Ever buy a car seat while on the road...

We went to see dh yesterday at the academy... it's about 1 1/2 hour drive... we do hour drives often usally 45 to 1 hour... but anyways We stoped at a rest park about 1/2 way there... allie had peed in her car seat this hasn't happened in over 3-4 months i had a change of close but the seat was still wet... so i found a towel in the trunk so i got out what i could then laid down the towle in the seat an buckled her... i know it wasn't safe b/c i had to losen the straps about 1/4" to buckle them so they weren't swishing her... so we drove about 15-20 min that way when i got the exit of the interstate, and there was a walmart... so i went to see what i could do... she had a change of close already but the seat wasn't going to work.... we went to look at seats, terrible selection and this was an upscale walmart it seemed anyways, nice town ect.
I broke down and figured i'd have to buy a booster for ds we were in my grandma's van so it had curtin air bags, so i went ahead and both a backless turbo for $16 moved abby to the parkway and allie into the radain, only thing was that since the DUMB radain has a detachable rfing base... i had to put allie ffing. Atleast the safestop was stored in the back, so i could use it for her, but still she drove me nuts b/c she could see me so she though she could drive me nuts i guess! LOL
what a day it was... for the trip home allie wore a diaper!

If it was a walmart it probably would have had a sencera. I coudn't imagine putting my 5 year old in a booster, let alone my 2 year old FF. I also noticed that your oldest DD could still fit an a few harnesses. I kept mine harnessed until she was 9 1/2. Sorry I'm nagging, your kids, your life. I'm sorry.

Becky,

Is the booster for Abby just a temporary solution, until you can wash Allie's seat? Or are you planning on keeping Allie in the Radian and Abby in the Parkway?


If this is just a temporary solution, I think what you did is fine. While your kids would be safER harnessed (as the PP said), you weren't making them UNSAFE by doing what you did. You were still providing a booster to each of your older children! You were definitely providing them with more than a lot of children their ages have- just a seatbelt.

I think what you did is fine.

I'm sorry for you that you had to deal with all of that on a car trip. That doesn't sound like too much fun!

Good luck!

I think you did fine. While there are safeR options, what you did, putting a child that is over 30 lbs, nearly 2 years old, FF, is not dangerous. And the same goes for the 5 yr old. I know we promote the safEST thing here, but you did fine, please don't feel otherwise.

I'm certain now that you've arrived, you've gotten the seat cleaned up and have Abby and Allie back in their usual seats. Not a biggie.

In that situation I don't think there is much you can do. We had to have DD1 (2) FF for a couple of days because her sister (4.5 months) was slipping out of the harness of the Triumph every time she fell asleep. It was either have a baby that would surely be ejected in the event of a crash, or a properly restrained 2 yo FF for a short period of time. I made a parental decision, ordered a Radian, and put DD1 FF in the Triumph and DD2 RF in the Marathon. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!

I just laughed about it!!! Took 20 min to move seats around in walmart parking lot, good thing it was a nice town!

DEFINATLY TEMP SOULTION!!!! The seat is washing right now... the padding is drying out ect...

ONLY seat my oldest who's 7 years old would still fit harnessed in is a regent and sorry it won't fit 3 across at all in my intrepid not with the FPSVD. Also regent is a little our of price range. He is 7 years old and rides in a booster that had TSIP so he is safe... he will continue to ride in it till he out grows it, My dd just out grow the scenera by hight about a month ago, so i really hated to drop $40 vs the $16 on a seat she is even with or over the top slots and rfing she's even with the top of the seat shell.
As for my middle child she rides in a booster as a spare in grandma's car, ect. She will ride in a harness till she out gorws the radain probably close to age 6 but that will be a while, and then she will go into a TSIP booster as well....
I really hate that i have to defent myself and my choices when really I'm a tech, i kinda know what the risks ect are. I now have a no back booster i can keep in the trunk of my car for when ds has friends over that don't ride in a seat even thought he should since it's the law till 8...

I agree, especially since it was just a temporary thing. Why spend $40 on a seat that you don't need and will be using for a temporary fix.

I carry piddle pads for emergencies like that...

I don't leave them in the seats but if we have an accident, I can pop them in and then the wet seat is not on my kid...

Though once we are into potty training I probably will leave one in there all the time...


ETA: I didn't answer your question, I do have a very embarresing story about an emergency seat purchase. While frantically packing for a trip, I backed over Camille's snugride. We HAD to leave in 15 mins, so I ran to the closest store (a baby boutique), bought an overpriced Britax Decathlon, that drove me nuts the entire trip because the harness adjuster wouldn't tighten. Britax later replaced it with a Marathon. But I mean, really, who forgets their snugride is behind the truck?

I think what you did was great and I would feel completly fine having my seven year old in a booster full-time.

You did the right thing! I would have done the same in your situation. Nobody likes dealing with a peed seat, yucky!

arly1983 said:

I carry piddle pads for emergencies like that...

ETA: I didn't answer your question, I do have a very embarresing story about an emergency seat purchase. While frantically packing for a trip, I backed over Camille's snugride. We HAD to leave in 15 mins, so I ran to the closest store (a baby boutique), bought an overpriced Britax Decathlon, that drove me nuts the entire trip because the harness adjuster wouldn't tighten. Britax later replaced it with a Marathon. But I mean, really, who forgets their snugride is behind the truck?

Click to expand...

I don't have an emergency seat purchase, but I backed over my tent and cooler before we left for camping earlier this month. It happens to the best of us.

i think you did the best you could under the circumstances:thumbsup:. if it was me i would have had a kid either riding in a pee pee seat or with the towel the whole time (although i would have probably tried to dry as much up as i could with half the towel and then torn out just a square to put under them) b/c i cant afford to just go get another seat so i think you did great considering, sometimes you have to go with the lesser of two evils

Actually despite my first post, I think that for the circumstances you did fine.

I think what you did was fine too, as a parent of a 7 year old who rides ONLY in a booster, I actually felt a little less of a parent there for a moment after reading one of the posts, but really my DD (as I'm sure is the same for your DS) won't fit into any of the 65lb hwh seats, is too big for the Radian 80, and at almost 75lbs, and I supposed to break the law and buy a US Regent for her? Not that I don't value my child's safety, but for the 5 additional pounds I will not spend that kind of $$ when I am not sure that there is solid hard and fast evidence to indicate children who are that age and weight fare significantly better in a crash in a harness situation. I think she is very safe in her EPS lined, high backed Confidence, and just count myself lucky that she still fits into that, and loves to ride with the shoulder belt locked up. As far as putting her in a backless booster, I have done that several times myself, when we have had to switch cars which necessitated her little brother riding in the confidence (gasp - I'm preparing for the tounge lashing, but he is just about 5 after all, and 50lbs) and she has had to use the spare turbo that I keep in the trunk for her friends, who always come without any restraint at all.....

Anyway, I'll benefit from your little lesson learned, and think I'll borow back our spare Radian for our marathon trip next month...DS does have a knack for waiting for the very last possible minute to declare that he needs to go...

becca011906 said:

I really hate that i have to defent myself and my choices when really I'm a tech, i kinda know what the risks ect are. I now have a no back booster i can keep in the trunk of my car for when ds has friends over that don't ride in a seat even thought he should since it's the law till 8...

Click to expand...

You shouldn't have to defend yourself. What you did was fine.

That's great that you now have a spare booster for your DS's friends!

arly1983 said:

ETA: I didn't answer your question, I do have a very embarresing story about an emergency seat purchase. While frantically packing for a trip, I backed over Camille's snugride. We HAD to leave in 15 mins, so I ran to the closest store (a baby boutique), bought an overpriced Britax Decathlon, that drove me nuts the entire trip because the harness adjuster wouldn't tighten. Britax later replaced it with a Marathon. But I mean, really, who forgets their snugride is behind the truck?

Click to expand...

I once backed over our beautiful double-stroller... :crying: Got the kids out & buckled into their seats in the van, and for some odd reason went around the *front* to get to my door... I usually go 'round the back, and would obviously have seen & remembered to put the stroller away first. But for whatever reason, I didn't, and I smooshed it. Don't feel too stupid!

I've never bought a new seat on the road-- it would never have occurred to me as an option. We've stopped to literally hose off a seat that got vomited or messed on, and then stood in the gas station bathroom with the cover under the hand-dryer, or gone to a restaurant and ate inside while waiting for the cover to dry outside in hot weather. Some trips we just soaked up as much of the mess as possible, rubbed the messy cover with baby wipes and hoped that would help reduce the smell somewhat, and set the child back in with perhaps a small towel under their bottom to hopefully protect their dry clothes from the damp mess (and pervading stink) underneath.

I'm NOT criticizing what the OP did in any way-- if it had ever occurred to me, or if I knew we'd need the new seat in the near future anyway, it might have been an option. But stuck in a situation where the seat became unsafe like that, I think she made a good decision to follow SAFE practice guidelines, even when safEST wasn't possible. I just wanted to offer my experiences in case someone else could make use of them in a similar situation...

Unlike my BIL, who drove 20+ hrs each way to help us move from FL to VA last fall, along with his Dd (who is the same age/size as my youngest). He arrived with her, and her clothes and seat were *saturated* with urine from probably *several* diapers that went far too long without being changed... His truck stunk to high heaven, and the first thing I did was uninstall it, take the cover off & throw it in the wash, and gave that poor baby a nice warm bath. He's a great dad, but... sigh ... just didn't think about changing her diaper when they stopped, I guess...

Once when leaving the ER at like 4am I almost backed over our double stroller too. Luckily I didn't because I remembered when I bumped it... lol.

Other than that, I once drove off with the battery charger still hooked to my car. It was a BMW, battery is in the trunk. My Dad had put it on the charger without telling me, shut the trunk and it was on the passenger side... I didn't even see it. Then I drove by a friends house and he was like... "um blonde one..." lol

harnessed4ever said:

If it was a walmart it probably would have had a sencera. I coudn't imagine putting my 5 year old in a booster, let alone my 2 year old FF.

Click to expand...

.
FOR the record....FIVE IS a reasonable age for using a booster. FOUR is the absolute minimum, and many people keep their children harnessed much longer. A FIVE YEAR OLD in a booster is NOT something I or almost anyone else here (and that includes many of the people who do extended harnessing) would bat an eyelash at.

As for the two year old forward facing, it was as TWO year old, not an infant. Perfectly reasonable for a two year old to be forward facing.

I see that further down the thread you've backtracked to say you didn't mean anything by your first post.

I don't see a problem with having a five year old in a booster either... unless it's my five year old who only weighs 35lbs and isn't legally allowed to be in one for another 5lbs or the age of 6 whichever comes first.

I think you did the right thing.

I haven't bought one on the road, but I've been in a similar situation. We work an hour & 1/2 from where we live. One morning, Jordan started throwing up in the car 1/2 way to work. His Dr. is in the same town that we work in, so we stopped, cleaned him and his seat as best we could, changed his clothes etc. and continued on. He threw up 2 more times since then. I ran out of clothes for him...had to take him into Target to buy him clothes, then took him to the Dr. then drove all over town looking for a place that sold spare marathon covers...no luck. I wasn't going to buy a new seat, because #1, I already own 3 seats for 1 kid, and #2, I have a thing about only wanting him in a seat with EPS foam. So, he sat on my DH's t-shirt that was in the trunk for the ride home....ugh..that whole car smelled bad too. That was one long ride home.