Help with TALL 2 yr old re: carseat!

[bobandjess99]

Ok.
So, i went to BRU today (oh, the horror..) to try out the carseats.
I tried the Marathon/dec/boul.....sigh
She *does* fit in it..but only has like 1.5 more inches until she will be too tall for it. (going by shoulders being even with slot straps) I also tried ALL the ff/booster combos they had....sigh...she is too tall for some of them already, and the biggest one they had, she has about 1.5 inches until the top slot. After that, the only option is to use the seat as a BPB. Although they all list their top slot os being 16-17 inches, they are talking about plastic to slot, and with the foam padding, you lose about an inch...more on some of the cushy ones like ma/de/bo....
According to the website, the Regent has a top slot height that is 2 inches more than the ma/de/bo....so...that is the only seat that gives me more than just another inch or 2, it gives me about another 3 inches or so?

But it is so expensive dh is freaking.

We can get a chase combo booster, and use it with a harness until dd outgrows it (another 1.5 inches or so)...and then use it until she is 8ish as a BPB....for $69. MY problem is that she will likely outgrow the harness part WAY before i want her to be out of a harness.......even if it manages to fit for a whole another year, she'll only be 3.......

Is the Regent my only choice to keep her harnessed longer?
(i checked and the apex has top slots that are REALY low, considering how long it is supposed to fit...she is already at them!!)

Please? Some other option? I would need top slots that are at LEAST 18 inches high...preferably more..

Sigh.
Another thing to consider is that in 6 months or so when she is done with diapers, she wil lose an inch or so......so that might be the difference i need to keep her in a seat longer....


On a related note...
My child is NOT that tall. She is about 50% for her age(24 months)....yes, she is mostly torso and has really short little legs..but STILL...she just turned 2!!! How can she be bigger/almost as big as EVERY fricken carseat, especially ones that are supposed to last until 40 or 65 pounds? Seriously..how do you guys get 5 or 6 year olds of average height into ANY carseat?

Anyway, any links to specific info as to why harnessed is safer than BPB would be nice, in addition to the other stuff I've asked for...

[The Lucky One]

???

My 36" 29 month old fits just fine in his Marathon with plenty of room to grow upwards.

My (very tall for his age) 45.5" 4.5 year old ds looks small in his Britax Husky and has a TON of room to grow.

I don't know why your dd isn't seeming to fit in any seat. If she's only in the 50th percentile (you never did give her exact height) for height, something must be wrong in the way you are figuring things or maybe I'm just not understanding.

[alegna]

Something seems off. Measure her height sitting.

If you're considering the britax convertibles, then the regent is cheaper. If I had a 2 yr old who was HUGE I'd get a regent. BUT my 2 yr old is still rear facing in her boulevard (Though not small by any means)

-Angela

[AmyG]

I just ordered a Regent today.

DS is 42". The specs on the Decathalon (what we're using now) say that it's good till 49", but that must be for long-legged children. We're barely just making it now in the Decathalon. He's about 1/4" under the harness slot.

The baby store we went to didn't have a Regent on display, but one of the employees called a Britax rep, and he said that the Regent is good until 53". I figured that must mean that I'd get another 2", since they'd allow 2" of that extra height to go to legs.

I'm very disappointed with the availability of carseats with 5 point restraints for taller children. My son is somewhat tall for his age (will be 4 in January), but he's not THAT tall. Okay, I just looked it up, and he is slightly over the 95% line, but still, I thought it was normal to want to keep kids in a 5 point restraint until they were 5 or 6. He's right at 50% for a 5 year old.

What's even worse is that one time when I googled something about carseats for larger children, I got a bunch of articles about how carseats aren't big enough these days because of the obesity problem. : My DS is NOT obese. He has a tall daddy a mommy who feeds him good food.

[bandgeek]

My DS is built the same way. He's only 75% for height but he has a LONG torso. He's 21 months and wears 4T shirts comfortably and 2T pants.

We bought a regent. There is a huge difference between the ma/blvd/dc and the regent as far as size. My DS was at the 3rd slots on the marathon (at 16 months) and he's only at the 2nd slots on the regent (at 21 months). He has tons of growing room.

You have very few choices and your DH will just have to get over the fact that you're going to have to spend some money to keep your DD safe.

Any way you look at it, there's a very good possibilty she could outgrow everything but the regent before she's ready for a booster. It makes sense to buy it now, rather than later, AFTER you've shelled out money for some other seat, only to have it last only another year.

Besides that, you can sometimes find good deals on the regent. Somewhere around $220-230.

She'll likely slow down in her torso growth and start gaining more length in her legs, so you probably have more time than you think. 3 or 4 inches of torso growth is a lot and will probably take her a few more years to outgrow the regent.

[bandgeek]

Originally Posted by The Lucky One

???

My 36" 29 month old fits just fine in his Marathon with plenty of room to grow upwards.

My (very tall for his age) 45.5" 4.5 year old ds looks small in his Britax Husky and has a TON of room to grow.

I don't know why your dd isn't seeming to fit in any seat. If she's only in the 50th percentile (you never did give her exact height) for height, something must be wrong in the way you are figuring things or maybe I'm just not understanding.

It's all about torso length. Some people have average torsos, some have really long or really short torsos.

I was reading a thread one time that two people posted and said their 4 and 5 year olds that were 45 and 49" were only on the bottom slots of the regent. Meanwhile, my 34" 21 month old is threatening to grow over the second slots any day now.

He has short little stubby legs and a huge, long, broad torso, just like his daddy.

[bobandjess99]

Originally Posted by alegna

Something seems off. Measure her height sitting.

If you're considering the britax convertibles, then the regent is cheaper. If I had a 2 yr old who was HUGE I'd get a regent. BUT my 2 yr old is still rear facing in her boulevard (Though not small by any means)

-Angela

Hi there alegna

She is only 34 inches.
That's why I'm not getting why she can't fit.

Yes, she is mostly torso..she has a long torso and short, proportionally tiny little legs, but even accounting for that....she's only 34 inches tall and 25 months old!!!!!! It is just boggling to my mind that she can't fit in her carseat. My friend has a baby the same age (within weeks) of dd, and the same height...and yet, HER dd still has one more whole slot on her carseat(she is still using the second-highest slot) which is the same as mine......and my dd is over the top slot (hence the need to get another one ASAP):


I know that one thing that makes her taller is the cloth diapers...we do have a few trim pockets, but the prefolds and thicker diapers do add probably about an inch to her sitting-torso-length. I suppose i could rectify that by either making quick with the PLing, or maybe even using sposies for a while....but that still only gets me an inch.

Also, it's not that i am just measuring her and then deciding the seats dont fit...today i went down to the store and sat her in the seats. She doesn't fit. Like i said, the Britax ones (mara, etc..)would fit..but onyl for about another inch-to-1.5 inches. The lady at the store even went and got a tape measure and we measured. We made sure dd's clothes weren't adding any bulk (took off her coat, she had on a skin-hugging velvety shirt..so no bulk there! And she was wearing the trimmest dipes we have..a pocket stuffed with 1 joey bunz....it's only a half inch thick, no bigger at all than a sposie)

She couldn't fit in any of the rf/ff convertibles...except the britax ones, and like i said, she's only got a max of about 1.5 inches there. All the other ones were already too small..triumph, titan, comfortsport, scenera, etc.

So we tried the ff/booster combinations. She was already even too tall for some of THOSE!!! Like the eddie bauer, alpha omega..already too tall!!
She *could* fit in the evenflo one, and the chase one..but again, like with the britaxes, only for about another 1-1.5 inches. Then she'd be out of the harness and into the BPB.


I DON'T WANT to have her in a BPB in another 1-1.5 inches!!!!!
She's still too small, too young....

I looked up the growth charts for girsl, which she has always been pretty reliable on, and if she stays on track, it will only be another 12 months MAX before she gains another 3 inches..and on her, I'm certina at least half of that will be torso, which measn she'll be out of all of the seats by then....she'll barely be THREE.

They did NOT have a regent to try out...but according to the site...it has slots 2 inches higher than the convertibles....whihc is why I'm thinking it is probably our only option.

*sigh* I really wish we were at a point in our lives where $230 didn't seem like such a hugely impossible amount of money......

So..are there ANY other options that are cheaper?

And, in order to convince dh this is the way to go, as opposed to just getting a ff/booster combo and having to use it as a BPB by the time she is 3 or so.....can i get some of those handy links?
Dh really is a reasonable persona, and will read credible info. He said to get him some info on WHY a 5 point harness is better than a BPB for a 3 year old. Fo some reason, I can't seem to get the right info to come up on my searches..I'm getting a lot of why RF is better than FF, but not why harness is better than booster? Just something that explains WHY.....

Thanks guys!

[Drummer's Wife]

I think I'd go for the Regent if possible and if not maybe try the Apex again. I know it depends greatly on torso length but my 5 1/2 yr old dd is 46 inches and has plenty of room in the apex.

Not sure about IN but I'm thinking that here in CO it's against the law to put a child under the age of 4 in a BPB. Check with your state, that would be enough reason to not go that route. It sounds like she may grow a couple of inches before she reaches the minimum age.

[bandgeek]

My DS is also 34" and it sounds like your DD has a slightly longer torso than him. It's kind of a pain in the butt isn't it? I've noticed that our bulkiest cloth diapers (premium prefold under a fleece wrap) only add about 3/4" tops to his torso height. His trimmer diapers (pul pockets stuffed with flats) add almost no height. She will get a little bit more room to grow once she potty-learns so count on that, but probably not but a 1/2" or so.

I really think the regent is your best option. I know it can be hard to scrape up the money for it. If you absolutely can't, can you come up with $180 or so for a radian? That would probably be your next best option and it would buy you a little more time than the britax convertibles.

As for your DH, I really don't know. I think you can find videos on-line of crash tests with boosters and harnesses. Try car-seat.org.

Or try to find a local CPST, explain to them the situation, and then THEY could tell your DH why your DD should be harnessed.

[Joannarachel]

I'm very puzzled as to why a 34 inch baby doesn't fit in a Marathon/Decathalon/Boulevard.

DS is 36 inches, VERY long torsoed, like his daddy, and fits fine rearfacing in his Britax Wizard (the old Boulevard)

If you buy a Regent, my guess is you'll have her harnessed in it for years.

[thepeach80]

AJ is only about 40% for height (38" at 3.5) and has maybe 2" left in a Britax seat. We have long torsos here too. The Sunshine Kids Radian's slots are about 1" higher and that's what he's in now w/ about 3" left (his torso is about 15" I think). We're getting him a Regent next year though and that will be your best bet w/ harness slots at 19-20". HOpefully though she'll start growing legs. I'm hoping AJ does this year!

[alegna]

What does she weigh? If she's a light weight, she might have longer REAR Facing in a britax than forward, as the straps need to be below her shoulders rear facing. Just a thought.

If that doesn't work, the regent would be the only seat I'd consider. Most kids at 3 (and IMO ALL kids at 2) are simply not mature enough to always sit up straight and tall which they have to to be safe in a seatbelt.

-Angela

[The Lucky One]

What is a BPB???

[3rosebuds]

My youngest DS just turned 2 & is 38 inches tall. He also has a proportionally long torso--like a pp said, he wears 4T shirts and 2T (occasionally 3T) pants. He has a Sunshine Kids Radian carseat & he still has another harness slot above the one that he's using now.

It's all about torso length. My 4 yo is 41 or 42 inches tall, but he is the same height as my 2 yo when he is sitting down. I can put my 4 yo in my 2 yo's car seat (and vice versa) without adjusting the harness at all!

eta: My almost 6-yo is slightly over 48 inches tall & still fits in the Radian also. Google it & you can find sites with free shipping. Good luck.

[PatchyMama]

arent britax seats outgrown by height when the top of their ears reach the top of the shelll?I know that my books says that .....

[Joannarachel]

Originally Posted by PatchyMama

arent britax seats outgrown by height when the top of their ears reach the top of the shelll?I know that my books says that .....

Yes.

PP, a BPB is a Belt-Positioning Booster

[mommy_e]

The Apex, Marathon (and clones), Radian, Bolero and Cargo all have roughly the same top slots. When you looked at the Apex, if you didn't unlock and move the headrest all the way up, you will not see the top slots (they are covered by the headrest) All of these seats are around 17 inches. The Radian may have an extra half inch on any of these. On all these seats, the height given by the manufacturer is just a guideline. The seat is outgrown by height when the tops of the ears reach the top of the shell or the shoulders are above the top slots.

How much does your DD weigh? If she is well under 40 lbs, then your best bet may be to buy a Cargo or Bolero now ($70-90) and then see what happens. She is at an age where they start growing more in the legs than the torso - losing the toddler look and being more adult proportioned. So, that 1.5 inches may last you two years. If it doesn't, then you will have some time to save for a Regent as it is really the only seat with taller slots.

If she is close to 40 lbs now (say 35+) you could get the Apex and hope she doesn't max out the height OR get a Regent and know you won't have to buy another seat. Just make sure you can use the Apex in your vehicles. It must have a vehicle seatback or headrest behind the child's head as the back is not supportive enough to provide whiplash protection.

As far as a booster, they are not safe for 2 year olds. A booster only works if the child is properly positioned at the time of the crash. That means they cannot be slumped over sleeping, reaching out for a toy, have the shoulder belt under their arm, unbuckle the seatbelt, etc.. They need to do this every single ride for the entire ride or they are not safe. I don't know any 24 month old child that can do that - most adults can't even do that .

[thepeach80]

The Radians slots are definitely higher than a Marathon, AJ has ridden in them both and we chose the Radian b/c of that. The Cargos are about 16.5" w/ the Radian being about 18". I wouldn't count on her legs getting longer, AJ's really didn't between 2 and 3. I can show you pics of him months apart in the same seat and it's dramatically different where his shoulders are.

Like was mentioned a seat is outgrown when a child hits the max weight OR their shoulders go above the top slots OR in most seats (read your manual) if their ears are even w/ the top of the seat.

[bobandjess99]

ok
well
it seems like my choices are exactly what I thouhgt they were.
Get a combo seat, like a Cargo or Chase, and use it until she outgrows the slots, and HOPE that is another 2 years or so.......(but know that it will likely be closer to another year or so..) and then use the seat as a BPB at that point....she will likely be 3, *maybe*4 years old.

OR, I can get a Regent, and get that extra couple inches, and have a much better chance of having her harnessed until 5+, which is what I really want.....

OR, i could basically do both, get the combo for now, and then the regent later......but in the long run, I'm just shelling out extra for a seat we likely aren't going to be able to use for very long....which would be annoying.

I considered the radian, but for $50 more, i can have the regent, so that seems like a silly choice....

We;re currently using a borrowed (good condition, no-accident, etc..) combo seat on the top harness slots......so we have a little time to get the Regent.

I am FIVE FRICKEN FEET TALL.
How did i end up with a huge child?

*smile*

[bandgeek]

Originally Posted by bobandjess99

I am FIVE FRICKEN FEET TALL.
How did i end up with a huge child?

*smile*

I'm 5'2" and Dh is like 5'9" maybe 5'10". We were both petite kids. I don't get it either. DS is slowly but surely falling down the charts though. He used to be off them and he's now around 65% for weight and 75% for height. It's just that torso! DS gets it from DH. I was telling him about this post and he understands what I mean by *freakishly* long torso. He said his legs are short and stubby because they've spent 2 1/2 decades holding up his giant upper half.

I just saw a regent picture on another board of a small 4.5 year old who was like 2 inches below the bottom slots. It's seriously strange how much difference it makes. This kid's legs were longer, and hanging over the edge of the seat (bent at the knees) and DS's legs are nowhere near long enough to hang over like that.

If this helps, here's my DS in the regent:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/shauna...e2.jpg&.src=ph

He's 19? months in this pic, about 34" tall (approx 15" torso).