Head falling forward

[Unregistered]

My son is 3 and FF in a britax blvd. We have a Honda odyssey and he sits in the middle row captain seat. He has never been a car sleeper but has become one recently due to dropping his nap. Every time he sleeps his was slumps forward. Thy cannot be comfortable nor good for his neck. Is there anything I can do do adjust his seat differently do this doesn't happen? Can I recline the actual captain chair? I believe I have his blvd reclined as much as it can ff, which really isn't much at all.

Just wondering if anyone else has this happening and any advice on how to fix it. TIA!

 

[ketchupqueen]

Welcome to the boards! Hopefully we can answer some questions and give some ideas here.

Forward-facing kids often have head slump. It happens. Unless he has a medical condition it's not a safety issue, only comfort (and then only for some kids- some don't seem to mind at all.)

You should have the vehicle seat upright when installing a car seat, so no, don't recline it. The older Boulevards placed a weight restriction on forward-facing recline so depending what model you have you may need to check that.

So basically, there's not much you can do to change the recline of the forward-facing seat. What you can do is try some interventions to see if they increase his comfort. First, make sure he's harnessed snugly enough, using the pinch test. Once that's checked, try some positioning ideas. One is trying a child "neck pillow" BACKWARDS- don't place it behind his neck, but in front instead. One is to, similarly, use a very small pillow (or even folded piece of cloth) next to his head when he starts to fall asleep, to "wedge" it in; this can be something he does himself when he gets sleepy or something you pull over to add when he falls asleep and slumps forward. Alternatively to using physical props, you can teach him to look up when he gets sleepy, as looking up at the ceiling while asleep will keep the head back. This often helps children stay in position in a harnessed seat, and is a valuable skill to learn as that will make sure they can later stay upright in a booster and seatbelt only when they get to those stages. Good luck!

 

[TechnoGranola]

The only other thing I can think of in addition to KetchupQueen's awesome post, is that if he still fits rear-facing, that's another option since RF typically doesn't have head slump. That will depend on his weight and torso height though as some kids have outgrown the BLVD RF at 3 and others can fit much longer. If you're interested in that, let us know his stats and we can probably give you an idea if he'd still fit.