Anyone have issues with rf toddler in sm car?

[lorinick]

My ds is 26.5 months old. My goal for rf was age two. That was before the AAPA suggested to rf till age two. DS is fine in my car rf, but in dh Civic it is an issue. It's hard to get him in. DH has installed the seat ff when he needs to reinstall the seat because I took it out to lend to my sis. I'm considering turning that seat now. Since dh doesn't fix the harness straps correctly for the seat in ff mode and forgets to use the teether strap as well. So my question is should I be okay with that. I think the seat will be used correctly if I just have it set for ff. Please keep in mind dh car is only used one day a week sometimes two.

Now if I do turn the seat. Should I leave the MA in his car or should I use the BV in that car. Would it be better to have the BV ff than the MA. Since we have both seats.

[HIU8]

I had a RF MA in a Camry. The MA touched the driver and passenger seatbacks (due to the angle since DS rode in it from 11 weeks on). There was very little room beside the seat for a person (or stuff for that matter). When we turned the MA FF (after DS turned 3), suddenly it was much easier to get DS into the car and I felt ok with it then. However, if DS only rode in the car occassionally, I would be more ok with it. I'm currently struggling with turning 28 month DD FF or leave her RF.

[Katigre]

We have a small car (Scion Xa, smaller than a Civic) and we had DS rf in a Marathon (fisher price safe voyage which has the Marathon's shell and is made by Britax).

Have you installed it more upright rear-facing? You can do a 30 degree angle instead of 45 degrees with an older infant and toddler. That will give you more room. Let me know if you need a pic of what it looked like.

I would not feel comfortable personally turning a 2 year old in light of the new 'rearface until age 4' research. I turned DS at 2.5 last year but plan ot keep DD RF until at least age 3 if not 3.5.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I have our MA rf'ing in our Civic with no trouble. Ds2 is 22m. We have it behind the passenger seat.

Beth

[AnnieW625]

We used a smaller Triumph 5 in DH's 01 Corolla because we couldn't get the Marathon to rear face in the center. I thought about switching the Triumph to my Pilot once we turned DD around but we opted to keep DD in the Triumph in the center of the Corolla once I read up on the crash test ratings for the Corolla, which were really positive. The Civic is probably a really safe car too, but I don't see the harm in putting the BLVD in it too if it makes you feel better about turning your DS.

FWIW: we never tried the Marathon rfing in the passenger seat because DH really wanted to keep DD in the center seat. It most likely would've fit, but it would've been really tight.

[lorinick]

Okay guys the seat is more upright and isn't bothering any of the passengers, but is bothering my dh getting him into his seat and getting him out. Since the car seat is so upright there is less room to get ds in the car. Dh is having a COW. So I'm thinking it would be better to install ff than have dh freaking out every time he uses the seat and trys to install it ff the way he wants it. But he does it wrong. Would you be okay with ff your dc in a car used only 10% of the time?

[bubbaray]

I PMd you :)

[lorinick]

We have a small car (Scion Xa, smaller than a Civic) and we had DS rf in a Marathon (fisher price safe voyage which has the Marathon's shell and is made by Britax).

Have you installed it more upright rear-facing? You can do a 30 degree angle instead of 45 degrees with an older infant and toddler. That will give you more room. Let me know if you need a pic of what it looked like.

I would not feel comfortable personally turning a 2 year old in light of the new 'rearface until age 4' research. I turned DS at 2.5 last year but plan ot keep DD RF until at least age 3 if not 3.5.

I have not yet seen the research about keep children here rf until age 4. I know that isn't going to happen for us. Not in the current cars we have or my current seat. I think it's great if you can do that but I know I can't. 2.5 or 3 is my new goal in my car. But not dh car.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I just don't see it as that big of an annoyance to put them in with the seats are rf'ing. It's always going to be somewhat annoying to use the carseat in a little car but that wouldn't prompt me to stop using them. :)

Beth

[lorinick]

I just don't see it as that big of an annoyance to put them in with the seats are rf'ing. It's always going to be somewhat annoying to use the carseat in a little car but that wouldn't prompt me to stop using them. :)

Beth

Beth for you and for me it's fine, but my dh is always been easily annoyed. So I was thinking about him misusing the seat when he ff the seat on his own. My dc is tall and he feels as if he is folding him up. He fit just fine in my car and will cont. to rf in that car.

[niccig]

Can you teach DC how to climb into the seat on their own? DS would crawl under the rf seat, then climb up into his seat, I just had to buckle him in. Getting out would be the same way. We rear-faced DS in a Como in a Prius - so not a lot of room - until he was 3 years old. BUT you need to have the time for them to climb in on their own. If I tried to get him in, I would ALWAYS hit my head on the top of the car. It didn't bother DH though, his car so he was used to it.

[Piglet]

I just don't see it as that big of an annoyance to put them in with the seats are rf'ing. It's always going to be somewhat annoying to use the carseat in a little car but that wouldn't prompt me to stop using them. :)

Beth
:yeahthat: I guess I don't understand the problem if it is the safest thing for your kiddo. How hard is BFing but we do it anyway because it is best for baby. How hard is getting up in the middle of the night? How hard is sacrificing trips, fancy cars, new clothes... you get the idea. I would have a long heart to heart with DH about the sacrifices we all make for kids and how this is such a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things. It would really bother me that he is installing the seat his way, not the right way. Imagine if a nanny or sitter was doing that and how you would be livid that your nanny installed the seat wrong. I would be livid with my DH for putting our kid in danger. My DH is annoyed with getting DD in her RF seat as well, but he knows that I mean business when it comes to car seats and he knows to not mess with me on this issue!

[Joolsplus2]

How about this, "Honey, I know it's a real pain to get ds into the car RF. I'd feel a lot better about him being FF if I knew the seat stayed installed, top tethered, and you can make the harness tight on his shoulders for every trip. It only takes a minute to get the harness snug, and it'll be a lot easier than putting him in RF. Deal?"

Or, whatever you have to say to be sure that DH will comply with your minimal requirements for ds to be FF.

No major harm in going FF at 2, especially in a seat with excellent SIP...I'd put the BV in there if it were me.