Booster Seat/car Seat

What brand of seat do you have? We have a Britax traditional car seat and my six year old still can't undo the buckles! I've known other people with the Houdini problem and the Britax solved their problems. It's not cheap, but worth the peace of mind and safety and can be used up to 60 lbs.

My mom sewed my oldest daughters car seat straps. She made a stitch that held the chest buckle in place. She couldn't push it down and pull her arms out, then slip the rest of the way out. Just a couple loops of thread around each part will keep the strap in place.

I sorry I don't know of any devices or tamper proof buckles, but I know when my daughter was the same age she was getting out her carseat. What I did was I went to the local police department and an officer came out to the car and spoke with her and she never did it again.

5 Part harness seat is a MUST

M.,
YIKES! As you know this is dangerous, so good job in pulling over and strapping her back in!! Have you tried some little incentive program with her, like a small treat for each completed trip with her remaining buckled into her seat? Or schedule trips to places she really wants to go, and let her know you will go straight back home if she unbuckles? Putting a device (not sure there even IS one) over the straps and buckles is NOT a good idea; it voids the car seat warranty and if there was a crash it would make it harder to get her out of a possibly dangerous situation. Some seats have buckles that are harder to open for the child, and you may want to do a bit of shopping to see if you can find one she CAN'T get out of; but she needs to be in a harnessed seat as long as possible, preferably even up to 65lbs depending on the type of carseat you have. If none of that works, there is a harness system called the 86Y made by a company called EZ-Tether; the link is www.ezonpro.com. There is a store in Portland that carries it, or they will ship it for an additional fee, at which point the total is about 65 dollars or so. You use it with a booster seat, but it helps with kids who like to unbuckle themselves. Good luck with this!
E. (Certified car Seat Safety Technician)

How about strapping some big mittens on her?! Just kidding--actually, that could work?? Anyway, best of luck! ;-)

At 3 years she still needs to be in a 5 point harness carseat. I believe that is what you're describing.

Make sure the harness straps are tight enough so that you can't pinch a horizontal fold at her shoulders and the chest clip is at armpit level.

There are some carseats that are more difficult to unbuckle. We have 2 Britax Marathons and love them! They harness forward facing to 65lbs.

You should never add anything to a carseat that didn't come in the box, but some carseat techs say putting a little bit of sticky velcro (the sharper hook side) on the buckle or chest clip can deter kids from pushing on them.

You can also try http://car-seat.org for great car seat techs who may be able to help you.

Our youngest son used to do that. I stopped taking him places for a while. When he asked :why aren't we going bye-bye: I tld him because you can't or wont stay in your seat. When he realized that is why we werent going anywhere he did an about face and I haven't had to deal with it ever again. Here is what I would do if this were my daughter. Tell her that it's for her own safety and that if she's not in the seat that mommy can get into trouble. If she still doesn't stay in her seat, then car trips are no longer going to happen. Be firm!

Usually if the harness is as tight as it's suppose to be then the child can't get their fingers around it to unclip and escape. The harness needs to be so tight that you can only get 1 finger between the harness and her shoulder blade. Also, the chest clip needs to be at armpit level. I hope just getting her in the seat tighter helps. I know it must be really scary to see her unbuckled in your rear view mirror. Good luck

I remember being warned about this by my dr when my now 3.5-y-o was a baby. He said, "make sure you keep some duct tape handy!" I thought he was joking, but I'm starting to think he was right from what I've heard from some folks like you. We have never had that problem. We have a Britax car seat that has two straps that come over the shoulders, connect with a fairly flimsy click-type connection in the middle, and then a REALLY DIFFICULT car buckle down by the crotch. It is hard for even my husband and I to get open, but sure enough, my son got it open himself for the first time yesterday. It was a fairly expensive investment, the Britax, but so worth it for the safety of stopping him from escaping! Good luck

Wow. I wonder if your car seat is adequate. I bought my twins the Cosco brand car seat and I myself have to struggle to get the buckle btwn their legs unsnapped. Or maybe you're not fastening it tight enough? Although even if I had mine looser on my kids, the buckle itself is hard to get undone. I'd check into other brands, and/or look into returning it where you got it, maybe its defective?

Mi

My youngest went through this phase too. I tried everything imaginable to keep her safely buckled in but found nothing ever worked. Finally one day my daughter had slithered out of her seat as I was passing the local fire dept. I quickly turned into the parking lot and summoned one of the firemen to come out and inspect the seat to see if there was anything else I could try. He said that I could not make it tighter and that she will need to outgrow the phase. Then he gave her the most serious lecture of her life. Now that made her pay attention! From then on all I needed to do was threaten to have the fireman give her another talking to and that really made her think twice to escape from her seat!! Good luck!

One suggestion is to twist the bottom buckle backwards so that the button is toward her, it might be harder for her to get unbuckled. Also have you tried explaining to her what could happen if you got in a car accident or something and ahe wasn't buckled? You could offer a reward for every time she doesn't unbuckle herself in the car, like a gummi bear or sticker. Show her the prizes and make sure it is something that she is excited about. GOOD LUCK!

There are some seat belt protectors out on the market. One of them is call the Angel Guard. They run about $15 each.
Hope that helps!

My 2 1/2 year old Emma can get out of her car seat too. I just told her when she started doing it that the cops are going to get her if she does that. I also explained to her that it is not safe and she can get hurt very badly. She loves cops (my Dad is one) but when she takes off her seat belt while we are driving and she has twice! I tell her Emma the cops are going to get you and she is very concerned and trys to buckle back up. I had to pull off of the highway get out and buckle her up again and the other time she was able to buckle back up right away herself.

So telling her that she will get in trouble with the cops if she unbuckles works very well for us. She tells us everytime we get in the car a cop is going to get us if we don't buckle. Maybe that will work for you too.

My almost 3 year old daughter started doing this at about age 2. Very frustrating! I told her that mommy can't drive without everyone being buckled. So, if she got herself out of the carseat, I would pull over until she got back in her seat and asked me to buckle her back up. I think this happened about 4-5 times and then she must have realized mommy was serious!

Hi,

It sounds like this is a game for her- "wow, I have the power to make mommy stop the car!". This is a life or death thing and she needs to understand that. You should let her know there will be harsh consequences if she EVER does it again (no empty threats)- come up with something that is doable and will drive the point home. I avoid spanking at all cost, except something like this. Other ideas...taking a favorite toy away, no tv for a week, whatever will work. The police or firefighter warnings are great too. My personal opinion is when you need immediate corrective action (such as for safety issues) disciniplary action is more effective (for immediate results) than positive reinforcers.

M.,

How much does she weigh and how tall is she? My son just went into this type of booster and he is soon to be five. He weighs 38 pounds and is about 42 inches. He has tried this with me also but he knows now that if he takes his belt off again that there a consiquences to his actions. Maybe she is to young to understand that she needs to stay in it. Can she go back into a regular car seat that she can not get out of. He was NEVER allowed to unbucle himself in his old car seat, in fact he never learned how to undo the buckle. But now that he is in a booster I do allow him to unbuckle his seat if Mommy says that it is okay. These rules apply to my youngest also, she is 18 months younger then her brother and just now is allowed to crawl out of her carseat after I unbuckle her. Safety is a BIG thing in our house.

D. M

If the issus is that she is unbuckling it, then turn the buckle around backward so she can't get to the button as easily.
If the issue is that she can slip out of the straps, then pull the seatbelt all the way out until it locks so it will hold tight against her body.
If she is not above the 40lb weight limit for the harness straps, maybe you should put them back on until she is ready to be a "big girl" and stay in her seatbelt safely. Also, they do sell a carseat with harness straps for upto like 60 pounds.

I went through this with my oldest son and am probably going to be dealing with this soon with my youngest . . .

I wasn't able to find any devices when my oldest went through this stage, so I'll be watching your responses with great interest!

I had a parent educator tell me that the best thing to do was to turn around and go "right home" every time my son unbuckled himself but this was terribly impractical. We lived out in the sticks then and the only time I even left the house was to run necessary errands (like doctor appointments, etc.). Though strongly considering using duct tape to keep my little monkey in his seat, I instead put a couple of less drastic techniques into place. The first was a toy he really liked and that he was ONLY allowed to play with when he was in the car. (This kept his little hands busy.) The second thing I did was to HEAP praise on him every time we reached a destination and he stayed buckled the entire time.

Good luck!

I don't know of such a device, but I have a suggestion you could try. Plan a special outing, just the two of you, to go do something she likes. If she gets out of her car seat on the way there, stop the car, get her back in her seat, and give her a warning like, "You must stay in your car seat or we can't go to the ___." If she gets out a second time, stop the car, get her back in her seat and tell her you're going home now because that's what she chose. Don't give her another chance this time, but be sympathetic with her. Explain that you'll be happy to take her there next time, if she stays in her car seat. If she doesn't get out of her car seat on the way to the special place, be very generous with the praise. Let her know that staying in her car seat is a "big girl" thing to do. Come up with a chart, and some system of rewards for her staying in her car seat.