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Original poster

2 year old getting his shoulders out of car seat!

28 replies

mummymoo · 08/06/2005 09:21

Help! My lovely 2 year old is cheekily getting his shoulders out of the straps of his car seat. It's taking me forever to get anywhere, as I have to keep stopping and putting him back in (which as you can imagine he finds hilarious!)

I've seen in one of those baby catalogues a velcro strap to put the two straps together...but can I find the darned thing?! Does anyone know where I can buy one and have experience of using one?

Or any other suggestions???

OP posts:

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ButtonMoon · 08/06/2005 09:39

I got mine from ebay...they are called Snug sit. I found it worked better as a deterrent as DD hated having it on. A quick wave of it when she got her arms out was enough to stop her. A friend of mine has used hers loads though. I sympathise with your situation it is frustrating!

lunachic · 08/06/2005 09:48

i use a snugsit but now my ds (2.5)can undo to and escape from that too -the little houdini can wriggle out the all the straps on the seat if he trys

does anyone know of anything more escape proof than a snug sit to keep him in seat ?

mummymoo i think i bought my snugsit from the great little trading co online as gltc.co.uk i think

NotQuiteCockney · 08/06/2005 09:49

My DS1 went through a phase of doing this - we used his music CDs as reward/punishment to sort it out. Shoulders out = music off, shoulders in = music back on.

Easy to do, particularly if you have a passenger to do the observing/switching safely.

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lemonice · 08/06/2005 09:54

dgs has started doing this and he is only 13 months so not bribable, it's ok if he has thick clothes on but with just a t shirt it seems difficult to get it tight enough but not too tight...

coldtea · 08/06/2005 10:05

I wish i'd known of these. My dd(22months) has been doing this for months. I bought a high back booster from mothercare so the harness goes on, then the seatbelt goes over her. It's not ideal but i felt it's safer. It is suitable from 9 months but at a cost of £90 the snug sit sounds much better!

Original poster

mummymoo · 09/06/2005 08:15

Thanks all for the advice. Ironically, he was an angel yesterday afternoon not getting out of the straps at all! But he made up for it catapulting himself out of his cot last night - at 6 months pregnant I'm feeling weary!

I'm on to the net for a snug sit and I like the cd trick too - thanks so much.

OP posts:

lynny70 · 09/06/2005 08:21

Message deleted

Trixie1 · 09/06/2005 14:31

OOH, very stressy when your child liberates themselves from the car seat. I learned that my escape artist couldnt be held down by anything on the market, he even used to undo the seat belt!
I learned to stay calm and pull over, restrap, give a firm word and drive on.(took me half an hour once to get 4 miles)The motorway is a bit more tricky but I remembered I had been told that fewer accidents happen on the motorway (2%). I would slow down and stay in the inside lane and get off at the next junction, buckle him up and rejoin the motorway.

grumpymarthamoo · 09/06/2005 14:34

here , mummymoo.

I'm mummymoo too! Well, sort of.

bundle · 09/06/2005 14:50

oh poo. the gltc says the sit safe thing is out of stock & it won't be available again has anyone got a spare one???

lunachic · 09/06/2005 14:55

lynny70 i would really like to buy on of those plastic things to hold the seat straps together
ive seen them in a photo (in one catalogues for childrens stuff think it was blooming marvellous but they werent for sale )
they look more child proof than snug sit
think ill do a search now and see if i can find one

bundle · 09/06/2005 15:27

oh just found the snug sit thing, on travellingwithchildren.co.uk

lunachic · 09/06/2005 16:59

just rang travelling with children to see if they could help and the lady said my ds was the only child ever to escape from a snugsit that she knew??? and she gave me the phone no of the guy who invented it !!!
ive left a message on his answerphone

do you think i need to start a thread 'can your child escape from a snugsit'?
cause if the inventor and people who sell think its escape proof and its not its a problem isnt it

jane313 · 21/06/2005 19:41

ooh this thread is a godsend. My son does this all the time. Today he did it and unbuckled the car seat belt so the whole seat was loose! And I was in solid traffic on a red route. God I hope he can't get out of the snugsit too.

Carlk · 23/06/2005 11:29

just a thought
for the most persistent offenders I would consider a small cable tie across the straps this could easily be cut with a pair of small safety scissors kept about your person to release them at the end of the journey, and they cost pennies.
The downside would be the pile of cut ties in the car but if nothing else works then there is no way a toddler could undo it

husbandhavingaffair · 23/06/2005 11:45

was thinking the same thoughts yesterday as my dd 2.5 is taking her shoulders out of car seat too. Never had it with older two.

If anyone finds a product still on the market that works that will be a godsend.

lynny70 · 23/06/2005 11:59

Message deleted

metmoo · 11/06/2008 23:50

hi our 2 year old used to do it, but now we fold a bungee strap in half .thread under both arm straps, thread it through itself and hook to back of seat eaily undone by adult and it works

TeeBee · 12/06/2008 20:21

You have to be careful though. A reason a lot of these strap things are being taken off the market is the concern that if there was an accident, they would impede getting the child out quickly - imagine a cable tie would be very unsafe as if the car was on fire, trying to hunt around getting scissors would take too much time.

Desiderata · 12/06/2008 20:23

I am pondering why a message would be deleted on a perfectly innocuous thread about car seats!

Can anyone enlighten me?

Mrsfudgecake · 12/06/2008 20:26

Just to add another dimension here - have just arrived in UK on a long haul flight where I had to sit opposite my 2yr old - and he wriggled out of his seatbelt and stood up just as we took off!!! I divebombed out of my seat and grabbed him but he then had hysterics as I'd left his bunny behind!

satine · 12/06/2008 20:27

A friend of mine whose daughter did this drove to the police station one day and asked one of the uniformed PCs to give her 3 yr old a good talking to. It really worked!

pedilia · 12/06/2008 20:30

My 18 month old has started doing this, the problem being she has figured out that once her shoulders are out she then only has to wriggle about a bit and then she can get her legs out to

bogie · 12/06/2008 20:32

I tell ds the police will come and shout at him if he doesn't put his arms back in and he panicks and puts them back every time.

strawberriesandcream01 · 12/06/2008 20:37

Hi. I had exactly the same problem with DD and I found in Jo Jo mamen bebe a plastic clip that goes on the harness and clips together just below their chest. it has worked wonders!

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