Toddler opening car seat!

New farmers wife

Hi, does anyone have any suggestions on how to stop a 2 and 5 month old from opening her car seat, she had been just taking her arms out but today she opened the bucke!!!!

Glass fused light

New farmers wife wrote: »

Hi, does anyone have any suggestions on how to stop a 2 and 5 month old from opening her car seat, she had been just taking her arms out but today she opened the bucke!!!!

If she can wriggle out of the straps when buckled in you should check if you can tighten the straps. You could also train her ( aka set her up) by going somewhere she really wants to go warn her if she unbuckles you go straight home, or she looses her toy etc. it's a bit hard as she is 2.5 and not yet fully understanding that no means no. If she has the physical strenght in her hands to unbuckle the strap you may need new car seat or cable ties and duck tape.

bee06

People have recommended putting the spiky side of Velcro on the button in a Facebook group I’m in. She hopefully should find it sore to push so stop but you’d still be able to open it.

jlm29

Oh gosh, don’t use cable ties or duct tape. If there’s an accident, you want someone to be able to get her out in a hurry if they need to. The straps may need some adjustment.
Some people find it useful to put some Velcro- the harder side on the buckle, so it makes pushing the button uncomfortable. You could also try a backwards coat over her arms. But she’ll probably be having none of that

Glass fused light

jlm29 wrote: »

Oh gosh, don’t use cable ties or duct tape. If there’s an accident, you want someone to be able to get her out in a hurry if they need to. The straps may need some adjustment.
Some people find it useful to put some Velcro- the harder side on the buckle, so it makes pushing the button uncomfortable. You could also try a backwards coat over her arms. But she’ll probably be having none of that

Yes the cable tie and duck tape was a little facetious but if she has the physical strenght in her hands to open the buckle new car sear with a a different design of buckle is likely best solution.

Gee_G

My son used to do it but thankfully it was only a (very quick) passing phase.
I know at the time people recommended the "Houdini strap" to me. It may be worth a look for your little one?

shesty

I'm sure I have seen a "guard' that you can buy to cover the buckle for sale online.If you do a bit of googling you will find it.We have a houdini strap but that's just for the arms.I don't love using it, but I find if you use it for a short time, they get the message quickly enough and give up on taking their arms out.It's the only one I could find that had undergone safety testing etc. but even at that I think it's an Australian product rather than European.Eventually I decided that on the balance of probabilities, it was safer to use it for a few weeks, than to have her with her arms out of the straps.

You can threaten to go home or whatever, but the problem is that you can't always go home, (if you are going to work or anything) and if you turn around and have a 30 min car journey home it kind of loses it's effectiveness for that age group.Same for removing toys etc....if it isn't instantaneous,it's kind of lost on them.

Captain Slow IRL

What about mittens or something to make it harder?

5 months, that's impressive!

bee06

Captain Slow IRL wrote: »

What about mittens or something to make it harder?

5 months, that's impressive!

I think she’s 2 years and 5 months

cbyrd

I've used an ordinary bag clip .. the straight ones. In the event of an accident it just flips off. I'm not sure if it would stop opening the buckle but stopped my girl climbing out of her seat mid journey..

New farmers wife

Thanks for all the advice, I've looked at belt lock, I've seen them at shows so I'll look into seeing if it works for a car seat. I'm going to invest in that houdini stop anyway as I think if she can't get her arms out then she can't lean forward enough to open it. Luckily we were parked up at home while I got out of the car for a minute, I came back and she was happily sitting between her seat and her baby brother!

shesty

So not good, you do not need that happening while you are driving!

irishgirl19

Look up the houdoni safety strap

Moonbeam

we had a houdini strap but that never stopped her.
She is hypermobile so got out of all of them, I gave her a car seat with a bumper,it meant I had to change her to front facing but she stayed in it.
We got a kiddy guardian fix isofix seat,it had come out top in a few safety tests etc

uck51js9zml2yt

Gee_G wrote: »

My son used to do it but thankfully it was only a (very quick) passing phase.
I know at the time people recommended the "Houdini strap" to me. It may be worth a look for your little one?

We found them effective until he learned to open it moving it higher worked!
https://www.amazon.com/Houdini-Stop-Seat-Chest-Clip/dp/B0044VUXGW

appledrop

Could you try borrowing another car seat from a friend or trying her in their car to see if any better? A different brand might be the answer. I don't understand how she manages to wriggle out of straps. They are meant to be really tight. Our little boy is nearly 2 + never moves in his. I can understand some kids might master the buckle but I barely have strength to open ours!

drunkmonkey

I've 3 different type car seats and this is the only one that gets around the wiggling out problem, https://int.recaro-cs.com/child-seats/9-36-kg/monza-nova-is.html
Only reason I bought it, bit fiddly get everything off to wash but besides that have no real complaints.