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Car seat opinions-
My daughter has 2 high weight limit carseats. She is about to turn 5 and is 42" tall and like 37lbs. My son has plain convertible seats and is 2.5. He's still well under the weight limit on them, but he has outgrown the shoulder straps, they're right at or slightly below his shoulders. We're buying a house that needs a lot of work, so we're in ULTRA save mode, but of course- safety is number one.
So, WWYD- one extreme is buying 2 65lb seats for your son, or I could give him one of the ones we have, and buy a cheaper booster seat for my daughter for the car we usually don't have them in. The one carseat he has he does technically still fit, just not after the next growth spurt. So they'd both have the good seats in the car I usually drive, and he'd be in the convertible and she'd be in the booster in the car DH drives.
Re: Car seat opinions-
5-pt harnesses are the safest - so i got the sunshine radian 80s so they can be in them for a LONG time.
Grifin is 48lbs and I still don't want him in a booster... he's still in the radian and has no problems with it.
i would buy another convertible seat - there are ones that are great for $50 (cosco)... i'd feel much safer with both kids in a convertible than one in a booster so soon.
No, the guidelines are 40 lbs. and 42 inches.
Is that for a high back booster too? cause I thought that the high back we have for Kieran to eventually use says 30 pounds for the high back part, and 40 for just the lower part-
He is still in a nautilus with harness, but he is starting to get uncomfortable in the harness-
The Journey of Me
Vacation, 2011
Hey Kristen! I'll double check with Geoff when he gets home but I'm pretty sure it's 40 and 42. K is at 37 lbs. and he adamantly keeps telling me she cannot go into a high back booster until 40 lbs regardless of what the seat says. I know the guidelines were changed so maybe that has something to do with it? But I will ask:)
thanks! Kieran is over 40 I think 43-44lbs, but I keep holding him off, saying it is too cold to change the belt out of the seat, but he is getting impatient, lol! I tried to tell him when he was 6 and Mikey was 2 they could change seats- since Mikey will go forward and he can go into a belt, but he tells me that is too far away, lol!
The Journey of Me
Vacation, 2011
I believe the recs are 40 lbs and 4 years. That being said, my 44", 42 lb 5 year old is still harnessed in a Frontier for the many reasons Gail mentioned.
I am keeping G in his frontier until the baby is 2 and he is 7 since it becomes a high back booster as well. Dante can go in it when he is 2, and then G can get a low booster. Its good for 9 years and we got it when G was 3 I think. so we have another 7 years with it. I will be getting Dante a convertible - there are some good britax ones on sale at BRU and they have the trade in thing going on till the 20th. why don't you look up some of the ones on BRU and trade in one or both of his current ones? there are a couple that you get 30% off of, can't remember which but they sent me an email.
There is actually no documented safety difference between a properly used booster and a forward facing harness. If a child is not mature enough to use a seatbelt correctly and will unbuckle it, slump over so it's not holding them in position correctly, lean to get toys, put the shoulder belt behind their back, etc. then it's unsafe to use a booster. But, if a child is old enough (she is) and mature enough (only you know that) and using a seat rated down to 30 lbs (the graco turbobooster is) there is no reason to feel that boostering is unsafe.
There actually is a school of thought out of Sweden (who are well known as the leading experts in car/carseat safety) that the restriction necessary on a forward facing harness puts all of the forces from an accident on the neck, where an adult seatbelt has a little give, which allows the body to ride down the forces of an accident a little better. The custom there is to RF as long as possible then around ages 4-6 (depending on the size of the child) go straight from a RF seat to a booster. We're hoping to do this with Emma (didn't know it with Julia). My husband looked at the forces and concerns (his PhD is technically in the chemical engineering department, but is essential a study of physics) and absolutely prefers a booster for a child who will use it correctly. A FF harness makes him a little uncomfortable.
Julia outgrew the radian for height (she's very tall and all torso) so we switched her to a booster right around her birthday and have not once regretted it. We looked at the frontier, since that's the only seat on the market that offers taller top harness straps, but it doesn't fit in our car so it wasn't an option. She sits correctly and understands that she needs to. Emma will hopefully last longer in the harness because she's a kid who pushes the rules to see where the limit is. But I firmly believe that a booster is a great option and prefer it to a harness when the child can and will use the booster correctly.
interesting about rear facing until 4 or 5- I just don't see this working- wouldn't they outgrow the seats? I thought rear facing seats have lower limts rear facing- and what do you do with a tall child? Yes, they could cross their legs, but I can tell you that there is no way Kieran would be able to sit like that for long- nor would he do it-
The Journey of Me
Vacation, 2011
We actually had Emma FF briefly last summer and she hated it. She kept saying her legs hurt (I think from dangling) and kept dropping her toys and sippy cups and blankie then couldn't get them. We turned her back around and she was so much happier. She puts her legs up the back of the seat or to the sides of the seat.
As far as size, her radian XTSL can RF to 45 lbs, but Julia outgrew the FF radian for height at 39 lbs (she's tall and skinny!). Emma has about three inches of butt-to-head growth before outgrowing the radian RF for height, so we should get close to 4. Like her sister, she's at the top of the height chart (I think 38" last time we checked) so a smaller kid could last a lot longer.
We have no qualms about a FF harness if she won't use a booster correctly since that's a really important factor in safety, but we would far prefer to keep her RF until booster age if possible because it seems to be ideal.
The Journey of Me
Vacation, 2011
Kristen--this is the point that Geoff brought up about that theory. Yes, you want to keep the child RF as long as possible, but there does come a point when you will not be able to properly secure him in the seat and it defeats the purpose. I think the bottom line is that there are multiple schools of thought on it and each has its pros/cons/conveniences/inconveniences. You, as a parent, need to do what you are most comfortable with. You obviously know where we stand on it:)
That's really interesting and makes a lot of sense. I do think she is mature enough- she's a REALLY good listener and is very into "safety." Since we'd put the booster in DH's car, it would only be used for quick trips. It's like, I have a dentist appointment in the afternoon, so he meets us at the park by his work, I drop the kids off, then he meets me at home with them later. Whenever we all go out we almost always just automatically take my car since it's got the toys and diaper stash pre-packed. So it might be good for her to practice being safe in a booster for those short, infrequent trips so when we make the total switch over, she's used to it and knows the drill.
And now i have memories of my brother and i, no seat belts, maybe 4 and 5 years old, wrestling in the back seat LOL! obviously we know more now and there are more distracted idiots on the roads than ever before, but man- we're lucky we were never in an accident!
A booster for the secondary car at this point is actually a great idea. She'll still use a harness while learning how to use the booster (if she needs it) and you'll have time to get used to the idea and see how she's doing. Many people on the carseat board start booster training that way. Since we have one car we kept the harnessed seat in the trunk and she knew that if she misbehaved it would be put back in (of course she still thinks that's the case even though she can't use it).