Graco Saferide shoulder straps?

[miasmom]

Hi, My DD is almost lbs, 16 wks old, tall & thin, and she already seems to be outgrowing her Graco Saferide car seat. I read that to be installed correctly the straps must come out over her shoulders to be safe and they are already coming out a little below her shoulders and looping over the shoulder, with no more notches/adjustments to move up to.

Do I need to get her another car seat? Anyone have any suggestions for a tall baby with lots of shoulder adjustments? She has to stay RFing till 1 yr old but I'd love a transitional seat that can be turned around to FFing so I can get at least another year's use out of it. We have the Graco stroller that the seat snaps into easy-would love to be able to use that with the next seat too.

[skaterbabscpst]

No, when rear facing the straps must come from at or BELOW the child's shoulders. It is at or above for FORWARD facing, which your Snug Ride cannot do. :)

In addition, you want to keep her rear facing much longer than her first birthday. One year and twenty pounds is the absolute minimum for turning forward facing, but it's not really SAFE. You want her rear facing as long as possible, so when she is close to outgrowing her Snug Ride you want to purchase a convertibel seat.

The Snug Ride will be outgrown when there is less than one inch of seat shell above her head OR she reaches the weight limit. From there you will move into a rer facing convertible seat. Look for one with a RF lomit of 33 to 35 lbs and a tall seat shell, and rear face her until that weight limit.

There are no convertible seats that will work with your stroller. Convertible seats are installed and left in the car. You can still use your stroller, just not with the car seat.

[Jeanum]

For a rear facing infant, the harness straps should be in a slot at or below the baby's shoulders, not above. What you're describing with her shoulders just above the slots sounds just fine actually, as long as other weight and height criteria for fitting properly in the infant seat are still being met. The infant seat would be outgrown when there is less than 1 inch of plastic shell above the top of her head, or when she reaches the infant seat's weight limit, whichever comes first.

Once the infant seat is outgrown, you would need to switch her over to a convertible carseat, which can be used rear facing, and also can be used forward facing when the time comes to turn her forward facing. The notion of turning a baby forward facing after turning 1 year old and 20 lbs. is a bit outdated and based on seats that used to only rear face up to 20 or 22 lbs. The safety benefits of rear facing are actually so tremendous it's recommended to continue to keep a baby/toddler rear facing up to the convertible carseat's rear facing weight or height limit, whichever comes first. Here's a link providing a detailed explanation of extended rear facing: http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx There's also a list of suggested convertible seats at http://www.carseatsite.com/recommended_car_seats.htm#Infant/Toddler%20Seats_(Convertible_Seats)


If you have a SnugRide, there is another infant seat by Graco, the Safe Seat 1, which is taller and has a 30 lb. weight limit that you also could consider if she's already outgrowing the SnugRide and you'd like to keep using an infant seat for a while. The Safe Seat 1 is supposed to be compatible with strollers that are compatible with the Snugride. Just another thought to toss out there for you. But if she's tall in the torso, it's possible she won't fit in the Safe Seat 1 long enough to justify the purchase, and it might be more cost effective to move her directly into a rear facing convertible seat. My youngest outgrew the Safe Seat 1 by height just before her first birthday, and she's all torso. Others on the board have kiddos who are 2 or older who still fit by height in the Safe Seat 1. It really depends on the child's proportions heightwise as to when they outgrow it by height.

[miasmom]

Rebekah, Thank you so much for the info. I see you live in Richmond like me. Where can we stop in to get our seat checked to make sure it's installed properly? I appreciate what you're doing & your website is great. Carseats are so freakin confusing for us new mommys! What would we do without your advice & forums!?

[miasmom]

Because the shoulder straps come out just below her shoulders and wrap over them in order to get it nice & tight (so there's only 2-3 fingers room between her and the belts) it feels like it pulls down so hard on her shoulders when she sits straight up and makes her "fold over" uncomfortably. Does that make sense?

Do I just sit her in it tall, let the straps wrap her shoulders, and then get my 2-3 fingers room and fasten her in, then just ignore it when she bunches/ slouches on her own -at which point it will be much looser?

(Apologies-I'm a first time mommy) :)

[skaterbabscpst]

If you can fit 2-3 fingers under the harness, it's too loose. The best way to check harness tightness is to try to pinch a horizontal fold in the harness at the shoulder. If you CAN, the harness is too loose and she is at risk of being ejected from the seat.


You WANT the harness to pull her down into the seat. If it doesn't, she could suffer head injury in a crash because having the harness below her shoulders prevents what we call "ramping up out of the seat." Basically she would move up in the seat and her head would no longer be contained within the plastic shell.

Remember that just because she looks uncomfortable doesn't mean she is.

Put her in the seat, make sure her bottom is as far into and back in the seat as possible. The harness slots should be as close to AT or BELOW her shoulders as possible. Fasten her harness and then tighten until you can no longer pinch a fold in the harness at her shoulder.