RF Roundabout - 8 month old - what am I doing wrong?

[la_mom]

My 8 month old son hit 22 lbs and outgrew his infant seat, so I switched him to my older son's old Roundabout.

I guess my older son must have been a few months' older when we put him in this seat. My little guy looks so uncomfortable - even with the recline! :confused:

I believe that RF the shoulder straps are supposed to be at or below his shoulders, which they are. However, they almost seem too wide and slip down his shoulders a bit. He sort of slips to one side in the seat and slumps drastically.

Today was the first day I drove with him in the new seat and I stopped no less than six times because I was so alarmed at his position I thought he was going to choke on the harness pressing into his neck/throat!

Does anyone have any suggestions and/or can anyone recommend sites that show babies properly sitting in carseats? Mostly the seats are shown empty or there is just an illustration of a child.

I've attached two pictures - sorry I took them with my camera phone - hope you can see clearly. Note the the strap across his calf in the one picture isn't the harness, but just the strap that tightens the harness laying across his leg. Thanks!!

[Mommy2Marcus]

I from the pictures that he is to upright. To get more of a recline you can use either a tightly rolled towel or a pool noodle to achive a more reclined install. I can also see that his harness is not tight enough & his chest clip needs to be moved down. His harness is pretty close to tight enough, but not quite. His harness should be tight enough that you can not pinch any harness webbing between your fingers at the collar bone. Also his chest clip should be at armpit level. With those 3 things you should be fine!

[wendytthomas]

Duct tape will help keep his head up. ;-) Just kidding. Well, it would, but it's not practical nor safe.

I agree with M2M. I'd try reclining the seat a bit more, either with a towel or noodle, or even just pulling the seat away from the bight (the crease where the seatbelts come out) and installing it with your hand putting weight on the bum area of the seat to tighten it down. Then I'd check that harness, since it does look remarkably loose. M2M mentions the pinch test, here's a picture:

http://www.carseatsite.com/pinchtest.jpg

If you can pinch anything at the shoulder it's too loose.

It's hard to tell what's going on between the angle of his head and the angle of the photos, but even if the harness is tight and the chest clip is on properly the harness can slip off his shoulders. If he's close enough to the next one's up I'd move them up. Close enough being within about 1/2". Sometimes being too low can cause the harness to pull off the shoulder. But I don't think he looks that high above that slot, so I think it's just the looseness and the angle of the seat.

Wendy

[snowbird25ca]

Since the rf'ing tether isn't being used right now, I'd see if you can recline it just a little bit extra with the rf'ing tether. I don't think it will take much extra recline to fix how far forward he's falling.

Tightening up the harness a bit more should hopefully remedy the problem, if not though, it's worth saying that not every seat fits every child. It could be that the build of your ds is such that the RA isn't a good fit for him and you may need to purchase a different seat that fits him better.

I'd increase the recline a little and tighten up the harness before deciding if the seat will work for him or not though. :thumbsup:

[la_mom]

Thanks to everyone. I'll see about getting the seat in with more of a recline and tighten the straps more. I'm not sure about putting the straps in a higher slot - when he is sitting up properly, the next slot is over an inch and a half higher than his shoulders.

However, maybe I'm an idiot, but I have no idea how to use the tether for RF. There are three places on the roof in the back for when it is FF, but I cannot find anything to attach the tethers to for RF. I drive a 2002 Mazda Tribute. There is nothing on their website, nothing in my owner's manual, and I cannot physically see any place.

[skiersnowboarder3]

Thanks to everyone. I'll see about getting the seat in with more of a recline and tighten the straps more. I'm not sure about putting the straps in a higher slot - when he is sitting up properly, the next slot is over an inch and a half higher than his shoulders.

However, maybe I'm an idiot, but I have no idea how to use the tether for RF. There are three places on the roof in the back for when it is FF, but I cannot find anything to attach the tethers to for FF. I drive a 2002 Mazda Tribute. There is nothing on their website, nothing in my owner's manual, and I cannot physically see any place.

The straps do not need to be raised to the next harness slot. They need to be coming from below his shoulders like they are.

There will not be a dedicated anchor for tethering RFing. Your seat should have come with a D ring (basically a looped harness with a metal ring attached). You would wrap the loop part around a non-moveable part in your car and then attach the tether to the metal ring. The tether needs to be taut but not as tight as the seatbelt.

[Jeanum]

To tether the Roundabout RF, you need to use the a RF tether connector strap with a metal D-ring on it that came with your Roundabout to create a RF tether point toward the front of your vehicle. You loop the RF tether connector strap around a fixed point toward the front of your car, such as a front seat leg or a front seatbelt buckle stalk that's connected directly to the vehicle's floor. Then you connect the Roundabout's top tether hook to the metal D-ring, and then shorten up the top tether strap up until it's taut. For a helpful visual aid, there's an online video showing using the D-ring connector strap around a front seat leg at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2upADev-UrM and also a video showing how to install and top tether a RF Britax convertible at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuZQp_xij_w (it's a Marathon seatbelt installation in this video, but the top tethering portion of the installation is essentially the same for your Roundabout).

[la_mom]

Thanks for the video link - never thought to check You Tube...that's awesome. I got the tether installed and a much better recline on the seat. We did not have this car when my older son was RF, so perhaps that's why things fit so different. My local CHP office said they'd inspect both seats (I have a new Nautilus for my nearly 4 year old son.) tomorrow.

The straps still slip off his shoulders quite a bit. Tightening the straps (which I could barely pinch an inch as the illustration shows) only causes the straps to pull down his shoulders even more. I don't really see a solution to that until he just plain gets bigger.

[wendytthomas]

You don't want to be able to pinch ANYTHING when you check the harness. That's a picture of way too loose pinching.

When you get the seats checked tomorrow, make sure that they are removed from your car, inspected, checked for dates and recalls, and the police officer has you reinstall them. It wouldn't hurt either to ask to see his SafeKids ID card. That way you know he's not just "the guy who does seats" down at the PD, that he's actually certified.

Wendy

[Mommy2Marcus]

Yes as Wendy said, you do not want to be able to pinch any fabric between your fingers, so if you could pinch even some between your fingers it is to loose. What you want to happen is for your fingers to slid off the harness without getting any fabric between them.

So it sounds to me like you still need to tighten the harness a little bit!

[snowbird25ca]

So it sounds to me like you still need to tighten the harness a little bit!

This may not necessarily be the case in this instance, especially given that further tightening of the straps slightly increased the problem. The old Triumph seats had this problem with some kids depending on what slots they were using. I've seen a number of posts from parents who used the old Triumph with kid #1 and it fit/worked great. Kid #2 comes along and the harness is slipping off the shoulders regardless of how tight the harness is. No amount of trouble shooting fixes the problem, and the parent in the end has to get a different seat.

Not all kids fit all seats - even when they're within the height and weight guidelines and should otherwise fit - sometimes the harness geometry just doesn't work with a specific child.

OP, if you can't find a solution that fixes the problem, I would strongly consider getting a different seat - even if it's just a $40 scenera to use until the RA hopefully fits better. I just wouldn't be comfortable using the seat unless you can get a fit that doesn't have him slumping to the side and somewhat out of the harness as pictured in your earlier post. A seat is only safe if it fits properly, and if he's still slumping with a properly tightened harness and increased recline, then it doesn't fit him well right now.

[mykidsmylife]

I hated the roundabout . My son is so tiny. His torso is the same as my 8m old nephews torso. They can use the same seat on the same slot and Seth is almost 2.
He fit in the Roundabout the same way. The slots were way behind his shoulders. I could never seem to get the harness just right. Sometimes it was too lose, then too tight and pushed him down. But if I loosened it a tad it was just too lose. I wanted to scream. This is why he is in a Blvd. now. LOL.
But I found the perfect fit for him eventually and just never adjusted the harness.
It is a pain but you will figure it out.
I recomend making sure his shirt is pulled up protecting his neck from the harness. I also used the tether to get a for reclined fit...

Here he is in it. You can see how far the harnes is behind his shoulders.

Good Luck.

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i74/berahid/Carseat%20pics/newcarseats004.jpg