# Newborn in carseat with loose straps



## CrunchyChristianMama (Dec 5, 2008)

I have my newborn in a bucket seat with the straps as tight as they will possibly go, but they are still loose. Not extremely so, but enough that I can pinch some excess. Should I be doing something to make them tighter to her, or is it safe as is?


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## Anastasiya (Jun 13, 2006)

Is it the kind of carrier that has two slots in the backs of the harnesses for the connector thingamajig?







Yeah, like that makes ANY sense!









What I mean is...our bucket has a metal connector piece (the splitter plate) in the back, behind it where the harness slack hangs....the plate holds the harnesses together. The harnesses have two "slots" or "pockets".... one is used for the littlest babies to get the harness as tight as possible, then when baby grows you put the clip in the second slot so there's more harness to work with. Maybe (if your seat is like this) yours is in the bigger baby slot.

Does any of this make sense?

Our seat is the old SafeSeat 1, if that helps any.


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## Jaesun's Dad (Feb 19, 2010)

I think OP should post the specific car seat, as what Anastasiya does make sense to me, but to really get to the specifics of the adjustments its helpful to know exactly what the seat is.

I've often said that I had no problem installing my car seat in the car. Installing my son in the car seat is what is problematic. It took me a while to really get the hang of adjusting ours correctly and the instructions aren't really very helpful. I remember when he seemed to swim in the thing, now he is growing so fast it seems like every time I go to strap him in I need to adjust something.


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## chickabiddy (Jan 30, 2004)

Yes, what kind of seat is it?

Unfortunately, some infant seats do not actually fit some infants. If it is not possible to tighten the straps further (and we'll try to help you with that), you may need a different seat. It is not safe for harnesses to be that loose.


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## CrunchyChristianMama (Dec 5, 2008)

The seat is a Graco. It came as a travel system. I'm not sure which one it is and would go get it out of the car, but it's storming here right now.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Evie's Mama* 
The seat is a Graco. It came as a travel system. I'm not sure which one it is and would go get it out of the car, but it's storming here right now.

It looks like they've only got 3 infant seats, and mostly use the snugride with their travel systems.


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## an_aurora (Jun 2, 2006)

The Snugride has adjustments both at the hip and at the splitter plate, but they come out of the box set at the smallest adjustment.

If you can put the harness on different loops, great. If not, the seat isn't appropriate for the baby. A slack harness, especially with a newborn, means the child could be ejected in a crash--and think of how flexible a newborn's body is. They need the straps to be snug and secure to hold them in.


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## bobandjess99 (Aug 1, 2005)

unfortunately, and just oddly, the graco travel system seats don't tend to fit newborns. It's...baffling, to be sure, but it's true. So you have a diffreent seat you could try for a while? Strngely, some convertible seats fir newboirns even better than infaqnt seats...do youmaybe have an extra seat for your 1 year old you could have the baby use? Something like a Scenera would be great probably.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

:

Quote:


Originally Posted by *bobandjess99* 
unfortunately, and just oddly, the graco travel system seats don't tend to fit newborns. It's...baffling, to be sure, but it's true. So you have a diffreent seat you could try for a while? Strngely, some convertible seats fir newboirns even better than infaqnt seats..

hah! I thought so! I took a ruler to the store once and measured the heights of the lowest straps and the infant seats were like 10" while the convertible seats ranged from 7" to 10". And I decided to skip the infant seat because I thought it was stupid of them to have such high straps and only 3 strap positions.


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## CrunchyChristianMama (Dec 5, 2008)

Thank you all! Thankfully, she between the addition of cloth diapers that she can now wear that her cord stump fell off and mama's milk coming in, she no longer is loose in her seat. How do they grow soooo fast?!?!


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