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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
recommend your lo's booster seat
dd is currently in a britax roundabout, which goes up to 40 lbs and 40". i realized this morning at the pedi that she's on the verge of outgrowing it as she's 40" tall and weighs 38 lbs.
so... can you rec your booster seat? do they normally convert from high back to backless? am i correct in thinking we still need the high back for a while?
this one hit dh and i kind of fast, so we haven't really thought about
it and are a bit overwhelmed at the choices. tia!!
Re: recommend your lo's booster seat
I recommend keeping her in a 5pt harness. The 3 I always see recommended are Evenflo Maestro, Graco Nautilis, Britax Frontier. They all convert to high back boosters. It is not recommended to use a high back booster before 4yo - and that is the minimum age. A 5pt harness is safer... and more tantrum proof if your DD is still at that throw-a-fit stage (mine was! .... ok, probably still is and she's 4.5yo)
We have the Maestro, honestly because it is the cheapest that is good for tall kids (and now that I think about it, that's probably why those 3 specifically are stuck in my head, because they are good for my very tall children) It harnesses up to 50lb.
My BFF has Nautilises for her twins - they are 5.5yo, in kindergarten, enormously large for their ages wearing size 7 clothes. And they are still in 5pt harnesses. Harnesses up to 65lb.
Having used both, I think the nautilis is just "nicer", but it should be, it costs about $100 more.
We have the Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 for DD. It's on sale at Target this week so I'm going tomorrow to get another one for DH's car.
We already have a couple of convertible seats that I can put DS in and I didn't want to buy another rear-facing seat. I'm going to move DS into the Britax that DD is in now and get a new "big-kid" car seat for her. She likes the Nautilus we have in my car so we're sticking with it.
I just bought a Britax Frontier 85 during the Britax sale. To me, it was a toss-up between the 2 clear frontrunners, the Britax and the Graco Nautilus. I chose the Britax because it seems more comfortable/padded, the harness height is easier to change, and we like DD's Britax Roundabout and hate the Graco ComfortSport (which we keep in Houston to use when we visit).
We haven't moved her into the Frontier from the Roundabout yet, so I can't give any personal feedback.Safety ratings are a big deal to me so when I searched i used this as an invaluable resource:
http://www.iihs.org/research/topics/boosters/best_bets.aspx
I liked the Britax Frontier and was hoping for a 5 point harness for a bit longer but the fit was not good for my car. The Parkway SGL was a better fit for my car. And M was older than R is and starting to mess with the 5 point harness (push it down over her belly because she felt too restricted with it over her chest), and in that case it becomes more hazardous than simply using a shoulder belt properly positioned.
The Parkway SGL uses the shoulder belt and has an added safety feature I didn't see in the other shoulder belt models I reviewed, which is a lap belt positioner to ensure the lap belt stays on the lap and doesn't ride up over the stomach.
Note to those who have the Maestro - there is a recall on them for releases during a certain time frame. Check out the link.
ETA Melissa - we have the Britax Marathon which goes up to 65 lbs just sitting in plastic in our attic. It is 3 years old and has never been in an accident. I do plan to sell it but if you would like to borrow it because you are concerned she is at the max weight of your current seat and you don't want to feel rushed in making your booster purchase, let me know.
- Paula Deen to 104.1 KRBE's Producer Eric 9/17/2011
So Tasty, So Yummy
pagas - we don't really want to, but she's outgrowing her seat. r is super tall for her age, but we're hoping we can hold off a little while due to weight. the booster in dh's car goes to 50 lbs, but when we went to them as convertibles i had to have a smaller one because of the car i drove at the time.
michelle - i think we might be interested. let me talk it over with dh. we are so not ready for her to grow up!
PAGAS - we moved from using the Marathon in my car because Maddie kept pushing the 5 point harness down over her belly, no matter how much I fought her over it. She would start hyperventilating like I had it on too tight. But to loosen it to a point where she would cut that crap out, it was not on safely. I gave up fighting her and got the booster because I want her in the safest option possible.
ETA - oh yeah I just remembered she also has a taller upper body and her shoulders are higher than the top line on the marathon. The shoulder should be at or lower than the top line where the belt comes out so that it is correctly securing the child in the seat.
DH still has our 2nd Marathon in his truck and when she rides with him he threatens to beat her if she moves the 5 point harness down. (He wouldn't really beat her but she believes him more than she believes me).
ETA - we are ok with her still using the Marathon in his truck in spite of the shoulder height thing because he really only drives her to/from school in his truck, which is basically driving 30-35 mph down Southfork and not even getting to 518 traffic (or 288).
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Melissa, if you guys want to buy our extra Marathon since you could use it for DC #2, let me know. It will hit its 5 year mark when the baby is 2 though. I don't know if that is an issue for you or not.
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For anyone reading, this is a great article for points to consider when moving a child from a carseat to a booster seat (height, weight, strap fit, safety potential, etc.):
http://babyproducts.about.com/od/carseats/qt/baby_booster.htm
- Paula Deen to 104.1 KRBE's Producer Eric 9/17/2011