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Carseat woes.

13 replies

ouryve · 10/08/2012 22:37

DS2 is 6, with ASD. He is also hypermobile and very bendy and squishy. His language is very limited - he's practically non-verbal and functions very much like a large toddler.

Until a year ago, we had him in a Britax Junior traveller. It suited him well in that he couldn't escape from it, but head support was somewhat lacking and we had to use it reclined. He outgrew it, though - too tall so we had to move him into a high backed booster with a crelling harness. This combination was fine for DS1 (also ASD, but with better language and much less squishy). Even with the chest clip, it doesn't contain DS2, though. We had a lovely trip up to the Northumberland coast, today, but had to stop several times each way to put him back in it. He's the same with his walking reins - just wriggles straight out of them unless they're really tight.

So we're stumped. We can afford to shell out over £500 for the Traveller plus, but have no idea if it'll actually fit properly in our car (it's not even on the Britax website so can't use the so called fitfinder) or if it'll be as hard to escape from as the smaller one was. The head support is less of a worry, now, since he's a lot stronger than a year ago and he no longer falls asleep in the car, but it's a lot of money to shell out to find that it's no good (though at a push, I think we could order it from halfords to be collected instore and we could ask them to fit it, but I don't know if they do it for this seat.)

Does anyone have any other ideas, short of duck tape?

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devientenigma · 10/08/2012 22:41

what a shame, I am near Northumberland and couldn't get rid of 2 britax traveller plus car seats last year!!!

ouryve · 10/08/2012 22:58

Permission to scream!!!! Please?!

The big question is, did the weight of them make them harder to fit stably? Our car (Mazda 6) has slightly moulded rather than completely flat seats which are great in most circumstances (specially for my back!) but ae a PITA with some seats.

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devientenigma · 10/08/2012 23:26

lol, scream as you wish..............scream even louder as I am unable to answer your Q!! The seat is big and bulky, I am only small so in comparison to me the seat was weighty and huge but they seemed to fit all the cars we have had them in. The weight of the child makes them more secure and you need a slight play on it to go with the flow should you have an accident. If that helps.

chocolatecakeystuff · 10/08/2012 23:58

I'm having a similar problem with DD - she's 8 and has a progressive disorder effecting well everything. Untill recently one of the high backed boosterrs was fine, but now need something with more support as she's finding it difficult to support herself.
OT have hinted they may be able to help with this.

TheNinjaGooseIsOnAMission · 11/08/2012 10:10

the seats do come up on ebay and the sn fb groups quite often, not ideal getting second hand but might be worth thinking about. The in car safety centre are pretty good if you give them a ring, even if you're not close to one of their centres.

JsOtherHalf · 11/08/2012 10:29

Magnetic lock car seat harness might be of help for some people?

www.windmillspecialneeds.co.uk/home/html/vehicle_harnesses.html

devientenigma · 11/08/2012 11:05

the windmill harness is just as expensive as the britax though.............we went from britax to windmill.

ouryve · 11/08/2012 16:46

The windmill harness doesn't look like it would work with a high backed booster, though, and he does need the lateral support (and probably will do long after he's too tall to legally need a car seat)

And I'd sooner pay the full whack than buy a car seat off ebay. Some of the seats I've seen on there look OLD and the history of any seat could be iffy - who's to say the seat hasn't been dumped in a skip by someone because it's been in a crash?

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SallyBear · 11/08/2012 17:11

I second the In Car Safety Centre. They are in my town, and I went to them when I was pregnant for car seat fitting and they were excellent. I have gone to them several times over the last 13 years and have always received excellent advice.

devientenigma · 11/08/2012 18:08

it won't work with a high back booster our. I think the windmill is the only thing suitable after a certain weight (think it's 36kg) or it means WAV x

robski252 · 12/08/2012 09:53

Our DS is 11 and requires a supportive car seat. We are going for a JCM Carrot Seat. They are expensive (£1,500 was our quote) but we are receiving help from charity to cover the cost. It should last him many years. It's taken us two years to get to this point, hope your solutions come quicker!

ouryve · 12/08/2012 11:22

He's only about 24kg, so a long way off 36kg, yet!

We're in Co Durham, so no In Car Safety centre anywhere near us.

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