Reviving the Guide 65 topic on rf'ing head slump

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
I finally saw one for a seat check yesterday and had a chance to read the manual. It has left me with one question which I'll have to follow up with Dorel on, but otherwise, here are the rules and my observation of the child in the seat.

According to the manual, the headrest is to be adjusted so that the child's ears are centered in the headrest. In the case of the baby yesterday, his head was a few inches away from the top of the headrest. By the time his head actually reaches the top of the headrest, he will need the next slots up.

The seat was installed at the more upright angle for children who are at least 22lbs and able to sit unassisted and the padding was removed. The child's shoulders were about 1" approximately above the 2nd from bottom harness slots.

I don't know what he'll look like when he falls asleep, but when he was awake he looked just fine and I didn't see anything that made me think he needed to be reclined further.

I think for most kids head slump isn't really going to be an issue when the seat is properly adjusted. Kids proportions can obviously vary, but now that I've read the manual and seen what the seat looks like properly adjusted, I don't really see any universal problem for rf'ing.

Whether it becomes a problem for ff'ing kids or not I can't comment, but I don't think we need to worry or hesitate about suggesting the guide 65 - it's just important to make sure the headrest is adjusted as directed because being too high behind the head is going to cause that really bad head slump in kids who wouldn't otherwise have it.
 
ADS

Pixelated

Moderator - CPST Instructor
Thanks Trudy. I've only worked with one where the child was present, and the parents did not have the manual with them, so I sent them off with the instruction to check in the manual for where the head rest was meant to be.
 

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