Questions: Dd 4 in a graco turbo, should I switch to radian? Other radian questions

the7dunlaps · Nov 18, 2006

Hey all! I'm new here. Found this board from the tbw site (babywearingsite)...
We are currently trying to decide which carseat to buy for my 2.5 year old. She is about to move from her convertible (evenflo comfortouch something or other?) so that our youngest (8mo.) can move from the infant carrier to that. (It's new in the last 1.5 years).
Anyway, the biggest issue for us is that we have 2 boys (6 and 7 years) in the back seat of our van in graco turbo boosters (the tall backs, not just the bottom part) and dd 2.5 sits inbetween them. The seat HAS to be narrow in order to fit and the boys to have room to strap themselves in (room to get to the seatbelts).
In searching for this I came across info on the radian..... I'm thinking that is what we will by for dd 2.5... as long as it will work ok forward facing in our nissan quest van. It's an older van with 4 doors not 5.
We just moved dd 4 yrs. into a graco turbo booster (from an alpha and omega which WILL NOT fit in the back at all!). I haven't felt real comfortable that she's big enough to safely be in the graco turbo, but height wise she needed a tall seat. (She's over 100% height).
Anyway, I'm wondering if we should be buying both our 2.5 and 4 yr old girls a radian???? It's A LOT of money for us right now, and I'm not certain we can do both right now... but I'm hoping. We take a LONG long trip (50 hrs driving over 2 weeks) at Christmas and I'd really like to have them safe (obviously lol). Our 8 month old will be moving from her infant seat to the evenflo convertible seat, rear facing.

I'd love ANY input and advice. Thank you!

becca011906 · Nov 18, 2006

does the van have latch... if so the instal with that should be great, it's easy, but only good latch installed to 48lbs or 40 depending... but it's a great seat and i really love it, i've been able to get a pretty good instal in lots of cars so far... what are the sizes weight and hight of the 2.5 year old and 4 year old.
You can see pics of my 4.5 year old in my siggy link in a radian we love it!

abacus2 · Nov 18, 2006

Buying both girls a Radian would be a very good idea. You clearly recognize that your 4 year old isn't ready to use a booster properly, and your dd's maturity/ability to sit still is actually more important than the arbitrary age of 4 for a booster. There are some less expensive convertible and combination seats with 40lb limits that are fairly narrow, so you might be able to save some money buying your 4 yr old a Radian and your 2.5 yr old a less expensive narrow seat with the idea of passing down the Radian assuming that your dd is ready for a booster when the younger dd needs a higher weight/height seat. Check out http://carseatdata.org/measurements.php?tun=home for width and harness slot height measurements. The Radian is not on this site, but it is 14" wide at the base, 17" wide in the shoulders, and has 18" top harness slots.

Also, the Britax Parkway is an excellent booster, especially in tight spots, as it has no armrests to get in the way of buckling. The Parkway can be found on sale for $80 at several websites in discontinued patterns.

skaterbabs · Nov 18, 2006

You may also want to consider replacing the TBs with seats without arm rests. The Parkway is a good choice that puzzles well in tight spots.

the7dunlaps · Nov 18, 2006

The van doesn't have latch.
My 2.5 yr. old is around 25-28lbs. (I'm not sure on height, but average)
My 4 yr old is around 35lbs I wanna say, and tall but again I need to measure, she's over 100% on the growth chart for height, but average build otherwise, not big.

I can't pay to switch my boys right now, although I wish I had known about the parkway before buying the boys their turbo boosters.

Keep the input/opinions coming please. I REALLY appreciate you guys!

skaterbabs · Nov 18, 2006

I completely understand.

Good luck! Sometimes it's just a matter of playing with seats until you find a combination that works for you.

the7dunlaps · Nov 18, 2006

Becca, I'm looking at your pics now. The scenera, that's the seat I was going to buy for our 2.5 yr old, but it looks/feels so uncomfy! The evenflo we have has the EFS (or whatever, foam) that's comfy. This will be her only seat so I thought the scenera wouldn't be comfy enough. Any input? Is the radian similar in width at the base as the scenera? I noticed the scenera when looking at it is super narrow on the sides underneath, which is where the boys need room to strap in.
Rebecca is actually more like 32-35lbs, I don't know why I said 40! Doh. lol

the7dunlaps · Nov 18, 2006

Becca, another question... Your Abby, she looks about the same size as my dd who's 4 yrs and 2 months, and about 32-35lbs. She has the graco turbo booster (just like the pic of abby in one). How do you think your dd fits in that graco?
Thank you all so much!

abacus2 · Nov 18, 2006

Is the Alpha Omega one of the seats that the base can be removed? Is your 2.5 year old RFing? She could be, it's much safer, and maybe one of the two convertibles you already have would fit RFing between the Turbos.

Can the 4 year old not be between the boys in a Radian with the 2.5 year old in one of the other seats in the Alpha Omega?

Also maybe rather than 2 Radians you could buy one Radian and two Parkways assuming Parkways would allow you to use one of your existing convertibles in the middle.

Has the 2.5 year old outgrown the Evenflo or can she continue to use that moving the baby into the Alpha Omega?

Weigh your 4 year old. If she's actually 32 lbs maybe you can use a less expensive 40 lbs combination seat with higher harness slots for approximately another year.

Sorry for the ramble, I was just trying to brainstorm some possible solutions.

Jewels · Nov 18, 2006

I don't own the AO, but I have heard that you can remove the base and then they sit better on the seat and aren't as big!

I like Abacus2's suggestion

the7dunlaps · Nov 18, 2006

I sooo appreciate you guys brainstorming with me (and dh).
Lets see...
The A&O is too wide at the top too, not just the base so it won't fit inbetween the boys 2 seats in the back.
Becca (4 yrs) gets car sick so she has to be in the middle row and not the back.
I can't do any of the seats rear facing in the back row because one boy that sits on the drivers side in the back wouldn't be able to get to his seat (it would be blocked by the RF seat in the middle) Our Van doesn't have the extra door for the back on the drivers side.
So that really means that we can't put our 4 yr old in the back (carsickness), and our 2.5 yr old has to be forward facing so that ds can get to his seat in the corner. We can't put her in the corner either because the middle seat only has a lap belt. UGH!
I wish our van was newer and had a shoulder belt in the middle, or an extra door (like they all have now lol). We just really need to wait a couple more years to buy a new van though.
We possibly could move the baby to the A&O but she would have to be behind dh's seat (so Becca can get in her seat, again that extra door would come in handy) and I'm not sure if it will fit behind his seat since it's so tall.
Hmm Also, it's around 5-6 years old now so I'm thinking Abby (8mo.) shouldn't switch to it, and we should ditch it anyway.
What do you guys think?

Keep the idea coming. I Can't tell you how much I appreciate it!!!

Jewels · Nov 18, 2006

Can't you put 2 kids in the second row? and two in the back?

For your AO check the manual for expiration date or call cosco I saw earlier today someone posted it was good for 6-8, so I would check just to make sure!

the7dunlaps · Nov 18, 2006

We have 5 kids in seats so we have to have 2 in the middle and 3 in the back.

I don't have a manual; we bought it from a friend.

Jewels · Nov 18, 2006

I thought you only had 4, oops sorry, are they all in car seats/boosters?

Could you put one booster in the second row and two car seats in the back with one booster?

abacus2 · Nov 18, 2006

Can you put the Alpha Omega behind the passenger seat and climb between the front seats to get to the driver side second row? You do need to check the expiration date on this seat, it might already be expired.

Maybe get a Scenera for the baby. My daughter has never cared in the least how padded her car seat was. She's riden in a Cosco Touriva (like the Scenera) and a Cosco High Back Booster (the least padded seat I've ever seen), an Evenflo Vanguard 5 and Triumph, as well as a Britax Decathlon. She's been equally happy with all of these seats. Kids in general care way, way less than parents do about padding. BTW, my daughter is not an easy-going kid who always goes with the flow; she's very particular about having her way and will let you know what she wants.

If your 4 yr old is about 32 lbs, you could likely get 6-18months out of a seat like the Evenflo Chase booster combo seat available at Target and BRU for about $60. If the Alpha Omega isn't expired and can be used for a while for the baby, you could revisit the idea of booster readiness when the 4 year old outgrows the the Chase, then either buy her a Radian/Regent or put her back in the Turbo, pass the Chase down to the 2.5 yr old (assuming it fits in the back), pass the Evenflo to the baby, and destroy the Alpha Omega to prevent unsafe use by dumpster divers.

Torso height (bottom to shoulders) is actually what matters for car seat fit, not total height. If you measure your 4 yr old's torso height, it would help in choosing the best seat.

the7dunlaps · Nov 18, 2006

Jewels, it's ok.

Yes all are in car seats. Boys 6 and 7 are in graco turbo boosters (with tall backs), dd 4 just moved from an A&O to a Graco turbo booster (had to adjust the headrest up 2 notches even, she's so tall), dd 2.5 is FF in an evenflo comforttouch something that we bought 1.5 yrs ago (has the soft EFS foam etc. I really love this seat), and the baby is in an infant 3pt harness but we are wanting to move her to the convertible evenflo SOON.

We just checked, dh said the A&O is expired.

Thankfully we stoped using that last month.

We can't put 2 carseats in the back because we wouldn't be able to get to the 3rd seat (drivers side) to put a kid in it because we would have to lift over the other 2 seats etc. (there's no 5th door). Kwim?

Abacus2~ What about us using the evenflo triumph comfort touch for the baby, and then buying a chase evenflo and a radian for the 2.5 yr old and 4 yr old.
Is the chase tall though, because my 4 yr old is SUPER tall, we had to adjust the graco turbo up 2 notches height wise. Hmmm

the7dunlaps · Nov 18, 2006

I'm going to measure dd's torso tomorrow, but I know she is VERY tall/long torso'd. I am too.

abacus2 · Nov 18, 2006

Buying a Chase and a Radian would likely also work well. Comparing the 4 yr old's torso height to the Radian's top harness slot height (18") or Chase's (16.8") will give an idea of how much growing room she'll have in each seat. I think a good estimate is that her torso would grow about 1.5" per year. Obviously this could be off if she has a major growth spurt, but it's a reasonable guess. If she has a torso too long for the Radian (not very likely), the other options are the original SafeGuard Child Seat ($450, but really cool), the Britax Regent ($250, requires a tether after 50lbs), the RiderSafe Travel Vest ($99, but would be a pain for everyday use and isn't a traditional seat, but rather a vest), or the E-Z-on harness ($?, same issues as the RiderSafe). Another option for the 4 year old is the Cosco Apex 65 ($130 ($99 on sale at Albee baby) 17.5" top harness slot and 65 lb weight limit).

the7dunlaps · Nov 18, 2006

How is the chase for comfort?

Dh thinks Becca is ok in the graco turbo because of her height, I'm just not sure.

becca011906 · Nov 19, 2006

hi mama, sorry i went to bed last night after posting! LOL i was sleepy!

anyways my 4y/o was in the graco and i like you wanted her OUT of it as soon as i found this board and she was going to get a regent britax and the radian was going to my youngest but b/c of funds my dh said NO way was i getting a 200+ seat when i already bought a parkway for ds and a radian, so i gave the radian to my 4y/o she's sort torsoed so she's only on the second to the highest setting w/ lots of room to grow (2-3 inches) in torso hight that could be 2-4 years depending on how she grows of the the next few years. she's only 35 lbs so could still be rfing in the scenera but i could get a good rfing on the radian where i needed allie. anyways the scerna is a great seat, i mean rfing to 35lbs the instal is a breeze!!! So easy i have yet to find a car it won't instal well in!!! The padding my dd as well could car less about it, my two girls were once in the older cosco convertibles that had NO padding as well but they never carried, these seats since expired and have been trashed.
get your dh to read some info on line about how much safer 5pt is then boosters... try this, if he watches racing then drivers are in 5pt b/c it's so so much safter... why doesn't you 4 y/o desirve the same... i would say get the 4 y/o a radian and the youngest a scerna it's cost efective and will keep the baby rfing for a LONG time. then you can keep your 2 y/o in what's she in. HTH

Questions: Dd 4 in a graco turbo, should I switch to radian? Other radian questions

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