When to go from recline to upright?

[stcelia]

DS is 10 months old, and rf in a marathon. I still have it in the reclined position, but I notice that he is often straining to sit up and look around. I plan to keep him rear facing, but when do I put the seat into the upright position? TIA.

[Aunt to sweet baby boy]

Well for avi i have his seat installed in the recline mode but when i am insalling the seat i push down much harder in the belt path to make the seat more upright and i also do not pull down hard on the tether i just make the tether so that there is no extra hanging down.

HTH

Ilana

[stcelia]

Bump . . . Is there an official rule about this? Any techs out there?

Thanks.

[SusanMae]

Not a tech, but backing up what Avi's aunt said. Newborns need the 45 degree recline, since your son is 10 months now he can be more upright so he can look out better. Great job keeping him rear facing! Also check www.cpsafety.com for some more info.

Susan

[Joolsplus2]

Yeah, I would do that, just make the seatbelt MUCH tighter (what you do is, reinstall it, in recline mode, but completely ignore the recline as you install it....just push down on the very front/foot end of the seat a LOT and it'll get WAY upright), THEN pull it down to a more upright recline with the top tether... just pull till it looks more upright and more comfortable.

The manual says it must be installed reclined when RF, but quite a few of us have been told by Britax that it's ok to install it in upright mode when reclined... still, I think you can get the recline you want by installing it the way I described above, since installing upright is VERY upright and you'll get head flop and bent legs faster than normal that way.

:)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[jenfed1]

I'm so glad this was brought up because I just moved Amanda to the Marathon and she's 8 months old. I put it in in the recline mode (I do pull the tether very tight) and she looks so reclined and she tries to look around. Do you think I should reinstall it without the recline and just pull the tether tightly so that she's not too upright.

Also, I am using the LATCH with my Marathon rearfacing...do you think that's okay given the CS Report?

Thanks!

[Joolsplus2]

LATCH is *totally* safe.. Consumer Reports is not really trustworthy on this issue, so don't worry (as long as you are using a designated LATCH position, of course...don't use the center unless the car manual says it is ok).

No, don't put it in the upright mode, just loosen the top tether (it doesn't have to be tight, just don't have it all dangling and slacky), and push down HARD on the front/foot of the seat while you tighten down the LATCH straps. It's easier to do this if you peel back the cover from the front of the seat and pull the latch straps from the inside of the seat, rather than pulling out more sideways trying to tighten from the outside)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx