Snugride install

[Karen]

I am working on installing bean's seat. No matter how much I push the base into the bight it just isn't reclined enough. I have it on the third (biggest) setting. I think I will have to use a pool noodle. It is technically all blue, but you can see a little of the orange on the right. I remember that with DS, he had to pretty much be FLAT or his head fell. My question is, what setting should I put the base on if I use a pool noodle? It seems like if I left it on the third setting AND put in a pool noodle it would be way too reclined. Anyone have any insight before a smush a bunch of pool noodles?

[Mom to a few]

If it were me...and the whole window was technically blue...I would probably leave it that way unless baby was actually having a head flop problem. But here's the other information you asked for!!

You have to use either the recline foot that came with the base OR the pool noodles. You aren't allowed to use them both together. If you really feel that you can't get an acceptable recline by using the adjustment on the base, then you need to put the recline foot all the way back in, and just use pool noodles. You can use up to three pool noodles if you need to, cut to width, and taped together. Just make sure that you don't go to the other extreme of being too reclined. Good luck!!

[Karen]

Good to know about not using them together.

Well this is the way that it looked with DS, and his head totally fell forward. I suppose I could leave it and just see how it goes, but I don't want to be pulling on a car seat right after giving birth, YKWIM?

[crunchierthanthou]

Graco has actually changed that. The more recent manuals don't prohibit use of pool noodles and the adjusable foot together.

When you say his head fell, do you mean to the side or to the front? To the side is okay, but you can use rolled receiving blankets next to the baby to prevent that. It's only when it slumps forward that there's an issue, but the seat should still not be reclined more than a 45 degree angle.

[Mom to a few]

Graco has actually changed that. The more recent manuals don't prohibit use of pool noodles and the adjusable foot together.



Well, that's good to know. When I got certified last year, they kept emphasizing not using both together. There was even a woman at the seat check that was getting a Snugride installed, and the recline foot on the base wasn't quite enough...They made me put the foot in, and do a pyramid of 3 noodles--even though the install wasn't as good that way. My most recent Graco infant seat manual says that you can use a rolled towel to achieve proper recline, but it doesn't specify whether the recline foot can be in or out. Thanks for helping clear that up.

[crunchierthanthou]

thank jools. She's the one who pointed that out to me shortly after I was certified. :thumbsup:

[Karen]

His head fell forward. Really badly.

My snugride is old, Dec 05. I don't have the manual, and the one that I downloaded online can't be right. It says that the weight limit is 20lbs, but it says on the side of my seat 22. And I remember it saying that on the manual. I really wish I hadn't lost it. I keep trying to call Graco, but they must close before 5 because I always miss them.

This is going in a 06 Civic, and there is just a little dip there that makes it really upright. I actually got a really good install in our Scenera (DS's spare seat) by getting it really into the bight. I just can't get that foot on the snugride to stay in there. When I start it is in the bight, but after I tighten it it has moved back down. In fact, the back of the base doesn't even stay on the seat, it pops up unless the seat is in there to weigh it down. I can try again and see if someone can hold the base into the bight while I tighten maybe. We will see.

[MissKatie]

I installed two snugride bases at a check this weekend and I gotta say, I was not impressed with the ease of installation. The bases did the 'popping up' thing you described too and I didn't like that... the seats weren't present so I couldn't see if putting them in helped (hope so!)

Did Graco make the noodle plus foot install retroactive (or did they never say anything about it like the 9 years on the Nautilus?)

[snowbird25ca]

I installed two snugride bases at a check this weekend and I gotta say, I was not impressed with the ease of installation. The bases did the 'popping up' thing you described too and I didn't like that... the seats weren't present so I couldn't see if putting them in helped (hope so!)


A lot of bases will get a certain degree of popping up at the back when there isn't a seat on there. Some of them will even have a small degree of rise when the seat is on, but the weight of a baby on top is enough to push it down. It only pops up like that when the belt is tightened super tight, so if it bothers you, you could always just not tighten up the belt quite as much provided you still have less than 1" movement at the belt path. Bases have always gone back down for me as soon as the seat is on it though. And I think pretty much any infant seat base will do it when installed tightly. I actually can't think of a specific brand off the top of my head that I've never seen do it. Peg Perego, SS1, evenflo, the designer 22 bases, all of them do it too in some vehicles. :thumbsup:

To the OP, I am concerned about your statement that your older child needed to be almost flat in order for his head to not fall forward. A rf'ing seat should never be more than 45* and almost flat is definitely way way past 45*.

Do you have a pic you can take of the seat? If you're only seeing blue when looking straight on then the seat is installed within the range allowed. I find with newborns they often do need the seat to be installed as reclined as possible while still keeping the seat in the blue though. Seeing a picture would be really helpful - take the picture from the side of the seat looking straight towards it, and try to take it on level ground if you can as that gives the most accurate comparison.

If pushing the edge of the foot of the base into the seat bite is meaning that some of the base isn't supported by the vehicle seat, then you really need to put the base down onto the seat itself and tighten it in that way, using a pool noodle if needed. You don't want the edge of the base sitting on the edge of the seat bite with a space a little further back. The base could slip easily in a collision and the seat would be installed way too loose if that happened. My speculation would be that it'd quite likely slip since that's what's happening now when you install it. (Note that this is different than the space that happens when using a pool noodle to support the seat because in that case the base is being well supported and it's not just a thin lip of the fabric if your backseat is the way I'm thinking it is.)

[Karen]

Yep, I'll take pics for you sometime today.

DS was born early and was very small which may play a role in it. And I may have been exaggerating about his laying down. He was still within the blue window on the side, just the opposite of the way it is now.

I guess I can just leave it and see if it will work, and try to use a pool noodle after he/she is born.