Special Need child with leg brace.

I have a friend whose daughter has lysosomal storage disease. She is being fit for a leg brace. Her daughter is 2.5 yrs old. She weighs about 33 lbs. I was wondering if anyone has a suggestion for a car seat. She would like to keep her rear-facing if possible. Right now she is in a graco my ride.

She'll probably want to look at something with low and/or very wide seating. The Radian frequently works well with casts and leg braces. If necessary rolled washcloths etc. can be added as needed for support.

Kudos to your friend for wanting to keep DD Rfing!

Much will depend on the fit and restrictions of the brace:
* How will her joints be affected (Will she still have flexibility or will hip, knee, or ankle be rigid)?
* How much bulk does the brace add?
* Does she need larger shoes to accommodate the brace?
* Can she drape her leg(s) over the side of her existing or a different seat?
* Can she extend her legs up the back of the vehicle seat?
* Can she sit cross-cross applesauce?

Depending on the vehicle and DD's other issues, the brace could make it more difficult to get her in/out of a rfing seat.

The parent will want to look for a seat with a wide seat pan and low sides, a seat known to fit big kids rfing. Radian comes to mind first, but I'm behind the times with new seats. Once the brace has been fitted, a trip to BRU or other B&M store that carries a variety of seats (not just a variety of covers) might be helpful. The majority of stores will let you try a seat in your vehicle to make sure it can be installed or in this case, fit the child.

Worst case, at 2.5 and 33 pounds, I'd be comfortable forward facing, in which case, her MyRide would probably be fine.

The brace goes all the way to her hip. She will not have flexibility. I am not sure how much it will add in bulk. I was thinking the same thing to go and try different seats. She is supposed to get the brace on today I was just hoping somebody had already had experience w/ this.

I agree that they should try as many different seats as possible. Worst case, they might need to resort to using a Britax/SnugSeat Hippo, but unfortunately her DD is already to big to RF in that seat. I agree that I would be ok (though not thrilled of course) with a child that age FF if necessary.

yogamommy said:

The brace goes all the way to her hip. She will not have flexibility. I am not sure how much it will add in bulk. I was thinking the same thing to go and try different seats. She is supposed to get the brace on today I was just hoping somebody had already had experience w/ this.

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If "will not have flexibility" is like "knee immobilizer," it could be really difficult for the child to get in/out of a seat that is rear facing. It might also be pretty uncomfortable.

Make sure your friend has pillows or towels to help provide additional support. They may also need a styrofoam cooler or an under inflated ball to support a leg that "sticks out." There are several old posts about kids with various leg fractures so you can get an idea of how others have coped.

I assume you probably already found a solution to this but my 2.5 30 pounder fractured his fibia last week and has a full leg cast with his knee bent at an 60 (cast guy says it is 90 but there is no way) degree angle. He is able to splay his hips in a radian. We had a moment of panic in the parking lot (we were expecting a shorter cast thinking his fracture was lower, like above his ankle, not just below the knee) as it seemed he wasn't going to fit but we got it figured out.