Question GN crotch strap too short for DD? (pic incl) Back to the drawing board?

Athena · Jan 9, 2010

I took my DD#1 to BRU today to make sure she fit in and liked the Graco Nautilus before buying one. Using position 2, the crotch strap is already right by her and I am wondering how soon it will be until it is under her. I was sure I had read that it should not be under her, but I cannot remember where. I finally got Graco's online manual to load and skimmed it and all I found was in the crotch slot selection. It says, "Choose the position that is closest to but not under your child" If it is under her, will it make the straps positioned to high body. Aren't they supposed to be over her upper thighs or something like that? I took a few pics on my cell and am attaching one. What do you think?

Plus, she was really excited about getting a new seat. But she kept telling me the nautilus did not fit today. I don't know if it really didn't though or if she was just saying it for other reasons, like it wasn't the color she wanted. It didn't look like there was a lot of shoulder room either and she is really thin.

Although at this point I was really favoring the Nauti, I guess the other seat to consider would be the frontier. It is roomier for her, but I haven't heard whether anyone has successfully installed it in a 2007 forester and I sure couldn't figure out how to make it work.

She has not actually outgrown her ma yet and I could leave her in it for now, but it makes me really nervous not knowing what we will do when she outgrows it. And I already promised her a new seat.

TIA!!!

myliljunebugs · Jan 9, 2010

NM, that was a different poster

But Splash had a hard time installing a Frontier in the same car, so I don't know what I would do, how tall a torso and how much does your DD weigh?

Qarin · Jan 9, 2010

It's hard to really tell from the picture, but it doesn't look to me like the crotch strap is in a bad position on her, and it's not like that's a dimension that kids grow really fast in.

mcomommy · Jan 9, 2010

That looks like how the Nautilus fits my daughter and we have not had a problem. She has had the seat for about a year now and has gone from the second to the last to the last slot and it still fits her the same at the crotch buckle.

Athena · Jan 9, 2010

myliljunebugs said:
NM, that was a different poster But Splash had a hard time installing a Frontier in the same car, so I don't know what I would do, how tall a torso and how much does your DD weigh?

I don't know what NM means? I am still learning the jargon on here.

Thanks for mentioning it. I just saw that Splash wrote on my other thread about how difficult the frontier was to install so I would prefer to avoid that since I am definitely not good at seatbelt installs. (I've had a bunch of threads while I have tried to figure out my somewhat complicated situation for both my DDs with a difficult car.)

My DD#1 is about 3.5, 33 pounds, and I haven't measure her recently, but she is in the lower 40s for height (e.g. 41-42"). She seems to have a long torso considering where she is at in her ma (had to move to top slot a while ago), but I have not been able to get an accurate measurement. She certainly should fit the nauti. She still fits her ma, but not sure for how long and I have to get a new seat for someone.

bobandjess99 · Jan 9, 2010

It's fine. After MUCH hoopla, Graco confirmed that it is perfectly fine for a child to be over the crotch strap. I agree, looks like she has plenty of room, and no, it won't cause the straps to be in the wrong place at all. The nauti isn't very reclined, it's pretty upright, and it's also not quite as cushy as what she's used to , if she is in an ma....so that might eb where the complaints are coming from. Basically, she is sitting more upright and using differeent muscles...in a couple days, she'd likely be used to it and be fine.
I think fit wise it looks perfect.

myliljunebugs · Jan 9, 2010

It means never mind. I posted then realized I was wrong so edited.

Have you thought about RF'ing your older DD? Mine is about her height, just heavier and rides in a XTSL RF'ing and LOVES it. She hated her Nauti, never tried a Frontier.

wendytthomas · Jan 9, 2010

You want the crotch strap to come out like this on a child. / Or like this. |. But not like this. \. So it's ok if it's under them slightly, but what they don't want is _|, where the child is smooshing it under their body, under their sit bones. There was one rep at Graco who said it couldn't come out from under the body at all, and that spiraled from one bad info to fact in about three seconds, and a Graco rep actually came to the boards here to say that | or / was fine, but not \ and not _|. Does that make sense? LOL Sorry, I can't draw them any better using a keyboard.

Wendy

Qarin · Jan 9, 2010

wendytthomas said:
You want the crotch strap to come out like this on a child. / Or like this. |. But not like this. \. So it's ok if it's under them slightly, but what they don't want is _|, where the child is smooshing it under their body, under their sit bones. There was one rep at Graco who said it couldn't come out from under the body at all, and that spiraled from one bad info to fact in about three seconds, and a Graco rep actually came to the boards here to say that | or / was fine, but not \ and not _|. Does that make sense? LOL Sorry, I can't draw them any better using a keyboard.

Wendy

I think if you clarify that the child is facing to the right on those slash-diagrams that it makes sense- the crotch strap needs to not come out from way in FRONT of the child, leaving a gap, and it needs to not be flattened against the seat BY the child, but between those points it's fine, including angling from the seat towards the front of the car.

Athena · Jan 10, 2010

wendytthomas said:
You want the crotch strap to come out like this on a child. / Or like this. |. But not like this. \. So it's ok if it's under them slightly, but what they don't want is _|, where the child is smooshing it under their body, under their sit bones. There was one rep at Graco who said it couldn't come out from under the body at all, and that spiraled from one bad info to fact in about three seconds, and a Graco rep actually came to the boards here to say that | or / was fine, but not \ and not _|. Does that make sense? LOL Sorry, I can't draw them any better using a keyboard.

Wendy

This and Qarin's addtl clarification are both really helpful. That's good news! thank you!!

Athena · Jan 10, 2010

bobandjess99 said:
It's fine. After MUCH hoopla, Graco confirmed that it is perfectly fine for a child to be over the crotch strap. I agree, looks like she has plenty of room, and no, it won't cause the straps to be in the wrong place at all. The nauti isn't very reclined, it's pretty upright, and it's also not quite as cushy as what she's used to , if she is in an ma....so that might eb where the complaints are coming from. Basically, she is sitting more upright and using differeent muscles...in a couple days, she'd likely be used to it and be fine.
I think fit wise it looks perfect.

I hope she likes it. I wish they had the elite and wish even more it came in better colors. Thanks!

Athena · Jan 10, 2010

myliljunebugs said:
It means never mind. I posted then realized I was wrong so edited.

Have you thought about RF'ing your older DD? Mine is about her height, just heavier and rides in a XTSL RF'ing and LOVES it. She hated her Nauti, never tried a Frontier.

I've thought about it and she was rf until her little sister was born. But given our car, we cannot fit a rn rf at all (confirmed by others on this site) and we can only fit one of our DDs rf so that has to be the youngest. That's great that you're able to do it. I hope my DD likes the nauti. I really thought she was just complaining today for other reasons, but now I am not sure.

firemomof3 · Jan 10, 2010

Athena said:
It is roomier for her, but I haven't heard whether anyone has successfully installed it in a 2007 forester and I sure couldn't figure out how to make it work.

Isn't the latch limit for Subaru 60lbs? So can't you just do a latch install?

carseatcoach · Jan 10, 2010

The Subaru's 60# LATCH limit includes child and carseat, which is unique to Subaru.

firemomof3 · Jan 10, 2010

chickabiddy said:
The Subaru's 60# LATCH limit includes child and carseat, which is unique to Subaru.

Oh that is different

So, maybe she'd be better with something like the Maestro which weights about 1/2 as much as the GN.

armywife12 · Jan 10, 2010

If the Nauti doesn't work out, I would look into the Evenflo Maestro. Top slots are just slightly lower than the Nautilus and costs about half as much. It harnesses to 50lbs but with her being only 33lbs at 3 yrs old it doesn't sound like she needs a 65lb harness limit. She sounds like she has a normal torso as well so the Maestro should work great for her.

Question GN crotch strap too short for DD? (pic incl) Back to the drawing board?

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