Pushing chest clip down - safe option?

[Jan06twinmom]

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My friend's daughter was pushing the chest clip on her car seat down off of her chest. She has her DD in a Britax roundabout. She said she is using the Bevera sealing clips from IKEA (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70083252/) below the clip. She puts the sealing clip below the chest clip and her DD wasn't able to move the chest clip down anymore.

Do you know if this is a safe option?

If it is not a safe option, can you please explain why?

Thanks!

Melanie

[aept]

Is that a clip for sealing up a bag of chips (or similar kitchen functions?)

[tam_shops]

Yes, that is a bag for sealing chips/cookies ie open bags.

I would *not* do that. I would worry that it may either pop off in an accident and hit a child in the face/head, you know that sippy cup to the head child, sort of theory.

I would either put a coat on the child backwards.
or
I would put a fleece (or other light) jacket on the child unzipped. Then put the child in the car seat. Do up the straps. Pull the jacket out/around the straps. Do the zipper up *over* the straps.

tam

[Kat_Momof3]

I like it in THEORY... because it obviously solves the problem, wouldn't interfere with the harness fit and it doesn't involve duct tape or something that can't be removed later... and it's pretty inexpensive.

HOWEVER... in ACTUALITY, you're adding something to the seat the manufacturer doesn't approve of.

I wish they could/would offer something like this with the seat for this purpose... and what an easy inexpensive type of thing it would be.

HOWEVER without proper testing, we don't know what damage it might do to the straps, not to mention the projectile issue the pp mentioned.

How old is the child? I know it's getting to be summertime, so what I would do is put a vest on the kiddo and do it like the carseat coat cheat... zip it up OVER the tightened harness... see if that deters the kid. (or take a very thin jacket that is otherwise outgrown (arms too short but otherwise fits) and cut the sleeves off

[aeormsby]

There's also this if all other typical options aren't working: http://www.overstock.com/Baby/My-Gua...d64d58a5b30af0

I'd also worry about the chip clip damaging the straps with continued use.

[honeydew]

I have those Ikea clips and I wouldn't worry about them damaging a harness. That said, I'd never recommend someone use them for the reasons already stated.

I'll attach a picture of the inside of the clip. The worst I imagine it could do is leave a dent in the harness but again, it's not something I would want to bargain with.

Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org

[Kac]

I wouldn't use it because there's no way to know what it does to the harness or what would happen in a crash.

How old is she?

[Kat_Momof3]

I know it looks a lot like a lockoff to me... and so I doubt it would do OBVIOUS damage, but (I assume) carseat companies do a lot of testing before approving lockoffs... and those go on seatbelts that are (again I assume) made quite differently than harnesses and then we have still on occasion had ones we don't like that dent our seatbelts for quite sometime or have even done worse. Harnesses aren't made to have to hold the weights seatbelts are, which is why I assume they aren't made to the same degree of tightly woven ultra strong stuff and why I worry that there would be some small degree of unseen damage.

Again, I would love to see something like this be designed, tested, and allowed (maybe even with a strap that connects them to the carseat or the carseat cover)

honeydew, see if you can take some with you if you go to the next ABC and see if you can harass a carseat manufacturer into it please!