Can you help me with rear facing a huge ten month old?

[CrazyCatLady]

I babysit a 29 pound ten month old baby boy. I drive a dodge caravan and use a evenflo triumph advance LX for the baby. The problem is getting him in and out of the seat. There's hardly any room to get him in or out, and I have to kind of squish and bend him in and out of there each time. It's time consuming, it really annoys him, and it's killing my back!

Any advice? I ended up turning my son ff when he was 16 months because of this same issue (he was a big baby too, and I had the same kind of car seat).

Thanks

[chickabiddy]

Radians are low-profile seats with low sides -- it's pretty easy to get kids in and out of them.

[CrazyCatLady]

So it might just be a problem with the seat and not me? That's good to know because I was starting to think that I just didn't know what I was doing!

I don't think a radian is in the budget at the moment. But I'll keep it in mind. Thanks for the reply.

[chickabiddy]

Seats that sit up high can be a challenge with big babies who can't climb in on their own. Try putting it in the third row and loading him through the trunk.

[mamandedeux]

Originally Posted by chickabiddy

Try putting it in the third row and loading him through the trunk.

That was my solution for getting DS1 in his AOE RF.

[an_aurora]

Can you recline the seatbacks in your van to give you more room? I just can't picture it being that tight, as my kids RF'd in their Triumph Advances until 4 (younger DD is still RF in hers) without problems. I also had a 33 lb 12 month old foster son in the Triumph with no problems.

[CrazyCatLady]

No they're bench seats, so I can't recline them at all. It is a very tight space I'm dealing with here. The car seat goes up to the ceiling of the van and the sides wrap around pretty close to where the back of the van seat is. Leaving me this little window of space to try and bend and stuff this fat baby into his spot. I've put the seat in every spot in the van and it's just not working.

I may try the putting him in from the trunk though. it will still be rough on my back to lift him up and drop him in there, but it might be easier on him.

[an_aurora]

Yikes, that sounds awful Your van must be very different from mine (here is how mine fit in my van, which shows how I couldn't understand how cramped the seats are in your van).

[MoonStarFalling]

We had the same issue with our EFTA and our ford F350 quad cab. I had to lift DD (2.5 yo but small) up over my head and try to stuff her into this really tiny space. I ended up turning her around. A different seat might work better.

[CrazyCatLady]

Yikes, that sounds awful Your van must be very different from mine (here is how mine fit in my van, which shows how I couldn't understand how cramped the seats are in your van).

Wow that's different! I wish I had space like that in my set up.

I think I'll talk to his mom about it sometime and see what she wants me to do. Though I know that she isn't interested in stuff like car seat safety so that may not help much. And I don't really get paid enough to buy a new, high quality seat just for him. Though I may have to anyways just because I'd feel like a heel if I did anything else knowing what I know. I just can't turn him around or put him in a different/crappy seat even if she wants me to.

[TheGirls]

If you end up buying, a Scenera is cheap and has low sides. It's also a bit shorter so you may be able to recline it a bit more. We use one as a travel seat and it fits in a lot of tight situations.

[littlemizflava]

can i see a pic? that sounds so crazy. we have a 2002 and i used the evenflo triumph with my huge ds. but i used captain chair for the carseat