just that much.
My son has never been that upset, plus with two car seats in back there’s no room for me anyway.
I’m trying to imagine the acrobatics required for that maneuver — how do you nurse with both of you still strapped in??
I managed to nurse my son on occasion with both of us buckled. It actually wasn’t hard. He was buckled into his rear facing carseat, in the center position of a bench seat. I was sitting, buckled in, right beside him. Oh, I’m pretty busty, that might have helped.
That was alooooong time ago. Said baby had his 25th birthday yesterday!
Melanie, you loosen your belt a little and lean way forward, and hope that the baby will only want to nurse out the side that is next to the car seat.
When my son was 3 months old we drove about 10 hours (one way) to visit my father. On the way there he was hysterical, there was nowhere to stop, so I took my seatbelt off and nursed him. It was NOT comfortable. (We were on roads with NO traffic, but also nowhere to pull over).
On the way back, I-95 was completely backed up. We’d stop for 5 minutes, drive 10 mph for 1 minute, stop again, etc. I finally took him out of his seat, nursed him and cuddled him until he was calm. Though there was a lot of traffic, we were literally not moving.
Both of us were perfectly safe in both scenarios, even if we technically broke the law.
although we have seatbelt laws in the Philippines, we don’t have carseat laws. so babies and children usually sit on the laps or beside adults. However, carseat use has become more and more popular especially among the younger generation and a lot have purchased carseats for their children. Naima has a carseat herself and most of the time she uses it. But I do still take her out of the carseat to nurse sometimes. ummm.. illegal? no.. unsafe? yes.
I have managed to do it while staying buckled in with a lap belt. It’s not comfortable, but doable and easier with an older baby.
I have never taken him out of the carseat while the car was moving. I did however remove my shoulder belt and do the lean over nursing. Then someone kindly pointed out to me the dangers of that – if in a crash the baby would suffocate. Now we pull over every single time. Sometimes still did the lean over (when he was still in the infant carrier type seat) so that he would fall asleep. Better safe than sorry.
I have done the lean-over nursing quite often for an otherwise inconsolable child. In fact, we chose the particular brand of minivan that we did with that in mind, we have a removable seat (with seatbelt) in between the two captains chairs in the second row so that on long car trips (we travel a lot) I can sit between the two kids in the back and entertain or, if necessary, lean over (still in my lap belt) and nurse the younger one. I have not taken either of my kids out of their seats to console them, if it is that bad I just pull over into a safe place.
Re: the crash scenario – it is such a precarious gymnastic feat to lean over and nurse, especially in a seatbelt yourself, that I can’t imagine a scenario (thinking back to college physics) in which I would stay even remotely attached in the event of a collision of some sort. Probably not the safest position for me to be in, but the kiddo would be just fine.
It’s been a while since I’ve stopped by as I haven’t been breastfeeding my children for a few years now.
I myself have breastfed a child while in a moving car. I’ve unstrapped myself and kept baby strapped in. it’s an acrobatic act for sure.
In fits of desperation (my son HATED the car…and is still not a big fan)I have leaned over and nursed my son– sometimes strapped, sometimes not depending on his age, etc. I have never unbuckled him however.
Yep, I’ve done the awkward leaning-over-the-car-seat nursing. We were traveling on a time constraint in the middle of nowhere and couldn’t stop!