Help me think this through

I did a private seat check last week for a family of a child in my DD's preschool. Both seats (MA and TB) were expired and the mother is trying to find a replacement seat for the MA.

She drives a 2001 Subaru Outback. Her 4.5 year old. 45lb DD is in a TB (she will be replacing it with another TB as soon as she can afford it) and her just turned 2 year old, 29lb DD is in my Radian XTSL until she can replace her seat.

I initally told her to look at the Maestro and Nautilus due to her budget and she bought a Maestro, but before she took it out of the box, she saw that it has no recline option. Her seats are fairly flat and she is concerned about DD2's head slumping while sleeping. We put the RN in with the recline boot out, and the seat still looks very upright, but it was just enough that she says she has not had any slumping issues yet, and it has been 7 days.

If it were me, I'd go with a convertible seat and RF the child, but since mom has no interest in RFing her (she has been FF since 1) I didn't recommend any convertibles cause why waste half a seat, KWIM? I figured at least with a combination seat she would get good use out of it.

I'm half tempted at this point to recommend an AOE. I'd like to try to encourage her to RF her DD2, but I really don't think that is going to happen.

Any ideas?

I'd hesitate to recommend a aoe. I'd worry she would use it as a booster later on. I know the nauti has a recline feature but its known for horrible head slump. I'd encourage her to try the maestro out since its really the best choice.

Have her try out the Maestro. DNe had horrible head slump in the Radian even with the recline foot out, so either her seats aren't all that flat or her DD isn't a slumpy kid. Either way, she may do just fine in the Maestro.

I'm not a tech, but my DD and DS are in nautilus seats and the "recline" feature doesn't help head slump at all for them.

Any other ideas? Our options aren't looking good.

I know you said you were hesitant to recommend a convertible, but what about a Myride? It has tall slots and is pretty reclined when FFing. Her DD doesn't seem that big and it would last for a while. and if she decides to RF her again it would work well for that too!

There really isn't much that reclines in FF. I'd still have her try the Maestro. The Nautilus recline doesn't help my dd either.

My concern with the maestro is that it makes a crappy booster as well.

The new AOE's that go to 65lbs have pretty good top slots - and by the time her younger one is to booster age, she may either pass down older siblings or just get a new one.

My 5.5 year old DS2 fits with tons of room in the new AOE's.

Isn't Target having a sale on the MyRide this week? I was thinking it was around $100.

Do you know how her torso is? What setting she's on in the XT?

djma said:

My concern with the maestro is that it makes a crappy booster as well.

The new AOE's that go to 65lbs have pretty good top slots - and by the time her younger one is to booster age, she may either pass down older siblings or just get a new one.

My 5.5 year old DS2 fits with tons of room in the new AOE's.

Isn't Target having a sale on the MyRide this week? I was thinking it was around $100.

Do you know how her torso is? What setting she's on in the XT?

Click to expand...

That was my concern about the Maestro, but I'm sure that by the time DD2 has outgrown the harness, she will get DD1's TB. It would be cheaper to buy DD2 a NBB at that point than buy DD2 a TB.

They don't plan on having any more kids.

The sale at Target was last week. I snagged two - one for my mom and one for my sister. I wish I would have got another now.

I didn't measure her torso height, but she is on the third slot of the RN for FF. IIRC, her shoulders are just a hair above the second slot, so we moved her to the third.

jsta1005 said:

I know you said you were hesitant to recommend a convertible, but what about a Myride? It has tall slots and is pretty reclined when FFing. Her DD doesn't seem that big and it would last for a while. and if she decides to RF her again it would work well for that too!

Click to expand...

I would just love to talk her into one, to RF to the limits, then use as a FF harnessed seat. That might get her to booster age, might not.

I would try the MyRide too.

Maybe suggest trying the MyRide rear-facing in her car. Don't focus on it in terms of safety, but in terms of being able to recline the seat more and preventing the head slump. Ask her if she is willing to try it rear-facing for a week or two (long enough to see the baby sleep in it at least a few times) and see if it fixes the head slump.

You can also mention that as the child gets a little bit older and has stronger neck bones, there won't be as much head slump in the forward-facing position. I noticed a huge difference with head slump in the ff position between 2.5yo and 4yo with my twins.

Could you let her try the MyRide in her car for a week or two to see if that would work for her?

Melanie