diono rxt arrived...few questions

First the new harness straps are HUGE! I called right away and the are sending different ones out. We will be rf so I know they are optional, but I would like the smaller on hand. These new ones are literally the length of the seat to my 7mo olds thigh. There is a break in the padding for the chest clip. They have a rubber inner so they do NOT slide easily or allow chest clip to move. Prob a nice feature, but not for a baby. He is covered by them.

At 7mo and 18lbs should I use the padding? Or is this a matter of personal preference? If one of the pads are used (say head support) should body support be used as well?

Head wings are in highest position. Why don't they lock? I feel as if they should. They seem to drop easy. Also the cover has big open areas on both sides, when wings are in highest position, exposing the foam inner of the seat. Bugs me.

Finally...big cloth diaper bum. I have the buckle in slot furthest back. He is somewhat sitting on it, but this is only bc of the diaper. Leave here?

Hi and welcome!

Agreed that the harness straps are pretty big on smaller babies so that is good that you were able to get the smaller ones sent to you. Not sure where you are located, but if in Canada the big ones are mandatory to use for FFing so keep them in a safe place. They must have changed the harness pads recently since the big ones that I have do not have a rubber inner, it is fabric all the way around the harness pad. Any chance you could attach a picture of the harness pads, just for my curiousity?

If the head wings are sliding down easily, there are screws on the back of the seat that you can tighten a little bit to help them stay in place. There should also be velcro on the cover that you can fasten beneath the head wings to help hold them up (and cover up some of that inner foam that is peaking out). Apparently it is normal for the head wings to drop slightly from the very top position, but if they are easily sliding all the way down that is an issue if your little one is not yet on the 3rd harness position.

The padding is totally personal preference for a baby as big as yours.

With the crotch buckle, I would follow the manual taking into consideration the size of the diaper and would move the crotch buckle to the middle position as long as it is not in front of your baby's crotch and angling back towards him. Maybe someone else can chime in and confirm this though since the diaper is adding extra bulk.

Yea these harness pad covers are even bigger than the previous ones. My sister has this same seat bought last year and the pads are big, these are pretty much double. I will try to upoad a pic...

Hopefully this works...






I would like to use the infant padding, but I am not sure if it will be too much. Do others use it for babies under a year? The head pad seems like it will be a nice place for his head to rest since the wings are not being used right now. However in order to position the head pad for his head to lay in and not on the top hump of it I need to install it a position higher. In doing so the top gets squished up between the headwings :/ AND even after tightening the bolts on the back the headwings move down VERY easily. I decided to get the HW's for extra protection since this will be on an outboard seat, but right now I am just frustrated with them. I feel like they should lock in to each position.

I wish the headwings locked into position. Unfortunately, they do not. They do fall down a little bit when they're in the highest position, but they shouldn't be sliding all over the place or anything of the sort. There is velcro on the cover under the wings that helps hold them up and block the openings you're referring to.

Thanks!!

And here is a link that shoes the new harness pads too...

http://ca.diono.com/car-seats/radian-r100

I am by no ways qualified to formally answer this but I have my 5month old, cloth diaper baby with the middle crotch strap. Since the cloth diaper is not cushy it will not squish much making an air pocket. The middle spot is still under her a bit, not straight down or in front. I found the first slot to be to far under that the buckle wasn't in a good spot.

My daughter is 5months, about 16lbs and 26+ inches. I am not using the padding, they seemed to position her hips so legs were straight ahead of her which is not ideal on a babies hips. Without the padding she is able to bend her legs and kind frog them while sitting, if that makes sense. I don't think the head piece works without the body piece very well and she is fine without it.

I also am not using the mega shoulder pads as they just didn't seem to allow a good harness fit. I love them, but they made me a little weary. I should call for the smaller ones though!

I stopped using the head pillow when my daughter moved up to the second slots from the bottom. It just doesn't work so well, even with the wings pushed all the way up. She still has the other padding in. She's 16lbs and on the second slots still.

I used the head pillow briefly to take a few pics when I first got the seat but haven't used it since (DS was 5 months old at the time). I used the body pillow until he was about 8 months old and seemed a bit squished with it.

I see what you mean with the rubber inner on the harness pads. Thanks for attaching pictures! My harness pads are the same size but don't have that rubber piece.