Help for nephew...

My nephew will be 8 months on the 8th but he was born at 30 weeks so he is about 5.5 months adjusted (he was due a week before my DD). He is 26-27 inches and 16-17 lbs. He is currently riding in an '03 Evenflo Portabout that I bought off of Ebay for my DS and then passed on to her before I knew better. It has tons of very obvious stress marks, the LATCH was cut off when I received it, and the straps have been washed numerous times. She drives Mazda MX3, not sure what year but older, with a tiny backseat. She is not car seat savvy at all. He rides around with the straps hanging off of his shoulders because "he cries if they are tight" (and by tight she means you could fit a whole arm in instead of 2 fingers). And as for the "install"? One day she came over with it buckled behind the passenger seat and when she went to get him out the whole base slid over to the driver's side seat . Her seatbelts dont lock either. I would really like to see her get a new seat, but I highly doubt that will happen. I have thought about buying her a Scenera but I doubt she would use it because she carries my nephew in his bucket everywhere (his 2nd home pretty much). Any suggestions? I've tried to drag her to some car seat checks but she always ends up being busy. Not to mention she is a horrible driver. She had 27 speeding tickets by the time she graduated highschool and her car shows up with new dents almost daily (not exaggerating). I'm open to any and all suggestions on how to get my nephew much safer without upsetting her too much. I've tried to talk to her, help her install his seat, etc and she just wont listen.

Well if she won't buy a new seat, will you? I know you mentioned getting the scenera. I think considering she likes to carry him in the seat a safeseat might be good for him since he's still pretty small. By the time he outgrows it he'll be mobile and won't stand to be toted around in it anyway. And the safeseat has a built-in lock off which would make it very easy to install in her car.

I don't even know what to say about the strap problem. I've tried to explain it to people before and they just don't seem to get it! I think a lot of people think the chest clip acts as part of the restraint and provides another point of protection so if you look at it that way, it's much harder for kids to "fly out". Obviously we know better but sometimes people don't see it the way we do. Sorry if that makes no sense.

Maybe get her attention with phrases like "better a crying baby than a dead one"? I don't know what will work with someone like that!

Of course there's always videos you could send her. I don't know if there's one with loose straps though.

What if you found her a rear adjust snugride? then you could adjust it to fit him and she wouldn't move it and maybe help her install it properly.

jsta1005 said:

What if you found her a rear adjust snugride? then you could adjust it to fit him and she wouldn't move it and maybe help her install it properly.

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His Portabout is rear adjust and everytime I watch him I adjust it for her, but the next time I see him its hanging off of him again.

I would love to get him a SS1 but I really dont have the money right now.

Ok I know this is a no-no, but in this case it's probably the lesser of two evils....maybe a used safeseat off of craigslist or something? I wouldn't normally advocate used seats...but really, most people are not going to lie about a crashed or otherwise damaged seat. You can feel someone out about it. Even if you were unsure....a used safeseat with no visible damage is better than what he's in now.

Shaunam said:

Ok I know this is a no-no, but in this case it's probably the lesser of two evils....maybe a used safeseat off of craigslist or something? I wouldn't normally advocate used seats...but really, most people are not going to lie about a crashed or otherwise damaged seat. You can feel someone out about it. Even if you were unsure....a used safeseat with no visible damage is better than what he's in now.

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That's kinda what I was thinking. His seat has tons of stress marks, especially at the belt path on both the seat and the base. And the straps have been washed atleast 4 times by me before I knew better. Also getting her to use a locking clip (especially correctly) is HIGHLY unlikely and her seatbelts dont lock.

I was really considering buying her a Scenera, but she wouldnt use it right, if at all. The SS1 would be perfect for the situation and he is a little guy so he'd be able to use it for quite a while. I just wish they werent so darn expensive.

I know you had another thread, trying to decide what seat to move dd into. Could you pass down the SS1 once you've replaced it? You'd only need a less pink cover for it.

azzuranotte said:

I know you had another thread, trying to decide what seat to move dd into. Could you pass down the SS1 once you've replaced it? You'd only need a less pink cover for it.

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I had kinda thought about that... How much are new covers? I dont think he'd appreciate all the pink.

you could even get a safeseat cheap off craigslist, swap the covers, and then resell the seat you bought with the pink cover - charge what you paid... and be honest that you bought the seat to swap your existing cover out because it is being passed to a boy.

Of course, if you don't believe the one you buy is safe to use, you can destroy it or use it only in the house as a feeding/sitting chair.

Ahem, a couple posts seeking to swap covers were deleted from this thread because swap content is limited to the board's swap forum in keeping with these forum guidelines: http://www.car-seat.org/announcement.php?f=23 Please abide by these guidelines and/or conduct any cover swapping discussions via the forum's PM (private messaging) feature. Thanks for your cooperation.

Sorry Jeanum. I wasn't sure if it was allowed here, but because the one before me was left up....I thought it was ok.

ok well people have chimed in about the ss1 and getting one. but still not going to help if it can slide all over the back seat. my sil refuses to buckle seats tight the slide everywhere. she pt her 2.5 yr old in a turbobooster because it was pink. i finally got her back into a harnessed seat. but heres what i did. she had to run out to get something so i offered to go with her. we brought he dd and i said you run in and get it i'll wait in the car. welll i took her dd out of the seat and installed it much tighter and then put her back in. you can't do much with the harness if she is just going to loosen it but at least the seat is tighter in the vehicle. if she won't go somewhere when she comes over ask her to watch the kids so you can run outside and get something and then quickly tighten her sons seat.
and as i always do just pray that if they get in an accident it is something minor and will scare her to listen to you.

NannyMom said:

Sorry Jeanum. I wasn't sure if it was allowed here, but because the one before me was left up....I thought it was ok.

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It was left up until now because mods didn't notice either post contained swap contest until now, that's all. No worries, now you know.

mommyto2angelgirls said:

ok well people have chimed in about the ss1 and getting one. but still not going to help if it can slide all over the back seat. my sil refuses to buckle seats tight the slide everywhere. she pt her 2.5 yr old in a turbobooster because it was pink. i finally got her back into a harnessed seat. but heres what i did. she had to run out to get something so i offered to go with her. we brought he dd and i said you run in and get it i'll wait in the car. welll i took her dd out of the seat and installed it much tighter and then put her back in. you can't do much with the harness if she is just going to loosen it but at least the seat is tighter in the vehicle. if she won't go somewhere when she comes over ask her to watch the kids so you can run outside and get something and then quickly tighten her sons seat.
and as i always do just pray that if they get in an accident it is something minor and will scare her to listen to you.

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It sucks when people don't take it seriously and we can't get every child perfectly safe in the car. But if we can try to help each child get safER it makes a difference. Loose straps are a problem, as is a loose seat. But in a minor accident, being in a newer seat without stressmarks all over it might actually make a difference.

I always think it's worth it to try to get them safer, even if they are still horribly restrained.