Hi Mamas,
Is there some sort of a gadget that would prevent my 3 year old son from unbuckling the upper portion of the car seat buckle? Sometimes when he has a meltdown in his car seat, he will unbuckle the top portion of the 5 point harness on his car seat and pull his arms out. The bottom portion stays put as he cannot undo that one. I will pull off the road, as it allows, and rebuckle him as well as telling him not to do it. Though sometimes it's hard. Any suggestions other than buying another car seat?
Thanks
There are lots of devices -- as I've seen over the years on school buses carrying children with special needs.
Try www.mcnaughtoninc.com 1-800-423-5487
Or ask someone who drives a school bus!
I remember my son doing this when I was driving on the highway and it scared me to death! I explained the safety issues and how unbuckling his seat buckle was distracting the driver too. Of course, this didn't work as well as when I eventually resorted to a scare tactic. I told him the police would come after us if he did not keep his seat buckled. This method actually worked the first time. Toddlers are extremely rules oriented when it comes right down to it.
G.,
How about a thick velcro band. They sell it by the yard at walmart, target, fabric stores, etc. Get the 2 inch wide size. Cut about 8 inches off and wrap it around the seat belt. He'll try to get it off but if you get the heavy duty kind, it should be pretty tough to get off.
Hope this helps.
I've read of moms putting the prickly side of velcro (rather than the softer side) onto the button of the buckle so that a child's tender fingers can't push it hard enough to open it. I haven't tried it, but it sounded good so I remembered it...
Last time I washed my child's car seat I accidently threaded the straps in a different way. Turns out, it's a good thing! If it's possible with yours, you might want to try what I did: rethread the top strap so that the strap covers the release button. Mine does and my child can't get to it. Again, it's all a function of your model. Our model came with the strap threaded underneath the release button (at the top of the 5 pts.) and now we have it threaded to GO OVER THE RELEASE BUTTON. Give it a shot.
And good luck to you.
A.
There aren't any gadgets that I know of, but this topic does come up fairly regularly on the car-seat.org bulletin board - there are a few suggestions on this thread http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=38215
Good luck!
