4yo complains back hurts in car seat

[Holly221288]

Hi,

My (tiny) 4 year old complains and cries with back pain if we are in the car longer than 10 minutes. He was previously in a Britax (complained then too) but is now in a Joie high backed booster.

It must be quite painful as he doesn’t verbalise pain usually (query ASD/dyspraxia).

Has anyone experienced this and have any recommendations?

Thanks in advance

Ok. Stupid questions:
Is the headrest of the adult seat out of the way, or is it tipping the carseat forward?
Is the adult carseat multi positional, and if so, is it as reclined as much possible?
Is the seatbelt at the right height, or is it cutting across his face?
If he's a tiny 4 year old, could he go back in the Britax for a bit? At 4.5 mine was only just heavy enough for a hbb.
Would a carseat protector pad it out and soften it a bit?

Good luck. Its miserable when the kids are unhappy in the car.

Thank you so much for the reply. I’m going to check on all those things tomorrow, I’m wondering if reclining might help actually. Thank so much, really appreciate it

Are his legs dangling in the air? (Was his last seat forward facing too, if so, same possibility). You can try putting something like an empty cardboard box or suitcase underneath them, or there's an inflatable thing which is specifically designed for booster seat leg support.

It makes their legs go numb/tingly when they dangle, which while isn't back pain exactly, might be confused for it if he isn't very good at verbalising what is wrong?

And could be more hip related than legs if he's hypermobile too. But a footrest of some sort should help.

And yes if he still fits in the Britax seat this might offer him more support :)