Your best guess - will he fit RF?

[lemurmommies]

* Please note that I am aware of the specific dangers of flying with a lap child. For this trip, however, purchasing a seat for E is just not a possibility. Thanks for understanding. *

DP's parents have very generously offered to buy us tickets to fly to Oklahoma to visit them and DP's grandmother for American Thanksgiving. For the flight E will be a lap child, and therefore we will be using the ILs Scenera (they have two, one DOM 2003 and one DOM 2004) while we are in the States.

I have not used a Scenera with E since he was 6 months old (on our first trip to the States, where we had it installed in the second car), and I'm wondering if someone might be able to guess as to whether E will fit, height wise, rear-facing in the Scenera. I am going to try to get to a Toys R Us before we go to try him out in one, but don't often have a car so it's not too easy.

E's seated torso height is 14.5", and the seated measurement to the top of his head is 22". I'd love to have him RF as he's still the 35 pound weight limit, but I am worried that height wise he won't fit. Any idea?

[crunchierthanthou]

Probably not. The shell of my 04 Scenera is 22-22.5". If he's already at 22" and you still have two months to go and need at least 1" of shell above his head... not to mention that IME seated measurements tend to be shorter than how the child actually fits, I think he's already outgrown it.

[lemurmommies]

Hmmm, that's kind of what I was figuring. Silly long-torsoed kid with a big head. Oh well. If we were travelling with our Marathon he'd have to FF anyhow because he's over the (Canadian) RF weight limit on it, so I'll just pop him in the Scenera FF at the airport. Thanks.

ETA: We shouldn't have any trouble fitting him in it forward-facing, should we? With a 14.5 torso now, do you think he'll still be under the top slots in 2.5 months? I could ask the ILs to pick up a Nauti (it'd still be way cheaper than a plane ticket) if needs be.

[snowbird25ca]

Hmmm, that's kind of what I was figuring. Silly long-torsoed kid with a big head. Oh well. If we were travelling with our Marathon he'd have to FF anyhow because he's over the (Canadian) RF weight limit on it, so I'll just pop him in the Scenera FF at the airport. Thanks.

ETA: We shouldn't have any trouble fitting him in it forward-facing, should we? With a 14.5 torso now, do you think he'll still be under the top slots in 2.5 months? I could ask the ILs to pick up a Nauti (it'd still be way cheaper than a plane ticket) if needs be.

I'd have them pick up a Nautilus in all honesty. I've seen pic's of how he fits the MA and he's using the top slots already - the MA is more padded and the slots tend to fit lower than how kids measure, but still, IME my dd was around 14.5 to 15" torso when she started using the top harness height.

Wal-mart and Zeller's both have the Scenera. TRU/BRU doesn't actually carry the Scenera so far as I know - I know my store has never had it anyways and it's not available special order. :thumbsup:

I'd hate for you to discover at the airport that he's outgrown the Scenera ff'ing.

[lemurmommies]

Thanks Trudy. We have a Walmart closer to us that a Toys R Us, so I can definitely go there. DP is off on Sunday so the car will be available - we'll take a trip there then. If he fits under the top strap height of the Scenera while it's uninstalled in the store, I'll still need to take into account a bit of height we'll loose with the recline when installed even forward facing, right?

With the cost of the Nautilus, I don't mind at all having them pick one up. We could use it whenever we go to visit (and use a harness system on the plane instead of bringing our own seat) and my oldest niece and nephew (almost 5 and 3.5) could use it when they visit too. Since they're paying for the flights, we'll pay for the carseat.

[safeinthecar]

Maybe they'd be willing to buy him a Truefit instead of the Nauti. He could go rfing, it harnesses about as long as the Nauti, and you can buy a good dedicated booster when he outgrows it.

[lemurmommies]

Maybe they'd be willing to buy him a Truefit instead of the Nauti. He could go rfing, it harnesses about as long as the Nauti, and you can buy a good dedicated booster when he outgrows it.

I do love the TrueFit - it's what he's in now. We are going to be doing a fair bit of driving with 4 adults plus the car seat in the car however. DP's mother is a very heavy woman and has to sit with her seat all the way back, so I would be very hesitant to go for the TrueFit in this situation. I just don't know that I'd be able to get it installed and still have room for everyone to sit comfortably.

Also, we'll be the ones purchasing the seat and the TF is $40 more than the GN at Target. Which is a factor for us too.

[lemurmommies]

Well, DP walked to work today and I went to Walmart with E. They had lots of Sceneras, so it wasn't an issue to try him in one at all.

He definitely doesn't fit in it RF. The top of his head is less than a half inch from the top of the shell, so that's definitely a no-go.

As for forward facing, at the moment he fits in it (when wearing a disposable diaper) with about half an inch before being over the top slots. If he was wearing cloth, he'd be over them now. For American Thanksgiving we'll be travelling with disposables, but that's still 2.5 months away. Looks like I'll be hitting Walmart again at the beginning of November to see if he still fits. If not, we'll spring for a Nauti.

Thanks to those who gave measurements and replied to the thread. I'm glad I went and tried him out in the seat.

[Kat_Momof3]

You already found out what I would have said... he'd likely fit ff (though installation might make that become untrue), but not rf.

I would recommend a Graco Nautilus or another combo seat that is less expensive if money is an issue.