What seat to keep rearfacing in after Advocate?

Hello,

I've gotten some very helpful advice in a couple recent posts where I asked about buying seats for travel. One poster asked about my certainty my daughter should still be rearfacing in her Advocate which made me worried about this. After taking a closer look today I do think she's getting close to one inch between the top of her head and the shell. But I'm shocked as she is only 2.5 and my older daughter made it to her 4th birthday rearfacing in an Advocate. She was petite, but still, I didn't think my 2.5 year old was THAT different. I'm going to actually try and get a more precise measurement tomorrow, but I would like some advice if possible.

She is 2.5 years old, weighs about 29-30 pounds and is about 38 inches tall. She's currently in an Advocate rear facing in a captain's seat in our Honda Odyssey.

Here are my questions:

Should I get a new seat and keep her rearfacing for longer? My husband wants to just turn her FF to avoid spending $ on a new seat, but I'm happy to shell it out if it is safer and there is another seat that could keep her RF'ing for quite awhile longer.

What seat should I look into? Given she's 38inches tall, what are my options? I'm in Canada...... I don't mind spending the $ for a good quality seat (and I do know that theoretically one is not "better" than another, but I DO feel Britax is a good quality and have been happy to pay for it).

Thank you for all and any advice, everyone here is always so helpful!!!!

I also have a taller 2.5 year old. Really, my only "option" to keep her RFing would be the foonf or radian (or TrueFit, but then you deal with the 35lb RFing weight limit).

Me too - my youngest outgrew it right around 2. She still has a bit of room (but not much) in the MyRide. Lots of room in the Radian, and some in the Foonf but I haven't put her in that, I'm just going by the numbers.

The Radian goes in with the angle adjuster in my 03 Odyssey beautifully. I also vastly prefer it as a forward facing seat over the Advocate, I like the lower profile so my kids can climb in themselves.

I would get a precise measurement and see where you're at. Put the head wings down low so can see the shell better and measure with a tape measurer. Be sure to measure while installed in your car because angle can really make a difference. At least for my DD growth slowed down significantly around 2, she was in the higher percentiles for height and weight up until 2 or so, she's now 4 1/2 and is about 1/2 an inch too tall to rear face in her sisters blvd. if you have 2 inches or so, that could likely give you another year before its outgrown. If you don't, I agree with the others, your best bet is the radian. I wouldn't consider turning before 3. If you need help convincing your husband there's tons of videos that can help.

Hello,

Thank you all for your responses. I've finally tried to get an accurate measurement but am still a bit confused. I've read about holding the ruler perpendicular to the back of the seat, but the measurement can still vary if I hold the ruler slightly differently (and if I hold it totally horizontal she's about even with the top of the shell). It looks to me like she has about 2 inches from the top of her head to the top of the "shell" when I hold it at about a perpendicular angle. Here are some pics - I'd love to hear others' thoughts/advice! I am trying to decide if I need to spend the $ on another car seat to keep her RF'ing longer. Radian maybe?






Thank you for any advice!

Just edited to fix pics.

You've got some time yet. You want the ruler perpendicular to the shell, and the angle looks closest in the 2nd picture, but even there I think it could tilt up a tad more, giving you even more time. I can't quite tell where the measurement would land but it looks to be that you have about 2" of room to grow still. I find it easier to use a book 1" thick and place it as if she's balancing it on her head, but with her head resting back against the seat.

She has at least 3" growing room. Basically if you have the ruler flat on the top of her head, it should end up perpendicular to the shell and that'll show the amount of space above her head.

She's got at least another 9 months left I would guess. Possibly more depending on how she grows.

Yes, you have well over an inch of growing room left. I agree with Trudy, looks like closer to 3" over her head. You should have quite a bit of time left RF.

I'm SO relieved to hear all of your thoughts, thank you so much!!!! I was so worried, but I guess she's not as close as I thought.

Thanks again, much appreciated! This board - and all of you - are invaluable!

Awesome! I'm so glad you had more room than you thought.