7months and already 30 lbs...what to do?

hugebabymom · Nov 24, 2007

Our little boy has just turned 7 months and is reaching 30lbs.
we definately do not feel safe turning him to face forward but all of the convertible seats rear face to 30 lbs only. Is there a car seat in canada that is rated any higher? What do people do? He is not strong enought to face forward, maybe we will be walking for the next 5 months! Any help is greatly appreciated, no one seems to have an answer for us.

hipmaman · Nov 24, 2007

This is a toughie. Of course we want him to be rf further, but in what? I've to think about this a bit.

Thinking out loud... What seat is he currently in? Do you know anyone with an older Cosco Alpha Omega, Eddie Bauer 3-in-1, Cosco Touriva, Britax Marathon or Roundabout (before 2005 or is it 2004, I think)? The old Cosco and EB seats had 35 lbs rf limit and the Roundabout and Marathon had 33 lbs rf limit. Where are you located?

Still thinking about this...

shauburg · Nov 24, 2007

If you have not seen them already there have been a couple of threads on this before that you may find helpful:

1) What is the smallest Car seat with the highest RF weight limit in Canada?

2) too heavy for RF, too young for FF WWYD?

3) Rear-facing for more than 30lbs?

tiggercat · Nov 25, 2007

Where are you located?

I would try the following:
-contact Transport Canada, and explain the problem. See if they have any advice.
-call Dorel Juvenile Group, explain to them that your 7 month old is over 30lbs, and ask their opinion of using a Cosco Scenera or 3 in 1 to the old 35lb weight limit. My understanding is that the change to 30lb rearfacing was a political one, not a testing failure or problem.
-search for an older Cosco with a 35lb limit, be sure to check for recalls because many of those models were recalled for harness adjustor issues. It's a simple fix, the manufacturer simply sends a new adjustor strap that is consumer replaceable.
-weight the child again to ensure that there is no measurement error.

In the end, at 7 months old he is at such a high risk for neck damage that I would prefer to keep him RF over the weight limits, and make sure that the child seat was braced against the front seat to limit downward rotation.

hugebabymom · Nov 25, 2007

we are in toronto. I have contacted transport canada and as of yet have not found anyone with an answer other than a laugh at how big our baby is and basically a "gee thats sucks attitude"
where would i go about finding an older seat? our other issue is that we have a 2007 subaru forester and will have to give up using our passenger seat in order to fit one of the bigger seats rear facing.
right now we have him in a graco safe seat but we are pushing it keeping him in this seat and really need to find an answer!
thanks so much for the advice so far!

tiggercat · Nov 25, 2007

Let me contact my instructor, she's a defect investigator with TC, and when I told her I was worried about my chubbly baby hitting 30lbs before a year (which she didn't, she slimmed out a lot after 6 months) she told me to call her for options.

The trouble with finding an older seat is that you have to find someone who you can trust that happens to have one, because you have to be sure that it has not been in a collision or damaged. Definitely don't buy from a 2nd hand store or garage sale. Do you have any friends with preschoolers?

Now that he is 7 months, it is ok for the rearfacing seat to sit more upright. If you can fit a SafeSeat, you should be able to fit a convertible RFing without any trouble. If it helps, I've put the one of the tallest seats out there RFing in my Corolla and still been able to have my hubby sit in front of it.

I wish I had an answer for you.

canadianmom2three · Nov 26, 2007

Maybe the Radian would be a good solution for you, aside from it sitting so tall.....it might be too 'long' to rf in the back? Other than that, it would be ideal, since it is IDENTICAL to its US counterpart, which has just had its rf limits upped to 35lbs iirc. Also will last you a long while as a ff seat too, and is nice and narrow.
Other than that, I have an older AO that rf's to 35lbs. It was manufactured in 2003 iirc. Unfortunately I loaned it to my neighbour so she could use it to rf her big little guy, but she is totally wasting it's potential, since she turned him ff before he even hit 30lbs

cause his feet were bunched up and he was crying:thumbsdown:...

oursonend · Nov 27, 2007

I second/third/w/e the cosco scenera idea. My old one rf'd to 35 lbs and fit rfing in a honda civic wagon with the front seat just a *little* bit forward, and my friend has a subaru forrester adn it's worlds bigger... so I bet you could fit a scenera in rfing without losing your front seat.

If it were me, I would use the scenera even if it's only a 30 lb one, just because 7 months is still pretty squishy. What a predicament!

7months and already 30 lbs...what to do?

hugebabymom

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