Rfing or Ffing?

EzzieMom · Dec 21, 2007

A question to all you smart car seat people

My DD#2 (age 3, 29 pounds) is too tall to RF in her Cosco Scenera. What do I do now?

I have her FFing for now with it tethered. But I have butterflies in my stomach. I feel like....what if we were in an accident. She's only 29 pounds.....her spinal cord would snap. She's super small framed.

We can't afford to buy any new seats right now. So. What I was thinking is....what if I put DD#2 in DD#1's Radian65 RFing? And then put DD#1 in her HBB (we have a HBB for rides in Daddy's car)? Her HBB isn't anything fancy, just a Evenflo Big-Kid Booster.

But then I start thinking....I don't want to put DD#1 in risk of injury by putting her in a HBB exclusivley. But then again, she is 6 and fairly tall for her age. But skinny

She's 43 pounds. She has been asking to ride in her HBB a lot more lately. She's very responsible. She would NEVER unbuckle herself while I was driving. But it scares me still.

So, do you think I should put DD#2 in the Radian65 RFing and put DD#1 in her HBB? Or do you think I should just have them both FFing, tethered and in 5 point harness like they are now?

Which is safer? In your opinion.

crunchierthanthou · Dec 21, 2007

I would be okay with ff a 3 yo. It's about age more than it is about weight. Of course, if you're considering putting your older dd in a booster anyway...

It's a toss up- rf to ff or harnessed to booster. Really, I'd be okay with either at their ages, but would probably lean toward keeping them both harnessed.

abacus2 · Dec 21, 2007

A three year old FFing in a properly installed and tethered seat is very, very safe. My understanding is that age is significantly more important than weight in determining risk to the spinal cord. I would not choose to move an older child from a harness to a booster to avoid turning a 3 year old FFing.

SPJ&E · Dec 21, 2007

crunchierthanthou said:
I would be okay with ff a 3 yo. It's about age more than it is about weight.

Really, I'd be okay with either at their ages, but would probably lean toward keeping them both harnessed.

Same here.

I actually decided to turn Pacey FF at 3 years, 8 days old (this past Monday) and 29 lbs. (31.6 lbs. fully clothed). In the process of making that decision, I made myself feel horrible for even thinking about it. I know though, that at 3 years old, he is safe in a correctly installed, correctly used, top tethered, FF seat. He does still have RF room left in his Marathons, but has outgrown his Sceneras (spare seats) RF by height.

You've kept her rear-facing and now she is too tall to do so in her seat. I wouldn't feel one bit guilty turning her FF in her seat so both girls can stay harnessed. If your older daughter can sit correctly in a booster, I also wouldn't feel bad for moving her to that and keeping your younger daughter RF in the Radian.

EzzieMom · Dec 21, 2007

crunchierthanthou said:
I would be okay with ff a 3 yo. It's about age more than it is about weight. Of course, if you're considering putting your older dd in a booster anyway...

It's a toss up- rf to ff or harnessed to booster. Really, I'd be okay with either at their ages, but would probably lean toward keeping them both harnessed.

This is why I LOVE

this board. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! I feel 100% better. You lifted the weight of the world off my sholders. Really.
I think I'm going to keep them both FFing, harnessed and tethered.

abacus2 said:
A three year old FFing in a properly installed and tethered seat is very, very safe. My understanding is that age is significantly more important than weight in determining risk to the spinal cord. I would not choose to move an older child from a harness to a booster to avoid turning a 3 year old FFing.

Same to you....THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! I didn't know that it was age and not weight that matter the most on spinal cord injuries. That's SO good to know.
I'm not moving a thing then. (As of right now, they're both FFing, harnessed and tethered.) Now I've got to update my siggy with a new pix. and new info.!
Thanks guys!

EzzieMom · Dec 21, 2007

SamPacey&Joshua said:
Same here.

I actually decided to turn Pacey FF at 3 years, 8 days old (this past Monday) and 29 lbs. (31.6 lbs. fully clothed). In the process of making that decision, I made myself feel horrible for even thinking about it. I know though, that at 3 years old, he is safe in a correctly installed, correctly used, top tethered, FF seat. He does still have RF room left in his Marathons, but has outgrown his Sceneras (spare seats) RF by height.

You've kept her rear-facing and now she is too tall to do so in her seat. I wouldn't feel one bit guilty turning her FF in her seat so both girls can stay harnessed. If your older daughter can sit correctly in a booster, I also wouldn't feel bad for moving her to that and keeping your younger daughter RF in the Radian.

It's good to know I'm not the only one who felt horrible about switching from Rfing to Ffing. I mean, it's REALLY been eating at me. Everytime we get in the car...is she safe etc. I was even kind of nervous to tell you guys I had switched her, lol. But now that I know it's age and not weight that matters on spinal cord injuries, I feel so much better.
I'm pretty sure I'm just gonna keep them both harnessed and tethered. The seats are in there rock solid. Tethered perfect. I feel really good about the install.
So, I'm just gonna keep it like it is.

Ali · Dec 21, 2007

You did a great job keeping her RF so long! I actually considered buying a Scenera so DD could RF to 35lbs, but didn't realize it had a shorter shell. I'm glad to hear it's more about age too!

SPJ&E · Dec 21, 2007

EzzieMom said:
I was even kind of nervous to tell you guys I had switched her, lol.

I know the feeling, lol. This is the first time I've mentioned that I turned Pacey FF and I had to hit the reply button before I chickened out. Why, I do not know, because I know everyone here is very supportive, especially when you rear-face them for over 2 years.

EzzieMom · Dec 21, 2007

KAK22 said:
You did a great job keeping her RF so long! I actually considered buying a Scenera so DD could RF to 35lbs, but didn't realize it had a shorter shell. I'm glad to hear it's more about age too!

:thanx!: Actually what happened was....I put her FFing as soon as she turned 20 pounds. Which was WELL after her 1st birthday. But then I saw the Kyle David Miller video and talked with them etc. and ended up putting my DD#2 back to RFing. And got my DD#1 a Radian65, bc before that she was in a backless booster.
So...DD#2 was 2 yr. when I put her back to Rfing and had it that way as long as possible. But just a month ago I noticed she was too tall and had to move her to Ffing.
But I am happy that I switched her back to Rfing for as long as possible. I went back and forth with the idea of buying a Britax, putting DD#1 in that and then putting DD#2 in the Radian65 Rfing. But I really just don't have the money. And we really don't travel that much. I mean, I know accidents can happen anywhere and at anytime. But ykwim.
Anyways- good for you for keeping your Ds Rfing for so long as well:thumbsup:

EzzieMom · Dec 21, 2007

SamPacey&Joshua said:
I know the feeling, lol. This is the first time I've mentioned that I turned Pacey FF and I had to hit the reply button before I chickened out. Why, I do not know, because I know everyone here is very supportive, especially when you rear-face them for over 2 years.

I know! lol! That's too funny. Same with me. I was so scared.
I guess I thought people would be mad or upset with me. Like people would say "if you can keep her Rfing then why don't you? And if you don't then you're putting your daughter in grave danger" YKWIM? But that wasn't the response I got at all. Thank God.
And I did try very hard to Rf as long as possible. As soon as I found out that she could still be Rfing I went out and switched her car seat around. I even went to a car seat safety check to make sure I did it right.
And as soon as I found out that EH is better, I went out and got the Radian65 and put my then 5 year old back in to a harnessed seat. (I even managed to ignore all the cries/protest from her and all the rolling of eyes from family/friends/strangers, lol)
So I guess I shouldn't have been nervous at all. But I was, lol.

Victorious4 · Dec 27, 2007

Yep, the spine ossifys (ossifies? spelling!

[connects & hardens

]) at 3 years old -- so I would definitely feel better about turning a preschooler FF at 3 yrs. rather than a Kindergartener boostered when she still fits a harness....

How is school going, BTW

EzzieMom · Dec 27, 2007

papooses said:
Yep, the spine ossifys (ossifies? spelling! [connects & hardens ]) at 3 years old -- so I would definitely feel better about turning a preschooler FF at 3 yrs. rather than a Kindergartener boostered when she still fits a harness....

How is school going, BTW

Thanks for the advice/info. I do feel better talking with all of you. Now I feel like I'm doing the right thing. Before I felt like I was a bad mom or something. Like I was putting one in danger.

School is good. She's doing great. She got all "O" (for outstanding) on her "report" card. I had a teacher parent meeting last month and she said everything was great. My DD#1 is at or above on everything.
Her teacher had asked us (all the parents) to write a letter about who our child is....well I ended up writting a 3 to 4 page letter

I told her about my DD's Sensory Processing Dysfunction (SPD) and how far she's come etc. Her teacher said she couldn't believe that she was the same child that she read about in the the letter.
The only "problem" is my DD has an improper hand grip on pencils/utinsils. She has a fisted grip. They want her to use a tripod grip. It's really common with kids who has SPD to also have a fine motor delay, which she does. So she got it to where my DD is getting Occupational Therapy (OT) thru the school w/o being on an IEP

Her teacher has actually ended up being an okay teacher/person. We just started off rocky.

Rfing or Ffing?

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