Question 2-year-old complains of back pain in carseat

Maedze

New member
Beth,

I'm glad to hear back from you! I was thinking about you and your situation and was worried for your daughter.

Turning the Britax Marathon (besides being a great increase in safety), may help a lot, as it will slightly alter your daughter's center of gravity so that she's bearing the weight on the back of her buttocks rather than her thighs, and her lower legs and feet will be supported rather than dangling.

When you buckle her, encourage her to scootch her tush all the way back into the bight of the car seat so that she's not slouching.

I look forward to hearing if this helps!
 
ADS

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
I would keep following up on the back pain myself, simply because her reaction seems so extreme, yk?

I also wanted to second the recommendation for providing foot support. I've suffered from low back pain for years, and regardless of the cause, having my legs dangling is torture. Hopefully turning her RF will do the trick, but if it doesn't, you can make a foot rest with a pool noodle like jools posted, or you can get a cheap foam cooler for her to rest her feet on.

Just keep in mind that anything you get to use as a footrest could become a projectile in a crash, so you want it to be as light as possible.
 
I am glad you got a different seat. Def. try to turn it back rearfacing. My son preferred rearfacing over forward facing. he complains that his legs hurt forward facing.

I would def. try to take her to a chiropractor, they do wonders there for kids.

Hope you can get to the bottom of it. You sound like a wonderful mom.
 

lovinwaves

New member
If you do turn her seat back to the rear-facing positioning she may find a small bolster like pillow under her legs can be comforting.
 

Calleiah

Active member
I had my little one at the Chiropractor last year and he mentioned that my daughters hips seemed imballanced. He said this can be from a number of factors anywhere from birth to the falls incurred during learning to walk and those early toddler years. If you've exhausted medical options you might look into having her evaluated by a good chiropractor.
I hope this gets resolved soon, I know how helpless one can feel when your kiddos hurt. :(

Callie
 

Beth Vollins

New member
Here (I hope the pictures have uploaded) is the Britax marathon turned rf with Gracie in it. Please help me here. Is this how it is supposed to look? She said her back didn't hurt, but her legs seem terribly awkward. I moved the van seat back to accommodate her legs. Is this safe? Do I remove the van seat head rest?

Second set of questions concern the cosco highback booster. I'm want to move my six-year-old daughter to the booster using the lap belt. She is 45 inches, 56 pounds. Do I use the tether and latch straps or only the seat belt?

Regards,

Beth
 

arly1983

New member
Second set of questions concern the cosco highback booster. I'm want to move my six-year-old daughter to the booster using the lap belt. She is 45 inches, 56 pounds. Do I use the tether and latch straps or only the seat belt?

Cosco's high-back car seat provides utmost vehicle safety and versatility for babies and older children. It begins duty as a highly secure car seat for infants and toddlers and adapts into a safety booster seat for older, larger children. This sturdy seat is built to give you years of use and meets federal motor vehicle safety standards.


Belt-positioning guides on both sides
Internal 5-point harness system for children 22-40 pounds
Belt-positioning booster for children 40-80 lbs.
2 harness heights for better fit
Roomy seat has comfort-support sides for napping
Locking clip included
Meets federal motor vehicle safety standards, including crash testing head excursion limits
Equipped with LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children), a system that allows the car seat to be fastened to the vehicle without use of the adult lap-shoulder belt
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10759857

If your daughter is using the internal harness on the Cosco highback booster she has outgrown it by many pounds. Please switch it to booster mode before you go anywhere else as using the harness over the weight limit is VERY dangerous. :(

I will let someone who is more familiar with boosters and this seat as a booster answer your questions.
 

Lara

New member
She is cute! :)

You need to put the marathon into recline mode, it is still in the upright, ff mode. there is a little handle in the front of the base, just pull it and it will recline...you may not even need to uninstall the seat to do it (just loosen it up a tad). Otherwise, it looks good! That will also give her more leg room.

As far as reclining the van's seat, it depends. you should check your van's manual, it should say if its ok. She'll learn how to cross her legs so they don't look so awkward. Glad she is more comfy now!
 

Shanora

Well-known member
Second set of questions concern the cosco highback booster. I'm want to move my six-year-old daughter to the booster using the lap belt. She is 45 inches, 56 pounds. Do I use the tether and latch straps or only the seat belt?

First off I'm glad that your DD can use the car seat now with out pain!! YAY.

Second, with booster seats you MUST use a lap/shoulder belt. You can NOT use a position with only the lap belt. Also, you can not use anything to secure the booster seat to the vehicle other than having your child sit in it and buckling her up with the lap/shoulder belt. The reason for this, is the the Cosco seat (in booster seat mode) has not been tested this way. There ARE some booster seats on the market that have been tested with the LATCH to secure them to the vehicle. Off the top of my head I can't think of them though. Also as long as the middle of your Older DD ear have not reached the top of the car seat she is still safe to be using the Cosco as a booster seat.
 

Beth Vollins

New member
The Marathon is rear facing now. I will check-in tomorrow to let you know if it offers some relief.

My six-year old is moving from a backless booster into the high-back booster. I won't be using the five-point restraint. I had set it up with the latch and tether. But, I will release those and use the seat-belt only.

Can someone repost the tether information for Honda-Odessey 2005-newer? I'm having trouble getting back to that post. It looked helpful for securing the Marathon rear-facing.

Thanks again for all your support.
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
Oh, I love her grin! :D

Is this how it is supposed to look? She said her back didn't hurt, but her legs seem terribly awkward. I moved the van seat back to accommodate her legs. Is this safe? Do I remove the van seat head rest?

Yep, that looks about right. Remember that kids are incredibly more flexible than adults, and generally don't mind such "awkward" positions. It's okay to have the van seat reclined a couple of clicks, but yours looks like it's more reclined than that, so I'd put it a bit more upright.

Once you get the carseat into the recline mode, that should give her a bit more legroom anyway, so putting the vehicle seat more upright shouldn't be an issue.

One more thing - when switching the Marathon from FF to RF or vice-versa, there are three things you need to do. Since you missed one, I wanted to double-check and make sure you didn't forget the other two. :)

First, you need to switch the LATCH hooks from one side to the other. They need to be "right-side up," so you have to swap them so that they're on the correct sides. The manual explains how to do this, and I know there are pictures posted somewhere on this forum as well.

The other thing is to make sure the straps are at or below the shoulders for rear-facing. :thumbsup:

Oh, and no, you don't need to remove the vehicle headrest.


Second set of questions concern the cosco highback booster. I'm want to move my six-year-old daughter to the booster using the lap belt. She is 45 inches, 56 pounds. Do I use the tether and latch straps or only the seat belt?

A few questions - do you mean the booster that is in the background of your pics? Make sure she still fits; it's a fairly short booster, so it's quite possible she's too big for it, even in booster mode. It's outgrown once the tops of her ears are above the shell. As someone else already stated, all boosters must be used with a lap/shoulder belt, but if she's going to be riding in the booster in your pic, in that seat, you should have a lap/shoulder belt there anyway.
 

Beth Vollins

New member
Wow, thank you.

I did make sure the straps are below her shoulders, but I missed switching the latch hooks. I'll check in the morning, but I'm wondering if I missed switching them to ff in the first place. Also, I will put the chair in recline.

Yes, the booster is the pink seat in the picture. I will double-check the height issue. You are right, she may be too big. She would be thrilled as she is not excited about going back to the high-back booster.

Me, I just want everyone to be as safe as possible which includes eliminating the crying and screaming the seats have been causing.

I feel very lucky to have found this site and a group of people who are so responsive. Thank you.
 

Shanora

Well-known member
I didn't switch my latch hooks around when I turned my MA FF (wasn't a tech then yet), as I had no idea they needed to be....LOL I was so excited about getting my MA I tried installing it into my Van BEFORE reading the manual :doh: :D But I was given this link from the ladies here, so I figured I'd pass it along

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieCaEakwJos
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
We're really glad you found us, too! :) You've been stuck dealing with a pretty difficult situation all on your own, and that just makes things worse. At least now you've got some place to share your frustration and get ideas.

You might want to try starting a new thread about booster suggestions for your 6-year-old; you'll get more replies that way. And please keep us updated on how your DD is doing rear-facing and if it helps!
 

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