I had to FF my baby today

cryswilkins

New member
We had our car breakdown today on the expressway, and my DH's uncle came to get us in his tiny contour and she just wouldn't fit RF in her MA. So I had to FF her.:crying: (she is with in the LEGAL limits, barley) I was so sad, it was the best option. She looked so unnatural that way. It just looked wrong, lol. I MAY have been able to get it to work RF with a lot of patience and time, but that didn't seem like the situation to try it in.

WWYD in that situation?
 
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mominabigtruck

New member
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

Well I've never met a car or carseat that I couldn't install in so I don't know that I wouldn't had that issue but it would depend on the circumstances. Were you on a busy highway on the shoulder or were you in a rest are or something like that? If you were on the side of the road I would've put the seat in as fast as I could however I could get it because being broken down on the side of the road is way more dangerous then being ffing imo. Normally people are way too busy gawking to pay attention and that causes accidents:twocents: If you were in a rest area or something like that I would've gone rfing.
 
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

In that scenario, I would have ff long enough to get to a gas station/rest stop, and then gotten out and fiddled with it :twocents:

:yeahthat:

That is why i like th idea of the Brio Zento as it can be rf longer but used ff when needed to the same weigh limit.
 

Niea

New member
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

I'd have just put it FF like you did. Sure, RFing is a lot safer, but it's not like the seat wasn't used correctly or that she's illegal riding that way. For one trip in an emergency, I wouldn't have worried about it so much. But that's just me.

If the trip home was a long one, I'd have stopped somewhere and tried to reinstall it RFing. But if you weren't that far from your house I'd have just left it be.
 

cryswilkins

New member
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

I'd have just put it FF like you did. Sure, RFing is a lot safer, but it's not like the seat wasn't used correctly or that she's illegal riding that way. For one trip in an emergency, I wouldn't have worried about it so much. But that's just me.

If the trip home was a long one, I'd have stopped somewhere and tried to reinstall it RFing. But if you weren't that far from your house I'd have just left it be.

We were about 5 miles from home. Stopping to get out and reinstall would have been a moot point, we could have gotten home sooner.
 

thepeach80

Senior Community Member
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

I would've done what you did. I let Evan ride ffing sometimes starting at 18 mos or so when needed, so 22ish#. It's still weird to see him ffing and he's almost 3. I debated moving him ffing this next summer, but I don't think I can do it. lol

That is why i like th idea of the Brio Zento as it can be rf longer but used ff when needed to the same weigh limit.

I thought the Zento only ff w/ harness to 18kg?
 

BookMama

Senior Community Member
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

I would have done the same thing. But I'm surprised to hear that you had trouble installing it - I've had no trouble installing a RF FSVD (same size as Marathon) in my Mom's Contour. But hers is a 4-door, maybe your uncle's is a 2-door?
 

ThreeBeans

New member
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

The idea of a seat with a higher rearfacing weight than forward facing is incredibly fascinating to me. LOL. :whistle:
 

crunchierthanthou

New member
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

Honestly, I'm surprised it didn't fit. You might have had to install it fairly upright, but the MA fits rf in smaller cars than the Contour.

It's not about how long it would have taken you to get home if you stopped to fix it, but that she was 4 times more likely to be seriously injured or die if a crash happened in that few minutes.

Also, she's not legally old enough to ff in your state until next week. ;)
 

Crispymama

New member
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

Im surprised you couldnt get it installed too. My BLVD installs RFing in seconds in my Contour, sure is a small car though.:thumbsdown:
 

dd9736

New member
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

Aww, Crys, I know how bad you must have felt doing it. SEth is to light yet to ff (3more lbs), but if I had been in that situation, and he was big enough, I probably would have done the same thing.
 

thepeach80

Senior Community Member
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

The idea of a seat with a higher rearfacing weight than forward facing is incredibly fascinating to me. LOL. :whistle:

Supposedly Sweden has studies that show there's more neck damage to larger kids (over 40#) who use a harness ffing as opposed to using a bpb w/ seatbelt. Most of their kids go straight from rfing to bpb I believe.
 

ThreeBeans

New member
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

Crystal, I bet your difficulty stemmed from simply not being familiar with installing in different cars rather than it truly not fitting.

As time goes on and you get accustomed to pulling the BV in and out, and fitting it in different places, I doubt that will happen again :thumbsup:
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

Crystal, I bet your difficulty stemmed from simply not being familiar with installing in different cars rather than it truly not fitting.

As time goes on and you get accustomed to pulling the BV in and out, and fitting it in different places, I doubt that will happen again :thumbsup:
:2thumbsup:
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

Supposedly Sweden has studies that show there's more neck damage to larger kids (over 40#) who use a harness ffing as opposed to using a bpb w/ seatbelt. Most of their kids go straight from rfing to bpb I believe.

I would love to get my hands on a translated version of this -- I'm guessing that they aren't considering my 1997 Honda Civic HX 2 door in which the back seat occupant may not have 32" for safe booster use when the front seat is all the way back (& who wants to push the front seat closer to the dash in that little car?) :eek: or smallish tucks, etc. where a 5 point harness is going to reduce head excursion to reduce head/spine injury more than a booster....
 

henrietta

Well-known member
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

"Crystal, I bet your difficulty stemmed from simply not being familiar with installing in different cars rather than it truly not fitting."

I'm thinking this was the case, too. It gets easier the more vehicles you install your seat in, and on the side of a 4 lane highway is definitely not the best location to learn in. I'd have gotten it in however was the safest and quickest install...in fact, even with me having installed our Decathlon and FPSVD in loads of cars, I'd still have turned it around ff'ing for ds in that situation, b/c it's much easier for me. I'd have fixed it later.

henrietta
 

carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

I don't mean to be a PITA, and I'm not sitting in judgement, and what's done is done -- but if your baby hasn't had her first birthday, she is NOT within the legal limits to be forward-facing. I'm writing that to correct publicly posted misinformation, not to wag my finger.
 

tiggercat

New member
Re: I had to FF my baby toady

WWYD in that situation?

Well, what would you have done if she had been 15lbs and 6 months instead of (almost) at the bare minimum allowed for forward facing?

I would have done the best install that I could have RFing in order to get home. I've not yet found a car that I can't get a passable install with an MA RFing.
 

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