19 month old FF and 4 year old in HBB- HELP!!

#1babysitter

New member
The family I work for has a 19 month old boy and a 4 year old daughter, well she turns 4 on Tuesday. When they turned the boy FF in the primary vehicle I convinced them he still needed to be RF which the mom agreed with me. So he is RF in an Evenflo Triumph. The daughter is in a Nautilus I got her. BUT in their dads van they put the boy in the seat that was in his moms car which is an Evenflo Tribute that has a 20 pound rear facing weight limit so he is forward facing. The daughter is in an Evenflo high back booster. I know for a fact that the daughter is not mature enough while with her parents to be riding in a booster. I don't think I can convince them to buy 2 new seats so E can rear face and P can be harnessed again so my question is which is more important? Getting E rear facing or P in a harnessed seat??? I was thinking of E being rear facing would be more important.....?? They only ride in the van on weekends so they said that it's fine for E to be forward facing and P in a booster but I don't agree. In the end it is their decision but I don't want anything bad to happen to these kids!
 
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MommyShannon

New member
I'm not a tech, but I think getting the 4 yo harnessed would be more important if she's getting way out of position. If she's out of position, she's basically not restrained at all. Both scenarios stink though. They might be more willing to get a combo seat and it'd be used for both kids eventually.
ETA: is the convertible expired???
 

Genevieve

CPST Instructor
How old is the tribute that only has a 20lb rear facing limit? I'm most concerned about getting the 19 month old out of a possibly expired seat.
 

jjordan

Moderator
I'm guessing that the belief that the tribute has a 20# RF weight limit is due to a misreading of the (federally required) labelling on the side. The wording is confusing. So, assuming that is the case, turning the 19 month old back to RF is super easy and requires no new seat purchase.

Safety-wise, I agree with the others who have said the more pressing safety issue is reharnessing the 4 year old, if she is messing with her seatbelt and/or not staying seated properly. But that would require a new seat purchase, so it's a tougher sell.
 

henrietta

Well-known member
I'm guessing that the belief that the tribute has a 20# RF weight limit is due to a misreading of the (federally required) labelling on the side. The wording is confusing. So, assuming that is the case, turning the 19 month old back to RF is super easy and requires no new seat purchase.

Safety-wise, I agree with the others who have said the more pressing safety issue is reharnessing the 4 year old, if she is messing with her seatbelt and/or not staying seated properly. But that would require a new seat purchase, so it's a tougher sell.


Yep, but he's 33" tall already..he may not fit height-wise in the Tribute rear-facing anymore, depending on how long torsoed he is (or isn't).

If the now 4 yr old isn't sitting properly in the booster and/or is really tiny, I'd be more focused on trying to get her back into a harnessed seat. And just try to strongly encourage them to top tether both kids seats as well. Super important for the 19 mos old if they won't turn him back around in the second vehicle.
 

#1babysitter

New member
Yep, but he's 33" tall already..he may not fit height-wise in the Tribute rear-facing anymore, depending on how long torsoed he is (or isn't).

If the now 4 yr old isn't sitting properly in the booster and/or is really tiny, I'd be more focused on trying to get her back into a harnessed seat. And just try to strongly encourage them to top tether both kids seats as well. Super important for the 19 mos old if they won't turn him back around in the second vehicle.

The Tribute is not expired it is only around 3.5 years old. When the mom told me that it had a rear facing weight limit of 20 pounds, which is why they turned E FF in her car I was really surprised and was going to just turn it back RF but it clearly said the rear facing weight limit was 20 pounds so I got her the Triumph for him for her car. E is 33" tall and has a 12" torso. He is on the 3rd slot from the bottom in the XTSL in my car with the straps a tiny bit below his shoulders.

P is not tiny at all. She is the size of a 6-7 year old. She wears size 6-8 clothes. She turns 4 tomorrow and is 55 pounds and 43" with around a 17" torso. I have talked to her about car seat safety and on multiple occasions she has told me she can move all around in her booster in daddy's car. YIKES! I tried her in some seats at BRU today and was surprised at how much room she doesn't have in them. She doesn't have much room to grow in the Maestro at all so that might be a waste of money. But good news is I am most likely getting a Frontier from a friend (that I trust) so they can replace her booster with that. So just to worry about getting E rear facing. What seat would be best? What about the Guide 65 or Cosco Apt 40? BRU is doing there Great Trade in Event right now so they could get one for a good price.

Good thing is that they do install the seats very well and do top tether.
 

Brianna

New member
The Tribute is not expired it is only around 3.5 years old. When the mom told me that it had a rear facing weight limit of 20 pounds, which is why they turned E FF in her car I was really surprised and was going to just turn it back RF but it clearly said the rear facing weight limit was 20 pounds so I got her the Triumph for him for her car. E is 33" tall and has a 12" torso. He is on the 3rd slot from the bottom in the XTSL in my car with the straps a tiny bit below his shoulders.

Is there any way you can get a pic of that? I thought the oldest 5 point Tributes had a 30 RF limit.
 

#1babysitter

New member
:yeahthat: That's what it says in the carseat data section.

I will try my best. Pretty positive it said 20 rear facing and 40 forward because the parents don't know much about car seat safety which is why I looked. The mom said they got it when P was little prob when she outgrew the infant seat so around 3 years ago unless they got it used from a friend or something...
 

rachelandtyke

Well-known member
It's probably 5-30 lbs rfing and 20-40 lbs ffing. There are plenty of folks who think you turn at the minimum ffing # as long as the kids are 1.
 

#1babysitter

New member
It's probably 5-30 lbs rfing and 20-40 lbs ffing. There are plenty of folks who think you turn at the minimum ffing # as long as the kids are 1.

I will somehow check it. Yeah the parents are kind of like that. They kept him rear facing on their own until he was 13 months in the infant seat but then when they passed the Tribute down to him they put him FF because the dad said he was "too big" to rear face. The mom agreed that he should still be RF so he is in her car. That's the only other problem of getting him rear facing in the dads van. It's his van and he wants him forward facing so idk we will see what happens. If his seat is expired they have to replace it anyways.
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Guaranteed the seat doesn't rear face to 20 pounds. I'm 100% positive on it. It says something like, "Use this seat rear facing only with infants under 20 pounds." That means you can't use it forward facing under 20 pounds, NOT that the rear facing weight limit is 20 pounds. As others have said, it'll say 5-30 or 5-35 pound rear facing on the side. Or in the manual.

Here, here's a picture of the sticker. http://bimg1.mlstatic.com/silla-par...-5-isofix-sin-uso_MLA-F-2885276842_072012.jpg Under the top warning label on the right you can see the "Use this seat rear facing only..." Then on the left under the rear facing belt path it clearly states 5-30 pounds rear facing.

Wendy
 

MommyShannon

New member
The Maestro has a 50lb limit so she's outgrown it by weight anyway. Any chance the parents would watch a crash test of improper booster use? Maybe then they'd get a FR.
 

#1babysitter

New member
The Maestro has a 50lb limit so she's outgrown it by weight anyway. Any chance the parents would watch a crash test of improper booster use? Maybe then they'd get a FR.


Yeah I'm sure they would watch one if I email it to them but they would never spend that much on a car seat. The most they've spent on one is probably what they paid for their infant seat (Snugride) unless it was a gift. When they passed the Tribute onto E they got P another HBB for her mom's car which was $30! I was able to get them a Nautilus so they returned it. They buy all their car seats from Walmart and best one for P from there is another Nautilus but I HIGHLY doubt they would get it even if I showed them videos.
 

henrietta

Well-known member
The Cosco Apt had REALLY short harness slots for forward facing, so unless he is super short torsoed (like he's still wearing 9-12 mos clothes or so..), I would skip it. It isn't worth it, no matter whether they'll rear face him right now or not, b/c you know they won't for long..and then it will be a total waste. I bought one for my niece, b/c my sil was going to keep niece rearfacing for much longer. I wouldn't have said anything about her turning her ff'ing at 2, which they did, BUT I would have bought her a different carseat. I bought the APT b/c it would last so long rearfacing.
 

#1babysitter

New member
The Cosco Apt had REALLY short harness slots for forward facing, so unless he is super short torsoed (like he's still wearing 9-12 mos clothes or so..), I would skip it. It isn't worth it, no matter whether they'll rear face him right now or not, b/c you know they won't for long..and then it will be a total waste. I bought one for my niece, b/c my sil was going to keep niece rearfacing for much longer. I wouldn't have said anything about her turning her ff'ing at 2, which they did, BUT I would have bought her a different carseat. I bought the APT b/c it would last so long rearfacing.

Yeah I did some research on it after I asked and read that about it. I think I am just going to convince the mom to get the dad to turn him back around in the Tribute. I know it has to still be good the only problem is getting the dad to turn him back rear facing since it's HIS van. I tried P in the Defender and really liked it for the price except the buckle length sucks and was a deal breaker since P isn't small for her age so the tongs were really digging into her legs. I have no idea what other (cheap) seat would work for her since she is big for her age and has a long torso. So I am getting her a Regent from a friend that expires 8/14 so by that time she will probably actually be ready for a booster at almost 6. It's the girly cover so she will love it and bug her dad about it so he will put it in the van asap.
 

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