Looking for advise

My daughter currently has a 2007 Radian 65 and a 2008 ETA. I hate the ETA, the harness straps dig into her neck and nothing I've tried has put a stop to this. It bothers her a lot, to the point that twice she has pushed the chest clip to her tummy and one of those times she pulled her arms out of the straps - while I was driving.

I have an offer from Evenflo to refund my money for the seat and I've decided to take them up on this offer. L actually has two ETA (one in her father's car), both of which are being replaced.

On to my question...

L is currently 2.5 (3 in April) she weights between 29.5 and 30.5 lbs and is 38 inches tall with a 13.5 to 14inch torso. She has stayed in the 90 to 100% for her age in height since birth, and she is on the second to top slot on her Radian65 right now.

I've been looking at the Radian XTSL so I can keep her RF to 45 lbs, but at her height I'm wondering if I'll get my money's worth out of this seat. I want her to stay RF as long as possible.

That said, I also like the Nautilus. I tried her in one today and she still has three slots in that seat. I know the Radian and Nautilus are supposed to both have the 18 inch top slots, but I don't see how, though I know once it's installed in the car she may sit differently in the seat.

I just keep bouncing back and forth between these two seats and it's driving me batty. As I said before I want to keep her RF as long as possible, but I also want to get my money's worth out of the seat also - but just thinking about turning her FF at this point makes me sick, and scares the T-total out of me.

Help! What would you do in my situation?

For a 2.5yo, I would rear-face her. She probably won't make it to 80# in a Radian, but somewhere between 3-5, kids start growing legs and torso growth slows down -- many kids *do* make it to a safe booster age/size in a Radian.

Radian, if it works in your car, b/c she'll get to 3.5 or 4 (at least) in it rearfacing...she'd probably make it to 3.5 rf'ing even in a 35 lb seat.

For a car the Radian doesn't work in, I'd try the Safety First Complete Air, Graco My Ride, and Learning Curve Truefit.

At 2.5, I wouldn't go GN and forward facing. Besides, it may not be that comfy for sleeping.

hths

henrietta

At 2.5 I would totally get another Radian and rearface. The harness max is super tall, and you'll definitely get your money's worth. I wouldn't put my dd in a Nautilus until she was nearly 4 years old. I even bought a Radian to rf her at 3.5 years old but I couldn't get a solid, upright rf install.

I would get another radian to rf. I just purchased the xtsl for my 28 month old who is 38.5 inches. tall, 35-36lbs with a torso around 14.5 inches. He is rf in the xtsl and has at least 4 inches of shell above the top of his head. he will probably fit rf in the xtsl for at least another year. He is using true third slot rf and comes about 1/2 inch under the 4th slots. for a tot under 3, I would definitely get a seat to continue rf.

I have both a Frontier and an XTSL for DD. I bought the Frontier first because I hated to buy another convertible seat when I could buy something that became a booster. But, after about 2 months, it really bothered me that she wasn't RFing anymore, and I could not live with the "What if?" particularly since it is icy here. Ultimately, the XTSL won out. I feel much better with DD RFing.

DD has not complained once about being RFing again and sleeps better in the Radian.

luvsviola said:

I have both a Frontier and an XTSL for DD. I bought the Frontier first because I hated to buy another convertible seat when I could buy something that became a booster. But, after about 2 months, it really bothered me that she wasn't RFing anymore, and I could not live with the "What if?" particularly since it is icy here. Ultimately, the XTSL won out. I feel much better with DD RFing.

DD has not complained once about being RFing again and sleeps better in the Radian.

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This is exactly what happened with us. Caleb turned 2 and hit 35lbs shortly afterwards. we bought the frontier because it would last him longer. he is tall and heavy so he fit perfectly in the seat. After a couple e months of me being a nervous wreck with him ff I bought the myride. he's quickly outgrowing the myride so we got the xtsl. the only thing I regret is not getting the xtsl instead of the frontier.

Thank you for all the replies!

Her growth seems to be about even so far for her legs and torso, but I haven't really kept track of her torso growth rate. It would be nice for her to slow down a teeny bit on torso growth though!

She does still sleep in the car occasionally, and the recline of the seat in RF does seem to make her more comfortable.

The "what if?" is one of the main things that's holding me back from the nautilus, it ices here a lot during winter, not much snow and people seem to freak out if the roads are anything but dry. She is rather tall for her age, but she still seems so tiny to me, and that's why it scares me so bad about FF her.

I'm wondering now if I should go with the XT or XTSL? The car it will be installed in doesn't have Latch, but I really like the 45lbs weight limit.

I know this is a little off topic of my original post, but I need some fast help, figured I'd just use this thread rather than make another.

This is a pic of the top of L's head in her ETA. I forgot to switch out her seats last night and am now being forced to use her ETA today . It looks like to me she'll be OK for today, but I thought I'd ask and get a few other opinions - does she have enough room or should I flip her FF for today?