![Ready to move from rear facing to forward facing car seat? Here's how we did it with a child under 40 pounds. From a Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST) [Image is a graphic with photos and text. Two photos feature a young white girl with light brown hair wearing a yellow hoodie. The first photo in the upper left corner shows the girl in a rear-facing seat without a harness pad. Text next to the photo reads quote, The Big Switch! Rear-facing car seat, end quote, and there are arrows pointing to the first photo. The second photo is in the lower right corner and shows the girl in a forward-facing seat with a purple harness pad around the chest clip. Text next to the photo is bullet points with the header, To Foward. The bullet points read quote, one, height limit met; two, under 40 pounds; three, diono radian rxt, end quote. The Adjoyn logo is below with text underneath that reads quote, baby plus you, end quote. A web url is at the footer of the image, adjoyn.com/car-seats.]](/uploads/8/1/7/3/81735352/switching-from-rear-facing-to-forward-diono_orig.png) Lucy hit a big milestone at her seat check - time to switch from rear facing to forward facing! We know she's ready because even though she's just under 40 pounds, her height has reached the rear-facing limit. Because of her weight, though, we had to check a few more boxes on her forward-facing install. Here are the 7 things we adjusted, or the rainbow "Roy G Biv" of her big switch! You can also find this info in a post on a Facebook.  # 1/red: When we switched this seat to forward facing, we needed to move the lower anchors of the LATCH system out of the rear-facing belt path. # 2/orange: (continued from # 1) The lower anchors are now in the forward-facing belt path. Lucy will only use the lower anchors until she hits 40 pounds. At that point, we'll remove the lower anchors and store them in slots on the seat back, then use the lap-and-shoulder belt to install the seat through the same forward-facing belt path. It's important that the seat beat locks the car seat in place so that it moves less than one inch at the belt path. # 3/yellow: For this seat (Diono), the rear-facing angle is adjusted using the detachable rear-facing plastic foot and the foam block angle adjuster. The foam block is inserted once babies can sit at a less reclined angle. When we move to forward-facing, BOTH these angle-adjusting items can be removed. On newer Dionos, you'll find an "adjustable bottom" which must be up completely (so it is flush with the seat bottom) for forward facing (and for rear-facing children under 25 pounds as well). ![Adding the Diono SafeStop on a forward-facing car seat with a child under 40 pounds [Image is a collage of two photos. Both photos feature the harness system on the back of a convertible style car seat. Text on the left photo reads quote Before/Rear-facing, end quote. Text on the right side photo reads quote After/Forward-facing, end quote. There's a green number 4 at the top of the image and a green circles drawn on both photos, highlighting where the harness shoulder straps connect to the harness adjuster webbing. In the left/rear-facing photo, the two pieces connect together. In the right/forward-facing photo, there is an extra piece, the Diono SafeStop, connecting the two pieces of webbing.]](/uploads/8/1/7/3/81735352/diono-safestop-for-forward-facing-under-40lbs_orig.jpg) # 4/green: Because Lucy weighs less than 40 pounds, we need to install Diono's SafeStop on the back of the harness. When Lucy reaches 40 pounds, we'll remove this accessory. ![Adjusting the harness when switching to forward-facing with a child under 40 lbs in a Diono [Image is a collage of two photos. Both photos feature a young white girl with light brown hair, sitting harnessed in a purple car seat. Text on the left photo reads quote Before/Rear-facing, end quote. Text on the right side photo reads quote After/Forward-facing, end quote. There are numbers drawn on the image in different colors and with arrows to point out key features. Number 5 is blue and marks a straight line at the girl's shoulders, with an arrow pointing down from the line on the left/rear-facing image and an arrow pointing up from the line on the right/forward-facing photo. Number 6 is indigo and points to the harness in both images; on the left rear-facing there is not harness pad while on the right/forward-facing a purple harness pad surrounds the harness at the chest clip. Number 7 is violet and points to the head rest on the right/forward-facing photo, which is higher than in the left/rear-facing photo.]](/uploads/8/1/7/3/81735352/diono-harness-pad-for-forward-facing_orig.jpg) # 5/blue: When rear-facing, the harness should sit at or below the top of the shoulders. Now that Lucy is forward-facing, her harness can sit at or above her shoulders. # 6/indigo: Diono's harness pad is required for all forward-facing harnessed passengers, regardless of weight. It is optional for rear-facing and is not to be used as shoulder padding. # 7/violet: This one has nothing to do with rear- or forward-facing, we just needed to move Lucy's headrest up to accommodate her growth in height! ** Not pictured: the top tether at the back of the seat is also in use now, secured in the tether anchor for this specific seat in the vehicle. Lucy loves her new set-up in her familiar seat. Not long now and we'll switch # 2 to a seatbelt install when we remove the SafeStop harness (# 4) at 40 pounds. A fun mini milestone to look forward to! Our seat checks can be scheduled just 24 hours in advance, with appointments available from 6am to 10pm. Find out more at adjoyn.com/car-seats! ![How we made the switch! Moving a rear-facing Diono Radian RXT to forward-facing with a child who weighs less than 40 pounds but mets the height limits. [Image is a graphic with photo collages and text. 3 photo collages are on the left of the image. The top collage shows the base of a car seat, first facing the rear of the vehicle and second facing forward. There are 3 numbers pointing out features of the installs: a red number 1 points to the rear-facing belt path which is in use in the rear-facing photo but empty in the forward-facing photo; an orange number 2 points to the forward-facing belt path which is not in use in the rear-facing photo but is in use with the lower anchor webbing in the forward-facing photo; A yellow number 3 points out the angle adjusting items in the rear-facing photo. The middle collage shows the back of a car seat, with no alterations to the left/rear-facing photo, but a SafeStop accessory installed between the shoulder webbing and harness adjuster webbing in the right/forward-facing photo. The lower collage shows two photos of a young white girl with light brown hair wearing a yellow hoodie and sitting in a purple convertible car seat. There are 3 numbers point out features in the installs: a blue number 5 points to her shoulders, with an arrow pointing down in the left/rear-facing photo and an arrow pointing up from the shoulders in the right/forward-facing photo; an indigo number 6 points to the lack of harness pad in the left/rear-facing photo and the added purple harness pad in the right/forward-facing photo; a purple number 7 points to the seat's head rest. Text to the right of the image starts with a header that reads quote, Rear-facing to Forward-facing in 7 rainbow steps, end quote, with the word rainbow in rainbow colored letters. Bullet points under the header read quote, one, height limit met; two, under 40 pounds; three, diono radian rxt, end quote. Next, a list of points is numbered to match the images to the left. Red/1: remove lower anchors from rear-facing belt path. Orange/2: place lower anchors in forward-facing belt path (use until 40 pounds). Yellow/3: remove angle adjusters. Green/4: Install SafeStop at seat back (use to 40 pounds only). Blue/5: Harness height at or above shoulders for forward-facing. Indigo/6: Install harness pads. Purple/7: Raise head rest. Not pictured: top tether in use. The Adjoyn logo is below with text underneath that reads quote, baby plus you, end quote. A web url is at the footer of the image, adjoyn.com.]](/uploads/8/1/7/3/81735352/diono-to-forward-facing-under-40-lbs_orig.png)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Copyright © 2020