Anyone used a rear facing seat with a SWASH brace?

Kathryn

New member
My daughter is having her 2nd hip surgery in a month and I had a couple questions about carseat fit.

Her first hip surgery, she was in a SPICA cast for 6 weeks afterwards, and we used the special Britax carseat while she was in the cast. At the time, she was 33 lbs, so we had her forward facing (britax boulevard was her normal seat).

After her cast was off, we bought a Recaro Como, since it does have more recline. She stayed forward facing.

She's back rear facing, as she's lost a lot of weight (she's now barely 23 lbs), but I'm worried about how this will work with a SWASH brace. She'll leave surgery with it on and will need to wear it for most of each day, as long as she needs it (could be a few months, could be a few years).

This is what the brace looks like:
Swash.jpg


She will be able to bend her knees, but not move her legs/thighs outwards any, they will stay shoulder width apart all the time. How hard is it going to be to keep her rear facing with the limited movement in her legs?

Can we put stuff under her legs to make it more comfortable, without affecting safety at all? Rolled blankets, a pillow? We did have to do that with the SPICA cast to keep gravity from pulling on her broken legs, but the safety concern wasn't the same priority then.

She currently has the Recaro Como, we're thinking of getting a Recaro Signo or possibly the Complete Air for her, depending on how she looks in it tomorrow when we go to BRU.
 
ADS

Cryssy Jane

New member
I have no experience with this kind of brace, but I'm thinking the leg room may be an issue and personally I'd look into a graco myride 65 or a sunshine kids radian (any model). The radians have a HUGE amount of leg space while rear facing and depending on the model is either 40lbs(65,80,xt,65sl) rear facing or 45lbs(80sl,xtsl). The myride also has pretty good leg space, and rear faces to 40lbs, but also has a recline when forward facing, either may take the strain off her legs while riding in a carseat. From what I understand Recaro seats are very squishy in leg room which may add extra strain on her legs and then on her hips. The complete air has a little more leg room, but I find it a little squishy as well.
 

Kathryn

New member
The only problem with other seats is she has absolutely no tone (quad cp), so she's like a rag doll.
With the boulevard, she was flopping forward and was cutting off her air supply. The Recaro has her reclined enough, even with forward facing, and has enough on the sides that she isn't slouching in the middle or flopping forward very far. This flopping goes on with the harness all correctly put on and tightened, btw.

I don't honestly know that a Radian would have enough on the sides to keep her middle from sagging. We haven't looked into the Myride, so I'll check that out.
I do have a Radian XTSL being delivered next Thursday (new baby), so I'll try her in it to make totally sure it wouldn't work, but I just don't see how it would.
 

Cryssy Jane

New member
The only problem with other seats is she has absolutely no tone (quad cp), so she's like a rag doll.
With the boulevard, she was flopping forward and was cutting off her air supply. The Recaro has her reclined enough, even with forward facing, and has enough on the sides that she isn't slouching in the middle or flopping forward very far. This flopping goes on with the harness all correctly put on and tightened, btw.

I don't honestly know that a Radian would have enough on the sides to keep her middle from sagging. We haven't looked into the Myride, so I'll check that out.
I do have a Radian XTSL being delivered next Thursday (new baby), so I'll try her in it to make totally sure it wouldn't work, but I just don't see how it would.

In that case. I would look into the myride. It has a great recline for rear facing and forward facing kiddos, and works well as a special needs seat for kiddos with little to no tone.
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
The MyRide is my recommendation too. I think there's a post in this forum with pictures of a special needs child with low tone in a MyRide and how well it supports her. :)
 

Kathryn

New member
IIRC, Shauna has Charlie in a Myride, doesn't she? She and Lily are similar in needs, so I'll definitly check it out. If BRU sells them, we try it out tomorrow and if it works, we'll get it for her.
Thank you both!
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
Yes, Shauna is the one who posted a pic of Charlie in the MR. It is so perfect for her. :love:

BRU carries several patterns including the awesomely cute Deco! :D
 

Kathryn

New member
Looking at the pics of Charlie in the MR, it looks really wide. Does anyone know if it's wider than the Recaro?
We'll have Lily's seat (whatever it ends up being, RF), a Recaro Como (FF), and a Radian XTSL (RF) all in a row in the back bench seat of our Ford E150 Van. Right now, 3 Recaros fit just fine.
Maybe the narrowness of the Radian will cancel out any extra width the Myride might have?
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
I don't know that it's actually that much wider-- it's shaped differently so it's wide at different places. A RF MR and RF Radian should puzzle well together, with the MR fitting in just the right places over the shell of the Radian. :thumbsup: They do in most cars anyway.
 

noahsmom24

Active member
Looking at the pics of Charlie in the MR, it looks really wide. Does anyone know if it's wider than the Recaro?
We'll have Lily's seat (whatever it ends up being, RF), a Recaro Como (FF), and a Radian XTSL (RF) all in a row in the back bench seat of our Ford E150 Van. Right now, 3 Recaros fit just fine.
Maybe the narrowness of the Radian will cancel out any extra width the Myride might have?

I know many walmarts are carrying MR's right now, if you have a local walmart then maybe you could call & see if they have a MR you could take a look at.
Mine has them.

Good Luck Finding a seat to fit Lily. :)
 

marcymc

New member
Since she will not be able to rotate her hips out or open her legs, she will have to sit with her hips and knees bent up with her feet either on the seat back in front of her or on the bottom of the car seat. Will the SWASH limit hip or knee flexion? Do you think she can sit that way? If you can, I would try to put her in that position when you try out the carseat.

Good luck!
 

Kathryn

New member
It won't affect bending her knees at all (the straps for each leg go on her thighs), but will likely affect upward hip angle. I think they make them so she can sit like in a chair, but not raise her legs up further than that.
 

Kathryn

New member
We were able to go to the BRU trade in event and got one for $119. :D
I haven't installed it yet, but am going to this week. She looked great in it in the store (I put it rear facing on their little demo bench) and was able to keep her legs how I'm 99% sure they'll be in the SWASH.

She gets the brace in on March 2nd, so I can take some photos of her with it on in her new seat (and old one) to show how it'll look. This way I can also adjust/modify as needed, before the actual surgery. Just a couple more weeks till surgery!
 

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