Straps.....Anyone else wonder this?

[HJ1989]

I have minor cerebral palsy and it has mostly damaged the minor/acute motor functions in my left hand.I struggle constantly, but particularly with pram/car seat straps and on rockets etc.

I hate it whilst trying to strap my 4yo DH and 3 month DS into the car and I have to hold the two pins together first before securing them into the belt buckle. takes me forever to go out anywhere as a direct result!!

SO FIDDLY FRUSTRATING AND AWKWARD!!

Anyone else on here wonder why manufacturers have not come up with a design where you can clip the 2 prongs in first, before putting them into the belt buckle? Would make my life SO MUCH easier!!
😖😡

My best guess would be a safety feature, that because it's all or nothing, it's more obvious that it's not fully clipped in, but I'm just guessing.

I don't know about car seats, but I think a few prams have magnetically guided clips that might be easier, like the Nuna Mixx Next.

They are actually designed like that, because apparently if you design a system where it's possible to secure one strap at a time, even if it's very obviously not fully fastened, people will drive around with just one piece fastened! I've actually seen this on youtube videos unfortunately with those strange "kid influencer families" - enormous shiny brand new car, expensive Doona baby car seat, baby wrapped in a massive blanket and they just clip the chest clip pieces together over the blanket and drive off. 😬it wouldn't even begin to hold the baby in an accident.

Is it any easier to do up if you loosen the straps each time? I find it easier to hold them together and click in when I am not trying to pull it around the DC, but I don't have difficulty with fine motor control so not sure if it's enough.

For the 4yo check their weight and height as well, as they may be suitable to move into a high back booster seat with normal seatbelt now.

For your youngest they are a long way off that, but it might be a good situation to look at the impact shield car seats from Cybex in a year or two, maybe even the one with the airbag in it? Those straps are a single buckle to click in.

You could try speaking to the In Car Safety Centre - they sell adapted car seats for children with special needs, so might possibly be able to adapt a car seat for caregiver needs too.

Thanks, I'll look into that.

I do loosen 4yo DD car seat straps first before securing them, but sometimes struggle with even doing that!

The car seat we have is supposedly meant to last till she's 12 years old! So presumably meant to accommodate for size and height, the straps are ridiculously long. I've had 2 separate people look at it and they couldn't figure out how to work the straps!

I appreciate it's done for health and safety, but I swear they're all just universally fiddly just to be as difficult as possible, to the point where I've either missed appointments or had to abandon the day entirely, or had to rely on the kindness of strangers walking past! 🤦🏼‍♀️😖

Check her size and weight and the manual of the seat - the ones up to age 12 usually convert to a high back booster mode at some point so there will be a max on the straps. Unless it's a special needs seat, the straps won't go up to age 12. Joie seats tend to have really long straps but it's easy to accidentally go over the max weight or height on them for that reason. I also find Joie are a bit more fiddly to hold together compared with the Britax seat we have.

Yes, appreciate the tightening and loosening can be fiddly as well. That one is so that they can't undo them themselves, I think.

High back booster mode will be much easier to use and she might even be able to do it herself. You'll have to start training her to do the baby's seat as soon as you can trust her not to undo it while you're driving!

Thanks, I have to tie the straps together to stop her wriggling out and leaning forwards! 🤷‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

I'm not sure tying them together is safe, if she's leaning forward maybe the seat needs to be adjusted for her height? Could you take it to where you bought it from and get them to have a look at it?