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Special needs shrimp with a long torso needs harness...
- Thread starter jenrose
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5 point harness WILL work. She only gets her arms out when we're parked and she gets bored. The issue is that she's torso-tall and whenever she grows, it's in the torso, so I'm leery of spending $200 on a seat with only 3 inches of growing room. I'm leaning strongly toward the Roosevelt if we can get insurance to cover part of it, as I think 5 inches might get us more growing room. We'd still be spending $200, but we'd get another year or two use out of it.
Belt-only boosters are not a workable solution for other than the shortest jaunts. I might okay my mom getting one for her car, she only ever drives my daughter a mile or two tops. But we sometimes take long car trips.
Travel vests are a last option. They might work for Mom, who only has to deal with DD2 in the car a couple times a month, but I'm going to be dealing with a newborn, and I have mobility issues of my own, and fibro, and things need to be as straightforward and non-combative as possible. Anything that gives her easy access to the buckle isn't a safe option for longer trips.
It's not just her getting out of a seat, it's also seats that allow her the reach to mess with her impending younger sibling.
Belt-only boosters are not a workable solution for other than the shortest jaunts. I might okay my mom getting one for her car, she only ever drives my daughter a mile or two tops. But we sometimes take long car trips.
Travel vests are a last option. They might work for Mom, who only has to deal with DD2 in the car a couple times a month, but I'm going to be dealing with a newborn, and I have mobility issues of my own, and fibro, and things need to be as straightforward and non-combative as possible. Anything that gives her easy access to the buckle isn't a safe option for longer trips.
It's not just her getting out of a seat, it's also seats that allow her the reach to mess with her impending younger sibling.
Since she was four years old, she's gone from 34 inches to 42 inches, and at least 2/3 of that was torso. So I am skeptical of 3 inches lasting more than a couple years, if that, given that she could be as much as 18 inches, not slouched. I couldn't get her to straighten enough to get a really good measure. If it wasn't that her weight is so low compared to the Boulevard's maximum, I'd be freaking about getting her out of it NOW, as it is, she's just clearing the top of the highest adjustment, shoulder-wise.
2 years ago she had miles of room in the seat.
Her growth is so not-linear. We changed medicines for her a couple years ago, and she's been playing catchup. She's got a chromosome issue and just doesn't follow usual patterns of anything.
I've been caught off guard because based on her overall height, she's so far from the seat max... she's only 42 inches, maybe 43, I think it's been 6 months since they measured her.
2 years ago she had miles of room in the seat.
Her growth is so not-linear. We changed medicines for her a couple years ago, and she's been playing catchup. She's got a chromosome issue and just doesn't follow usual patterns of anything.
I've been caught off guard because based on her overall height, she's so far from the seat max... she's only 42 inches, maybe 43, I think it's been 6 months since they measured her.
Carrie_R
Ambassador - CPS Technician
If she still fits in the Blvd at 6 then she would be ok in the Frontier for a while. I agree that trying for the Roosevelt makes financial sense, but if that doesn't work out, I would definitely go Frontier 85. It sounds like she'll outgrow the seat by torso height long before she weights out of it, so gaining the 5lbs of the Pro Sport is probably not worth the trade off of losing several inches of harness height.
I find the Pro Sport to be shorter in practice than the measurements would indicate, plus the length of the harness webbing is insufficient for kids at the upper end of the height/weight range. It's really a shame, because the side wings provide great support.
I find the Pro Sport to be shorter in practice than the measurements would indicate, plus the length of the harness webbing is insufficient for kids at the upper end of the height/weight range. It's really a shame, because the side wings provide great support.
She looks comfy enough in the Boulevard, she's just getting a little tall for it in the shoulder, and barely at that. It fits her legs brilliantly. Lately she hasn't been riding in the car much because I can't lift her due to doctor's orders about lifting during pregnancy, mostly just to and from my mother's house half a mile away--I don't think we get above 10 miles per hour the whole trip. But there's no way we can use it for a long car trip, and our next long car trip is in November. So I've got a little time to sort it out.
No, if her shoulders are going above the highest harness position then the seat is outgrown and you need something now. Not in four months. Since you don't go out a lot you have until your next car ride, so at least you're not in the car every other minute. But she needs a seat. Britax doesn't allow the Boulevard to be used when the shoulders are above the highest harness position.
Wendy
Wendy
In April our dd2 turned 4y and outgreww her bv. I know your dd has other things to deal with. But wanted to say that we have tons of growing space. Dd2 is 43" and has an 18" torso. All our kids have long torsos. So try for the roosevlet, but if you can't get it the frontier will last you a long time.
This is totally normal though. Manufacturers have to put a "height limit" or max, by law. But that rarely actually mean that's how long a kid will last in them. My 5 year old outgrew the Britax Decathlon last year, and he was only 42" tall. My 37.5" tall almost 3 yr old only has a half inch of torso room in his Blvd! He won't make it till 4 in it. Can you tell I have kiddos w/long torsos too? My niece and nephew didn't make it anywhere near 49" tall in our Decathlon, and it's taller than the Blvd. I've NEVER seen a kid in Britax Blvd make it to anywhere near 49" tall (and there are tons of those seats at the preschool my kids go to!~)
I do understand what you are saying that her growth pattern is uneven.
And I think you should go for the largest seat if you can afford it, just so you don't have to stress w/all of this again for as long as possible.
It is possible though that the Frontier may work for much longer than you think though, so if that's what you can afford *right now*, that's what I would purchase.
GL!
henrietta
tam_shops
New member
Don't forget that the Frontier has an 8 year lifespan, so when she is done with it in a few of years, you can then pass it down to your new babe, who will be 3'ish, which is a great time for the Frontier. It will then expire when new babe is 7-8, depending on when you're due.
She will then be big enough for the larger Special Needs seat and if you're lucky that will be the last seat you have to buy for awhile. BUT, if you get one of the smaller Special Needs seats, insurance may not (ours here will not) cover another seat for several years & you could wind up having to pay for the larger special needs seat all on your own. So, I'd check the lifespan insurance expects these seats to last before I bought anything. Some companies also have a lifelong max for certain things.
I love that you are going to all this trouble, I can't tell you how many parents of children w/ special needs give up too quickly and put their LOs in a booster seat once they meet the weight requirement, b/c they are too tall for the inappropriate seat they bought in the first place. As a teacher, it drives me crazy & there isn't much I can do about it!
tam
She will then be big enough for the larger Special Needs seat and if you're lucky that will be the last seat you have to buy for awhile. BUT, if you get one of the smaller Special Needs seats, insurance may not (ours here will not) cover another seat for several years & you could wind up having to pay for the larger special needs seat all on your own. So, I'd check the lifespan insurance expects these seats to last before I bought anything. Some companies also have a lifelong max for certain things.
I love that you are going to all this trouble, I can't tell you how many parents of children w/ special needs give up too quickly and put their LOs in a booster seat once they meet the weight requirement, b/c they are too tall for the inappropriate seat they bought in the first place. As a teacher, it drives me crazy & there isn't much I can do about it!
tam
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