Any recommendations on how to make sure a 3-year hold Houdini-wannabe does not free herself from her car seat harness? I don’t care if it’s fitting an accessory onto our existing car seat or buying a new car seat altogether – clearly this is not something I’ll be stingy on.
From what I understand, the options are:
- car seats with impact shields instead of a harness system. Surprise, surprise, manufacturers of one system have rubbished those of the others with ads and videos etc., and viceversa. Some kids love the shield and use it to sleep, others feel constrained. We’ll have to let the little one try one in a store.
- a sternum strap, like this Houdini Stop: www.houdinistop.com/page/213524 It’s by a Kiwi company, but Amazon UK sells it.
- 5-point-plus thingy, which fills the space our little escapers can use to set themselves free. Can be bought as a universal accessory, but Cosatto has it in its entire range. It “shields the gaps through which children escape from the harness” 5pointplus.com/about/how-does-it-work/
What’s your experience with these systems? Which one do you recommend? Are there others I have missed?
I recently freaked out because our daughter threw a huge tantrum in the car; she kept trying to free herself – luckily my wife was sitting next to her and kept her harness in place with her hand, but, had the driver been alone with the child in the back, it would have been very dangerous as we were on a motorway.