ff Blvd causing ds's head to slump forward

I recently switched my 2 1/2 yo ds to a Blvd from a Marathon (my very long 3 mo. got switched from an infant seat to the Marathon). He sits ff. The head rest on the Blvd pushes his head forward too much, so if he falls asleep his head falls forward. Dh's idea is to put a board between the back of the seat and the base of the carseat, and then pull the teather on the back tight to pull the top of the seat back more and change the angle. I want to make sure this won't compromise safety, and see if anyone has other suggestions.

I don't know exactly what you are wanting to do, but YES it will compromise safety! I don't understand your plan, but as a general rule, if the sentence involves 'husband', 'board', and 'car seat' it is not a safe thing to do!
I don't think that's why your son's head is slumping forward. I don't know of anyone else who has ever had that problem with a BV. And the headrest doesn't really stick out from the rest of the seat, unless there is something wrong with your actual seat.
Whatever you do, do NOT let your husband futz with the install OR the seat itself. Something doesn't sound right. It's very likely not your seat, unless your seat has a problem.

You can't put anything between the seat and the carseat unless it's VERY thin, like a shelf liner (and RFing you can use a pool noodle to help with an angle). No towels, blankets, boards, etc.

If the boulevard is like the wizard (which it is, the boulevard is the updated version) you can recline the seat in the forward facing position as long as the child is less than 33 pounds. Yes, it is the same, I see it in the boulevard's manual. "Restraint must be in the full upright position when installed in a forward facing mode with children over 33 pounds (15 kg)." (page 3)

However, I think a better solution to this is if your son is under 33 pounds to turn him rearfacing. It'll solve his head falling forward, and it's much safer to be rearfacing to the limits of the seat. My daughter got turned at 2.5, but I recently turned her back (she'll be 4 in a month). She's not yet 28 pounds, so she's got five pounds rearfacing on her before I NEED to switch her back. Plus in my vehicle that's how I get a better install. So I'd consider that a definite option for your son as well.

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/StayRearFacing.aspx

Wendy

I have experienced this to a certain extent with our BVs as well. The wings on the BV do cause the head to be more upright then say on the MA, especially when ff. The nice thing about the Britax seats is even when fully upright, they are more reclined then most other brands. I actually try to install them even more upright...if yours is installed this way, you can pull the front of the BV forward a little more and reinstall it. It will give it a bit more recline (without actually reclining it) and may solve your problem.

Otherwise, I'd switch the kids. Put the baby in the BV (since the harness is below the shoulders, the wings are further down and don't cause the slumping issues like they do when used ff) and move your older child back into the MA.

When my ds's seat is installed in a bucket seat instead of the bench in the 3rd row, it is too upright if the van seat is in its most upright position. I can't sit in the seat w/ it in that position b/c I feel like i'm leaning forward. So I recline the seat one notch, and ds's head doesn't flop forward when he falls asleep anymore. He is too big to rf now, btw. I guess that doesn't help if you're installing in a car, but we never had this problem in our old sedan.

Hmmmm. Well, I kinda thought the board thing wasn't a good idea.

We never had the head slumping problem with the MA in the same spot, so I'm pretty sure it's the headrest that's the problem. Ds is 30 pounds, and only has 3 pounds left for rear facing, so turning him rear facing would only be a temporary solution as far as the head slumping is concerned. He is near enough to the limit that I'm not going to try to force him to sit rear facing now (he was rf up until he turned 2). There also isn't really room to put it rf behind the driver's seat of our van. The front seat would have to sit too upright for the driver's comfort.

I had thought about switching the seats, but I wanted to use the Blvd for the ff kid because of the added side impact protection. Also, ds was so excited about getting a new carseat (as opposed to the baby getting it), that I'd hate to switch it on him now (but I will if no other option presents itself).

Our van has bench seats in both the second and third rows, and there's no way to recline the seat back even a little.

Does anyone else have any other suggestions, before I resort to switching the seats? His head really slumps a lot... his chin touches his chest. That just can't be good.

I'm now wishing I'd bought another MA or Decathlon instead.

There is something wrong with your seat if the headrest is pushing his head that far forward.

Splash said:

There is something wrong with your seat if the headrest is pushing his head that far forward.

Click to expand...

Splash, unless there was a whole batch of incorrectly manufactured BVs that were sold across the country, I don't think there is something wrong with her seat. DS goes to MyGym occasionally (a playgroup-type thing) and pretty much all the kids in the groups ride in Britax convertible seats, and most are in BVs. ALOT if parents have complained about head-slumping when it is installed FF. That is one of the reasons I got an MA instead of a BV. Here is a thread from a few months ago about another mother complaining about her son's head slumping forward in the BV, and she has a picture to show what she means.

Here's the thread: http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=5472&highlight=slumping

Honeybee - Is this what is happening with your DS?

Colleen

Yes, that's it exactly...well, except he's ff, not rf.

Maybe I should try a Travel Buddy, as was suggested in that thread?

I'll probably just switch the seats, but I'm thinking we'll just have to deal with the problem again once ds2 needs to be switched to ff.