Car seat question

jaime52005

My DD is 17 months old and I have to turn her FF in my husbands car (not happy about it) but he is very tall and we have a new baby in the way and fitting both seats with Ella's still being RF is impossible.. She will still be RF in my SUV and my husband just fits so we use my vehicle 90% of the time for family outtings so she will not be in his car that often .

We have a Britax Marathon and in the manual it says seat can recline RF and FF..but some seats I have seen are completley upright and some have slight recline..I know manual days it can recline but is it safe or more just a comfort thing?
How should I posistion this seat?

ASmallWonder

Hi - can we PM?  She can't forward face at 17 months - her life is at risk but there are options available to you to and I'd like to help

jaime52005

@ASmallWonder‌ absolutly ..open to anything

@theresat858‌ I don't have facebook

valeriegp

Since you don't have FB I would recommend seeing a car seat tech. People put two children RF in one car all the time, and I tech could help you figure that out. As PP stated, it is very unsafe for a 17 mo to be FF. 

Heres the CSFTL web site, since you don't use FB: https://csftl.org/

Good luck!

BelhurstBride

I'd find a new seat that can still accommodate her RFing. There's no way in hell I'd FF a 17 month old. 

LittleApple

Like PP said, she CAN FF, but it is safer to keep her RF.  That said, to answer your question, the FF recline is just a comfort thing.  If your seats are more upright, then don't use the recline option on the Britax

ASmallWonder

Nicb13 said:

ASmallWonder said:

Hi - can we PM?  She can't forward face at 17 months - her life is at risk but there are options available to you to and I'd like to help

Um, legally she can.  I realize that is not the current recommendation but there is nothing forcing her by law to keep her child RF.

I'm glad you are trying to help this person and I do agree that the child should still be RF but she CAN forward face at that age.

She potentially can't, depending on the seat she has but you're likely right.  I'm speaking from a best practice standpoint because the law doesn't reflect safety at all.  It stinks, honestly, because people assume it does.  So yes, she likely legally can but from a safety standpoint, she can't forward face and be safe so I'm going to do all I can to help her find another solution

ASmallWonder

OP you have a PM

jaime52005

Trust me ladies I know RF is best and her being FF is not something I want. I'm not one of those niave people who think "she is over one I can turn her seat" . Everyone says britax are already pretty compact seats so even if a new seatcouldfix the issue idk what one it would be!

BelhurstBride

Quick Google search for you, first thing that popped up. 

https://carseatblog.com/22818/the-ultimate-rear-facing-convertible-space-comparison-review-size-matters/

ASmallWonder

theresat858 said:

BelhurstBride said:

Quick Google search for you, first thing that popped up. 

https://carseatblog.com/22818/the-ultimate-rear-facing-convertible-space-comparison-review-size-matters/

I am missing something in that table.  What does this mean? "1” rule from top shell; 24” tall". 

It clearly can't refer to the child's actual height... (or none of those seats would work for most infants, much less most 2 year olds).

The shell is measured from where their butt goes to the top so in this example the child's seated height, measured from bum to the top of their head, can't exceed 23".  

ASmallWonder

Nicb13 said:

ASmallWonder said:

Nicb13 said:

ASmallWonder said:

Hi - can we PM?  She can't forward face at 17 months - her life is at risk but there are options available to you to and I'd like to help

Um, legally she can.  I realize that is not the current recommendation but there is nothing forcing her by law to keep her child RF.

I'm glad you are trying to help this person and I do agree that the child should still be RF but she CAN forward face at that age.

She potentially can't, depending on the seat she has but you're likely right.  I'm speaking from a best practice standpoint because the law doesn't reflect safety at all.  It stinks, honestly, because people assume it does.  So yes, she likely legally can but from a safety standpoint, she can't forward face and be safe so I'm going to do all I can to help her find another solution

Absolutely, I get that and I'm glad you are willing to help her. I just hate how some car seat discussions go on these boards and I feared this one was going down that road based off your first response.

I hear you and I'm going to change my wording because you're right - it's not technically true.  I can't speak for everyone but I can say for ME, I word it so black and white because the danger is so great that it's not an option.  But I absolutely hear you that it's off putting to not acknowledge the legality while stressing that the legality is flawed

Angela814

How big is your 17 month old (weight/height)? My DH is tall (6'3") and can't have a rfing seat behind him. Even my ffing kids don't have much leg room behind him. Anyway, we had two rfing seats in DH's SUV for about a year. We had a rfing infant seat (Safety 1st OnBoard Air) in the middle and a rfing convertible (Diono Radian) behind the passenger. Depending on your vehicle, you may need a different car seat to be able to put two next to each other.