Cares Harness.... anyone tried it?

[kohlby]

At what age did you stop using he cares harness? I am definately getting one for my three year old, but was unsure what to do for my 5 year old. I just read not to us the cares if the child is over 40 inches and over 44 pounds. We are flying in November. My son is currently 40 inches, but only 36 pounds. I know he will not be 44 pounds in November. So he will be over on the height but under on the weight. I was just worried if he would be safe without one?

I wouldn't buy one for your 5 year old. At about 4, we feel comfortable having them fly without a special seat on the airplane. And - at 4, my boys' long torsos wouldn't fit with the CARES harness. It's also about having the maturity to sit in the seat and use the seatbelt. Unless your 5 year old has special needs, he should be fine without.

 

[Princess Minnie321]

I wouldn't buy one for your 5 year old. At about 4, we feel comfortable having them fly without a special seat on the airplane. And - at 4, my boys' long torsos wouldn't fit with the CARES harness. It's also about having the maturity to sit in the seat and use the seatbelt. Unless your 5 year old has special needs, he should be fine without.

Thank you!

 

[Gracie09]

I'm not arguing the need or maybe not needing the Cares harness. I'm just asking, because I don't recall, the need for a seat for a 15 month old, as they don't need their own per the FAA or airlines.

Like I said, at 15 months, our two boys sat on our laps (thank goodness we scheduled flights at naptime!).

At 2 1/2, they had their own seat with their car seats buckled in. Lugging the car seats around wasn't fun, but when they need their own seat, and I'd hear just as many bad reviews, as good reviews about Cares, we opted to bring the seats along.

This past trip to Hawaii, (they were 3 1/2), we went with no car seats (rented from the rental car place), and they were fine with just the seat belt.

Really, it's on the parent to decide what their kid can/will tolerate, and what's in their best interest.

Their own seat is not required but recommended by the faa, ntsb, fa Union and pilots union. It is the safest way for children to travel and safer for the people around them.
We used a cares harness when our girls were around three. I would recommend cutting a soured of the nonslip mat stuff you can use in cabinets for them to sit on. It helps keep them from sliding. Other than that it's easy to use. We rented them from eBay if you don't want to buy it

 

[mcjaco]

At what age did you stop using he cares harness? I am definately getting one for my three year old, but was unsure what to do for my 5 year old. I just read not to us the cares if the child is over 40 inches and over 44 pounds. We are flying in November. My son is currently 40 inches, but only 36 pounds. I know he will not be 44 pounds in November. So he will be over on the height but under on the weight. I was just worried if he would be safe without one?

Sounds like one of my twins. 40 inches, 35 pounds. The other is 39 inches, 32 pounds.

^ As I said before, I'm not arguing the need for the CARES, it's dependent on the kid. There's no way either of mine would have used it. They were more then happy to have the lap belt, and sat throughout both 4 plus hour flights with relatively little movement (Leap Pads, and movies on the phones!!!!!).

 

[MrToadfan]

I've done the lug the carseat thing when we needed a car at our destination, and we use CARES for Disney when we will be hopping on the Magical Express. I have always done it myself, without a "helper adult". The CARES is wonderful. It takes no time at all to install, and it doesn't interfere in the least with the seat behind you. You do need to put the passenger's tray down for less than a minute to slip the CARES loop over the seat and tighten it into position. I've never had another passenger complain or act inconvenienced. We started using it at age 2 and my daughter is almost 4 now and we still use it. I had read about issues about the child slipping down under the lap belt, but in our experience this doesn't happen. With a 15 month old who is a little more wiggly and may not understand about sitting still and not messing with the seatbelt, I imagine it might not be optimal, and I would probably elect to use a lightweight carseat at that age instead.

 

[swthrtpallanes]

I used a Cares Harness for my Ds when he was 3 and loved it! He was doing great till my DH decided to unbuckle him so he could relax.... he cried once we wrestled him back into it and fell asleep during landing. So yes he stayed buckled in the whole way back home. It was very easy to instal and the lady behind his seat helped me put it in place. On our second trip he was 5 so I didn't use it. Next year I will be headed to WDW with DD 5 and DD 2 so she will be using the harness.

 

[efitzge2]

I used a cares harness for my son when he was 1. He is a big boy so it almost fit him. He didn't have a paid seat but we brought it along in case there was an open seat near us which there was. Very helpful to have and easy to pack.

 

[veggirl]

I wanted to love this but it just didn't work great for us. We transitioned from riding on our lap to CARES so perhaps that was part of the problem as they had more freedom to move in our laps. There were also a few planes that if we used it the person behind us couldn't use their tray table. I can't recall which ones but when installed with tray table down you couldn't put the tray table back up. I did buy CARES almost 6 years ago so perhaps this has been fixed?

 

[bostran1]

This is a great thread. We fly in September for out trip and my son will be 4. He will be great in the CARES since he was last fall too. My daughter though will be 21 months. The only time she flew was with a car seat. I'm leaning towards traveling with the car seat for her because we have a 6 am flight down. I think the car seat will help her get some sleep. I remember flying with my son with the CARES when he was 15 months and it was a disaster because he didn't want to sit still and could slip out.

It's a tough question for sure and I'm sure none of us have the right answer.

 

[DisneyLover83]

Update: We flew to Orlando on Saturday and used the CARES Harness. It worked great. She stayed in her seat the entire flight and there were zero tears! She is 30 inches and about 24 pounds. I hope the flight home this Saturday goes as well!