Tomato vs Monza Reha for low tone 10 yo with DS

I need some input here.

My friend has a somewhat low tone 10 year old daughter who has Down's syndrome. She is somewhere around 5-6 years old in maturity and behaviour. She does not sit well in a booster at all.

She is smallish, 50 inches maybe and about 53 lbs I think her mom said.

Basically her old Britax SN seat got burned up on a heater vent (the one that looks like an overgrown Regent) and the mom was looking for a new seat.

I told her about the FR85 and she really liked it, but then her insurance said they'd pay for a new seat through our Rehab center that orders SN supplies for this area. (same center got us our sleepsafe bed a few yrs ago)

They had The Monza Reha on the list, and after looking it over and knowing her dd's shape, we decided that seat would be a great fit for the daughter and the vehicle.

Well the guy just came out and said he was going to order her a tomato. Mom really isn't sure and isn't very happy about the change.

Would you guys push for the Reha over the Tomato? The Reha has a really high harness limit, lots of padding and cushions, and looks like it would be really supportive of this little girl. The tomato is vinyl and doesn't look like it would have very high sidewalls.

The average height she is expected to be is 4'8" at adulthood.

What do y'all think? Has anyone here handled a Reha? It has a 110 lb harness limit acc to the website.
http://www.theradapt.com/Store/ShowProduct.aspx?ID=3083

Well, first off, the Monza harness is just for positioning. It doesn't restrain in a crash. You use the seat as a booster. It's very supportive but it is a very different type of support than the Tomato. The Tomato fits children in such a way as to not leave gaps behind the child's back. The seat does all the work of positioning, with a bit of an assist by the harness (which is crash worthy BTW). The Monza has the harness and lots of lateral cushioning to assist the child in supporting themselves.

The Monza has some nice features, especially the footrest and pivot platform, but the Tomato may be a better choice if she has seating support issues other places than the car. There is a fabric skin available for the Tomato.

Look at the merritt roosevelt instead instead if she is looking for something else.

http://www.eztether.com/

I've worked with the Tomato for 2 girls. One needs significant support and the other is more "low tone" w/frequent seizures. It has worked very well for both families, although neither uses it as a CR anymore.

One is now transported in her WC and the other is too tall/heavy for us to get her in/out of the Tomato when it's installed in the van. They both still use the seat at home or when they visit non w/c accessible homes.

The "vinyl" is actually nice - soft and squishy - more of a foam/neoprene feel than sticky vinyl.

It is a HEAVY seat and it's tall base can make it hard to get in/out of, depending on the vehicle and the child. Neither of my two girls can help much (if at all) with the transfer.

Another plus of the Tomato is that it is airline approved.

Ok I just talked to mom again and the rehab center says they can get insurance to pay 40% of a Reha, and 80% of a tomato.

Mom is now wondering if she'd come out better with a FR85 for $225 from amazon with free ship.

Unless she hears otherwise from the rehab center that their cost is lower, she's looking at $600 for a Reha and about $300 for a tomato.

Is the FR85 extremely upright in the back of a new mazda 6? I really love the HWH britax seats, and have had good luck with them but I also have captains chairs that arent bolt upright.

She would use the harness to it's limit and then booster her in it to the max. I'm certain this would last her the life of the seat, right?

thanks for all your help guys. I told her I'd come ask about the FR85

Since the Frontier 85 is cheaper than her portion of either of those SN seats, I'd go that route.

safeinthecar said:

Since the Frontier 85 is cheaper than her portion of either of those SN seats, I'd go that route.

Click to expand...

:yeahthatlove: Generally speaking, we don't look at/consider SN seats until all the commercial or "typical" seat options have been exhausted: child is too large, child has special positioning needs (like the additional head support in a Roosevelt or the HOPE car bed). Not to mention, all things "SN" cost at 10x that of a similar "typical" item.

for example:

26" Schwinn Adult Trike at Walmart = $260

26" Adventure Trike at Adaptive Mall = $4,930

Granted, the SN trike has additional features, but $4,600 worth of features? I think not.

My ds is 8 .5 years old, 53" and 63#. He has low tone. We tried the snugseat pilot which is similar to the monza reha. The positioning harness was not enough support for him and set very far out despite his wide shoulders.

We also tried the columbia spirit 2400 which offers all kinds of support and options, including a foot plate and swivel, etc. It has a 5 pt harness. I did not like the way the adjuster buckles sat on his shoulders, but it was a nice seat.

We ended up going with the merritt roosevelt which is an awesome seat. The company is also excellent to work with. It is basically the regent on steroids with a few extra supports.

We ended up at a special needs car seat clinic in our children's hospital. I talked to her about a friend's child that has extreme low tone and she recommended the columbia 2000 or 2500. They don't look like much, but she said you could really work out the padding in their and provide a great deal of support for children that really need it.

Our durable goods rep was great about calling places and getting us seats to try. The two seats I tried ended up going to the car seat clinic too (it just started).