Booster Car Seats- a couple of questions

JustK

1. At what age (or height/weight) did you/will you make the switch?

2. How long do children generally stay in a booster?

3. Are boosters that are backless less safe?

4. Did you go with a 5 point harness booster or just a booster chair that uses a lap/should seat belt.

Bonus- Which seat are you using?

I'm looking at the Britax Frontier 85.  I brought Pel? home from the hospital in his Marathon and it is just a great seat-- he always sleep comfortably, they install in other cars in an instant, etc.  But I'm wondering how long will he wear the 5 point harness.  Will he be in this seat until 6 years?   Any insight would be great.

Cheers.

K 

jsugrin

JustK:

1. At what age (or height/weight) did you/will you make the switch? I had considered moving Andrew to that exact seat around 2 instead of buying another Boulevard for Cooper.  In the end, as since it was on sale, I decided to keep him in a Boulevard as long as possible.

   At this point I have no idea when I'll switch him.  I guess when he seems terribly uncomfortable with his legs dangling the way they do.

2. How long do children generally stay in a booster? I believe that kids now have to be in a booster seat until the age of 8, if that hasn't been inacted yet it certainly will be by the time our kids are that age.

3. Are boosters that are backless less safe? Yes definitely less safe.

4. Did you go with a 5 point harness booster or just a booster chair that uses a lap/should seat belt. I will absolutely go with a 5 point harness, the safety factor vs. a seatbelt alone is rediculously higher.  In fact I wish they made 5 points for adults.

Bonus- Which seat are you using? I plan on using the Frontier or something similar.  Just a year ago it was the only booster with the side impact and now tons of them have that option.  In light of that I will go with something with a 5 point, side impact and good reviews that is cost effective.  I'm not married to the Britax brand but the side impact is a driving force in my carseat decisions.

I'm looking at the Britax Frontier 85.  I brought Pel? home from the hospital in his Marathon and it is just a great seat-- he always sleep comfortably, they install in other cars in an instant, etc.  But I'm wondering how long will he wear the 5 point harness.  Will he be in this seat until 6 years?   Any insight would be great.

Cheers.

K 

tiki_t

1. Almost 3. Height was over 36 inches and over 33 pounds. We had gotten them two seats prior (infant rear facing, then a toddler forward facing) but they grew out of both and exceeded the height/weight for both. 

2. Mine is a convertible booster. It starts out with a back that raises as the child gets taller. Then when the child is tall/old enough, you take the seat back off. 

3. You need to use the seat per the manufacturer's recommendation.

4. Lap belt.

Bonus: Graco SafeSeat TurboBooster 

 

My 2 cents is that every kid is different when it comes to the lap belt versus 5 point harness. For a little while we transferred both kids at the same time. DD was ready but DS kept trying to slip out of the seat belt so we had to switch him back to his old seat with the 5 point harness until he could behave.  Generally the kids are more happy and fit better in their booster seat. So in my opinion, if your kid is ready to make the move and meets the manufacturer's requirement, go for it. If not, wait until they are ready. 

KellyMRocks

JustK:

1. At what age (or height/weight) did you/will you make the switch?

at 2 years we switched G to a Britax Regent, which it looks like the Frontier has replaced. I picked the Regent based on reviews and the fact that it's 5 point harness capacity went up to 80 pounds. T the time (2 years ago) I wasnt finding any others with that feature.Recaro Signo, which rear faces up to 35 lbs (not sure of height limit) and foward faces up to 75lbs and has 5 point harness. G is 40 pounds now and well below the height limit. He'll likely be in this seat for a couple more years. For Winter I am looking at the

2. How long do children generally stay in a booster?

In cali the recommendation is 6 years and 60 pounds. Some other states it is 8 years and 80 pounds.

3. Are boosters that are backless less safe? yes

4. Did you go with a 5 point harness booster or just a booster chair that uses a lap/should seat belt.

yes, I wanted a 5 point harness.

Bonus- Which seat are you using?

I'm looking at the Britax Frontier 85.  I brought Pel? home from the hospital in his Marathon and it is just a great seat-- he always sleep comfortably, they install in other cars in an instant, etc.  But I'm wondering how long will he wear the 5 point harness.  Will he be in this seat until 6 years?   Any insight would be great.

Cheers.

K 

amyfelice

we recommend a car seat until 4 yrs or 40 pounds and then a booster. So I would definitely stick with the five point harness and a back for now. The Frontier looks fine as far as that goes. 

dblhappiness

1. At what age (or height/weight) did you/will you make the switch? We're getting close to making the switch to another seat that becomes a booster: the Graco Nautilus. The boys will max out their seats based on height pretty soon. 2. How long do children generally stay in a booster? I think the pps helped answer that...3. Are boosters that are backless less safe? Again, other pps helped answer that.  4. Did you go with a 5 point harness booster or just a booster chair that uses a lap/should seat belt. We are going with a 5-pt harness because I don't think the boys will do well with just the seatbelt. I think as time goes on and they get older then I will do the switch. Bonus- Which seat are you using? Right now the Britax Decathlon. FWIW, I just had this very long conversation with a friend of mine (she's an EMT/now ER trauma nurse & her hubs is a firefighter/EMT--we also chatted about a convo with a child safety seat specialist at the local pd). She had mentioned that it's the height requirement that is more important than the weight and that yes, 5-pt harness is safest. 

Mama_v2.0

1. At what age (or height/weight) did you/will you make the switch?

Z went into a FF 5pt convertible booster seat around 2.5 years. At 4 years or a little after I will just have her in a booster seat (no 5 pt.)

2. How long do children generally stay in a booster?

In WA the law is 8 years or 4'9", in CA I thought it was 7 years, but I could be wrong. 

3. Are boosters that are backless less safe? IMO backless boosters have their place, like when your DC is 7 or 8 and the seat belt still doesn't sit right on DC.

4. Did you go with a 5 point harness booster or just a booster chair that uses a lap/should seat belt.

I plan to do 5 pt until they are 4 or 40 lbs. (Will explain at the end.)

Bonus- Which seat are you using? Graco nautilus for now.

 Something that no one has brought up. So there was that big scare that made everyone go to extended 5 pt wearing when a seat belt failed in a car (a youtube video) and the child was thrown from the car. What everyone fails to realise is that most cars say to only use the teather up to 45lbs (because it is not made to support more weight than that in a crash.) So really if you start to think about it...around 40/45 lbs car seats are not the issue...seat belts are.