Thinking of sending back the RN and getting the MR

Amaris · Aug 29, 2009

I know if I do I will have to get another seat for ff'ing later on because she is tall. I just really do not like the RN rf'ing at all. I do, however, love the fact that it isn't on a base. It's so much easier getting her in and out. Why oh why does it have to be so reclined? Dh said if I got the RN it would be the last harnessed seat I was allowed to get, as would any other harnessed seat. I KNOW the MR would not be the last harnessed seat Kaitlin would need because I refuse to use a booster before she's 6. She might get to 5 in the MR, but I wouldn't place any bets on it. Ugh, what should I do?

kandamom · Aug 29, 2009

I'm in the same situation, and I did end up keeping it. My ds2 doesn't mind the recline at all, but I still wish I could get him more upright. I am also hoping to harness ds2 until around age 6. (We have a Regent that will expire when he is 5.5, but I'm hoping the Radian will last longer than that. My 7.5-year-old would still be under the top slots for ff.)

I'm just not comfortable with ds2 ff yet, and I will not get the other 40 lb. rear facing options for the reasons you have mentioned in previous posts. For anyone reading this who might have an answer, are older children less safe at all when reclined at a 45 degree angle? Would it be worse than being more upright in a rear-end collision?

If I recall correctly, Kaitlin is in the 30-31 pound range and using a marathon with a 33 lb rf limit. It could take her a while to gain two pounds, so you could wait to see if any other seats with 40 lb rf limits become available. If you really don't like the radian, you could wait it out and either ff her or get her whatever seat is available at that point.

Rebecca
K - 7.5, 51.5", 57 lbs, Monterey
A - 26 months, 37.5", 33 lbs, rf in a Radian65

Pixels · Aug 29, 2009

The seats are perfectly safe at 45 degrees if that's that the manufacturer says to install them. They've been tested that way with the heavier dummies.

There may be benefits to having the seat installed more upright with heavier children. The shell will take more of the forces instead of the harness having to do quite so much work to hold the child in. But it's still safe to install to the maximum recline allowed by the manufacturer.

Amaris · Aug 29, 2009

My biggest concern right now is that I have the front seat touching the radian, which I know is ok, but when I put Kaitlin in the radian it really pushes against the front seat. We do not have airbags in the seats and the vehicle manual does not prohibit it, I'm just not sure how comfortable I am that it's pushing that much on the seat. I don't know if it could happen, but I keep picturing that in a crash the front seat will move forward, the radian will tip back, and the front seat will come back down on Kaitlin. I don't know if it's possible, but my mind is stuck on it. I might try it in the middle, even though getting her in and out of the middle is tough on me. Oh, she's gained weight pretty quickly, and I'm not comfortable waiting to see if something else comes out. I haven't weighed her in the past few days because she's been in the radian, but she had gone from 26lbs to 31lbs in just under 4 weeks, if I remember correctly. She still hasn't slowed down with what she's eating, so I'm thinking the 2lbs isn't going to take much longer.

Pixels · Aug 29, 2009

Any rear facing seat can and will rotate downwards during a crash. It doesn't matter if the seat was braced before the crash or not. The reason that you need to have one inch of hard shell above her head is to protect her head and keep it from hitting anything, including the back of the front seat.

In a crash, the front seat will move forward as the carseat rotates downward. Then everything will move back towards where it started. The carseat will rotate upward and the front seat will move back, too. Everything moves together, first forward, then back. The carseat isn't going to rotate down and stay down while the front seat comes back.

Can your daughter climb in and out of her seat herself? My daughter will. All I have to do is put her on the vehicle seat next to her carseat and tell her to get in her seat, and she does. She just doesn't always turn around and sit down, she likes to stand up in it and look over the top. Getting out, the same basic thing. I unbuckle her, tell her to take her arms out, and then she climbs out. Sometimes she needs a hand to hold for balance, but she climbs out on her own. That way I don't have to do any awkward heavy lifting, I'm only picking her up and putting her down on the outboard seat.

Amaris · Aug 29, 2009

The funny thing is I've read on here that everything will move back together, and I do trust you guys, but I've got this image in my head and it won't leave! It makes no sense, and I know that, I just can't get around it. I did go install the seat in the middle. It took more work to get it in tight, but it seems to stay a little more upright there. She's pretty good about getting into her seat on her own if I pick her up, but getting her tight is a little difficult. I don't much care for not loosening the harness when I get her out, so I tighten every time. I will get used to it, though. I'm still trying to tell myself I like it overall, but I don't. I will just have to get used to it.

pixels99 said:
Any rear facing seat can and will rotate downwards during a crash. It doesn't matter if the seat was braced before the crash or not. The reason that you need to have one inch of hard shell above her head is to protect her head and keep it from hitting anything, including the back of the front seat.

In a crash, the front seat will move forward as the carseat rotates downward. Then everything will move back towards where it started. The carseat will rotate upward and the front seat will move back, too. Everything moves together, first forward, then back. The carseat isn't going to rotate down and stay down while the front seat comes back.

Can your daughter climb in and out of her seat herself? My daughter will. All I have to do is put her on the vehicle seat next to her carseat and tell her to get in her seat, and she does. She just doesn't always turn around and sit down, she likes to stand up in it and look over the top. Getting out, the same basic thing. I unbuckle her, tell her to take her arms out, and then she climbs out. Sometimes she needs a hand to hold for balance, but she climbs out on her own. That way I don't have to do any awkward heavy lifting, I'm only picking her up and putting her down on the outboard seat.

Amaris · Aug 29, 2009

Raegansmom4 said:
Trade ya! I have an MR (purchased 7/31) and wish I had a Radian!

As tempting as that is I can't. I've played with the MR in the store and I really like it, but Kaitlin is very long in the torso and I promised DH that I won't get another harnessed seat unless there's no other option (such as an accident). There's no way she would get long enough in the MR. She's already on the next to top slot rf'ing in the marathon, and would probably outgrow it ff'ing by the time she is 4.

DahliaRW · Aug 30, 2009

At her height (dunno how her torso is) I can't imagine she'll last all that long rfing in the MR either. My ds2 is 36" and only has a half inch or so left rfing in the MA. He does have a long torso, however.

Amaris · Aug 30, 2009

She didn't have a lot of room in the marathon, but I was hoping her legs would catch up with her torso and hopefully get her to 3. I haven't measured her torso, but for comparison she's wearing 24 month pants and 4t tops.

kandamom · Aug 31, 2009

pixels99 said:
The seats are perfectly safe at 45 degrees if that's that the manufacturer says to install them. They've been tested that way with the heavier dummies.

There may be benefits to having the seat installed more upright with heavier children. The shell will take more of the forces instead of the harness having to do quite so much work to hold the child in. But it's still safe to install to the maximum recline allowed by the manufacturer.

Thanks for addressing this issue. I'm pretty much in the same boat as the OP - tall child with a long torso. (I think ds2 is due for a growth spurt as well, since his feet just had a big one and he's gained some weight. He hasn't grown taller in a while. Maybe his legs will catch up one of these days.

) I looked at the CA yesterday, and there is no way I could buy that seat at that price. My choice is deal with the angle of the Radian or have him ff. Fortunately, it fits okay in my minivan.

kandamom · Aug 31, 2009

Amaris said:
Oh, she's gained weight pretty quickly, and I'm not comfortable waiting to see if something else comes out. I haven't weighed her in the past few days because she's been in the radian, but she had gone from 26lbs to 31lbs in just under 4 weeks, if I remember correctly. She still hasn't slowed down with what she's eating, so I'm thinking the 2lbs isn't going to take much longer.

Wow, I had no idea that they gain that fast at this age! If she was 26 pounds and near her current height, though, her weight might have had some "catching up" to do. I thought ds2 looked fairly thin when he was 37" & 31 lbs a few months ago - at least compared to ds1 at that age. DS2 is the kind of kid who runs everywhere and won't even stay in his stroller. I can't imagine carrying around five more pounds, so I hope he doesn't gain weight that quickly.

Even at his current weight I have trouble lifting and carrying him sometimes.

Thinking of sending back the RN and getting the MR

Amaris

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Pixels

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Amaris

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