Broken Collar bone and Harness.

StarrNanny · Dec 19, 2007

One of my little kiddos broke his collar bone last night. He's in a sling and is in ALOT of pain. On the way to and from the doctor he was complaining that the harness was hurting him. now this is a kid who under normal circumstances will tell me "i not safe, it not too tight". I don't know what to do, should i put him in the seat and keep his harness the way it is, or do I adjust it looser for him for now? I feel like making it looser kinda defeats the purpose if using it at all.

crunchierthanthou · Dec 19, 2007

How much does he weigh? Can you put him rf? At least then in a crash the seat will absorb most of the force, rather than the harness against his broken bone. I'd even consider a $40 scenera with a 35 rf weight limit to acheive that.

azgirl71 · Dec 19, 2007

crunchierthanthou said:
How much does he weigh? Can you put him rf? At least then in a crash the seat will absorb most of the force, rather than the harness against his broken bone. I'd even consider a $40 scenera with a 35 rf weight limit to acheive that.

I agree. Iam sorry he is in pain hope he feels better soon.

joolsplus3 · Dec 19, 2007

Oh, gosh, dont' feel that way! Looser is still a hundred times better than nothing! Leah was RF when she broke her collarbone and I left it a tich looser on her... even if she were FF I would have without much worry. If it's impossible to turn him RF, then I might seriously put the harness up a notch, so that it's not pressing down on his collar bone at all (unless it's already above his shoulder? then that won't help). This is where the current wording for harness tightness that's in all manuals comes in handy... The harness should lie in a straight line without slack or without pressing the child's body into an unnatural position (something like that...basically, not very loose, but not as tight as you're used to).

Suzibeck · Dec 19, 2007

Oh! Your poor man! I agree with the others to loosen it a titch. If you are anything like me you can loosen and still not pinch the harness at all.

My oldest broke her collar bone at 3 1/2. She was in a booster at the time (she hit 40# and there were no hw options back then), so I moved her seat so the shoulder belt crossed the unbroken collar bone. Now, I would go with the slightly looser harness.

My dd had quite a bit of pain for about a week, but only if she forgot and used the arm or someone tried to pick her up. Other kids were the biggest offenders. After a week, she was back to normal. I hope your little man heals quickly!

UlrikeDG · Dec 19, 2007

Nadia broke her colar bone when she was 2. Fortunately, she was still rear facing. They didn't put her in a sling. They said at that age, kids are pretty good about self regulating and won't use the arm if it hurts. As for the carseat, she was fine as long as I didn't really cinch it down hard. It took a little trial and error, but after a couple of days, we got the hang of it.

Beckers · Dec 19, 2007

DD broke hes about 1 week before her 3rd B'day...She was in a lot of pain for a few days and scared of anything hurting it.

In the ER they wrapped an Ace bandage around her arm and torso after the put the sling on. I think that really made her feel safe enough to get up and move around knowing she wouldn't forget and hurt herself.

As for the car seat, I agree that you could loosen a smidge without compromising (sp?) huis safety

StarrNanny · Dec 19, 2007

Thanks guys. I loosened the harness all the way out, then readjusted it to accommodate the new "gear" (sling and brace). It's looser than I would like, but I'd rather that than him crying in pain the whole time we are driving.

Gotta love my little man. When we got in the car to go pick up the older one from school he says to me. "are you sure this is safe?"

The doctor said three weeks, but I'm hoping he gets to feeling better sooner.

skaterbabs · Dec 19, 2007

try using the old "two finger" rule instead of the pinch test for harness tightness.

Patriot201 · Dec 19, 2007

I hope he feels better soon!

My nephew broke his collar bone at birth. Yikes. Thankfully he was RF (of course) and my brother/SIL were able to SIGNIFICANTLY limit the number of trips in the car, so the harness wasn't too big of a deal since they rarely went anywhere during the weeks he was healing.

Broken Collar bone and Harness.

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