is it safe for a rearward facing car seat to have front to back movement??
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 at
3:05 am
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Tagged with: amp • britax • buckle • car seat • convertible car • convertible seat • floorboard • google • infant seat • latch system • pivots • script type • seat belt • seatbelt • tether • text javascript
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It shouldn’t move. I’m not using the latch system right now either (I have a Britax Marathon) – I just have it buckled in. But the seat doesn’t move at all.
Until your appointment, I would push the seat that is in front of your baby’s seat all the way back so it can’t really move much.
Hopefully your appointment isn’t that far off. I think you should be okay though.
Good Luck!
do you mean it rocks? if so then most of them at newborn stage do as you can use them as a carrier. if not then im not sure sorry. maybe contact the company of the car seat for advice. your midwife will talk to you about it anyway as they dont allow you to go home with the baby in it until it has been checked and fitted.
It is okay for the top of the seat to move toward the back of the seat. It is called rebounding – it’s fine. As long as your seat moves less than an inch when you tug the seat at the belt path, then your seat is installed correctly.
With a Britax convertible, you can use the top tether in the rear-facing position. I would check again to make sure that there really is no place to anchor it to. Sometimes, you have to pop off a piece of plastic covering the metal under the front seat…….watch the install videos.
http://www.carseatsite.com/videos.htm
http://www.carseatsite.com/installing_your_car_seat.htm
ADDED: Not sure what you mean when you say the towel is preventing too much slack in the seat belt? Generally, towels or noodles are used to improve the incline of a seat. Are you using the locking clip on the seat?
At the hospital where I delivered, they had noodles (like for the pool) cut the same width of the carseat. They would put it under the part closest to the back of the seat and it eliminated all movement. You can also roll up a towel.
"Rotation" (from the top towards the floor) is expected, but not sliding forward in a way that creates a gap between the child-seat and the back of the car seat. Only a few seats can use the tether in the rear-facing position, not sure about britax, even then its not required.
http://www.carseat.org/Technical/tech_update.htm
When testing the installation tightness, grab the CR close to where the belt or LATCH attachment routes through the CR. If the CR can still be moved from side to side or toward the front of the vehicle more than an inch (see also Lockability test requirements), there may be a mismatch between the shape of the vehicle seat and the CR or between the belt path and the vehicle belt and/or anchorage geometry. For a rear-facing CR, it is acceptable for the top part of the CR to rotate toward the rear of the vehicle or to shift from side to side, as long as the CR is attached securely near the belt path (see also Top tether, rear-facing). For a forward-facing CR installed in a vehicle where the seatback is adjustable, tip the vehicle seatback rearward, install the CR, then bring the seatback forward. This may help provide a better fit between the CR and vehicle seat. If the installation is still loose, a different seating position or CR model may need to be used. For forward-facing CRs, a top tether should be used whenever possible, but this cannot completely make up for looseness of the vehicle belt or LATCH attachment. (9/07)
my MIL got a convertible carseat and it would not be level or sturdy when it was rear facing! it needs to not move.
we ended up having to return it and got her a base so she can just use our carseat in her car.
take it to the local fire dept and they do checks for you for free.
i can’t believe the hospital nurse didn’t come out!!! my hospital they wheel chair the mom out and then check the carseat and the baby in it. (the baby in it while in the hospital)
definietly get it looked at, a towel underneath i wouldn’t think is safe enough. we tried that too and it still rocked a lot.
Really I think it’s fine. It sounds like it doesn’t really move much, just a bit. You must not have a compact car since your buckle placement is wider. We have an escort and our convertible seat barely fits. Anyhow…
You said that you have a towel with it, but is that under the foot end or along the sides? Since you mentioned buckle placement, I’m thinking that you have that on the side. If you don’t have one under the foot that may be worth trying too. If the towel isn’t quite getting the job done foam pool noodles can be cut and will work well.
Until your appointment I wouldn’t sweat it too much. It’ll be fine. You can always try taking it out and putting it back in again to see if you get better results.
Good luck!
You can top tether a Britax seat using the D-ring that came attached to your tether strap. You just put it around something bolted to the frame of the car (usually the front seat leg) and then attach the top tether strap to that.
As long as you have less than one inch of movement at the belt path (where the seatbelt goes through the seat).
The towel in the seat bight is completely fine, but you can twist the female end of the seatbelt buckle up to 3 complete twists to move it out of the belt path.
You have chosen a great seat! We have 2 Marathons and love them.
Come on over to car-seat.org and you will have so many of your questions answered even better than I could ever do!
Short Answer: yes, its safe
Explanation & how to use tether rear facing: Grab the seat at the belt path, where the seatbelt goes through the seat, with one hand and try and move in all directions. If it moves less than 1", its a good install. A rear facing seat will be able to lift at the top, towards the back, you described it right. It allos the seat to ‘cocoon’ baby in an accident, by rebounding towards the back seat, the child seat shell will hit the back seat so that baby doesn’t. But if you use the rear facing tether, it can help prevent/minimize this.
You most definitely can use the tether rear facing. Don’t be surprised if most people tell you you can’t – that’s b/c most people don’t read the manual and there are only 2 brands of car seats that allow their seats to be tethered rear facing, Britax being one of them. There’s no studies, but the theory is it adds further stability to the seat, and you can use it to help you get a better recline. Install the seat with seatbelt, hook the tether, and then pull it tight to get more recline in the seat.
Most often, you will rear tether to where the front seats are connected to the floor board. Here’s a video showing it, http://www.carseatsite.com/videos.htm
Here’s some good pics: http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=43867
You need that extra strap and DRing that came with the seat, wrap the extra strap with D-ring on it around the front seat leg, and then hook the car seat’s tether to the D-ring.