For those of you who use the Britax Marathon convertible car seats, when did your LO get too big to be rear-facing?
I read some stuff about babies outgrowing the rear-facing before parents were ready to switch them and am curious. We have this car seat for our boys and at 1 year, I feel like their legs are running out of room! The seats are currently reclined in the middle position. I tried to move them to be upright but it seemed like they had even less space then!
6 votes
honeydew / 7303 posts
This isn't that helpful, but my LO is 16.5 months and nowhere close to switching yet.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
I had my son rearfacing in his Britax Blvd until 30 months. I wasn't worried about his legs, he'd sit crosslegged. The issue was that he outgrew the 1 inch space from the top rule.
clementine / 830 posts
So the legs all scrunched up is ok? I was just wondering about this the other day, too. I have a Marathon and LO is 14.5 months but he's tall.
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
I would have had to switch him at 21-22 months max. His head was an inch from the top of the shell. The long legs don't matter, FYI, as long as the head is more than an inch below. So a tall long leg kid could be ok, but my LO has a long torso.
We got a Radian to RF much longer.
persimmon / 1165 posts
@looch: Ahh, good to know they can just sit cross-legged!
@Mrs. Yoyo: I wish I had read that issue about the Marathons before we purchased them. I really like the reviews I've read about the Radians, but with four total to purchase, I wanted to save a little $$.
grapefruit / 4049 posts
Didn't vote because my 2.5 yo (30 month old) is still RF in her Britax Marathon. She is avg height and still has plenty of room til the top. Actually she is still using the shoulder straps at the bottom-most level, but I will switch her to the next one up soon.
As far as her legs, she sits criss-cross with them or sometimes she will extend them up. I've seen her fall asleep that way. She doesn't complain and I'm not as worried about broken legs, as opposed to a spine injury, in the event of a bad crash.
bananas / 9628 posts
they'll learn to cross their legs! they'll outgrow it from the top end first. much more important to protect their spine by keeping them rear facing than it is for their legs to have extra space. i've used one until 2 without a problem, then just switched because i was getting flack from people about it.
honeydew / 7488 posts
My DS sat RF in a Marathon until he was 2. He had plenty of room in the legs and sat with legs folded. But, he kept getting his arms out of the straps and twisting around to face forward when I was driving so we switched him FF.
coconut / 8498 posts
Reviving this old thread. I just noticed the other day that LO isn't too terribly far from needing to switch based on where her head hits. I think we'll make it to 2+ Before needing to switch though. I would love to go ahead and get a different seat to RF longer, but unfortunately the ones we tried don't really fit in our car well.
pomegranate / 3791 posts
We have a Chicco Nextfit (which I love!), not a Britax, but just wanted to chime in and say that it's totally fine for their legs to be scrunched - kid's joints are very flexible and they can just adjust their legs so they're comfortable. Leg injuries when extended rear-facing is uncommon...forward-facing neck injuries are much more common.
persimmon / 1343 posts
Their legs being scrunched up is fine. In crash tests, the ff kids' legs often hit their face, but not rf, and even still I'd take a broken leg over a spinal injury, heh
coconut / 8498 posts
@Mrs. Yoyo: I didn't try it with the angle adjuster, but I did try it by itself. It was just so tall! I actually felt a little uncomfortable because I couldn't see around it. Our plan for now is to rf as long as possible with the Marathon (2 is a few months away), then when either my pregnant belly makes it really hard to get her in or she outgrows it, we'll switch her ff. When #2 is ready for a convertible s/he will get the marathon and we'll probably get a Radian for LO. Hopefully by the time #2 outgrows the marathon, we can put LO in a high back booster or another harness booster and #2 can rf longer in the radian. Also by that time we'll have a different car which will fit a larger car seat much better.
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
@Weagle: You're right -- it is very tall! We're on the taller side so I've gotten used to it. The angle adjuster did make a world of difference space-wise, though.
I also have a Marathon that I'm going to have to bust out soon for Baby No. 2. He's only three months but almost off the charts for height and weight. Sigh.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
My dad picks up my son on Wednesdays and has been complaining about him rear-facing. I guess his car isn't the best for rear-facing car seats, but I'm adamant about keeping it RF. I know J will be 2 in a few weeks, but I feel like if he can FF in grandpa's car, he'll want to FF in our car.
J is nearly 2 and hasn't outgrown yet. Like others said, we don't worry about the legs (he has to sit cross-legged as well). We use the Recaro seat and he still has a long ways to go to outgrow even the height rule.
coconut / 8498 posts
@Mrs. Pen: LO has to ff in my dad's truck, but it doesn't make her resist when she's rf in other cars. Though, she is inhis truck far less frequently than weekly.
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