5 point harness vs. booster for 4 year old

candg05

We  have two graco nautilus car seats  for our 4 year old.  He's  a little on the tall side so not sure how long he will last in those.  Problem is we need to buy another one now for my parents car and I'm wondering if it's worth it to buy a third or just go right to booster??  he's just 40 plus pounds now  Any thoughts? 

abpdjs

Carson and future kids will be in a 5 pt harness until they are well over 40 lbs.  he is currently 37lbs - and that is in the morning.  i am sure by evening he is 38lbs.....sometimes he feels like more.

the other day dh took my niece for ice cream and she used Carson's seat (britax regent) and she fit comfortably in it and she is 50+ lbs  - 6 years old( it is a 5 pt harness).

i get not wanting to spend the $ on a seat for grandparents.....but we will have too if they don't offer to buy one....Carson can't use his seat anymore in their car and he is not going to a booster.  So i will probably buy one but they don't drive him .......hardly ever.......still every now and then i need them to get him from dcp and he needs a safe seat so i will just suck it up and buy one for them.

izzybella

I'm not sure what we're going to do. . . It appears DD is outgrowing the height on her Nautilus. Straps need to be at or above the shoulders right? I was hoping to keep her in 5 pt harness until 60 lbs but I don't see that happening-- she's about 35 lbs now.

Halo79RN

https://www.iihs.org/research/topics/boosters/default.html

recent booster seat ratings and recs.

dd is 4 1/2 and still in her britax decathelon. she has a shoulder strap slot to go in ht and she's only 32 or 33lb.  so it will be a while. I'm hoping this seat holds out until she is 40lb and I can just buy a highback like a britax parkway .   if we were looking for an additional seat for now, I'd look at the britax frontier ... but I don't know how it compares w/ ht limits to the nautilus.  

ToBeMrsT

izzybella:

I'm not sure what we're going to do. . . It appears DD is outgrowing the height on her Nautilus. Straps need to be at or above the shoulders right? I was hoping to keep her in 5 pt harness until 60 lbs but I don't see that happening-- she's about 35 lbs now.

hmm I thought it was at or below the shoulders.

MrsAmers

5 point harness.  DD is in a Britax Regent.  It goes up to 80 pounds.  I expect her to be in it until she's at least 6.

Since it isn't convertible, it isn't as expensive as some of the other Britax seats.  Still not cheap, but costs less.  Especially if you find one with a discontinued pattern.

izzybella

ToBeMrsT:

izzybella:

I'm not sure what we're going to do. . . It appears DD is outgrowing the height on her Nautilus. Straps need to be at or above the shoulders right? I was hoping to keep her in 5 pt harness until 60 lbs but I don't see that happening-- she's about 35 lbs now.

hmm I thought it was at or below the shoulders.

I thought that was for RFing? 

ToBeMrsT

izzybella:

ToBeMrsT:

izzybella:

I'm not sure what we're going to do. . . It appears DD is outgrowing the height on her Nautilus. Straps need to be at or above the shoulders right? I was hoping to keep her in 5 pt harness until 60 lbs but I don't see that happening-- she's about 35 lbs now.

hmm I thought it was at or below the shoulders.

I thought that was for RFing? 

oh I didn't know it was different. I guess I have no idea. 

abpdjs

it's at shoulders of  below for rf and at shoulders and above for ff

true_norskie

My 4.5 yo is pretty much right at the height limit for the 5-pt harness.  The straps are *just* above her shoulders.  She is about 43 inches tall with a LONG torso so I'm not surprised.  Fortunately, she is about 41+ lbs so we'll be going to a booster soon. 

We have Nautilus seats in all cars (mine, H's and my mom's).  HOWEVER, we recently traveled with one of the seats and gate checked it.  It got really scuffed up (the cupholders--it looks almost like it was dragged on the ground; it was in a canvas bag, too).  I think we are going to replace it with a high back booster and trash the scuffed up one.  I'm all paranoid with the "if I can SEE that damage, what damage CAN'T I see?

ANYWAY, I have no plans to go to another 5-pt harness because she's at the limit and is well within the guidelines for a highback booster.  So we'll be spending less than $50 on a new seat instead of $150!

howleyshell

Late to the party but...

If at ALL possible I'd go 5 pt.  I know it won't be used much and I see wanting to make a long lasting decision here but...

 

I recently watched my friend's 4 yr old wiggle out of his seat belted booster.  He ached his back and wiggled down until his feet were on the floor and his neck was at the lap belt level.

Had we had an accident with him like that he would have been decapitated pretty much instantly.

His mom sits right in front of him, has no mirror that can see him easily and had NO clue he was doing this.  From the looks of how fast he could wiggle around in that thing I'm thinking he's been at it a while. 

 

That's all it took to make me want to keep mine in 5 points until it's unsafe for them to be in them.

 

skittles_123

My ds is 43 lbs and is in a 5 pt harness still. He is in a car seat that will eventually transition into a booster when he is over 50 lbs with the use of the seatbelt. Plan on keeping him in the 5 pt until he reaches 50lbs. But, he has ben floating around 43 lbs for quite a while now, over a year, so it may be a while.