Rear facing until 4 in a Britax

Hazelandlucy · Sep 27, 2014

I am just about ready to buy at least one CT Britax. It seems great for my travel (overseas, car with no latch, no locking seat belts) and I need two more convertibles now that DD2 is happier sitting up. I called Britax and they said the new convertibles have no more - if anything less - leg room. The previous Britaxs were shorter shelled so I assume bigger kids probably turned around by 3 before leg room was really an issue - is it going to feasible and easy to load an average 3 - 4 yr old? Will it really be at that comfortable?

katymyers · Sep 27, 2014

My daughter is about to turn three and rides rear facing in a Boulevard G3. She's short (25% for height) but she has very long legs, as long as my five year old son's legs. I can barely buy her decent pants, she lives in dresses and leggings lol. The lack of legroom does not bother her. She dangles her legs over the sides of the seat once she's in and I haven't had issues loading her in. I fully plan on making it another year before turning her.

featherhead · Sep 27, 2014

The ARB is going to be an option, right? If so, that should add a bit more leg room.

nataliem257 · Sep 27, 2014

I have a 90% for height 2 1/2 year old still in a G3 RF. She just moved into 4t pants and I'm not going to say it's easy to load her, but it's definitely doable. She sits criss cross apple sauce and has never complained once. She's still got a couple more inches of torso before it's outgrown, she should make it to 3 easily.

Hazelandlucy · Sep 27, 2014

featherhead said:
The ARB is going to be an option, right? If so, that should add a bit more leg room.

That's true! Hadn't thought about that!

finn · Sep 27, 2014

My 3y4 month 90th% for height, dd can still fit rf in her g3 by height, she has enough leg room but the buckle crunch is bad enough that I've given the seat to her younger nephew

She just climbs in herself

nataliem257 · Sep 28, 2014

finn said:
My 3y4 month 90th% for height, dd can still fit rf in her g3 by height, she has enough leg room but the buckle crunch is bad enough that I've given the seat to her younger nephew

She just climbs in herself

I've wondered about this, if the mandatory use the first crotch buckle position thing was intended more for smaller kids and if anyone had ever asked Britax if it applied to ERF kiddos as well. Kinda like the chest clip on the nextfit. Anyone checked?

Hazelandlucy · Sep 28, 2014

Does the short seat depth make a difference forward facing? Do Britaxs get kids pretty far? One thing I like about the new CT is the 16" vs 13" shoulder width for older kids, but it's the 1/2 inch shorter seat depth I don't know about!

Carrie_R · Sep 28, 2014

In my experience, the short seat depth tends to bother the parents ("she looks so squished!") more than the children, who don't complain. They end up turning the kids FF sooner than they would have otherwise, so I am not sure I have ever seen a kiddo older than 2 (maybe one petite 2.5yo) RF in a new-style Britax. The older RFers I've seen at our checks are usually in Radians, Foonfs, NextFits etc. I have a hard time getting my Britax parents to 2.

In my RA50, which I believe has more legroom than the NexGens, I had a difficult time with a petite 3yo - and that was as someone who ERFs forever with no regard to legroom. There was just not enough room with his legs and my hands and the buckling... (I ended up switching kids into different seats, actually, so that we could stop using the seat.) I gave it to a friend and her petite daughter made it RF to 4yo though - I might have too, if I hadn't had other options.

It's just something I hear again and again from parents of 18-24mo kids in Britaxes specifically. I shy away from recommending them for exactly that reason. So the short leg room really disappoints me, as I absolutely LOVE ClickTight.

SavsMom · Sep 28, 2014

Carrie_R said:
In my experience, the short seat depth tends to bother the parents ("she looks so squished!") more than the children, who don't complain. They end up turning the kids FF sooner than they would have otherwise, so I am not sure I have ever seen a kiddo older than 2 (maybe one petite 2.5yo) RF in a new-style Britax. The older RFers I've seen at our checks are usually in Radians, Foonfs, NextFits etc. I have a hard time getting my Britax parents to 2.

In my RA50, which I believe has more legroom than the NexGens, I had a difficult time with a petite 3yo - and that was as someone who ERFs forever with no regard to legroom. There was just not enough room with his legs and my hands and the buckling... (I ended up switching kids into different seats, actually, so that we could stop using the seat.) I gave it to a friend and her petite daughter made it RF to 4yo though - I might have too, if I hadn't had other options.

It's just something I hear again and again from parents of 18-24mo kids in Britaxes specifically. I shy away from recommending them for exactly that reason. So the short leg room really disappoints me, as I absolutely LOVE ClickTight.

I agree. Buckling dd in her classic MA got to be difficult past 2 because of the short seat depth. She was fine in the seat but I was a pain to buckle.
Very sad to hear the new click tight seats won't be deeper

Hazelandlucy · Sep 28, 2014

I actually have my soon to be 3 yr old (December) in a G3 Advocate in my husband's car. She looks a little cramped, but it's not hard to load yet and she hasn't complained. But she is average sized. I just am worried about the longevity of it for my taller DD2.

I need to get DD2 two convertibles (one for each car). One plan is to get the new click tights because they make overseas travel so great (3 times per year). But I am worried what age 3 and 4 will look like since she is much taller at 8 months old than DD1 was. I keep feeling like kids her size have never made it RF that long to test leg space since they would have outgrown the shell! So a tall 3 yr old in the CT Britax might really have zero leg room. But I keep hearing that doesn't matter...

My other option is to buy two more Foonfs and get separate travel seats (but they have to be comfortable and easy since they are for overseas travel...long sleeping night flights, no latch, no locking seat belts). Then I could give DD2 the G3 Advocate in one car now while she is tiny and then when she gets to be about 2, give it back to DD1 for FF and put DD2 in Foonfs in both cars.

But is the Advocate comfortable for a 4-6 yr old to FF or does that short seat make their legs dangle ? Is it wide enough for the torso/shoulders?

I am so confused. Way over researching this. All my kids are sick and I am stuck in the house bored out of my mind and this actually seems really fascinating to me, lol. Maybe I just like thinking about traveling and getting outside!

Carolinadaisy · Sep 28, 2014

I have been wondering about this as well. My Ds2 is 3.5 yrs old and fluctuates between 39-40 lbs so he is currently riding ff in his Nextfit. I don't love the seat ff and have been toying with the idea of moving ds1 to a booster full time and putting ds2 in the frontier 85 and then buying a Britax click tight for our new baby to use.

I think I want to use an infant seat for at least the first 4-6 months and then move to a convertible. So I'm torn on whether to just keep our Nextfit or sell it. Don't want to sell it if the click tight Britax seats are goung to be cramped for a higher percentile child. No guarantee that the next baby will be tall and leggy like ds2, but ds1 was and is also tall. It not as leggy before age 4. I like to get to at least 3 or 3.5 rf if possible.

I'm thinking the arb will give increased leg space. But I may see if I can take ds2 to bru and try him in the click tight boulevard rf just for a general idea on legroom. He can easily wear 5t pants at age 3.5 and is a little over 40".

abigaylebelle · Sep 28, 2014

My oldest rf past 4 in the g2 britax boulevard. He was leggy but never minded the leg space. It was great ff after that too. I thought he had lots of leg support ff. he can still fit now at 7.5 but he doesn't usually ride in it. I think he has normal shoulders and still fits width wise so I would guess an average sized 4-6 year old would be fine.

tiggercat · Sep 28, 2014

Carrie_R said:
In my experience, the short seat depth tends to bother the parents ("she looks so squished!") more than the children, who don't complain. They end up turning the kids FF sooner than they would have otherwise, so I am not sure I have ever seen a kiddo older than 2 (maybe one petite 2.5yo) RF in a new-style Britax. The older RFers I've seen at our checks are usually in Radians, Foonfs, NextFits etc. I have a hard time getting my Britax parents to 2.

In my RA50, which I believe has more legroom than the NexGens, I had a difficult time with a petite 3yo - and that was as someone who ERFs forever with no regard to legroom. There was just not enough room with his legs and my hands and the buckling... (I ended up switching kids into different seats, actually, so that we could stop using the seat.) I gave it to a friend and her petite daughter made it RF to 4yo though - I might have too, if I hadn't had other options.

It's just something I hear again and again from parents of 18-24mo kids in Britaxes specifically. I shy away from recommending them for exactly that reason. So the short leg room really disappoints me, as I absolutely LOVE ClickTight.

I do have a friend who RF'd her daughter to 4 in a G3, and while it didn't seem to bother the child or her mom, I found it a ridiculous pain in the rear whenever I drove her. Especially loading and buckling through the hatch in the back of my Caravan! Her knees where touching the seatback when she sat with her legs criss cross applesauce (or whatever we call that these days).

finn · Sep 28, 2014

nataliem257 said:
I've wondered about this, if the mandatory use the first crotch buckle position thing was intended more for smaller kids and if anyone had ever asked Britax if it applied to ERF kiddos as well. Kinda like the chest clip on the nextfit. Anyone checked?

I think I asked and got told you could use the outer buckle position if you used latch, but couldn't if you used the seatbelt. Dd would have been fine if I could have used the outer buckle position, she loved the seat and was sad when we gave it away. She has ff in it a few times, it's really reclined in my car but still super comfy for her

oakster · Sep 29, 2014

My nearly-three-year-old (average height but mostly in his legs) is also still RFing in his Marathon G3, and also sits with his legs criss-crossed. He climbs in and out on his own so loading isn't a huge issue. One thing that made a huge difference was getting the straps for older children (over 20 pounds), though--they are longer and made it much easier to loosen and then tighten the straps. They're free from Britax but you have to call and request them.

I would love to know if the outer belt position is really an option with LATCH, though--that would be awesome!

Rear facing until 4 in a Britax

Hazelandlucy

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