[rparker]

Should my daughter be rear facing? She is two (29 months), weighs 29 pounds, is 37 inches tall, and has a 12 inch seated shoulder height. She's been forward facing for a few months, but now I'm having second thoughts.

Her car seat is the Britax Diplomat. It has a rear facing weight limit of 35 pounds, forward facing of 40 pounds, and a height limit (forward and rear) of 40 inches. I plan to buy a new car within the next 9 months and a larger car seat.

Should I buy one that can rear face to a higher weight/height or is she ok forward facing at this point? In the short term, should I turn her Diplomat back around? And if rear facing, does the top of her head need to be at least an inch from the top of the shell or the top of the head rest (the Diplomat has an adjustable head rest)?

Thanks for any input!

 

[DahliaRW]

Yes to all and top of shell. It's ideal to rf to 4 or longer.

 

[MacKinnon]

Great you are thinking about this!! It would be preferable and safer to still have her rear facing. As Dahlia said, the seat is outgrown by height when she no longer has an inch of shell above her head, I know it's tricky with the seats with the wings!

 

[rparker]

I measured her and she has less than an inch of shell (4 inches from top of head rest), so it looks like she has to stay forward facing until we can get a bigger car and car seat

 

[sapphire_chan]

Did you do your measurement as shown in this link? http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=30201 Also doublecheck that your manual says 1" above and not even with the top of the shell.

Also, if your seat only goes to 40lbs FF, I'd get a new seat anyway. You'll be able to get a taller shell, more RF time, and it'll add on to your FF time with the seat too since most seats go to at least 50lbs FF.

And I can't help but think that the 40" height thing is silly, it seems that it would make kids with long legs outgrow the seat faster for no reason. CPSTs, is there a reason to care how tall the child is overall?

 

[claddaghmom]

A seat that harnesses to 40lbs FF is really low IMO. Carseats are starting to have 40lb limits just RF, and 65-85lb limits FF.

Maybe you could consider the Radian or Myride.

 

[rparker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan Did you do your measurement as shown in this link? http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=30201 Also doublecheck that your manual says 1" above and not even with the top of the shell.

I did it wrong. I will measure again tomorrow and double check the manual.

 

[rparker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by claddaghmom A seat that harnesses to 40lbs FF is really low IMO. Carseats are starting to have 40lb limits just RF, and 65-85lb limits FF. Maybe you could consider the Radian or Myride.

Hers can do 40 lbs RF if the occupant is short enough, but yeah... it's a really small car seat. I bought the Diplomat because she outgrew her infant seat (Companion) prior to a year and I needed something that would fit RF in my car. The other Britax models were too large. Does either the Radian or the Myride have a particularly small footprint?

My car is a 2007 Kia Rio hatchback and it has a very cramped back seat. It can only fit 2 car seats max... either two FF or one FF and one RF (and the RF one will only fit behind the passenger seat). In October we'll be adding a RF infant seat and I'm already planning to get a new car before then because she's pretty cramped behind the drivers seat even in a very small FF car seat. Our other car is an even smaller subcompact.

 

[sapphire_chan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rparker I did it wrong. I will measure again tomorrow and double check the manual.

: that it will work so you have more time to figure things out.

 

[alegna]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rparker Hers can do 40 lbs RF if the occupant is short enough, but yeah... it's a really small car seat. I bought the Diplomat because she outgrew her infant seat (Companion) prior to a year and I needed something that would fit RF in my car. The other Britax models were too large. Does either the Radian or the Myride have a particularly small footprint?

I didn't think britax had any 40lb rf seats....

The radian is very narrow, but is usually big back to front when rf.

-Angela

 

[rparker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alegna I didn't think britax had any 40lb rf seats.... The radian is very narrow, but is usually big back to front when rf.

The radian probably won't work in my car then.

This is the page for the Britax seat she has: http://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/diplomat

 

[chickabiddy]

No American or Canadian Britax seat allows RFing to 40#.

 

[rparker]

Even measuring her the other way, she's still less than an inch from the top of the shell. I checked the user manual too and it says "within an inch of the top of the restraint" for RF and "ears level with the top of the restraint" for FF. I guess I'm going to err on the side of caution and assume that by "restraint" Britax means shell and not headrest.

 

[rparker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chickabiddy No American or Canadian Britax seat allows RFing to 40#.

Right. It's RF to 35 lbs, but FF to 40 lbs. My daughter is only 29 lbs... it's her height that's the issue, not her weight.

 

[snoopy5386]

I'm confused about how she could be less than an inch from the top of the shell but yet have 4 inches of headrest above her?
This is the seat correct?
http://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/diplomat
Our BLVD has the same system - no rethread harness and the top of the headrest doesn't go higher than the top of the shell (as far as I know). The top of the shell is the top of the carseat - where the plastic ends.
Is that where you are measuring from? I don't think it is possible for a child with a 12 inch seated shoulder height to outgrow this seat RFing.

 

[alegna]

I know at least one of our blvds the head rest will go above the top of the shell.

-Angela

 

[rparker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by snoopy5386 I'm confused about how she could be less than an inch from the top of the shell but yet have 4 inches of headrest above her? This is the seat correct? http://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/diplomat

yes

Quote:

Our BLVD has the same system - no rethread harness and the top of the headrest doesn't go higher than the top of the shell (as far as I know). The top of the shell is the top of the carseat - where the plastic ends. Is that where you are measuring from? I don't think it is possible for a child with a 12 inch seated shoulder height to outgrow this seat RFing.

The top of her headrest (as it is currently adjusted for her height) is several inches above the top of the hard plastic shell. We've had to adjust it so that her harness is at the correct height. I've played around with it and it can go a bit higher than it is now.

I don't have a picture of her car seat, but you can kind of see what I'm talking about if you go to this page (the demo) and click on images: http://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/d...t/product-demo

Look at the first picture (of a little girl with a bow in her hair) and zoom in on the headrest. Do you see how the top of the headrest is slightly above the curve of the plastic shell in back? Compare that picture to the image of the seat on the "360 zoom" (also part of the demo page) which lets you rotate to look directly at the back of the car seat. Do you see how on that page the top of the headrest is slightly below the top of the shell?

My user manual doesn't specify whether the "top of the restraint" means the hard plastic shell in back or the headrest adjusted for her height.

 

[sapphire_chan]

Well, it certainly looks like they don't think you should count the head rest, since the pictures show a number of kids who could still be RF if the head rest counted.

 

[sapphire_chan]

I'd do an "advanced edit" in your original post and change your thread title to asking about a car seat with a smaller footprint.