Hypotonic CP, EoE, trachea stenosis, 2y/o

[Kathy Finley]

My daughter’s car seat is about to expire. We drive a 2018 Ford Expedition with air bag seat beltbelts where I want to place her car seat. She has consistently been one to gag and throw up so having her directly behind me so that I can pull over and get to her is important. We just got the EoE diagnosis and we are doing the elimination diet along with the steroid slurry and it’s helping, although she has still thrown up twice in her car seat while sleeping. She has quite a bit of drool due to the hypotonia and her esophagus is still healing and may be tight and restricted. I’m hoping the throwing up will get better soon. She is two years old, 28 lbs and 2’7” tall. We want to keep her rear facing if possible and trying to find the best seat for recline options to reduce the gagging and to help with head slumping. She does have decent control, just a bit floppy.
I’ve been reading that the Graco is a good choice for my car but not for her CP. What about Diono and Clek or Britax?

 

[ketchupqueen]

Hi!
I would hesitate to recommend any of those seats for a child who throws up a lot- they are all quite a pain to clean. In addition, the Britax shape is not likely to be helpful with the gagging, and while Diono allows install with that belt, getting a proper install will be near impossible.

For your needs, I would actually suggest trying an Evenflo Sonus. It has an L shaped seat that often helps with carsickness, no headrest to push her head forward, and it's very easy to clean because of the simple design. It is very lightweight, so you can continue to use the lower anchors to install at all times while rear facing and for a long time forward facing.

It may not be the best option once she's forward facing (though I've seen it work for kids with mild to moderate low tone), but it's inexpensive so you could cross that bridge when you come to it. She's small and should have a long time to go before outgrowing it.

 

[Ritratkid]

Hi!
I would hesitate to recommend any of those seats for a child who throws up a lot- they are all quite a pain to clean. In addition, the Britax shape is not likely to be helpful with the gagging, and while Diono allows install with that belt, getting a proper install will be near impossible.

For your needs, I would actually suggest trying an Evenflo Sonus. It has an L shaped seat that often helps with carsickness, no headrest to push her head forward, and it's very easy to clean because of the simple design. It is very lightweight, so you can continue to use the lower anchors to install at all times while rear facing and for a long time forward facing.

It may not be the best option once she's forward facing (though I've seen it work for kids with mild to moderate low tone), but it's inexpensive so you could cross that bridge when you come to it. She's small and should have a long time to go before outgrowing it.

Thanks so much. I’m reading reviews and specs for the Evenflo Sonus now. What seat do you recommend if her throwing up is under control? We think that we are close to having that figured out with her dairy elimination diet and the steroids.

 

[ketchupqueen]

If she has low tone, I still love the Sonus for that. The Evenflo Everystage 3 in 1 is pretty good for mild to moderate low tone if you want a fuller featured seat- the head part lies in a pretty straight line and doesn't push it forward, unlike other seats with no-rethread harness. It's discontinued but Albee Baby still seems to have a few in stock: https://www.albeebaby.com/evenflo-everystage-lx-all-in-one-car-seat-luna.html
I'm not sure what the LATCH limit is on that though so double check.

 

[ketchupqueen]

I've double checked the limit and it's 40 lbs. So you could use it rear facing to the limit, but would still need something else forward facing; but to me, that's possibly a trade-off worth making if you like the seat.