I have a 21 month old son and he has recently aquired a rash from the leg straps on our car seat. I have tried various ointments, loosening the straps (not too much of course), etc. and nothing seems to help. Now he puts up quite a fight when it comes time to "hit the road" because it hurts to be in his seat. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have.
Thanks.
I want to thank everyone for their input. In using some of your suggestions the rash has diminished a great deal just in the past couple days.
I am a first time mom and it is SO wonderful to have people to turn to when questions arise/problems occur. Thank you all again for taking the time to respond. It has proved most helpful.
What kind of car seat are you using, i have 3 kids and have never experienced this. I also have a 21 month old, he is using the same one his 5 year old brother had at his age, it then went to his sister, and its still working great. We have the Eddie Bauer 5 in 1. Its was a little expensive, but its gone through 3 kids and its one of the most comfortable and one of the safest on the market. I would try changing car seat, that might help.
Maybe stick a diaper in between the seat belt for relief????????
Maybe you need a distraction also. I have found the little portable tv's to help alot with car rides. Its sad they really can't see anything so car rides are hard for kids,everything is going by so fast. Good luck
i dont know how crafty you are, but my first thought was to try to make covers for the straps, maybe out of terry cloth ( a couple of old hand towels should do it) and velcro so you can take them off and wash them. you may be able to buy an item like this, but i dont recall ever seeing one in the stores. try just wrapping a hand towel around the straps while hes in the set, maybe something between him and the straps is all you need. good luck!
Have you tryed to sew a small sleeve that is made from comfortable material but it slips right over the leg strap. As long as the leg strap is the buckle alone it will slip right on. Other then that you would have to make a sleeve that opens at the side and attaches with velcrow. Use velcrow on the inside so it dont touch his legs.that can irriate also. Just a small piece of fabric made from that imatation sheep skin like a car set cover for a standard car. Go to Joann's fabric store and looking in the area where they sell scraps of fabric. you can find so really cheap deals and you wouldn't even need much.
L.,
We had this problem with our daughter (now 9). I took a hair scrunchie and cut it and then slipped it over the nylon straps of the car seat. You can get those hair scrunchies for next to nothing at a dollar store. My husband used to call our daughter "the little sumo wrestler" ... she was VERY healthy and had thunder thighs. The scrunchies helped tremendously. It was a pain to figure out an end to feed it through however. I put corn starch on her thighs (kept a container of it in the car for that purpose) before I clicked it in. It healed very quickly.
But ... shortly after the rash ... we changed car seats because of her weight. I continued to use the scrunchies on the straps ... in fact added more to other areas. At a "car seat safety" demonstration ... the officer thought it was a great innovation.
Hope this helps.
L.,
I am always fighting eczema with my 2year old daughter. She gets rashes anytime an area is chafed or if she gets too hot. Try covering the straps with a padded cushion (you can make one or buy one). Also I have tried a zillion rash remedies (including prescription) the best we have found that always seems to work is cortaid brand intensive therapy. The key is the intensive therapy part, cortaid makes stronger ones, but this one seems to work best for us.
Dear L.,
Find some padded straps for regular seat belts and put them around or use some soft cloth and make the pads yourself. You can get the cloth to stick together with velcro - sewn or glued. Also use Vitamin E cream on his rash or Desitin. If he cries when it is time to go, then show him what you are doing so that the straps won't hurt, also you might put a favorite blanket over his legs just for comfort until he realizes that it is not going to hurt anymore. A cool wash cloth will sooth rashes too. Good Luck, C. N.
Wrap the straps with a softer material - stitch it on around the straps to prevent the chaffing.
Put a towel between his leg and the car strap. L.
Have you tried the velcro pads that you can buy, typically for the the shoulder area? I would look for fleece or sheepskin to soften the material against his skin. If necessary, one pad can probably be cut in two and placed on the leg straps to prevent chaffing. If you can't find these pads, maybe you can make your own with a soft cloth diaper... Good luck. Stef
have u tried putting a blanket (maybe a thin small blanket) in between to block the skin contact? I used to use my receiving blankets for this because my kids had excema and everything irritated their skin.
his rash may be infected, and might have to take oral antibiotics. It may be necessary to get a new car seat as well.
Could you use a set of those "wings" they use to go around the straps to support the baby's neck. Or you could make your own using a nice soft towel or something.
I would try (if possible) to give his skin a chance to heal. As much as possible let him run around with nothing touching that part of his legs. Keep him in loose clothing, even at night for now. It sounds like a type of heat rash. You may want to try some cornstarch or baby powder. It way also sooth him if you give him an oatmeal bath. (I believe Johnson's & Johnson's makes one were you empty the packet into a warm bath.) If it still bothers him after a week or so, take him to the doc. It may by a type of skin infection or something like eczama (sp?).
As for the carseat fight, it is not ABSOLUTLY just the rash. He as at the age that he will start asserting his independance. It also may just be an uncomfortable carseat, regaurdless of the rash. My son HATED the carseat that you can carry, but was delighted when we switched to our first Britax. I have a couple freinds that said the switched to a Britax at 1 and 2 1/2 years old. Both said their kids were fighting the car ride because of their seats were so uncomfortable. Both said that when they switched to their Britax, all the fighting went away. We just bought our son the Britax Regent, partly because we know Britax is comfortable, but also because it provided him with the safest long term option for us. He will be able to use this seat, as a 5 point harness, until he is 80 lbs and nearly 5 ft. Considering he is only 29 months and already 3ft 4in (40") and weighs 40 lbs, we went to the extreme. We were not ready to place him in a sholder belt booster seat at the age of 2.
Anyway, if it heals and he still likes his seat, then there's nothing else to worry about. If not, try BRITAX!
Hope it helped, ~J
My daughter, now 18 months, suffered through this stuff and also had issues with where the straps rubbed against her neck and shoulders. I was able to buy slip on cushions over the straps at her shoulders, and the irritation there went away - finding a solution to the leg thing was a little more difficult. If its possible with your carseat, buy some of those velcro neck and shoulder strap cushions and put them down where his legs rub. I couldnt do that with ours, so I ended up taking a soft, small blanket and put it in her lap and spreading it out so that there was a barrier between the leg straps and skin and THEN buckling her in. We also discovered that we were strapping her in too tightly - the straps do not need to be so tight that the child is unmoveable - so try loosening your carseats straps a little so that there is not so much rubbing and tension across his legs. In the meanwhile, coat those little rashy areas with vaseline or neosporin.
