Is that baby wearing sunscreen? That's a lot of California sun beating down on that tender skin. And looks like the straps are a little loose if he can scooch that far over while sleeping...

Since a great majority of the people inthe this country rode in cars where there was no baby seats, or faced forward it's really hard to get excited about stuff like this.

Who cares? Away with you safety weenies makeing mock scandals

Learn to spell, Fred.

The issue here is more that this woman is supposed to be a role model for tweens and teens, and this is a poor example to be setting. I pity this child and his future sibling, because they are clearly being raised by irresponsible morons who can't take care of themselves, let alone these children.

MM is just a hater. Ignore her/him.

The only reason everyone's in a huff about it is because it's Britney Spears. Millions of mommies drive around everyday like this. In this picture, I don't see Britney Spears. I see a pregant mommy with a very tired baby snoozing during an afternoon car ride. Get over it, people.

Ok, I don't really want to get into the whole judging of Britney's character or whether she's a good mother or not. What I want to know is....is that baby dead? Cuz it looks like it.

Plus, it looks like Britney is driving on the left side of the road, seeing as there's no pavement shown to her left....

For the love of God, how is that child going to be able to grow into a functioning adult...wait a minute... I didn't have a car seat as a kid. In fact the coolest place to sit was in the bed of my dads pick-up truck..against the gate no-less.

My mother must not have loved me. :-(

there are a lot of things that were not laws way back when...like seat belts or bike helments, but there were so many tragic events that lead to officials making these laws. I think she is still getting used to being a young mother. Bottom line...she is HUMAN. she should however be more careful and should be more concerned with the safety of her child rather than if she is or is not abiding by the law. the public is either too hard on her or too easy on her bc she is a celebrity...can we not find a happy middle ground people? oh and to CC..any mother would have a COW if she learned of her child riding against the tail gate in the back of a truck...geesh!

the convertible wasnt the best choice for an afternoon drive. one shouldnt ride with so much wind in the baby's face. you never keep even the window all the way open, as so much wind whipping round can cause them to choke and suffocate. its understandable for a new mom to make mistakes.. but with all her millions and nannies and handlers, youd think someone would suggest she take a 'learn how to care for your baby' class.

Well her nannies obviously aren't helping much (recall the high-chair incident). I think there's the shadows of trees covering the pavement to the left of the car (which may be why it looks like she's driving on the left). My comment is that it's completely unsafe for her to be driving with her baby in a convertable in the first place- there isn't even a roll bar. Aren't people more concerned about their precious children? It seems like my friends and I take more care of the kids we babysit for $5 an hour....

I know quite a few parents whose babies hate being seated in rear-facing infant seats. My sister-in-law began letting my niece sit in a forward-facing toddler seat at about 9 months because her daughter hated the rear-facing seat so much and would always cry up a storm. There's just something more comforting, both for mother and baby, to be able to see each other while the ride is in progress.

Clearly Britney is one of those parents who chose to move her child up to a toddler seat a little bit early. Besides, you know the child's age; you don't know the child's weight. He could be 20 lbs. or very close to it.

Also, as any carseat safety inspector could tell you, seating your child in a forward-facing carseat a little early is still worlds safer than no carseat at all. This is a very minor (possibly non-existent) transgression on Britney's part. Leave her alone.

Babies do die every day. Yes, we didn't have carseats when we were kids... there were FAR less cars on the road, speeds were much slower, cars were bigger and safer.

As an ER nurse I have seen too much trauma and if it's "your baby" that's the one you will regret it for the rest of your life.

:(

I can't even believe some of your comments. I have to think you all must not have kids or you would see it differently.

So you didn't sit in a carseat and survived. Great. A lot of kids didn't, and don't. And they're dead. Many well-meaning parents get into car accidents, and the kid goes from baking in the back seat to embedded in the windshield. That's why car seats were invented. Then, it turned out, kids facing forward in carseats before their spines had fully developed tended to suffer life-altering spinal injuries at low-speed crashes, and the rear-facing carseat was born.

It's ignorant and disrespectful to blow off what we, as a society, have learned from those tragedies.

There is just no no NO excuse for Britney not taking advantage of the infant-mortality-rate-reducing modern day advances. None. They take literally ten seconds to do properly per trip. You can get your local fireman or police station to install the car seat properly in your car if you're too idiotic (like Britney) to read instructions and follow them.

Besides that MOST serious issue - having him in a forward-facing car seat when he is way too young for it - there are so many other things wrong with this picture, it's hard to know where to start. Choosing the convertible (no crash protection - when she must have 10 other safer cars to choose from). The WIND (try blowing gently in your baby's face and see how he chokes and loses his breath, much less the back seat of a convertible). The fact that there is NO WAY his arms/shoulders are strapped in, or he would not be able to slump over like that - the straps should be snugly over his shoulders with room for no more than two fingers between the straps and the baby's skin - those suckers are supposed to be TIGHT. And NO sun hat, when kids' skin and eyes (even through closed eyelids) are way more sensitive to the sun than ours.

As for the person who knows babies who "hate" to be rear facing - we are expected to LOOK OUT for babies. My baby hates it when I take a knife away from him, or won't let him stick things into electrical sockets. He even cries. That doesn't take away my responsibility as a parent. I don't think your sister would find it "comforting" if her baby was seriously injured in a crash. This is not a judgment call thing - it's extremely black and white. There's a right way, and a wrong way.

It's clear that this child's needs are really not this woman's first, second, third, or even twentieth priority. Poor little thing.

word.

Dear Meagan,

>>>As for the person who knows babies who "hate" to be rear facing -

"The person" wrote her post under a handle. Maybe you should learn to read and use it. Obviously you can't read, because you didn't even respond to 1/3 of the points I made. You continue to whine about the child's age being too young. Safety specifications state that it's safe for a child to sit in a toddler carseat when they're one year old *or* 20 lbs. Could you tell from the picture how much the baby weighed? Yeah, didn't think so. So until you can tell us how much her baby weighed in this picture, you can shut up about her choice of a forward-facing carseat--and every other parents's for that matter. And did you call your local carseat safety inspector and ask about the safety of at least some carseat v. no carseat at all? Didn't think so.

I'm glad you think so highly of your parenting skills, Meagan. I guess that if the paparazzi followed you around with cameras all day, they'd never, be able to photograph you letting your kids do something that looks dangerous in a photograph, right? Whatever. I just hope your kids don't grow up hating and judging others all from a glance at a photograph like you do.

And it was my sister-in-law, numnuts. Again, learn to read.

Wow, Clobbergirl is just about as classy as Britney Spears. And right along with what Meagan was saying, if Britney is only concerned with escaping the paparazzi and not her childs safety then she is completely selfish and doesn't deserve to be a parent.

Case and point, if she had gotten in an accident her baby would have been dead or seriously injured so anyone who is defending her at this point is an idiot.

this woman is f-ed up.. She is putting her child at risk and i frankly find it disgusting!

(i have a 2 year old BTW)

Having lived in L.A. for many years AND worked with the very young children of entertainment-industry parents, nothing these people do surprises me anymore. Britney Spears has clearly convinced herself that she knows what is best for her child, and in her own shallow, self-obsessed way, I'm sure she does love him. The fact that she still runs off to Vegas and elsewhere to party (and apparently bicker) with her husband while leaving her infant with a nanny shows her level of commitment. Parenting is a 24/7, life-long job ---not to be done at one's convenience. And I don't give a rat's ass about her privacy --- she chooses to be a public figure, she'd better deal with being a role model. Too bad she's a role model for everything that is wrong with uneducated, self-involved little girls having babies before they are ready.

Leave her alone! If she was a normal Joe Shmoe, no one would care wheather or not her baby was safe. In fact these pics are NOT taken to see if Brit's being a good mom, but to make money! If you cant put her shoes on, then dont try walking where she walks. The front facing seat could have been her only option at the time. How do we know she's not on her way to buy a rear facing seat?! And I'm sure the safety of her child is extremley important to her. Have you all not noticed how much the paparazzi bothers her, looking for mistakes that "stupid" Britney makes? She just wants to get away from it all as soon as she can! I've seen people do much worse with their children. The point is, you cant judge a situation, or person for that matter, by still photographs. Haven't any of you ever seen the pictures that look like one thing but are entirely something else?! Britney Spears is not a pop star... she's a normal, living, breathing, mistake making human being!

LALA-U r a moron. She did have a rear facing car seat.....just turn that one around....jeez.

Hope u dont have kids anytime soon.

Touche, Carrie!

Okay, people! First of all that car seat is way too big for the little guy and that is why he is all slumped over!! He should not be facing towards the front under any circumstances. For those of you who feel it is not a big deal...I hope you don't have children of your own. It is a big deal for everyone to make sure their child is safe at all times, especially in a car!

Just to clarify, it is not one year OR 20 pounds. It is one year AND 20 pounds, and that is a minimum. So a 25 lb. 8 month old should be rear-facing. And a 17 lb. 15 month old should be rear-facing. And firefighters who are trained in installing car seats will tell you that it is HIGHLY recommended to keep your child rear-facing until they are 35-40 pounds.

Of course, there comes a point when we have to balance safety with practicality. Each parent can make the decision of when to turn their child's car seat to face forward after their child is at least 20 pounds and at least one year old.

I am a Certified Child Restraint Technician here in California and have gone through very rigorous training and testing to install car seats.

You would not believe how unsafe it is to have a baby that tiny in a forward facing seat. The reason is because a baby that size does not have the strenth to be seated at that angle properly (as obvious in this picture) and also the jolt of an accident has his under developed spine, back, head, etc. absorbing the intense pressure of a crash instead of the back of an infant seat. In an accident, a baby could be easily killed or severely paralyzed.

Sorry to bore some of you with these details, but it actually is a VERY crucial issue.

you all can say its only a big deal because its britney blah blah blah. But even I; on a military income and less than pretty coverage, was taught how to properly use, install, and face a car seat to ensure my babies safety.

Hear Hear Meagan..you hit the nail on the head and bluebeans you are %100 right with your facts. Just read a car seat manual and the facts and figures and installations instructions are right there for you. BTW most if not all car seats now are made both rear and front facing..no need to buy both..just turn it around. I live in Canada and our car seat laws are far more strict then it sounds in the US. Thank god!! (we now, by law, have to keep our children in boosters seats until they are 80 pounds or 8 years old which ever comes first as they discovered having a child wear a regular car seat belt under this age is not big enough to get full advantage of the safety of a regular seat belt) God help those children whose parents think its ok to do a half ass job at installing their car seats or go against recommendations cuz it just inconveniences them.

on the contrary, it IS a big deal, no matter WHO it is. one time i saw a "mother" leave her baby in the car while she went into the store. you dont know how bad i wanted to grab that kid and take off running, just to show this moron who calls herself a parent what can happen when you are too f****** lazy to properly care for your child. i have an idea for brittney, and all other idiots who reproduce when they shouldnt...keep your legs closed.

quote: The front facing seat could have been her only option at the time.

thats the best one ive read yet. her only option? does this "person" actually think that there are different car seats that face the front and face the rear?! i really love it when people who have absolutely no f****** clue what they are talking about go off on a tangent. i also love reading the comments by all these little girls who are sticking up for brittney because she is such a wonderful role model for them. what can she teach them? how to look and act like a slut? how to neglect the safety and well being of your children? the whole thing makes me wanna vomit. those children should be taken away, and brittney and her equally moronic husband should both be neutured.

I personally don't think this is right or a lot of stuff she has done is acceptable.

HOWEVER, being a first time mother is hard enough without every eye of America on you.

I think people ought to give her some space and let her live her life.

Its HER baby, not yours. Don't worry about it. Its her decisions to make.

im getting a little sick and tired of hearing the first time mom excuses. there are a lot of first time moms out there but common sense tells them that you dont drive with your baby on your lap, and you dont drive your baby around in a convertible with the top down, and the baby facing the front of the car. this has nothing to do with being a first time mom, this is just plain stupidity. and if she doesnt like being in the public eye, then she needs to get out of it, and that includes putting some clothes on when shes in public.