would the old style rstv small fit her?

DD is 35 lbs and 41 inches with about a 15 inch torso. Would the small old style RSTV possibly fit her? I'm traveling alone with 2 kids next month to a destination where we don't have carseats, so 2 kids, 2 carseats, a backpack, and a suitcase sounds daunting at a large airport.

Probably not. Piper didn't fit in hers until closer to 40 pounds. I hear the new ones will fit smaller kids better, though.

Wendy

That's weird. Stella fit in hers when she was 3.5. She was around 35 or 36lbs. Here's a picture of her in it at that age.

Wendy, do you think that because of her length compared to her weight? Is she possibly too thin to get it tightened properly?

Possibly. She was 6.5 and 38 pounds and it was tough to get it tight enough around her torso. So a younger child at the same weight may fit better.

Wendy

It depends. A taller thinner build, no. Many kids even "average" build won't fit until 37-ish or so. But some stockier/wider built kids will fit right at 35. She has a pretty long torso it seems-- which might take up some of the slack (as long as it's not just super narrow too.)

She's definitely not wide or stocky. She can still wear some 3T shorts, but mostly wears 4T. I can measure her around tomorrow if it would be on any help.

I didn't think her torso was that long, lol. She can still fit in all of our convertibles (except the CCO) with plenty of room to grow.

Thanks for all your input!

I meant long for her height. She's still not huge, lol. If you look at the pic posted you can see the child that fit at 35 lbs. was built more wide through the shoulders, etc. If your child is not, the old-style is going to not fit so well.

ketchupqueen said:

I meant long for her height. She's still not huge, lol. If you look at the pic posted you can see the child that fit at 35 lbs. was built more wide through the shoulders, etc. If your child is not, the old-style is going to not fit so well.

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Yep... Stella is a tad more stockier I suppose than my other daughter (who at 11 still fits in the Radian )

I did lend our seat out to a much thinner little boy and although it was a tad loose when standing up, with the crotch strap and a lap/shoulder belt he didn't wiggle once installed.

I think the bottom line is that kids fit differently just like in seats. What works for some does not always work for others. It's hard to tell until you try it. Too bad stores do not carry these vest (at least not around here!).

If the newer vests fit smaller kids- that might be more ideal. I've never seen a newer version IRL. How are the newer vests with bigger kids?

Since you're traveling alone, you might want to consider taking both seats anyway. I realize that hauling it all would be a huge hassle, but it might be worth it to be able to use them on the plane. Kids in their own carseats on planes tend to behave a LOT better than kids who are used to traveling in a carseat who are suddenly expected to know that they still have to sit still with just a lap-belt. They are more comfortable sleeping if they get tired, they feel safer and more relaxed because the carseat at least is familiar.

The last time I flew there was a woman two rows ahead of me traveling alone with two young kids, and since the plane was a smaller one she either had to seat one of the kids alone or both of them across the aisle from her. The poor woman - it was a nightmare. The kids were rowdy and that alone stressed her out, but then we hit turbulence and she was unable to keep them buckled. She was frantic, the flight attendant was frantic, and the kids were so confused and upset.

I'm sure when she was planning her trip she thought that hauling carseats was more trouble than it was worth, but I know all three of them would have been a lot happier with them.

Thanks all, sounds like that if I want to get a RSTV, then the new style is a better bet. DS is built like DD, but even smaller so it would be best for us in the long run to go with that one.

DD has flown many times without her seat - at least 1/2 our trips are to my parents' house, where I keep a car seat for her, so I usually don't have to travel with two. And usually, when we're not going there, DH is with me to help with the carseats. She does great on the plane in just the lap belt. It's the closest to booster training we can do for a while, lol.

We have a gogokidz for one of the seats, so I can always put the second seat in it, but would it would definitely be easier to just have the one. Plus a RSTV would make it easier to do 3 in a row in our third row when needed since the middle seat is lap belt only.

Anyway, thanks for all the input!