Does your Snugride move up and down a lot?

jdchris

We had a Chicco Keyfit carseat with DD, but replaced it with two Graco Snugrides for the upcoming twins (cheaper!).  DH installed them with latch, but the front part (where DC's heads will be) moves a TON up and down.  You can lift it several inches off of the carseat up and down.  Is this normal?  I can't remember the Chicco seat doing this...it was installed with the seat belt in our older car.

Mrs.Saxy

are you using the anchor belt?  the thing that clips in to the seat hooks?

It did move up and down but I don't think it was as much as you're describing

 

jdchris

It is installed with the latch belt clipping that into the seat hooks.  Maybe it just needs to be tightened more.  I found several websites saying that the movement is necessary in a crash and it should "move" a little up and down and side to side at the front.  Thanks!

true_norskie

I'm not an expert, but I *think* that is part of the design.  If you think about what would happen in a front end collision, the baby's back would press against the back of the car seat and the base is secured to the back of the seat.

If you get rear-ended, the base would "bounce" up with the seat and move with the baby, cupping the baby against the back of the seat and moving baby's entire body with it.  If that front part were secured down, the baby's neck would move without the car seat cradling the head.  If the car seat didn't move with baby, their poor tiny head would slam back against the seat after the initial impact.