2 1/2 Year Old Outgrowing Carseats

This scares me.

We just put our Cosco harnessed seat up for sale, as Jo has 1/2 inch of torso growth before outgrowing the harness. I knew this seat had low top slots, so not too big of a deal.

We use MIL's van the other day and it looks like he has less than 1" of torso growth before the freaking harness is outgrown on her Scenera. He is exactly 1" from the top of the shell. This is an older Scenera.

We sat him in our newer Scenera and it looks like they added height to the shell, giving him more growth that way BUT same deal with the harness, less than 1" until his shoulders are grown OVER the harness.

Forward facing seats go by the harness in relation to shoulders/weight for seat reached/or ears level with top of shell, correct?
The only seat we have that he can rear face in is the MyRide - he's about 36 pounds with no shoes, outgrowing ALL seats RFing by weight in our house.

We have an Evenflo Chase the grandparents use. He should still be good in this seat for a time.

My mother has an Evenflo Generations or Bolero, I don't know which without looking at it in person (not expired but was a hand-me-down from my aunt, so older.) He is at the top slots on this I believe, making this one on the son-to-outgrow list too.

Our last surviving seat is the Alpha Omega Elite. Also a hand-me-down, so older, but not near expiration yet. I don't have a manual for this seat but I heard the last slot of something is only for booster mode? When is this seat outgrown? At his slot now, he's got over an inch of harness but I think we are close...

There is no money to buy a higher-weight RF seat, but what do I do if he outgrows everything FFing as well?!
My Dad measured his torso yesterday. We think it is 13.5", so he isn't huge or anything, right?
HELP?!

With the exception of the Chase, you have seats with very short harnesses -- the Cosco HBB, the Scenera, the Dorel 3-in-1 (and unless you have an actual rethreadable harness, the top setting cannot be used with the harness).

The Generations should last a while.

I don't think 13.5" is an accurate torso measurement if he is outgrowing the seats you say he is. I'd guess 14"-15".

And yes, that's big for a 2.5yo. But there are seats that will get him to a safe booster age if you shop carefully. If he is 36# and you cannot afford a Radian or a Complete Air (I wouldn't recommend the other ERFing convertibles under the circumstances because their top slots are relatively low), you'll have to turn him forward-facing. If there is vehicle support, he can use a Cosco Apex. A Nautilus would also be a good choice.

What about the new Evenflo Generations 65? Try him out and see how much room? It is 99.00.
What about the Saftey 1st Apex if they have a headrest in the vehicle? I have seen those for about 109.00?

I would try my hardest to save for a nautilus. People are finding them at targets for 101ish(The girl cover). You could always trade covers later on swap.

You can get an Apex right now for $85 - 20% off (with coupon, see Crunchierthanthou's thread in the deals forum) = $68.

ETA: At Big Lots! LOL

I'm right there with you, as my 27-month-old has a 14.5-15 inch torso. We have a Radian65 that I intended to have rear facing. He is currently using it ff due to installation issues rf. He is at or a tiny bit below the second from the top slot, I think, when ff. (It depends on how upright I have the seat. I put it quite upright to make sure he was clearly a little below.) Evenflo has announced a seat called the Maestro, which is supposed to have 18" top slots and a 50 lb. weight limit. It is also supposed to be lower priced. If I am remembering correctly, the customer service representative told me it would be around $80 and available in December. I know it's tough having a bigger toddler. My ds1 was almost as tall and heavier than ds2 at this age, so I already had larger seats from when ds1 was younger. In ds1's case, his torso slowed down quite a bit as he got older. Then again, he wasn't as long in the torso to begin with. In any case, I'm sure he was on the top slot of the marathon before he turned three, but he fit in the seat until right around his 5th birthday. I am hoping ds2 will follow that pattern.

$68 is a great price for an Apex!

Best of luck.

He should have more room in the generation then anything else. The cosco hhb, scerena, and 3-in-1 have low top slots. Our dd is 2y6m, 35# and has outgrown our backup scerena. We had to ff at 2y because she had outgrown both seats in some way.

If money is tight, I wouldn't worry about rf. I would save up money for an apex or nautilus. The generation65 and older generation have the same top slots.

Should we ever get the money, which doesn't seem likely, a 45 pound Radian is our first choice, a Nautilus second.

My car may be going off the road due to insurance costs, so that frees the MyRide for use anywhere I suppose.

Can you tell me about the Apex? I can't think of a car we use that doesn't have headrests and our Big Lots will probably get it in.

Chances are good he has a 14" torso - my father measured and Jo didn't want to sit still OR cross legged.

We have a friend who moved from somewhere and brought his Swedish Britax seats to the US. If I could get a hold of one, we'd use it. I'd take the chance of possibly being recognized using a foreign seat if I ever managed to get pulled-over by cops in our area who know nothing about childseats. It is only like a $85 fine IF. IF.

It isn't fair my child has to be less safe because he is anatomically designed different than the US market prefers.

I know you would prefer to have him rear-facing, and I agree rear-facing is safest, but it is true that in real life, we are limited by costs.

*Spoiledinmyhouseofblue* said:

What about the new Evenflo Generations 65? Try him out and see how much room? It is 99.00.
What about the Saftey 1st Apex if they have a headrest in the vehicle? I have seen those for about 109.00?

I would try my hardest to save for a nautilus. People are finding them at targets for 101ish(The girl cover). You could always trade covers later on swap.

Click to expand...

Big lots frequently has the Apex for 85 as well.

Jonah Baby said:

It isn't fair my child has to be less safe because he is anatomically designed different than the US market prefers.

Click to expand...

:yeahthat:

The market seems to be improving, but not fast enough. HWH seat options have expanded a lot since 2004, when ds1 was a large two-year-old. If only we had more rf options...and infinite budgets...