question about winter coats

[twokidstwodogs]

Hi all,
I have a winter coat question for you. I don't normally adjust the harness straps on my RA when taking DD in and out, unless, of course, they loosen up on their own. I know that the problem with winterwear and carseats is that people will compensate for the extra clothing by using the harness straps more loosely, thereby increasing the risk of ejection. But today, since DD was in a good mood, I decided to see if I could buckle her into her RA in her winter coat without loosening the harness straps from their non-coat position. And I could! They were *really* tight, but she didn't seem to mind. Is it safe to let her ride in her coat in that case (The coat is relatively thin, sort of like a Lands End squall, if you know what that is. But it's definitely a coat.)

 

[Victorious4]

I have buckled Leila in wearing jackets -- I unzip it & make sure the bottom flaps are over the lap belt.... But, I never do in coats: except in boosters (open it up & make sure it's not in the way of the lap or shoulder belt + she engages the ALR).

If the harness was tight enough without the coat so that you could not pinch the strap material & it was not adjusted while wearing the coat, there shouldn't be any problem -- except Leila would prolly fuss all the way about how constraining I imagine it could feel

 

[scatterbunny]

Yep, if you can buckle her in with the straps as tight as they normally are, it's fine.

 

[twokidstwodogs]

The harness is definitely tight enough without the coat. I use the "can't pinch any slack at the shoulder" rule, and she normally doesn't wear sweaters or anything else that would affect that. I couldn't believe she wasn't complaining, given how much I was pulling the harness in order to get the crotch buckle done. It seemed horribly uncomfortable to me but she wasn't all fazed by it.
(Actually, that's probably good evidence for the danger of wearing coats. Obviously I was compressing just the coat and not her. Had I loosened the harness, it would have been quite far from her body.)

 

[twokidstwodogs]

Thanks for the input. I figured it would be safe to do it, but wanted to be sure. It will be great if it really does work for us, particularly on these freezing cold mornings.

 

[my3girls]

How does your harness loosen up on it's own? This sentence confused me, it sounds like there's something wrong with it.

 

[twokidstwodogs]

Sorry--that wasn't very clear. I do find that although I don't deliberately loosen the harness straps when I take her in and out, sometimes I put her in only to find that the harness straps are a bit looser than I would like. It could just be her position, or her clothing, or perhaps I pull them a little bit when I take her out of the car. They definitely don't loosen a lot on their own. That would be a bad thing!