Wriggling out of car seats

[Hilary]

When I was having this trouble with my eldest son, I seemed to be the only mother who'd got Houdini sitting in the back of her car - Nobody I spoke to ever had the same problem. He used to wriggle around until he could get his arms free and then sit forward outside his straps. He'd do it approximately every mile on some journeys, each time with a stop at the side of the road to be told off and strapped back in. One time, when luckily I was parked, he climbed right out of the seat and was disappearing into the boot within about 20 seconds. Later he learned to undo the buckle! The lady at Mothercare said that to strap a child in using anything other than the straps provided was illegal because in the event of an accident, you have to be able to get them out quickly. She said that there were no other types of straps which could hold him in and her only advice about him undoing himself was to paint the red button black so that it was not so tempting to him! I never bothered with that, I knew he wouldn't be fooled. After a few months of this behaviour he seemed to tire of the game and has never done it since. A combination of us being continually cross with him on car journeys and the novelty wearing off, I think. My only words of encouragement? You are not alone and it is a phase of which he will eventually tire.

[Tigermoth]

Just an update on baby Houdini. At Easter I went to Mothercare and explained my ongoing problem to a politely unbelieving assistant. Bought a new car seat with built-in shoulder straps. Should last until he is 9 years old. Ha! This is his second one with shoulder straps. It took him a couple of hours to work out how to get totally out of it. Given a half-minute to himself, he can jump into the drivers seat and grab the steering wheel.

I thought I had a solution, after coming across an old parent tip as I scroled down the mumsnet parent tip section. This was to get some elastic and tie the shoulder straps together at the back. Did this on a long car journey. Worked for an hour. Tied elestic at the front, too. Worked for an hour. Now he has wised up to this and can escape if he wants to in 10 minutes or so. But better than nothing and it does deter him, and slows him down.

My son (20 months) can't talk enough for me to threaten or reason with him. Did try slapping as suggested, (not hard) and shouting, no lasting effect. Should I totally lose my rag with him every time he does this for a week or so? I just can't bring myself to smack him hard or regularly. And what would other people think as I do it?

He can also very nearly escape from his pushchair, and by swivelling round he causes it to overbalance quite often. Just as well he likes walking!

[tigermoth]

wow - it seems ages since I wrote about my baby houdini. Time for an update.

My ds (three and a bit) now sits in his car seats without wriggling out, even though he is capable of it, and still an ace wriggler. We have now abandoned pushchair straps (nearly) and the high chair is gathering dust in the understairs cupboard, so his only constraint is the car seat.

Why the change? don't know, but it could be due to any or all of the following reasons:

He has taken on board the constant tellings off when he wriggled out.

He has experienced a minor accident (front bumper collision at low speed)and seen how the straps of this car seat held him safely.

He is bigger so fits more snugly into his seat, so more diffucult to wriggle out.

As he's grown, he finds the seat more comfortable.

He wants to be a big boy and copy his older brother who always sits strapped in.

Anyway, whatever the reason, the nightmare has ended and I thought posting this might help reassure other parents with this problem.