Dahlia Rizk has made the process of getting into a car seat for parents and toddlers much easier with her custom car-seat coats.
Rizk, 44, recalled a day where she was feeling frustrated that she was unable to get her toddler, who is now 20, to take her off her winter coat so she could get in her carseat.
“When I calmed down, I thought about it again and realized if the zipper wasn’t in the middle of the jacket, this wouldn’t be a problem,” said Rizk, who is now a mom of three in Londonderry, New Hampshire.
After not being able to located a coat that made specific designed kids’ coat, Ritz took apart her own children’s coats and moved the zipper to the side — which allowed fabric to be moved out of the way of the harnessess.
She didn’t think about her clever invention until three years ago when she saw a mom struggling who reminded her of herself when she was a mom with young kids.
RELATED: Mom’s ‘Nagging’ Text About Ensuring Husband Secure Car Seat Saved Their Infant’s Life
“It was a gross, slushy kind of day and the blanket the mom used for the kid in the car seat was dragging in the mud,” Rizk said of the scene she witnessed in a parking lot. “And the mom had that same defeated look I had so many years ago.”
Thanks to social media, Rizk discovered someone who could make a prototype of the jacket she designed. She then found a lab in Michigan where she took the jacket to have it crash tested.
“What I wanted to do was have the coat perform as similarly to no coat as possible, and that’s what it did,” said Rizk, who had the coats tested by Intertek. The coats are now compliant with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.
RELATED: How Can I Offer a Relative Car Seat Advice Without It Coming Across as Shaming?
Rizk, a mental health counselor who runs her own private practice, used her design to create her own company, Buckle Me Baby Coats.
Rizk runs the company out of her home with help from her two younger children, a 16-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son.
“I think it’s what moms do when they see something wrong,” she said. “I said, ‘Let me see if this works,’ and it did. I said, ‘Let me see if there is interest,’ and there was.”
Mamas Uncut is THE online place for moms. We cover the latest about motherhood, parenting, and entertainment as well – all with a mom-focused twist. So if you're looking for parenting advice from real parents, we have plenty of it, all for moms from moms, and also experts. Because, at the end of the day, our mission is focused solely on empowering moms and moms-to-be with the knowledge and answers they’re looking for in one safe space.