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Children's health

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Original poster

car seats for 4 Yr old in full leg cast

17 replies

cookiegardencat · 12/09/2021 19:30

hi there,

my soon to be 4year old has broken his leg and is in a full leg cast. he usually sits in a forward facing joie car seat but I'm struggling to know how to safely put him in the car seat as his leg is unable to bend in the cast and he is quite tall so it won't fit behind the seats and is likely to be too heavy anyway.

does anyone have any ideas that might work?
I did wonder about a booster seat.
we will obviously limit car travel as much as possible but will need a few hospital trips etc

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ConfusionIsNothingNew · 12/09/2021 19:35

Sorry to hear about your little one, my 6 year old broke his leg earlier this year, full leg cast. In all honesty I couldn't fit him in the car any way, apart from in the front seat with no booster (he was in a high backed booster at the time).

The only time I took him in the car was for hospital appointments, we rented a wheelchair and walked (wheeled) everywhere else!

Sorry that's not very helpful, hopefully someone will come along with a solution!

duffed · 12/09/2021 19:41

Does his leg fit if you put the car seat in the centre seat (assuming you have that kind of car)? Just wondering if there's some space between the driver and passenger seat that leg could squeeze into! Not ideal, but enough for short journeys.

Is there enough room in the front passenger seat if you slide it back? If you turn off the air bags this is fine - again not ideal, but needs must.

itsgettingwierd · 12/09/2021 19:48

@duffed

Is there enough room in the front passenger seat if you slide it back? If you turn off the air bags this is fine - again not ideal, but needs must.

Great suggestions.

Maybe even try local FB page and see if anyone has an old cat seat you could borrow. The only thing with this is trusting them it hasn't been in an accident

Soontobe60 · 12/09/2021 19:48

How about using a Joie spin (or similar spin able car seat) and have it faced sideways so his leg goes along the rear seat?

Original poster

cookiegardencat · 12/09/2021 19:56

thanks all for the suggestions. some good ideas there. it's really hard to know what's the safest bet.
we have an 18 month old too so middle seat isn't an option as her car seat takes up too much room.
il look into whether sidewards facing is an option as we do have the joie spin already for the other child.
I did wonder about front seat too. il look into if my air bags can be turned off. its a fairly old car though so not sure.

@ConfusionIsNothingNew
sorry this happened to you toom hope your son is doing ok now.
do you mind me asking where you hired the wheelchair from?

OP posts:

Toolateplanting · 12/09/2021 20:00

I don’t think u can drive with the spin seat side on.
Front seat, hbb, push back far as poss?

ConfusionIsNothingNew · 12/09/2021 20:04

@cookiegardencat We hired our wheelchair from the Red Cross. It's totally free and the chair we had was small and folded into the boot of the car. They also provided the leg rest to support the cast. In terms of usefulness it was absolutely invaluable to us.

Tigerwhocameforsupper · 12/09/2021 20:09

Sorry but you really can’t drive with a spin seat sideways on, especially if it’s one Joie one. It doesn’t fix into position and so in an accident the seat would move which is dangerous.

Try contacting the In Car Safety Centre so see if they can offer any advise.

incarsafetycentre.co.uk/

Original poster

cookiegardencat · 12/09/2021 20:13

@ConfusionIsNothingNew
thank you for that. I will look into hiring one then. we actually living walking distance to the hospital so I think that would be ideal, although a car seat would be handy too as I think we might need some childcare help from grandparents who are a drive away

@Toolateplanting
I thought that was the case with the joie so thanks for confirming. front seat is probably looking the best option I think....

OP posts:

Original poster

cookiegardencat · 12/09/2021 20:14

@Tigerwhocameforsupper thanks for that link. il take a look. really helpful

OP posts:

FixTheBone · 12/09/2021 20:14

My lad, same age had the same thing a week before we had a holiday driving from Bradford to Cornwall...

We put him so he could rest he's leg ebtween the front seat and b pillar. Unless you've got a big car, there's no easy answer...

Soontobe60 · 12/09/2021 20:53

[quote Tigerwhocameforsupper]Sorry but you really can’t drive with a spin seat sideways on, especially if it’s one Joie one. It doesn’t fix into position and so in an accident the seat would move which is dangerous.

Try contacting the In Car Safety Centre so see if they can offer any advise.

incarsafetycentre.co.uk/[/quote]
Of course! Sorry for the duff info!

bathorshower · 12/09/2021 21:00

How many of you do you need to get in the car at once? Can you put the toddler in the front seat with the air bag off (sorry, I don't know if that's an isofix only seat) leaving the 4yo in the middle at the back?

duffed · 12/09/2021 21:02

Quick google gave this information about what to do if child needs to go in the front seat, including how to switch off airbags - though it seems to think not all cars need this if a child is in the front if there's enough space

www.childcarseats.org.uk/choosing-using/airbags-and-child-seats/

Hope something works for you!

paradyning · 13/09/2021 21:27

There is this

incarsafetycentre.co.uk/ez-on-harness
Sure you can hire them.
As a pp poster said In car safety is your best bet for advice.

Original poster

cookiegardencat · 13/09/2021 21:51

thanks all,
I spoke to someone at incarsafetycentre today and they were very helpful. they do have a hire option although they did also suggest a few other options which I think might just work work us, one being using some foam inserts to raise the child up in his existing seat so that he is able to swing his leg to the side and another option being using a foot rest attachment or blow up airline foot rest to bridge the gap in front of the seat which may work if we pull the passenger seat as far forward as it goes as my car is thankfully quite big.

OP posts:

Tigerwhocameforsupper · 15/09/2021 14:28

@cookiegardencat

thanks all, I spoke to someone at incarsafetycentre today and they were very helpful. they do have a hire option although they did also suggest a few other options which I think might just work work us, one being using some foam inserts to raise the child up in his existing seat so that he is able to swing his leg to the side and another option being using a foot rest attachment or blow up airline foot rest to bridge the gap in front of the seat which may work if we pull the passenger seat as far forward as it goes as my car is thankfully quite big.

I’m glad they were able to offer some suggestions.

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