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CARES harness question
I know several of you use this. So far we still have DD (19 months) as a lap infant as most of our flights are within the US. We did use her car seat when we went to Europe and that was OK (even though she still ended up on my lap for most of her awake time). I really don't mind lugging the car seat around the airport (we have the gogo baby) but dragging it onto the plane is a pain especially since I can't roll it through the aisles of most planes with the gogo baby attached so it is a pain to carry it onto the plane. Since we will need to buy her a seat soon I was pondering the CARES harness especially for shorter flights wihtin the US.
I have read in the past that it interferes with the tray table for the person behind the seat and it would seem like that would be a problem. Is that really true?
Also, when in the harness it seems like it would make it hard for them to sleep since they don't have the support of the car seat where their head can rest on it. So how does your LO sleep while in the harness (since most seats don't really recline much at all)?
I have also seen reviews where some people mentioned that their LO could slip out easily since it doesn't have a crotch strap to keep them from sliding down.
It comes with mixed reviews on Amazon (with the above issues as the main concerns) so I wanted to see what your opinions were.
I think I also remember Anna7602 mentioning she had her kiddo in the seatbelt only. Not sure if that was her or how old her DD was when she started doing this. Not sure if there is a "rule" that kids under a certain age/weight have to have extra restraints in addition to the seat belt.
Anyway, just tryiing to get people's opnions/experiences on this. Not sure if it makes any difference but my DD is closing in on 22 lbs so not real big
Thanks!
Re: CARES harness question
You don't put the harness over the tray table of the person behind you, you put it underneath it. It in no way interferes with them using the tray table, but if you did it wrong it would keep them from opening it. You open their tray table up, slip the belt over the seat, then close it.
My ds has done 3 overnight flights with it on, and has just found ways to sleep. It never looks comfortable but he seems to sleep fine. He also has never slipped out from it, but I have heard people say that before.
There is no age limit to just sitting them in the seat with the belt. The harness is safer but it doesn't work for all kids. If your dd can sit up fine (and I assume yes since she is 19 months!) she could sit on her own in the seat with the seatbelt.
Honestly we have loved using it. I think ds is done with it now but we will use it with dd when she is old enough.
We have one and I'm not too fond of it. We've used it twice, and actually gave up on it last time because W was much more comfortable in just the normal seat belt. But he was a big-ish 3 at that point. At 2 he seemed really uncomfortable and didn't sleep much in it until we unfastened the chest harness bit, which made it pretty pointless. I've actually been thinking of selling ours, but I'm saving it for the few occasions we travel with M between 2-4, but she's small, so I doubt we'll use it before 2, and doubt we'll travel much anyway (as long as I'm a sahm anyway!).
This exactly for us, too. I love it. It's been a wonder for us with Bruce and my sister used one with her 2 year old on our last flight to Illinois and it was great for him, too. They all find ways to sleep. I mean I never thinking sleeping in the carseat with their head rolled forward looks comfortable but they never complain! I don't think of this as being any different. I usually have a little something they can use to cushion their head against the arm rest or on their shoulder anyway.
Bruce has outgrown ours in height but we will use it for E next year when we fly to Europe and need to get her her own seat (she will just have turned two, we didn't get a single discounted flight for her to Europe).
We have the Go-go Baby wheels, too. Getting the car seat onto the plane is a PITA and, being in the car seat perfectly positioned my son to kick the seat in front of him. I am not a fan of putting him in his car seat on a plane anymore.
For our upcoming transatlantic flight, my plan is to bring a blanket and pillow to help get and keep LO comfortable in his seat, wearing the CARES harness. He will be fastened in securely when the fasten seatbelt sign is illuminated, but if the flight is smooth, I am comfortable with loosening the straps.
I'll know more in March about long flights with the harness.