Just out of curiosity - options for child with tissue expander

Caroline162

New member
This issue actually resolved itself, but I didn't know about this website at the time, and I am curious about whether there other options/ideas...

When my oldest daughter was not quite 3 years old, she had a tissue expander (like a very tough balloon under the skin, which is slowly filled with saline over several months - used to stretch the skin to cover an area that is being removed) on one of her shoulders. She was in a Britax Marathon at the time. The problem was that when the tissue expander got to certain size, her straps no longer fit - when I loosened the strap enough to fit over the tissue expander, it was so loose on the other side that she kept slipping that arm out of the strap! With all of her tissue expanders filled (she had several very large ones) she was over 35 lbs, so she was FF in the Marathon. This was NOT a good situation. I took her to the car seat tech at the children's hospital here in town, and she couldn't come up with any solutions. I ended up turning her RF again, even though she was slightly over the weight limit (the tech did say it was installed very well and fit perfectly in our Pathfinder - you couldn't wiggle that thing if you wanted to). I figured that if her straps didn't fit perfectly, at least RF wouldn't put as much strain on them and also seemed safer from the perspective of all the pressure a FF crash would have on her expanders. BUT it meant that someone had to stay in the back seat with her, in order to make sure she didn't pull her arm out of the side that was loose. Needless to say, we didn't travel in the car unless necessary. But her surgeries were being done out of state, so we were driving about 6 hours there and back every couple of months and she had other doctor's appointments in town. The whole situation was stressful. Luckily the shoulder expander was only that big for a few weeks.

I'm just curious - were there any other options? Are there any seats out there that let you adjust one strap independently of the other? Was RF safer than FF under the circumstances?

I'm not trying to second-guess myself or waste anyone's time, I've just honestly wondered about this a lot, and I love the knowledge and creativity of people on this board.

Thanks!
 
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safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
There aren't any convertible seats that have individually adjustable straps that aren't special needs ($$$$) but there are seats that have a continuous harness that slides side to side under the seat shell.

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LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
safeinthecar said:
There aren't any convertible seats that have individually adjustable straps that aren't special needs ($$$$) but there are seats that have a continuous harness that slides side to side under the seat shell.

Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org

Yes, I was thinking a continuing harness, too. Mine always winds up uneven when I don't want it to :rolleyes: so I imagine it would be perfect for a situation where you want it to happen.

And it's not a convertible, but the SafeGuard/Safety 1st Go adjusts independently at each hip, does it not? Or am I remembering incorrectly? (I might be)
 

mamom

New member
Would it be possible to use the parental decision to use different strap heights i.e. the 3rd slot on the non affected side and the 4th on the affected side to get the straps tighter????
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
mamom said:
Would it be possible to use the parental decision to use different strap heights i.e. the 3rd slot on the non affected side and the 4th on the affected side to get the straps tighter????

No that doesn't work unless the looser side is moved up way above the shoulder level. I tried it once for a child with a castes shoulder. Since one of the goals, that I totally agree with BTW was to rf to take pressure of the affected side im a crash, that wouldn't work.

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LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
Editing out what I wrote because it was redundant and confusing for this thread, and actually intended for a different one. :confused:
 
Last edited:

Pixels

New member
No that doesn't work unless the looser side is moved up way above the shoulder level. I tried it once for a child with a castes shoulder. Since one of the goals, that I totally agree with BTW was to rf to take pressure of the affected side im a crash, that wouldn't work.

Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org

You should be able to still get it to work. If the child is FF, then the tighter side gets put in the slot that is just above the shoulder, and the looser side gets put in the next slot above that. If the child is RF, then the tighter side gets put in the slot that is just below the shoulder, and the looser side gets put in the next slot below. At least this works in my head. :p

But I agree, my first go-to would be a seat with a continuous harness.
 

Caroline162

New member
I did ask about the issue of rear-facing past the weight limit, because I wasn't sure it was the right thing to do (the tech had no opinion)... my reasoning was that the benefits of RF in her situation outweighed the risks. The risks were somewhat lowered in my mind by the fact that the seat was EXTREMELY secure the way that it was installed in my Pathfinder (I literally couldn't wiggle it in any direction using all of my weight, including trying to tilt it backwards) and also because my daughter was only 2 pounds over the weight limit. The risks of FF to me were that in a crash all forces would be propelling her forward and the only thing holding her back would be her ill-fitting straps. I was worried she would either whiplash forward by coming out the straps through the side that was loose, or that the force of the straps against her expanders would cause them to burst (or both).
 

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