Last week I attended the Bump Club and Beyond’s Gearapalooza in Calgary, and got the chance to meet and listen to a presentation by everyone’s favourite baby-gear-guru-who-doesn’t-have-an-actual-baby, Jamie Grayson. He’s awesome, hilarious and surprisingly wise for someone who, like I said, isn’t actually a parent himself! I attended Gearapalooza out of curiosity and as an excuse to get out and meet some other Calgary Moms. I am already pretty well-versed in baby gear, so I didn’t really expect to learn anything new. Turns out, The Baby Guy NYC did teach me a couple things; some very important, others simply amusing. You decide which is which!
10 Important (and less important) Things I Learned from The Baby Guy NYC
1 – When forward-facing in a car seat, the shoulder straps should be either at or above the child’s shoulders. (All I had in my brain was that rear-facing they should be at or below, and I never considered it being different for forward-facing.)
2 – Canadian Oreos taste significantly better than American Oreos.
3 – When anchoring a car seat using a car’s UAS anchor bars, remember that the car seat’s anchors look like a stapler, and orient them as you would a stapler so you don’t install them upside down!
4 – Jamie’s ex-boyfriend’s face has been covered with that of Ryan Gosling in a Wean Green display.
5 – There are no reports of leg injuries for children in rear-facing car seats, even when their legs are longer and they sit with them bent. Regardless, it’s much easier to heal leg injuries than spine injuries, which are better prevented by extended rear facing.
6 – Men (or women) can use Earth Mama Angel Baby Mama Bottom Balm (typically for hemorrhoids and other posterior discomfort) to help with redness and puffiness under the eyes!
7 – Coconut coir is the only completely non-allergenic mattress filling and is made from, you guessed it, the outside of coconuts!
8 – Jamie’s mascot, Angry Baby, is an exclusively cloth-diapered baby, although Jamie himself knows nothing about cloth diapering.
9 – The actual reason Kinder Egg Surprises are banned in the United States is because of the risk that the plastic capsule around the included toy might contaminate the chocolate, not that it’s a choking hazard.
10 – The woman behind Earth Mama Angel Baby is Dee from It’s Already Sunny in Philadelphia‘s Mama!
So, there you have it: some celebrity trivia, some car seat safety and some alternate uses for hemorrhoid cream! Thanks, Jamie!
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