I heard about the special needs Recaro car seat some time ago from another mom in one of my Yahoo groups. So we asked our DME supplier to bring one over so we could try it out. While we waited for funding, I decided one night to look around for similar car seats from the same brand.
I found this car seat:
Recaro ProSport Combination Harness to Booster Car Seat
It is virtually IDENTICAL to this:
So I decided to order the non-special needs one, which happens to be less than 1/3 of the price. Once we got it, I put the two side by side (I still had the trial one), and lo and behold, they were virtually identical in every way. Perhaps the only difference is that the ProSport one is slightly less cushiony.
Now that we had a perfect car seat that Nathan fit in beautiful, then we had the issue of THE HEAD. Meaning – Nathan’s pervasive lack of head control.
I decided to try one of my favorite adapations:
Brookstone’s Massage Wrap Neck Massager
I love this thing to pieces. We have about 8 of them laying around the house. We use them in all chairs, circumstances, etc. It is soft, gives him front and back support as well as side to side. Plus it’s super comfortable and he enjoys the massage feature.
Whereas before the car was super stressful for me because of the floppy head – I no longer worry about the head at all. In my car I use the Britax special needs car seat with the brookstone neck wrap, and now in Owen’s car we have the Recaro ProSport with the neck wrap.
Trips are now supremely pleasant and we never have to worry about Nathan’s head flopping all over the place. We love both of our car seats and highly recommend them to other families.
thanks for the info, we just started looking for a new carseat for Luke and his head too is so floppy in the car.Great ideas!!
So glad you found a solution! I hate when special needs equipment costs so much more than “regular”.
Good to know. I just had a talk with our DME today about car seats. Cody’s getting way to tall for the five point harness on the one we are currently using. We’re going to try to get a special tomato car seat demo. If it doesn’t work we will definately check this one out. I’m with you on the head control thing. So hard to drive down the road and reach in the back seat to pick his head up…constantly!!!
Hi Laura, we tried the special tomato but it didn’t seem very comfortable. The Recaro and the Britax are pretty cushiony and Nathan is just so very very comfortable in them. If I had to choose between them, I’d chose the Recaro – his posture is excellent. He sits up nice and straight. The Britax kinda molds around him but he’s not really sitting on his sit bones so I’m not too happy about his posture (I always worry about his back) – but it’s fine for the short periods of time that he typically spends in the car. As for the head control – it was one of the most difficult things for me to deal with, until I got that neck wrap from Brookstone – I swear, it changed my life! And what’s cool is that it’s affordable so you can get it right away and stop the suffering!
Hi Carla, I know! The Britax special needs one costs over $600 new (we bought ours used for $300), which is still VERY expensive. I was thrilled that the Recaro is fairly affordable and works like a special needs car seat. It will also last a long time – it goes up to 90 lbs and 59 inches – so we should have a good many years before Nathan outgrows it).
Just wondering, does the regular car seat swivel as well?