3yo uncomfortable in the car seat

[ViaRia01]

My 3.5 year old has always been fine travelling by car and happy in the car seat. He’s now began to complain (quite hysterically!) about his bottom being uncomfortable in the car seat. Sometimes after driving for a while (understandable) but sometimes just as soon as we get in the car.

I don’t know what group/stage the car seat is but it was for ‘from birth to 4yo’ so I’m aware he’ll need a new one soon anyway. I’m wondering whether the ‘next size up’ but alleviate any discomfort? I know it sounds obvious in a way but the reason I’m questioning it is that he doesn’t seem too big for it at the moment so I’m not sure if/ how a next stage car seat would solve anything.

So… has anyone had this with their 3(ish) year old and did the next car seat resolve the discomfort? Thank you!

I’ve generally had to move up at this stage. I’ve a 4 year old in a seat that is still the correct size but is uncomfortable. Can’t afford a bigger one this month though.

Is it the strap rubbing between his legs do you think? Or is it more that the padding on the seat might be a bit lacking and they can't move around easily in the seat to alleviate pins and needles.

I would make sure he is sitting properly with his bum right to the back of the seat, to hopefully reduce any discomfort. You might need to raise the headrest/shoulder straps up if he has been slouching to fit under this. Also, if the crotch strap is supposed to have padding but it has gone walkabout perhaps look and see if you can find it in the car or the house - you can use a hair tie to reattach it if it tends to fall off a lot.

You can't normally do much to fix a non-padded seat - Britax do a comfort insert, if you have a Britax seat, and possibly Maxi Cosi (but I think it is only approved for the Pearl range). Some brands also approve the use of a comfort insert like the Aeromoov. But you should not add inserts which are not approved by the manufacturer.

If the padding in the cover has gone a bit flat, you could try washing it following the instructions in the manual and see if that puffs it up at all. Also simply taking the cover off and checking for any sharp crumbs and so on might be worth a try.

If you wanted to move to a different kind of seat he needs to be at least 15kg and 100cm to move to a high back booster type which uses adult seatbelt, but it's better if he is closer to 18kg/105cm and 3.5 is quite little for this.

You can get seats which are called 123 type which start off as a seat with integrated harness and then once they get to the 105cm, you tuck the harness away and it becomes a high back booster with adult seatbelt. Maxi Cosi, Britax and Silver Cross are the brands to look at for these - I don't know how the comfort compares between the three brands. We have the Britax Advansafix, and my DC seem happy enough in it but I don't think it's hugely padded. We just moved our 3.5yo from the Joie 360 Spin into it (in harness mode) - he is about 16kg/100cm. There is a bit more room for their hips and bum in this seat but I think the padding in the Joie is thicker if anything. However, the Advansafix seems a bit more "ergonomically" shaped compared to the Joie which is more "bucket" shaped? It might be that one of the 123 seats is more suited to his body size whereas the 0-4 years ones are more designed to fit toddlers.

@ViaRia01 what kind of seat is it?

My eldest is high percentiles and was starting to look a bit squashed in his Minikid 2 at age 4.5 (although no complaints from him).

He was still under the 125cm height limit but approaching the 25kg weight limit.

We moved him to an Axkid Movekid which has a 36kg weight limit and the same 125cm height limit. But it has a much longer length to the shell so he has more room for his torso. I think it will last him until he's about 6 at which point he will move to a high backed booster.

Thanks @BertieBotts i think it is joie 360 spin - suitable from birth to 4 years old.
I’ll have a look at the 123 seats. I think he’s still only 95cm or so.

He just complains that his bottom hurts and he wants to scoot back into the seat. So I think that’s all it is, but he just can’t seem to find a comfortable position. Having said that he hasn’t really complained about it recently, since I first posted… so not sure if he’s just found a more comfortable position. I will check again the straps and headrest but I don’t think they are the cause - good suggestion though, thank you

Have you taken the wedge shaped cushion out? This pushes their bum forward, so if he's saying he wants to scoot back it may still be in.

I don't think you would fit a 3yo in the Joie with the wedge in, it's enormous

I would guess he's probably slouched down and then can't scoot back so trying to get him to sit properly in the first place should ensure that all straps etc are tight to the position where he's comfy, rather than when he's slid forwards.

I'd agree with checking the height of the straps/headrest in case he's scrunched up a little bit to fit under them, so his bum's a bit forward from where it should be.

Another thing would be to pay attention to what he's wearing when he does or doesn't complain – could be something like rivets or zips (or even just a thick seam in jeans) pressing into him.

Stickers might solve it.

or snacks.

Or a drink.

If none of them work, it might be fit.

(although my giant child was up against the height and weight limit on the 360 and fit fine).

The '4 years' actually means until they reach the hight/weight of an average (50th percentile) 4yo, which could be younger or older. Mine both needed the next size up before the sugestage, so I wouldn't rule out it been to small

DS2 turned 3 in February and still has the wedge in, he's tall but skinny with a teeny tiny bum!