Page 2 | Help me, my two year old escapes his car seat

airconne · 2024-07-10T19:17:49+00:00

I've bought two different seats already. I've also tried the extra clip you put at the top of the harness. I've tried shouting, putting him back in calmly, explaining - what else can I do ? It's so unsafe. He just opens the buckles on every journey.

BertieBotts · 11/07/2024 11:24

I think the heavy duty buckle cover from the in car safety centre is a good option in this case. It is designed for children with special needs so it's very difficult to undo. It actually comes with a seatbelt cutter (and sticker to put on the seat) because of how tight it is. Also, look into trying to acclimatise him and distract him in the car - do you know why it is that he wants to escape? Is it the lack of freedom to move, or could the belt be hurting him? Does he have sensory sensitivities?

Would he be open to being allowed to open it, if he waits until you say so, practice this a lot on very short time periods (maybe even with the car seat in the house, for example?) with lots of praise/reward?

Twolittleloves · 11/07/2024 11:44

Been there so know how scary and stressful this can be! My little girl was doing this constantly a year ago at about 18mths old.I would be driving along and she would suddenly be standing up in her carseat or climbing about in the back, so I would have to urgently pull over! It could happen multiple times on one journey and made going out really difficult until we found away to stop it.

I got a Houdini chest strap (to stop her getting her arms out)

And the buckle cover in the photo below
which was an absolute godsend, to stop her undoing the buckle itself.
Bear in mind though, I had to put the buckle cover on backwards as if it had the popper showing she could still pull it open.
I can't seem to see them on Ebay now so maybe contact the lady (have attached screenshot of details) to ask if she still does them?

It's a faff, messing about with it all every time you are getting them in and out.But definitely worth it for peace of mind that they are safe.

She did it for afew months then the phase passed, so eventually we could remove them and she had forgotten her 'trick' and is now old enough to know she must only undo her buckle once we have stopped.

Help me, my two year old escapes his car seat

Twolittleloves · 11/07/2024 11:48

namechanged246 · 10/07/2024 20:25

Hey, you can get a different type of harness which goes around the back so he can't take it off and can't put his arms under.. I can't find the link though.. have you seen these car seats instead? Cybex so assume they are safe
www.amazon.co.uk/CYBEX-Gold-child-Pallas-i-Size/dp/B0B982C83H/ref=asc_df_B0B982C83H/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696352643958&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1993431219182810700&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007274&hvtargid=pla-1869926416738&psc=1&mcid=4058555e77bd378f863afd75b963c65e&th=1&psc=1&gad_source=1

Edited

Do you mean the anti-escape system? They may work for some, but we tried this and our daughter could easily get out of it still as she still hooked her arms through a small hole.

Plus it wouldn't prevent opening the buckle unfortunately

Original poster

airconne · 11/07/2024 11:58

Also, look into trying to acclimatise him and distract him in the car - do you know why it is that he wants to escape? Is it the lack of freedom to move, or could the belt be hurting him? Does he have sensory sensitivities?

He wants to drive. He's obsessed with cars. He just wants to get to the front to drive the car. I don't think he has any sensory sensitivities that I've noticed. He just loves cars and Bobby cars and scooters / bikes and could sit around and scoot around on them all day. So he sees the car as just another exciting thing. Also cars are quite big in our extended family and he's spend time sitting on grandpas lap in his sports car, being allowed to beep the horn. So he wants to drive and beep the horn.

OP posts:

Wetwednesdaygirl · 11/07/2024 13:18

airconne · 11/07/2024 11:58

Also, look into trying to acclimatise him and distract him in the car - do you know why it is that he wants to escape? Is it the lack of freedom to move, or could the belt be hurting him? Does he have sensory sensitivities?

He wants to drive. He's obsessed with cars. He just wants to get to the front to drive the car. I don't think he has any sensory sensitivities that I've noticed. He just loves cars and Bobby cars and scooters / bikes and could sit around and scoot around on them all day. So he sees the car as just another exciting thing. Also cars are quite big in our extended family and he's spend time sitting on grandpas lap in his sports car, being allowed to beep the horn. So he wants to drive and beep the horn.

It seems that cars are 'toys' in your family and he is getting mixed messages. I think you need to get wider family helping you deal with his frankly dangerous behaviour. Get grandpa to make a big thing of putting on his seat belt so he gets to see even adults have to take seat belt rules seriously. Stop the sitting beeping the horn until he realises that undoing his car seat is just not an option. At the moment I get the impression that you are not really doing anything to make him stop and think about his actions. He may only be two. You want him to make it to 3 safely and if that means no playing in cars, no beeping horns, frankly only being in a car when there is no other option because you HAVE to take him somewhere. When you said in your OP that he opens his sisters seat belt, my blood just ran cold. He's not only endangering his own life is he?