Preemies

Dealing with developmental delays on trips out and about.

My former 26 weeker is now 1, hooray!, and growing out of things like his carseat. I am still using the infant carrier and it is so convenient when we go out because he isn't sitting yet on his own so he can just chill in there. Well now his toes starting to hang over the edge so I think I need to switch him to the new one we have. Anyways, my problem is that he has muscle weakness and isn't sitting yet. So if we go shopping he can't sit in a cart, or to a restaurant he can't sit in their high chairs. It's not always easy to eat with one hand and have him on my knee grabbing at everything. Has anyone else dealt with this? Poundage wise he is still within the limits for the carrier so I could hold off but I worry that with his toes hanging over I'm going to run them into something and hurt him.  

Re: Dealing with developmental delays on trips out and about.

  • Would he still fit into a Bumbo seat?  Or maybe you could get a booster seat that straps to a regular restaurant chair and also has a recline feature like this - https://www.amazon.com/The-First-Years-Newborn-Reclining/dp/B002WN2C0E.  That would solve the restaurant issue and then you could use a carrier while shopping so you don't have to put him in shopping carts.
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  • We do have a carrier and use it quite often. He's really grabby so it's tough sometimes but it also makes me laugh some of the stuff he grabs is random and inappropriate to be chewing on, womens underwear for example, lol. I am looking into a seat like that with a 5 point harness. Thank you for suggestions!
  • Depending on the size of your car, you could always just keep the bucket seat in your trunk and use it while you're out as a seat.
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  • DS2 (almost 4) has CP and mainly sits one way - "W" sitting.  He can sit in on a bench/stool and maintain his balance but his posture is poor.  He could sit in a shopping cart but I would have to reposition him frequently and now he is too big to sit in it.  Currently I either have to have him "W" sit in a cart which takes up a bunch of room or use a child shopping cart (the kid one, not the infant kind) and strap him into that harness. If it isn't available (usually isn't), then I am back to having him "W" sit in the cart and hanging on with his hands.  When he was smaller we used a Bumbo for traveling.  We now use a homemade "Y" strap when we travel.  It is along the lines of this in regards to "restraint" but in actuality it looks a lot different (it is basically a pelvis harness that ties to a chair): https://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Seat-Infant-Travel/dp/B002AKRJ4I     You can google travel seating or something like that. What you use is really going to depend on the size and abilities of your child.  Is your child able to hold his head up or does his weakness go through his trunk and neck?

    Here, this one is more along the lines of the "Y" strap that we use: https://thismamamakesstuff.com/tutorial-this-mamas-fab-travel-chair/

    For a car seat we use a Britax Frontier 85. I know my child is much older then yours so not sure if this will work for you or not. 
  • DS2 (almost 4) has CP and mainly sits one way - "W" sitting.  He can sit in on a bench/stool and maintain his balance but his posture is poor.  He could sit in a shopping cart but I would have to reposition him frequently and now he is too big to sit in it.  Currently I either have to have him "W" sit in a cart which takes up a bunch of room or use a child shopping cart (the kid one, not the infant kind) and strap him into that harness. If it isn't available (usually isn't), then I am back to having him "W" sit in the cart and hanging on with his hands.  When he was smaller we used a Bumbo for traveling.  We now use a homemade "Y" strap when we travel.  It is along the lines of this in regards to "restraint" but in actuality it looks a lot different (it is basically a pelvis harness that ties to a chair): https://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Seat-Infant-Travel/dp/B002AKRJ4I     You can google travel seating or something like that. What you use is really going to depend on the size and abilities of your child.  Is your child able to hold his head up or does his weakness go through his trunk and neck?

    Here, this one is more along the lines of the "Y" strap that we use: https://thismamamakesstuff.com/tutorial-this-mamas-fab-travel-chair/

    For a car seat we use a Britax Frontier 85. I know my child is much older then yours so not sure if this will work for you or not. 
    Thank you for this! I just bought a trendykid tot seat which is very similar to your Y strap but goes up higher under his arms. I am anxious to get it, ordered it on amazon, and try it out. His head and neck seem to be doing ok, not great, but better than his trunk. So I think if we support his trunk he should be ok. He does pretty good in the bumbo unless he is tired. Now I'm going to look for a shopping cart cozy that has more support.
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