Roundabout Limits

[Mickayla]

I received a hand-me-down Roundabout (I know it isnt expired and wasnt in an accident) and I checked the web and they should hold a child RFing till 35lbs, but ON the actual seat it says "Use only in rear facing positions with an infant weighing less than 20lb".

So have the guidelines changed? Or is this seat useless to me then?

[Starlight]

No, that just means you can't use it in any other positions for a child less than 20 lbs.

There should be another sticker that says RF 5-30 lbs or something similiar elsewhere ont the seat. You should also look for the date of manufacture sticker, so that you know when it expires.

[Mickayla]

Okay, sorry I read it backwards, like RFing it could only be under 20lbs and I knew that sounded wrong but I needed to double check before putting her in it. Thanks! It was made in 04, so as a spare seat it has a bit of life left in it!

[crunchierthanthou]

Yeah, that wording trips up a lot of people- even some techs I've met. It doesn't mean you can't rf over 20 lbs, just that you can't ff before that. Keep in mind that it's outgrown rf when the top of the child's head is 1" from the top of the shell. Britax has been a bit ambiguous about that in the past, but it's very clear in the most recent version of the manual.

[An Aurora]

Yep, the limits will be 33 lbs on a 2004 RA. She might be pretty close to outgrowing it, though, by height.

[indigoblossom]

Yep, the limits will be 33 lbs on a 2004 RA. She might be pretty close to outgrowing it, though, by height.



i've heard (and i think many people here will attest to this) that the height limits aren't actually necessary - meaning that many people believe it is safer to rear-face until the maximum possible weight, regardless of how tall the child is. they claim this is safe, especially if the child sits cross-legged but i know that at 31 lbs and 33 inches my son was entirely too uncomfortable to RF so i switched him then, just after his second birthday.

[Starlight]

Indigoblossom.

While it is important to maximize the time a child remains rearfacing, it is NEVER okay to go against the manufacturers directions, nor to advise that someone else do the same.

The Roundabout has a VERY short shell, and children tend to outgrow it early, because, Britax, like most other manufacturers, advise that the child has outgrown the seat when the top of his/her head is an inch of the top of the shell.

This is just as crunchierthanthou said above.

If the child outgrows a short shell seat, such as the Roundabout, early on, many techs would advise the purchase of a taller seat to fill the gap.

BTW, "uncomfortable" is subjective. Most parents seem to think that the child must be uncomfortable, being that they (the parent) would be. But, many seem to forget that just a little while before, the child was folded and shoved into an uncomfortably small space called the womb, and didn't seem to have a problem with it. :D

[An Aurora]

i've heard (and i think many people here will attest to this) that the height limits aren't actually necessary - meaning that many people believe it is safer to rear-face until the maximum possible weight, regardless of how tall the child is. they claim this is safe, especially if the child sits cross-legged but i know that at 31 lbs and 33 inches my son was entirely too uncomfortable to RF so i switched him then, just after his second birthday.

No, that is not what we say. We say that the stated height limit is a guideline and to go by the one-in-of-shell-above-the-head-rule. I have NEVER said that a height limit isn't necessary. Some push this more than others--I posted asking about how much growing room my DD had in her MA RF, and got many different answers. Personally I was no longer comfortable with her RF'ing in that seat, and we switched seats.