She wants REAR-facing, what should I do?

sprintsero

New member
My oldest has been FF since she was 1 yr old, but last week, I have move all my 3 kids onto 2nd row and put them all RF. My oldest love it, she no longer "fighting" her harness (she been doing that since she was 6 months old!).

But yesterday, I realized she has outgrown her Britax Marathon or Decathon, so today, I move her onto a Graco Nautilus FF and she hate it. She start her fighting with the harness again. She want to RF. Maybe something about restless legs, when she FF.

She is 5 yrs old, 44 lbs, 44" head-to-toes. GN manufactured in April 2008.

Is it okay for me to put the GN RF?

Thanks for the help!
 
ADS

flutie128

New member
The Nautilus is not a rear facing seat. At her weight there is nothing currently available that will rear face her since she is 44 pounds. The Radian only rear faces to 45 pounds.
 

Aurezalia

Well-known member
Unfortunately, the Graco Nautilus is a forward-facing ONLY seat. Under no circumstances can it ever be installed rear-facing.
Unfortunately, the only American seat left that she would still fit in only rear-faces to 45 pounds. There are no other seat on the market that go to a higher rear-facing limit. It appears her only option is forward-facing. :(
 

sprintsero

New member
oh no... she will be so disappointed. I kinda mentioned I will RF her when we get home from a birthday party earlier today. I didn't know GN is for FF only.

Since she outgrow the BM & BD, by couple of inches, it is unsafe to put her RF on those seats right?

Thank you ladies for the help.
 

flutie128

New member
The Britax seats you own only rear face to either 33 or 35 pounds. So, yes it is unsafe to rear face her in those seats.
 

AmieRubyJonah

New member
Yes, definitely unsafe. She needs at lease 1 inch of hard shell above her head. She has also outgrown them by weight. Only 2 seats (that I know of) RF to 45lb, the radian XTSL and radian 80sl. Not worth buying one for only 1 more pound.
 

urchin_grey

New member
Yep, sorry. :( She is way, way too heavy to RF in any of the convertible seats your currently own and it is most definitely unsafe to use a seat over the weight limit.
 

sprintsero

New member
- have her lose weight :p

- keep harness, have her continue with her battle with the harness/buckle

- switch over to seatbelt but 3 in a row is too tight to buckle.



oh boy...:(
 

urchin_grey

New member
- have her lose weight :p

- keep harness, have her continue with her battle with the harness/buckle

- switch over to seatbelt but 3 in a row is too tight to buckle.



oh boy...:(

I'd say try a narrower booster, IF she will sit properly in it. The Nautilus in booster mode may be too wide, but the Graco Turbo Booster is pretty narrow. You can pick one up for about $45 (she would need the high back version at this age).
 

AmieRubyJonah

New member
I wouldn't switch to booster and belt. If you battle with her and the harness, it sounds like she will lack the maturity to sit correctly 100% of the time in a seatbelt.
 

Aurezalia

Well-known member
I wouldn't switch to booster and belt. If you battle with her and the harness, it sounds like she will lack the maturity to sit correctly 100% of the time in a seatbelt.

I don't agree. This sounds like a situation where being faced with the knowledge that child can either, A) Sit in a booster properly, following all the rules, or B) Have to go back into the harness that they don't like, you'll find that children can be very capable of choosing option A. ;)
 

sprintsero

New member
We have a 2nd GN in our 2nd suv which we use a seatbelt and she is fine. It's the buckle between her legs that bother her. She would pull and tighten her legs until she tired. With seatbelt, I don't think she would do that. But, I just feel it isn't as safe as the harness at this age.

Maybe I'll put a footrest so her legs isn't dangling. Which might also bother her.
 

cookie123

New member
Try putting something on the floor for her feet. Maybe that would help. A rolled up sleeping bag or a cheap styrofoam cooler or anything that isn't too hard - so if it became a projectile in an accident, it wouldn't hurt anyone.
 

AmieRubyJonah

New member
I don't agree. This sounds like a situation where being faced with the knowledge that child can either, A) Sit in a booster properly, following all the rules, or B) Have to go back into the harness that they don't like, you'll find that children can be very capable of choosing option A. ;)

You could be right. :) just from the info the OP posted (been doing this since 6mo), it just seemed to me that it wasn't a "new" thing because the harness is now bothering her, but more that she doesn't "get" car safety.

I could be totally off base, it's JMO.
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
At her age and weight, provided she can sit properly, there are no data to say she's safer in a harness or in a booster. If the seatbelt works better for her, then go ahead and use that.

Wendy
 

sprintsero

New member
When she did RF just several days, I noticed she stop fighting the harness/buckle. She started again, 5 mins into the FF with harness/buckle. Yes, this problem has been going on for years.

Something about RF and resting her feet help stoping that habit.
 

AmieRubyJonah

New member
If money is no issue, and you don't have a problem with going illegal, you could look into importing a britax multi tech thy RFs to 55lb.
 

Holly

New member
I have a plastic stool in my car that we use so my dd who sits in the middle can climb in her seat easier (the middle spot is a little higher up than the outboard spots). It's a cheap IKEA booster and it has holes on the sides of it.
I bought some plastic buckles and webbing from the craft section at Walmart and I have it threaded through the holes on the sides of the stool and they also run around the inner most legs of the 2 front seats and then they come back around and buckle together. I should get a picture of it to explain it better. Basically, it's buckled to the front seat legs so it would not be a projectile in a crash, but dd uses it to climb up in her seat. She can almost reach to rest her feet on it while sitting in her seat. If it were a little higher, she definitely could.
She doesn't complain about leg pain from her legs dangling, but if she did, I wouldn't hesitate to find a higher stool that I could buckle in the same way.
 

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