In March, Kourtney Kardashian was mom-shamed for letting her 4-year-old daughter Penelope wear a lip ring. Now, Kim Kardashian is under fire for her parenting choices. Kim’s offense: California mandates rear-facing car seats for kids until they’re at least 2 years of age, and on Saturday, June 24, she shared a photo of her son, Saint West, 18 months, where he is clearly sitting forward-facing.
In the image, an adorable and sleepy-eyed Saint, whose dad is Kanye West, stares into the camera from his (impossibly clean!) Maxi Cosi car seat.
“I am not trying to be sanctimommish, but why isn’t the youngest Kardashian-West rear facing in his car seat? It’s the law here,” wrote one person on Facebook. Another echoed the sentiment: “That kid would be safer in a rear-facing seat, please get informed!”
According to Consumer Reports, car-seat research has shown that children up to 23 months old are 75 percent less likely to die or sustain serious injury in a rear-facing car car seat than a forward-facing one.
But Kardashian, 36, isn’t necessarily in the wrong. Children who weigh more than 40 pounds or are at least 40 inches tall are exempt from the rear-facing law — and there’s a chance the picture wasn’t taken in California (though Kardashian’s daughter, North West, celebrated her 4th birthday that day with a Moana-themed party in L.A.)
Meanwhile, Kardashian isn’t the only one making car-seat news. Dr. Emily Puente, a chiropractor in Mansfield, Texas, recently shared a pain-free car-seat carrying hack — and it’s gone viral with more than 3 million views to date.
“It’s not going to hurt your shoulder, it’s not going to hurt your hip, and you’re not going to have to use your knee to swing,” the mother of two explained in the clip. “Someone taught me this before, and it’s been the greatest thing.”
“As soon as we switch to this, it’s a completely different change in how I’m using my body,” she explained.
But Dr. Puente only recommends the trick for short distances. “There are risks with carrying a car seat, regardless of how you carry it,” Dr. Puente tells Us Weekly. “So my ideal recommendation is to either carry your baby or baby-wear whenever possible.”
