Extended rear facing for tall child - help!

I bought the graco myride 65 for my 2.5 year old (just under 30 pounds, 32" tall but long torso) a few months ago wanting to keep him rear facing. It seemed to have the most room to grow. Then he had a huge growth spurt and is creeping up on the height limit. I haven't measured but I think there is about 2 inches to the top of his head.

Now I'm wondering if I should buy the first years true fit (RF to 35 pounds but a taller shell height, then FF to 65 pounds), or if I should just turn him FF when he outgrows the height of this seat and focus on finding a forward facing seat with a tall shell height, high weight limit etc like the graco nautilus, that he can also use as a booster to 100 pounds.

To add to the confusion, we have two vehicles and I'd like to keep a car seat in each vehicle since I HATE moving the seats. Vehicle install is not a HUGE issue.. we have a forerunner SUV and an extended cab ford truck, but both vehicles are probably being replaced with vehicles that are better suited for car seat install. Plus I'm now pregnant and expecting baby #2 in march. If he outgrows the graco we can still use it for the second baby.


sigh...help!

Do you have the insert out of the My Ride, and how are you measuring for height? A lot of times people measure straight across from the side and it makes the amount of growing room look like less than what it actually is.

My son is very tall in the torso and he fit the My Ride rf'ing by height until over 3yrs old, and he was 40" at that point, so I have difficulty imagining a 32" child being only a couple inches away from outgrowing the seat by height.

As for tall height, the TF would definitely provide lots more growing room.

!

my mistake, he is 37" tall not 30. yes the infant insert is out. he's built like his dad, no legs all torso!

at this point, I think I need to find the seat with the TALLEST rf limit and go with that. is that the TF? the downsides to the tf is only 35 pound limit and we can't use it in the crewcab truck (which we really should replace).

Ahh, 37" makes much more sense and would put him on track for being about 40" or so for when he outgrows the seat. (Usually kids grow 1" in the torso for every 2 to 3" of overall height.)

The Radian has a taller shell than the True Fit by a little bit I believe and a higher rf'ing weight limit, but I have no idea if it would fit in your truck - it tends to take up a lot of room when rf'ing. The other thing to be aware of with it is that it gives a 44" numerical rf'ing height limit in Canada. 44" is still a long ways away for you, and many people choose to disregard stated height limits, but it's something to be aware of.

35lbs will likely be another year at least for your son, probably more like 1.5yrs. My ds was sitting at 30lbs when he was just about 2.5yrs old. He's 4.5yrs old now and weighs 36lbs. Kids vary a lot, but it sounds like your son is built quite similarly to mine and following a similar growth curve.

Hope that helps.

thanks! still going back and forth... lol...from what can see, the radian top harness height is .5" lower than the true fit, and the shell height is 1.5" lower. that's just based on what I've been able to find out.... but the radian can go as high as 45 in some models, and has a steel frame... AAAH!

My almost 5.5 year old sits in both a true fit and a radian 65, FF. He has more shell above his head in the TF than in the RN.