Why isn't a Diplomat good for a newborn?

stelly

New member
Hi,
I'm new to the forum. Browsing around I've seen a couple of threads where it was mentioned that the Diplomat was not a good option for a newborn. My daughter came home from the hospital in her Diplomat and I had planned to do the same if we ever had another child...

I searched the forum to see if there was an explanation somewhere, but I didn't see anything.

Can someone please explain what the issue might be with this? My daughter was 8lb7oz and seemed to fit very well in it, reclined correctly...

Thanks!
 
ADS

Maedze

New member
The Diplomat, like every other Britax convertible, has a bottom harness position of 10 inches torso height. This is much too high for all but the hugest babies out there. Even solid children like yours often have shoulders an inch or more below where the harness goes into the shell of the seat. Britax, like every other convertible, requires that the harness be at or BELOW the shoulders of a rearfacing child NEVER above.

Also, the Diplomat is never recommended, either, because it's outgrown too soon rear facing, and outgrown too soon forward facing.
 

BookMama

Senior Community Member
Hello - welcome to Car-Seat.org. :)

The main concern with the Diplomat (as well as the other Britax convertibles) is that the bottom slot is too high for the vast majority of newborns. When rear-facing, the harness should be in the slots that are at or below the child's shoulders. The Britax convertibles have a 10" bottom slot, which is several inches above the shoulders of most newborns. Babies tend to start fitting the Britax convertibles around 6 months or so.

There really aren't very many convertibles that fit newborns well. Two that do seem to work well are the Cosco Scenera and the Sunshine Kids Radian. If you prefer to skip the infant seat altogether, you check out those seats. If you want to use the Diplomat for future newborns just because you already have it, I'd consider purchasing/borrowing an infant seat or one of the seats I've listed above until baby's shoulders are above the bottom slots on the Diplomat. :)
 

stelly

New member
Ah, how interesting, thank you. I feel sure her shoulders were good in there... will have to look back at my photos. I know her cloth diapers gave her a good couple of inches of torso height!;)

She is 16 months now and about 24lbs so still rear facing in the Diplomat. I plan to keep her that way up to the weight limit, and then purchase a Radian or something.

We did have a PP infant seat that we used in my husband's car when she was very small, so I guess we could get another infant seat for any second child we had, then transfer them into the Diplomat, then into the Radian while elder child gets a Regent or something... I am really loathe to use infant seats because they are too cumbersome to lift out of the car and downright dangerous to be used as a stroller/sleep receptacle like so many parents use them... hmmm... guess I more purchasing if we have another child - yay!:D

Thanks for the replies.
 

Judi

CPST/Firefighter
There are convertibles that fit an infant well. No need to get an infant seat. The Evenflo Triumph Advance, Cosco Scenera and True Fit, to name a few.
 

BW1426

Well-known member
Ah, how interesting, thank you. I feel sure her shoulders were good in there... will have to look back at my photos. I know her cloth diapers gave her a good couple of inches of torso height!;)

She is 16 months now and about 24lbs so still rear facing in the Diplomat. I plan to keep her that way up to the weight limit, and then purchase a Radian or something.

We did have a PP infant seat that we used in my husband's car when she was very small, so I guess we could get another infant seat for any second child we had, then transfer them into the Diplomat, then into the Radian while elder child gets a Regent or something... I am really loathe to use infant seats because they are too cumbersome to lift out of the car and downright dangerous to be used as a stroller/sleep receptacle like so many parents use them... hmmm... guess I more purchasing if we have another child - yay!:D

Thanks for the replies.

That's great that she is still RFing. Keep in mind however that she also will have outgrown the Diplomat RFing when she has less than 1 inch of hard shell above her head (the headwings do NOT count as shell). IME most kids tend to outgrow the Diplomat or Roundabout RFing between 18 and 24 months.
 

carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants
The Radian80 (and the Radian65 with the Comfy-Soft inserts) actually fit newborns well, so if you were planning on using one anyhow, you can just skip the Diplomat altogether.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Combi Coccoro is also a nice convertibles for wee babes... http://carseatblog.com/?p=1750

Some of us take the dissenting opinion that a child is not in danger from the straps being a bit above the shoulders in a seat that has a 5 point harness. The danger from having straps too high is that a child may 'ramp' up and out of the seat in a crash (and if the head flies out of the top of the seat it may strike the door or front seatbacks, and that is what causes injury). When an infant is way down below the top of the seat, has lap straps holding them in place, and in this case, even headwings holding them down, they are not going to ramp out of the seat at all. Britax follows the simple convention of saying the straps should be 'at or below' to prevent parental confusion ('everyone' has that rule), but I feel that if they thought tiny babies were at actual danger from high bottom slots, they would have redesigned their seats 10 years ago to improve performance of the seat with the smallest crash test dummies. But as it is? Good performance with crash dummies, no real life injuries reported with small babies equals no reason to redesign the seat.
Most of us do prefer to keep our children rearfacing as long as possible, up to age 3-4 as they do in Sweden, which has a much lower rate of child death/injury than we do in this country, so the Diplomat simply isn't tall enough, where the 'bigger' convertibles are (Boulevard/Marathon/True Fit/Evenflo Triumph Advance/Alpha Omega Elite/Radian...etc!), and then we like to keep our kids harnessed to at least age 5 or 6 (which all those do for average sized kids, while the Diplomat maybe lasts till 3 or 4), again because the head injury rate for kids in boosters under age 5 is pretty high.

Anyway, hope that helps a little. I'm not advocating everyone goes out and uses seats with straps above a babies shoulders, jut trying to give perspective on why it's not likely to be a dangerous situation for very tiny babies in otherwise properly used seats (even some infant seats are above babies shoulders...)

:)
 

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