The Passionate Doula

So important to have your child in the best seat for them! They now make car seats that are rear facing up to 50 pounds! For some children that can be up to 6 years old!

No child under the age of 4 should ever be forward facing unless they have outgrown the highest limits on a rear facing car seat!

Children are over 400 times safer rear facing!

A 5 point harness is also the best seat when you transition to forward facing until they outgrow those seats limits.

No child should ever be without a booster until they “fit” the same way an adult does forward facing - with their feet firmly planted in the ground and the shoulder belt laying across their clavicle - NEVER touching their neck.

In Ontario minimum age is 8 and Quebec is age 9 but most children don’t fit properly until 10-12 years old!

If you would like a fit check for your child over 8 to see if they are ready to be without a booster, reach out anytime! I am happy to help you explain to your child why they may still need to be in a booster.

And no child in the front passenger seat until they have hit puberty. That means age 13! It says so in your vehicle manual as well.

Bones need to ossify before children can safely ride in the front seat that only happens with puberty.

CTV News: ‘My children would have had a chance’: Mom fights to change car seat laws
By Laura Brown
Published: May 09, 2026 at 5:00AM EDT

WARNING: This article features details and images that some readers may find disturbing.

FREDERICTON, N.B. - Eran Jones spends her days trying to find the good out of the worst day of her life.

Thirteen years ago, the New Brunswick mom, her three children and sister-in-law, were driving along an Alberta highway when their car was struck head-on by a truck.

Two of her children, four-year-old Hailie, and 17-month-old Trent, died along with her sister-in-law, Christine Michaud. Jones and her son, Owen, survived the crash.

Jones said all three children were buckled into car seats and a booster seat, in accordance with Alberta’s laws.

But she feels had she known then what she knows now about car seat safety, Hailie and Trent may still be alive.

“Trent was forward-facing at 17 months old. I was following the law. I was following what the pediatrician told me to do. Hailie was in a booster seat, which, we lived in Alberta at the time and Alberta has no booster law, so technically, Hailie was above the law,” Jones said. “What I know now is had I had the proper education and tools, like I give to parents every day now, my children would have had a chance at survival.”

Since then, Jones has dedicated her time to improving the education of others on car seat safety. She gained her Child Passenger Safety Technician certificate and has checked and installed thousands of car seats. She also fundraises for those who can’t afford car seats, buying over 500 for families in N.B.

Jones also lobbies governments to strengthen their laws. There are two she says she’d like to see changed.

In N.B., a child can move from rear-to-forward facing at the age of one and 10 kilogram (22 pounds). Jones would like to see that increased, to two years old and 12 kilograms (26.5 pounds).

For booster seats, N.B. has a general recommendation of four and a half years old, or at least 18 kilograms (40 pounds). She would like to see that increased to an age limit of five years old, and 18 kilograms.

Jones also feels a child should be 10 to 12 years old, and 144.8 centimetres tall (four feet, nine inches), in order to sit in a vehicle without a booster seat “because that’s where the seatbelt passes at the right spot.”

It has to do with the maturity of the child, she says.

“The reason we say 10 to 12 is because that’s when children, most children start to hit puberty, which means your bones are maturing,” she said. “So your bones can withstand more. Everything, all the limits that we want to see raised are all around maturity… the longer you can keep your child rear-facing, the longer their bones have had time to solidify, so that their bones stay safe in the event of a crash.”

Trent, she said, died from an internal decapitation injury, which Jones feels could have been avoided if he was rear-facing at the time of the crash.

“They would have had a chance at survival because I would have been able to make better choices, to keep them safer. The law doesn’t always equal safe,” she said.

N.B. open to change: minister
A study released last year by CYBEX research alongside Dalhousie University, the Child Passenger Safety Association of Canada (CPSAC), and IWK Child Safety Link, found 81 per cent of child restraints observed were misused or improperly installed. That was a dramatic increase from 55 per cent in a similar 2015 study.

N.B. generally follows Transport Canada guidelines.

Those guidelines do state that a child can move from rear to forward-facing at 10 kilograms.

But they also add that, “rear-facing is the safest position for your child. Even if your provincial or territorial regulations allow you to move to a forward-facing seat, your child should keep using rear-facing seats as long as possible… it is okay if your child’s legs touch the vehicle seat back.”

The Canadian Paediatric Society also recommends two years before turning a child forward.

“As long as your child still fits within the manufacturer’s weight and height limits, they are safest using a rear-facing seat until two, three, or even four years old,” their website states.

The province’s public safety minister Robert Gauvin told CTV News Tuesday, that N.B. is “always open to trying to find better ways to protect children.”

But, he says, it can be complicated to change a transportation-related regulation as people travel across the country.

“We have to make sure that if there’s a legislation change or a law change, that you can still travel, you know, in other provinces as well, but we are open to it,” he said, adding that he is aware conversations are happening with advocates on the topic.

When Jones first told her story through a Facebook post eight years ago, it went viral. Currently it has well over a million views, she says.

But with that comes ridicule and skeptics, she said.

“Some say, ‘oh, well, you know, I’m not following that.’ Well, I’m able to talk to them and explain to them the dangers of turning too soon or switching to a booster seat too soon,” she said. “Their minds change completely after hearing my story. I don’t use scare tactics. I use my story as a powerful tool to navigate through the dangers. And it helps. It really helps.”

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUdvrqMDK8-/?igsh=MWliaWxkMmw2YnhjMQ==

“Human breastmilk is more than just nutrition — it’s a living, dynamic substance. Under the microscope, you’ll see fat globules suspended like tiny galaxies, immune cells moving with purpose, and complex proteins forming intricate patterns. It adapts to a baby’s needs in real-time, delivering antibodies, enzymes, and even stem cells. What looks simple on the outside is biologically brilliant up close.” “These clips reveals the hidden complexity of breastmilk — one of the most advanced substances the human body produces.” Caption by @oneminmicro This content has been shared using Instagram Remix/Sequence feature from the content owner @oneminmicro Follow us 👉 @sciencefunn for more science and daily facts.🤓  Enjoy the rest of your day.😇

Women are such powerful forces of nature. I had no idea that all of this happened to Sharon Stone

https://www.facebook.com/share/1D8cNF13PZ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The lightning bolt hit her in the living room.
Sharon Stone was standing behind her couch when it struck — not from the sky, but from inside her own body.
One second, she was upright.
The next, she was flipped over the furniture, sprawled across the coffee table, everything scattered everywhere.
"It's a little bit like you see in the movies when Zeus hits somebody with a lightning bolt," she said years later. "And they just go flying."
It was fall 2001. Sharon Stone was 43 years old — at the absolute peak of her career, a decade past Basic Instinct, fresh off an Oscar nomination for Casino.
She was also a new mother. Her adopted son, Roan, was barely a year old.
And her brain was hemorrhaging.
Her vertebral artery — one of the critical vessels that carries blood to the brain — had ruptured. Blood was flooding into spaces it was never meant to go.
She felt wrong. Discombobulated. Her leg went numb. She couldn't think straight.
But she didn't call 911.
Instead, she stumbled to her car, trying to drive herself for help. Neighbors found her crying in the street, helped her back home. The nanny suggested she take an aspirin.
It took 72 hours before Sharon Stone made it to an emergency room.
By then, she'd been bleeding into her brain for three days.
The first CT scan showed nothing. The bleeding had stopped and started, diluted by cerebrospinal fluid, hiding from detection.
The second scan caught it.
Doctors inserted a catheter through her groin, threaded it up to the ruptured artery, and released coils to stop the bleeding. The procedure — endovascular coiling — saved her life.
But when she woke up, everything had changed.
"I lost 18 percent of my body mass in nine days," she said. "I came out of the hospital looking like teeth on a stick."
For nine days, she drifted in and out of consciousness. When she finally emerged, she couldn't walk properly. Couldn't talk without stuttering. Couldn't read. Couldn't hear out of her right ear. The left side of her face was falling.
Her body had to absorb all the internal bleeding. It took two years.
"It almost feels like my entire DNA changed," she said. "My brain isn't sitting where it used to, my body type changed, and even my food allergies are different."
This was 2001. There were no stroke recovery programs. No rehabilitation protocols for someone like her.
"My recovery period was hell, quite frankly," she said.
But hell was only beginning.
In 2003, her husband Phil Bronstein filed for divorce.
As she lay recovering, relearning how to speak and walk, her husband left her and married his girlfriend.
Then they sued her for custody of Roan.
"I had had a brain hemorrhage and was an actress who had made sexy movies," Sharon said.
The judge sided with Phil.
She lost custody of her son.
"I lost everything," she told reporters years later. "I lost all my money. I lost custody of my child. I lost my career. I lost all those things that you feel are your real identity and your life."
People had taken advantage of her while she recovered. $18 million gone. She was paying for everything on credit cards, scraping by, hoping she could cover her kids' school fees.
"I was down to nothing," she said. "I had to pay the kids' school on my credit card and hope for the best."
Her career had vanished too. Seven years to recover meant seven years out of the game.
"In seven years, you're no longer the flavor of the time," she said. "You no longer have box office heat. The same people you were working with are no longer in power anymore."
The woman who'd once commanded millions per film was broke, brain-damaged, and separated from her child.
"I had lost my marriage, lost custody of my child, lost my place in line in the business, lost all my money," she said. "I was just broken."
She got on her knees.
"I need a sign… and could you make it big because I'm in a coma here. So like, help me out."
Slowly — impossibly slowly — she began to rebuild.
She fought back in court. Eventually, she regained custody of Roan.
She adopted two more sons: Laird and Quinn. Built a family as a single mother.
She found painting. "If I didn't have painting, I don't know how I would stay standing," she said.
She became an activist, working with the World Health Organization for over 20 years.
And she learned to live with her invisible disability — the brain damage that people couldn't see but that changed everything about how she moved through the world.
"I became more emotionally intelligent," she said. "I chose to work very hard to open up other parts of my mind. Now I'm stronger."
"And I can be abrasively direct. That scares people, but I think that's not my problem. It's like, I have brain damage; you'll just have to deal with it."
She let go of bitterness. She had to.
"If you bite into the seed of bitterness, it never leaves you," she said. "But if you hold faith, even if that faith is the size of a mustard seed, you will survive."
"So, I live for joy now. I live for purpose."
In 2019, Roan filed legal papers to add his mother's last name to his own.
Roan Joseph Bronstein became Roan Joseph Bronstein Stone.
He's a trained chef now. A glassblower. He has a YouTube channel called "Stone Cooking." During COVID, when his best friend lost his father to Parkinson's and was suddenly alone, Sharon took him in too.
"Now I have four boys," she said.
When people see Sharon Stone today, they don't always see the invisible scars. The medication she still takes to prevent seizures. The brain that isn't sitting quite where it used to.
But they see a woman who was struck by lightning — literally and figuratively — and somehow kept standing.
"I don't hang onto being sick or to any bitterness or anger," she said.
"I decided to stay present and let go."
"Because I know what it's like to go from the top, top, top of your field to absolutely wiped out."
"And I know what it takes to come back from nothing."

Amazing!!! https://www.facebook.com/share/1FLuSECkv1/?mibextid=wwXIfr

We’re excited to share the findings of a new report published in the European Journal of Midwifery on the Spinning Babies® approach and its role in promoting fetal head rotation during labor.

Key Findings:
✅ Women whose babies began labor in occiput-posterior or occiput-transverse positions, 93.3% of those who used Spinning Babies® techniques experienced rotation to the anterior position by delivery.

💡In contrast, only 63.6% of women in the control group (who did not use Spinning Babies®) saw that rotation.

✅ Use of Spinning Babies® was associated with a 45% increased likelihood of achieving anterior positioning (RR = 1.45; 95% CI: 1.23–1.72), after adjustment for parity and analgesia.

What does this mean?
While the study is retrospective and further research is needed, these results suggest that Spinning Babies® techniques may help support more optimal fetal positioning during labor, potentially making the birthing process smoother for many women. 🫶

We’re thrilled to see clinicians and researchers beginning to examine what many of us in the birth-work community have long observed. ❤️

Read the full report at https://f.mtr.cool/txpuhaopbz

https://www.facebook.com/share/16voCt4Z3z/?mibextid=wwXIfr

In a harrowing account, Tanya Bender shares the life-altering consequences of turning a toddler's car seat forward-facing too soon. Her granddaughter, Aniyah, was just 2 years old when a car accident left her with catastrophic injuries. Despite the seat being correctly installed and in compliance with the law, Aniyah suffered an internal decapitation at her C1 vertebra, leading to partial paralysis. Tanya's message is clear: rear-facing seats offer the best protection for young children. She urges parents to keep their children rear-facing as long as possible, emphasizing that the minimum age requirement doesn't necessarily equate to the safest choice.
(Link Below)

Amazing!!

Mom Wins Ultramarathon 6 Months Postpartum While Breastfeeding At 43 and just 6 months postpartum, Canadian human rights lawyer Stephanie Case won the Ultra-Trail Snowdonia 100K. See how she's challenging the narrow expectations placed on new moms here.

Do you have a car seat question?
Did you know that I have helped install hundreds of car seats and very rarely are they installed correctly. There’s a lot to know! Let me help you! I offer a car seat course, guided installation and certified inspection!

On this day that ends World Breastfeeding Week, and every other day, thank you to all the mammas for giving of your bodies to not only nourish their babies tummies, but their souls as well with your unconditional love xoxoxo

I see you. I understand you. I am you! You are amazing and I support you 100%

Much love and admiration - Cris xo 😘