Monday, September 19, 2011

Documented Experiment #1- Car sick kiddo

Background Information:  My Spawn is now 15 months old.  From birth to 13 months, she has had a love/hate relationship with the car seat.  She either falls asleep in the car seat or cries as loud as she can.  Recently, I started early trips to my mother's house which is about 45 minutes away.

The Problem:  Early morning carsickness
The Experiment:
1. Find out the different variables
2. Test the different variables
3. Stop carsick from happening
Null hypothesis:
1.  The kiddo has motion sickness.  (carsickness= 100% during car rides)

Test 1 (control):
The day we found out about this new baby feature.  After riding in the car for about 40 minutes, kiddo gets cranky, cries and within 10 minutes shows me what she ate for breakfast.
Result 1= carsick (Null hypothesis accepted)

Test 2:
Variable 1:  Early wake up.
This experiment, we woke her up earlier and played with her.  We gave her the usual treatment (diaper change, milk, food, love) BUT we took our time to leave.  After riding in the car and making it to our destination, kiddo gets sick as I take her out of her seat.
Result 2= carsick (Null hypothesis accepted)

Test 3:
Variable 2:  Food (milk)
This experiment, we did not give her milk when she got up.  SUCCESS!!
Result 3=  No cleaning of the car seat (Null hypothesis REJECTED!)

Test 4 (confirmation?)
Variable 3: Food (other)
This experiment, we gave her more solid food.  I think it was a banana oatmeal.  NO milk.  After 30 minutes, the aroma of banana was spewed.  She gets another car seat washing and impromptu bath.
Result 4= carsick (Null hypothesis accepted)

Test 5
Variable 4:  Combination of variable 2 and 3 (no milk and no food)
This morning was just cheerios and some juice.  SUCCESS!!
Result 5= I get to work early! (Null hypothesis REJECTED!)

Test 6
Repeat of Test 5 to confirm:
Variable 4:  No milk and only cheerios and juice
Result:  SUCCESS.  It is confirmed that the milk and liquid like food causes the carsickness. 


It has been repeated!!  


I am now happy to let you all know that kiddo is no longer "car sick"!
I can now uninstall, reinstall, clean and adjust the car seat like a pro.  One good advice is that you should try to plug up those holes in the car seat.  I lovingly call them the cheerio holes or the spit pocket, but a good friend of mine suggested cotton balls.  These worked great until tiny fingers decided to pull them out.  But yes, stuffing those holes have made cleaning messes so much easier!



1 comment:

  1. After similar (though not controlled) experiments of my own, I'm an expert carseat installer now. I can do 2 seats (correctly) in under 15 minutes. I also learned that you're not supposed to wash the car seat straps, which is usually the first part of the seat to be spewed upon. Not sure how you're supposed to get the stink out.

    ReplyDelete