3 year-old uncomfortable in Marathon

[lmintzer]

Hi. My fairly small (31 lbs., 36 inch) 3 year-old looks uncomfortable (and sometimes complains) in his Marathon lately. I'm trying to figure out what's going on. He seems to be slouching in the seat and not upright enough, so I first checked the installation of the seat (we use LATCH), and it is as tight to the back of the seat as possible. Because our back seats slope slightly, the carseat follows suit and isn't perfectly upright. KWIM? I then thought the problem might be the position of the harness straps, so I took the seat out and had him sit in it in the house and did a careful measurement. He's right at the second to highest harness strap slot, so it looks okay. But back in the car, he's still slouching and appears like he'd be more comfortable if I moved the straps up. Could this be because of the angle of the seat? In our "house test," the seat was more fully upright, so he was slouching less. He slouches/reclines enough in the car that the crotch strap presses against him too tightly (and we lost that silly belly pad--it fell off and out of the car about a week after we started using the seat).

Would there be any harm in trying the straps on the highest slot? It would definitely fall a bit above his shoulder level. I can't do anything about the angle of our back seat! Jack is really starting to complain--he says his straps are too tight, and I think what is bothering him is the fact that he can't sit fully upright to look around so is struggling against the straps to try to do so.

[darby24]

I had this problem when first putting my nephew in his new Marathon as well. He was under the 2nd slots in the house, but above them in the car. Someone else calmed my nerves saying it happened to them and their friends. Just something odd about the Marathon.

I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be safe to put the straps up at this point. Other convertible seats out there only have the top harness position reinforced so when you use those seats for a shorter child the straps would have to be high on the child.

Your Jack sounds like he'd fit perfectly in the 4th slot. My nephew (also Jack) is also on the verge of growing out of the 3rd slots into the 4th slots and he's just coming 2.

Hope I've been of some help.

Erin

ETA: Our marathon also slopes a bit in my sisters van, I personally don't think it's a problem. And like you, the marathon doesn't move at all thanks to the latch. All vehicle seat backs tend to slope a bit, I'm guessing to be more comfy for everyone. Though there could be some technical reason that I'm not aware of.

[cluelesswonder]

I was doing some research on the Marathon on epinions and amazon. There were some major gripes about the width of the Marathon for taller children. Someone suggested that if the EPS foam was too narrow at the shoulder point, the child might slouch so they wouldn't get scrunched. The poster also mentioned that Britax offers a different larger foam insert to alleviate this problem but didn't say if it would cost extra. Also some folks apparently have had trouble finding the Britax customer service number which is 888-427-4829.

Hope this helps.

Karen
Elsa's Baby Boot Camp survivor

[Joolsplus2]

Just call Britax, sit on hold for 5-10 minutes, tell them you need new foam, and they'll send it to you. The most it will cost is $7 including shipping, but might be free if the seat is under warranty. It's really not a big deal :)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[cluelesswonder]

Do you happen to know if Britax will warranty seats sold online? I vaguely remember reading that they won't cover any seats purchased online whether it's an auction or an online retailer.

Karen