Child escaping from car seat!

[LadyChristina]

Hello everyone, I wonder if anyone can help please?

My little-for-age 20 month old son has recently perfected the art of wriggling his arms and shoulders out of his car seat and getting out of it - silently. He as done this three times now and has been sincerely told off every time but continues to do it.

Does anyone know if there's something I can do about this which would not adversely affect the performance of the car seat?

He is not overly short but pretty thin, and no matter how tight we do the straps up he can get out.

Any help or advice would be gratefully received. Thank you.

you can buy chest clips that can make it harder for them to wriggle out of.

The only one I've found that is tested for safety is the Houdini Stop from New Zealand. It's available directly from the manufacturers here but don't think you can buy one that's safety tested in the UK. I'm going to order a couple for my DS (21 months) who takes his arms out of the pushchair straps and will, no doubt, soon do it in the car too! It costs 19.95NZ$ which works out at £9.02 at today's rates and includes p&p. I personally think that's an absolute bargain!!

Hope it helps.

AddictedtoRadley - thank you - I just ordered one.

Are the straps on the right slot? If he's rear facing the straps ned to be AT or BELOW his shoulders but if he's forward facing the straps need to be AT or ABOVE his shoulders. Always use the closest slot not the one up/down. If the harness comes from too far above or below their shoulders it gives them extra slack to wriggle out no matter how tight the harness is pulled. Also, bulky coats/jumpers can aide escaping as they compress easily (not safe in a car seat anyway).

The houdini stop is a chest strap that can be put on and removed with one hand.

www.houdinistop.co.uk

Its a strap that clips on to each car seat strap and stops the child getting their arms out

Its been crash tested and approved by an australian board who review car safety accessories.

they sell them in the UK at Houdini Stop - Car seat chest strap

The law states its not illegal to attach these to car seats, its simply not legal for a company in the EU to sell one with such a device attached

He's maybe a little young but the other thing you can try is to teach him that he must not do this: if you are going, say, to the playpark, you stop, put him back in his seat, turn around and go home.

It can be really inconvenient, but he learns that it is not acceptable.

If he's rear facing the straps ned to be AT or BELOW

This is not correct! The same rules apply for the rearfacing seats as for the forwardfacing seats.

I had some made for my minded children who are all escaping in turn, as they are similar ages.

It is basically like a luggage strap that goes round a case, but obviously a lot shorter! I had them made in 1.5 inch width webbing, they have an easy release clip, but a child's fingers are not strong enough to press both parts of the clip together.

I spoke to safety people and they said that emergency service just cut webbing on car seats in an emergency, so no worries, to use it was safer than an escaping child.

Lenats31 - Please see here and here (under Fitting hints - guidelines) for details for at/below guidance for harnesses.

Get your Houdini Stop fron here, they work a treat!

cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220713150158