O my! I cannot figure out what I need to do. Tall and skinny DD and Tall and Chubs DS...RFing Recommendations needed.

Numommy · Feb 8, 2011

My daughter is 18 months and RFing in a Blvd. SHe is 22 pounds and 34 inches. About equal in torso and legs. She has about 1.5 inches before she outgrows her Britax RFing.

My son is currently in his infant Graco 32, but he and I both dislike it. When winter ends he is going in his MA 70. But he is 3 months, 24 inches and 16 pounds. Something like 101 percent for wt and 94 for ht. My dh is 6.5.

So I am trying to prepare for the future. Money is tight, so I want to spend it wisely...not like I did when I bought the MA this last time. I new the shell was shorter and yet I did it anyway...ease of install.

I drive a new body style Malibu.

I am thinking I will need to buy DD a seat to keep her RF for a while, then put her FF in BLVD or MA and put DS RF in the that seat. Of coarse that would mean turning her, potentially before either of us is ready.

So do I buy a Radian? I am concerned about the recline in my car, and if a my large DS could fit, and be safe and comfortable in it.
This is also my concern with buying a TF for her and passing it to him later.
I thought about a MyRide but read where they are outgrown about when the blvd is outgrown. I did also look at the CA, my concern with that is it looks hard to get them in and out of small car, like the BLVD is, but it may be the best option.

What would yall do in my situation?

Thank you all so much!!

Cyndi

armywife12 · Feb 9, 2011

Can you post a picture of her RF in the BLVD? I know it can be difficult sometimes to tell when a child is outgrowing a seat RF and, many times, they have quite a bit longer than it appears. It's hard for me to imagine a 34 inch child outgrowing the BLVD already since you say she is equal torso and legs. Could you also measure her torso for us? That would give us an idea as well.

I don't have any experience with the Malibu but I want to say that the back seat is pretty roomy. Since she is 18 months old, she can sit as upright as 30 degrees in her car seat, 35 degrees in the True fit, so I wouldn't worry about a RF seat fitting in the back for her. The True Fit makes a great seat for lightweight children and it is pretty easy to fit in smaller back seats, especially with the removable headrests for RFers under 22lbs. I don't know how the Radians work in the Malibu but *I* only recommend them when the 45lb RF weight limit is needed because I think they are too much of a PITA. I love our Complete Air and didn't have any issues getting little ones out of it. It has the tallest shell and highest top slots of all convertible seats so it is the longest lasting. Since your 18 month old is so lightweight, I would probably look into the True fit and then the Complete Air.

mommycat · Feb 9, 2011

Can you measure the amt of shell over her head in her seat to be sure how much room she has to grow? Remember to measure the distance along the seat back, not the vertical distance perpendicular to the ground. If she has 1.5" left to grow (i.e. 2.5" above her head) or even if she only has 1.5" left total (i.e. 0.5" left to grow) I would not buy anything else right now, and just keep an eye on it. As kids get older they slow down a bit in growth, and also start to sprout legs while the torse growth slows, so depending on how much room she has left in the seat she may have as much as a year or two before she outgrows it. That's a potentially long time that you can delay spending more money on a new seat, especially if money is tight.

Also, DS is pretty young so I would wait and see if he stays on those growth curves as he gets older, at least past 6 months. You have a tall DH so he might likely stay high in the curves, but my DS1 started out at above 80th percentile for both wt and ht at birth and after a few months started to gradually drop off. (He was at 24th percentile for weight at one point, though he has evened out a bit higher by now at 6yo. My point is they don't always stay on the same curves they start out on.)

featherhead · Feb 9, 2011

I would most definitely try the Radian. It fits wonderfully in the old style Malibu so it's definitely worth a shot in the new style. It definitely is way easier to get kiddos into a Radian than just about any other seat I've tried in my Malibu.

bree · Feb 9, 2011

My husband has an '08 Malibu, the new body style. While the Radian installs very easily and quickly rear-facing behind the passenger seat, it starts to overrecline with little use. I'm hesitant to recommend the Radian for rear-facing in this type of Malibu based solely on my own experience (which was only trying to install the Radian RF behind the passenger; I tried with the seatbelt and that install stunk, and the install with LATCH had the overrecline issues. I didn't try to install in the center, because it wouldn't fit with the other seat I needed in the backseat, and I didn't try behind the driver's side, because it wouldn't have fit RF behind my husband).

Now, I'm not a tech, and unfortunately, none of the techs that list themselves on this board live near me (and my local techs, well, let's just say I'm not comfortable using them as a resource). So maybe if I had another seating option for the Radian in our Malibu or if I had a tech working with me, the Radian would have worked. I wouldn't necessarily rule out the Radian, especially if you have a good tech to work with or it will fit in another seating position or maybe you'll just have better luck with the install. I just wanted to share my experience, especially, for instance, if you happened to try a Radian at the store, and it seemed like it was an easy, great install, then you got it home to find it overreclined. I do love our Radian; it's in my car, and it installs fantastically there (an '04 Volvo S80), but I didn't like it in the Malibu.

I agree with the others that your kiddo likely has room in the Boulevard. There are plenty of other convertibles to choose from if you do want to replace the Boulevard that would likely work in your car. I just wanted to share my own experience with the Radian as sort of a "keep this anecdote in the back of your mind while car seat shopping" thing.

Numommy · Feb 9, 2011

mommycat said:
Can you measure the amt of shell over her head in her seat to be sure how much room she has to grow? Remember to measure the distance along the seat back, not the vertical distance perpendicular to the ground. If she has 1.5" left to grow (i.e. 2.5" above her head) or even if she only has 1.5" left total (i.e. 0.5" left to grow) I would not buy anything else right now, and just keep an eye on it. As kids get older they slow down a bit in growth, and also start to sprout legs while the torse growth slows, so depending on how much room she has left in the seat she may have as much as a year or two before she outgrows it. That's a potentially long time that you can delay spending more money on a new seat, especially if money is tight.

Also, DS is pretty young so I would wait and see if he stays on those growth curves as he gets older, at least past 6 months. You have a tall DH so he might likely stay high in the curves, but my DS1 started out at above 80th percentile for both wt and ht at birth and after a few months started to gradually drop off. (He was at 24th percentile for weight at one point, though he has evened out a bit higher by now at 6yo. My point is they don't always stay on the same curves they start out on.)

I am measuring wrong. I thought I saw a thread once that said to do it that way, had pics and all.
I am trying to get pics, but its been one of those days. Everyone is crying...and momma's ready to start too!

I put her butt on floor, back to wall; from top of head to floor is 20"

When DH gets in, I'll take her out to get pics.

Numommy · Feb 9, 2011

bree said:
My husband has an '08 Malibu, the new body style. While the Radian installs very easily and quickly rear-facing behind the passenger seat, it starts to overrecline with little use. I'm hesitant to recommend the Radian for rear-facing in this type of Malibu based solely on my own experience (which was only trying to install the Radian RF behind the passenger; I tried with the seatbelt and that install stunk, and the install with LATCH had the overrecline issues. I didn't try to install in the center, because it wouldn't fit with the other seat I needed in the backseat, and I didn't try behind the driver's side, because it wouldn't have fit RF behind my husband).

Now, I'm not a tech, and unfortunately, none of the techs that list themselves on this board live near me (and my local techs, well, let's just say I'm not comfortable using them as a resource). So maybe if I had another seating option for the Radian in our Malibu or if I had a tech working with me, the Radian would have worked. I wouldn't necessarily rule out the Radian, especially if you have a good tech to work with or it will fit in another seating position or maybe you'll just have better luck with the install. I just wanted to share my experience, especially, for instance, if you happened to try a Radian at the store, and it seemed like it was an easy, great install, then you got it home to find it overreclined. I do love our Radian; it's in my car, and it installs fantastically there (an '04 Volvo S80), but I didn't like it in the Malibu.

I agree with the others that your kiddo likely has room in the Boulevard. There are plenty of other convertibles to choose from if you do want to replace the Boulevard that would likely work in your car. I just wanted to share my own experience with the Radian as sort of a "keep this anecdote in the back of your mind while car seat shopping" thing.

I suspected this. The older ones have a better layout by far. Its just awkward back there, kwim?

Numommy · Feb 9, 2011

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=30201

Thts the link I was thinking of, if anyone is curious. I was doing it the opposite way. I will still measure but, I may wait the snow storm and this crazy day out now!!

Whew, just knowing I don't have to worry about it makes all this toddler crabbiness seem much cuter!!!

THANK YOU ALL!

armywife12 · Feb 9, 2011

You'll want to measure torso butt to top of shoulders while she sits against a wall. The 20 inch measurement helps a bit too though. I think the blvd shell is about 24 inches so she should still have about 3-4 inches of shell left above her head.

mommycat · Feb 9, 2011

Sounds like you should have lots of room left, then. :thumbsup:

O my! I cannot figure out what I need to do. Tall and skinny DD and Tall and Chubs DS...RFing Recommendations needed.

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