Special needs shrimp with a long torso needs harness...

jenrose

New member
So, my 6 year old is 42 inches tall and 42 pounds, last we checked. She has extremely short arms and legs, my best measurement of her torso was 17 inches floor to shoulder, but she has low muscle tone and tends to slump and it's nearly impossible to get her to sit up straight, so she could be 17 1/2 inches.

Her Boulevard expires in January.

She MUST be harnessed. She will likely never be safe in a lap only belt.

Most kids with her syndrome are very short, with long torsos, we have no reason to believe that she will be larger than your average 7 year old until after she turns 13, but her torso is quite long and most of her height gain comes from that.

I'm having a new baby in late December, and our old infant seat expired while Shiny was a baby, so we'll be getting a new one of those right before Shiny's seat expires.

I'm looking at the Frontier 85 and the Recaro ProSport, but am wondering if even those will be problematic given her torso length.

For the baby we're looking at the Evenflo Seranade, Graco Snugride 35 or Chicco Keyfit. None of my kids have been all that tall relative to width, so I'm leaning toward maximum weight.

These will be installed in a Dodge Grand Caravan, probably in the middle captain's seats, as I have mobility issues and so does my 6 year old, and I can't get my mind around putting her in back.

I also have an 18 year old, so I'm expecting she will ride in the 3rd row, climbing in over the installed infant base before the infant seat is dropped in place.
 
ADS

Ducky5306

New member
Lol I totally thought I was on a different forum. Duhhhh (blush*) I was on diaperswappers.. oops!!
 
Last edited:

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
I'd go with the Frontier. It has the highest top slots of any non special needs seats. The Recaro is significantly shorter.

For the baby, I like the Graco and Keyfit, and I'd add the Safety 1st onBoard 35 to that list. I wouldn't go for the Evenflo as it requires the handle down and 1.5" of clearance in the car, so it's not as likely to fit. Even in a van.

Ducky, thanks for the recommendation. This is car-seat.org. :)

For right now I'm going to leave this in the main carseat forum, since there are two children being asked about, and the six year old isn't yet in the range of needing a special needs seat. Yes, insurance may buy one, but there are seats off the shelf that will harness for a couple of years yet.

Wendy
 

mylittlet

Senior Community Member
What's your 18m old in and is she RF?

The frontier would be your best non SN seat. It has a gentle recline when installed in harness mode. Dd2 has one. We have a 2003 caravan. It installs great in the captains and all spots in the 3rd row.

Is your 3rd row a 50/50 bench? If so you could remove half and load someone from the tailgate.
 

vangelder03

New member
What's your 18m old in and is she RF?

The frontier would be your best non SN seat. It has a gentle recline when installed in harness mode. Dd2 has one. We have a 2003 caravan. It installs great in the captains and all spots in the 3rd row.

Is your 3rd row a 50/50 bench? If so you could remove half and load someone from the tailgate.

i think her dd is 18 years old not 18 months old
 

jenrose

New member
Yeah, I really don't like being pregnant, so it took me 11 years between the first two and 6 years between #2 and #3 to forget how much I loathed the process to have another kid. ;)

The 18 year old is perfectly capable of driving the car herself, and at 5 foot 4 is definitely out of carseat range. :)

I liked that the Recaro went to 90 pounds, but I really think the harness height is more relevant. I knew she was long in the torso, but this is a little ridiculous. How high up are the top harness straps on the Frontier? If it's only an inch higher than she is now, we should probably look at the special needs seats sooner than later.

It would be so much easier to shop for her if I was actually able to LIFT her right now, but it's just going to have to be online, because I do not have the energy, and while there are LOTS of tasks I can farm out to the 18 year old, evaluating the carseat isn't really one of them.

Shiny has this knack of not growing for years at a stretch and then putting on 6 inches in a wallop. And the thought of putting her in a seatbelt booster makes me break out in hives. This kid doesn't COMPREHEND No as something that applies to her, we pretty much have to enforce it with physical barriers.
 

vamom

New member
I would look at the roosevelt by merritt. It will last the child for a very long time, can have some recline, has extra support if needed, insurance may cover, Shane is awesome, and he is willing to work with parents if insurance doesn't.

That is what I went with after months of shopping for my now 8.6 year old, 54", 62# short torsoed guy with low tone who was close to outgrowing his now expired britax husky.
 

jenrose

New member
Holy cow the roosevelt is expensive! I'm not sure she needs that much support. She is fine in a regular car seat right now, she's just too floppy for a seat belt and too ill behaved to trust with a buckle she's capable of undoing.
 

jenrose

New member
So I'm looking and it looks like it might be between the Roosevelt and the Special Tomato, but she's sort of in-between on the ST seats, and I'm going to have to wait until she wakes up to get all the measurements their size advisor wants. By overall height and weight she's too short for the large seats. but her butt-to-shoulder height is so long and her torso is so solid, that I sort of suspect the smaller of the two large seats would be a better fit for her long-term. I suspect she'd be 6-8 inches taller if her legs were proportional to her torso.
 

henrietta

Well-known member
. but her butt-to-shoulder height is so long and her torso is so solid, that I sort of suspect the smaller of the two large seats would be a better fit for her long-term. I suspect she'd be 6-8 inches taller if her legs were proportional to her torso.

I really, really think that the Frontier or the ProSport would work fine for her for quite a while. My very soon-to-be 6 yr old is 44.5 inches tall and 40 lbs. His torso is about 17". He's outgrown the Blvd by far and our Decathlon as well (which the top slots are taller than the Blvd.). He has 2 more harness slots above his shoulders on the Regent, which is much like the Frontier. He has practically 4 inches in there. He won't outgrow the Regent till he's like 10 or 12!

I don't know that I'd go w/the more expensive special needs seat until you're very sure she needs it--the Frontier will probably last her till she's 10 yrs old as a harnessed seat, and later you can use the SG clip on the lap belt when you use it as a booster.

The only thing that would change my mind would be if mentally you don't expect her to understand the rules about staying buckled when she's older or have the self control to follow them.

hths

henrietta
 

jenrose

New member
She REALLY will not keep a buckle buckled, and is quite the houdini. She can actually pop her arms out of most 5 point harnesses, but only tends to do it when we're parked. A lap belt would be hopeless. Given that it takes her 2-3 years to make 6 months of developmental progress, my hopes that she would figure out how to behave in a lap belt booster are very slim.
 

mylittlet

Senior Community Member
Jenrose, just want to clarify. We don't want any kid ever in just a lap belt. I understand not wanting her in a belt positioning booster though too. Everyone in a car should have a lap/shoulder belt. Lap belt only spots are only safe to use for installing a 5-point harness.

I would look at the frontier85 if she still has room in the radian. Our 4y has one and loves it. She has sensory issues, so we had to had a soft cover. She has the cow.
 

tarynsmum

Senior Community Member
Jenrose, do I know you from another board? You sound super familiar (and our DDs are around the same age). Not that it matters, just curious.

My DD has somewhere around a 15.5 inch torso (she's more leg than anything) and has miles to go in her Regent (this is why i hate that they were discontinued; I think they're a great bridge-between 'regular' and SN seats). IIRC, the Roosevelt is similar to the Regent (adding the bolsters for SN support). And then hundreds to the price tag, unfortunately.


Would a vest be feasible, in conjunction with a nice, supportive HBB? That might get you longer use.
 

jenrose

New member
Getting her into clothing is like wrestling an octopus. I'm Jenrose on most of the Internet, depends on what site. ;)

When I say lap belt, assume "appropriate child securing device with lap/shoulder belt"... She's very deft with that kind of buckle, and one shoulder strap is Not enough.
 

tarynsmum

Senior Community Member
I was thinking like a RSTV with a ProBooster (I found it super supportive for DD)

TBW maybe? I was a regular there before I defected here, lol.
 

mylittlet

Senior Community Member
tarynsmum said:
I was thinking like a RSTV with a ProBooster (I found it super supportive for DD)

TBW maybe? I was a regular there before I defected here, lol.

The RSTV is a wearable 5-point. It doesn't need a booster. It is used by itself.

You are thinking of the ??? (Can't think of it either, but I will). It is used with a lap belt only position, top tether and booster.
 

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