Another Carseat/booster question

[WDWorBUST]

Okay....when do you know to upgrade your child from carseat to booster?? DD is 3 and has a Britax marathon that goes to 65 pounds - she just tips the scale at 31 pounds. But she is starting to "look" too big for it. I plan on getting the Britax Parkway when I upgrade - but when should I move her up? Should I go ahead and wait until she is officially too tall for the Marathon? By law she will be in a seat for at least another 3 years still.

 

[Twingle]

Check your state laws on this - in Virginia, they have to be in a car SEAT until they reach 35 pounds/35 inches BOTH. Then they can go into a car BOOSTER. However, they can stay in the car seat until they pass the height/weight limit on the car seat.

My son did not move into his booster until he was almost four (we had a Cosco Alpha Omega), because when using the booster the seat belt did not hit him where it was supposed to. My girls are still in their car seats, mainly because they know how to unbuckle seat belts. They can't figure out how to get out of the restraint system in the car seats, but they would unbuckle seat belts in a heartbeat. They weigh 37 pounds and are 39 inches. tall.

 

[princesspwrhr]

Read your car seat's manual - it will tell you what to look for when adjusting & moving the harness straps. When your daughter outgrows the highest setting it's time to move up.

My oldest was still in a 5 pt harness in K. By the holidays when she was 5/K was when she was finally tall enough that the straps were unsafe the way they fit. She moved from that to a belt positioning booster and used that until 7. Now at 8 she's still in a booster (backless) becuase in no way shape or form does she fit properly/safely in the regular vehicle seat. She is 'almost' there in my dh's truck. His seats are shorter than my van and the shoulder strap is lower down so she's only got another inch, maybe 2 before she doesn't *need* a booster in his truck. She's got almost 4, maybe 5 inches to grow before we can say that about the van seats. The van seats are just deep with a high shoulder strap. Thank goodness the front ones are adjustable becuase the back ones hit me in my neck and I'm 5'6".

 

[akasleepingbeauty]

A 3 y/o at 31 lbs. should be nowhere near outgrowing a Marathon - perhaps she is just filling up more of the seat and it seems that way My dd is 6.5 and is 47.5" and 40 lbs. and still uses her Marathon every day. We plan on her being in it another year (or until she exceeds the height allowance) and then putting her into a Britax booster and giving the Marathon to ds who will be 4.5. The plan is for him to use it until he is 6 or 7 (depending on his height also) and then into a Britax booster at that point.

We tried moving dd into a Britax booster once she outgrew her previous carseat (she was about 3.5 then) and she was just too small to stay securely in a seat without an internal harness. She just didn't seem mature enough to stay in position like you need to for these seats to restrain properly. I know ds would be the same which is why he'll go into the Marathon next year rather than into a booster.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

The key for forward facing car seats is that the sholder straps MUST NOT be lower than your child's sholders. They can be even with, but not below.

You can pretty much expect that a child will outgrow a Marathon based on the height before they'll come close to that 65lbs.

For a rear facing carseat, the sholder straps MUST be lower than your child's sholders.

 

[all4fun]

The NHTSA recommends children be at least 4yrs and 40lbs before moving to a BPB. Every step "up" to the next type of car seat is a step down in safety. Most 3-yr olds do not have the ability (maturity) to stay seated properly, no slumping, leaning, etc. for the entire car ride behind a 3-pt shoulder/lap belt. If they do these things, they can easily be ejected form the seatbelt in an accident, putting their lives at risk. Most car seat safety techs will tell you to keep kiddo's harnesses as long as possible, closer to age 5 if your car seat allows it as that is when most kids are truly "ready" to be in a regular seatbelt (w/booster).

Unless her shoulders are above the top harness slots (and check under the cover as it can slide down a bit and make it appear that they are lower than they actually are) she should still have growing room. I've read that one drawback to the Britax MA/DC/BV seats is that older/larger children who otherwise fits in the seat may find the seat too narrow through the shoulders so this is what you could be noticing w/your dd. Does she seem uncomfortable? Most 2-3 yr olds will let you know if they aren't happy with something.

Since she's pretty light, you might consider getting her a combination booster seat that harnesses to 40lbs (except the Cosco Apex which harnesses to 65lbs) and then converts to a BPB once the harness is outgrown. You might look at the Evenflo Generations, Graco CarGo, or if you have $$ the Recaro Young Sport. The Apex might be an option too, but you must have tall seatbacks as the seat is outgrown once the tips of the child's ears are past the top of the vehicle seatback as the carseat headrest is not reinforced. I also recommend http://www.car-seat.org/ as a great site to go to for car seat advice.

hth!

 

[tanyaandallie]

I would leave her in there until she is at least 4 and 40 lbs as that is what is safest. My dd is 3 and in the 30ish lb range and is doing fine in hers. I guess she doen't look that big in it to me. She is still comfortable in it. I plan on leaving her in it as long as I can.

 

[WDWorBUST]

Thanks everyone!! I was thinking that she should be fine quite some time still but she seems to be growing so fast she just looks so much bigger now. And I know she's safer in it as long as it still fits her which as I tell her all the time "my number one job is keeping you safe". (Okay so loving her is a close runner up - but I use safety as the reason why she can and cannot do stuff so much that it works to explain that to her)

 

[kathi29]

A CPST friend of mine just took pictures of her DD for her 7th birthday - in her Marathon that she still fits in. 2 years ago she wasn't sure how much longer she had!

 

[HooKooDooKu]

A word of warning for others with tall children reaching the height limit of the Marathon at an early age... check your state laws on child restraints.

When DS was out growing the Marathon, we only checked the Britix specified minimums for the Parkway booster (which are 30lbs and 38"). Before his 4th birthday, DS was 38lbs and 42", so we moved him to the Parkway.

However, since then we've learned that current Alabama law requires children to be either 5yo or 40lbs before you move them from a car seat to a booster. (I don't know if we were ever in violation of the law because the law was changed this past August, and in August, DS meet the requirements of the new law).

 

[GatorGal]

A word of warning for others with tall children reaching the height limit of the Marathon at an early age... check your state laws on child restraints.

When DS was out growing the Marathon, we only checked the Britix specified minimums for the Parkway booster (which are 30lbs and 38"). Before his 4th birthday, DS was 38lbs and 42", so we moved him to the Parkway.

However, since then we've learned that current Alabama law requires children to be either 5yo or 40lbs before you move them from a car seat to a booster. (I don't know if we were ever in violation of the law because the law was changed this past August, and in August, DS meet the requirements of the new law).

Many state laws include wording "in accordance with manufacturer's directions" so if your child was taller or heavier than the seat's ratings you did the right thing. Besides, Britax tends to have higher weight and height limits so I doubt he'd fit it any other seat. Police officers rarely have scales and tape measures to check kids anyway.

 

[Nicolepa]

I had to move my son out of his Britax before he hit the 4yr 40 pound mark. He was 37/38 pounds and a couple of months shy. The problem I had was that all of his weight was in his midsection. While I could buckle the carseat w/o a problem it would come unbuckled! We'd be driving down the street and one side of the latch would come undone. Or I'd get to my destination and it would be undone. The first few times I thought maybe it didn't click when I buckled so I started giving it a tug. It was always latched, but every couple of days it would unlatch.

I figured under that circumstance it was safer for him to be in a booster. I had no confidence that the carseat would remain latched if I were ever in an accident.

BTW my best friend is now using the carseat w/her 1 year old and hasn't had a problem. I honestly think it was something about how my son's weight was proportioned.

 

[GatorGal]

While I could buckle the carseat w/o a problem it would come unbuckled! We'd be driving down the street and one side of the latch would come undone. Or I'd get to my destination and it would be undone. The first few times I thought maybe it didn't click when I buckled so I started giving it a tug. It was always latched, but every couple of days it would unlatch.

What kind of car was that happening in? There are some GM models that have problems with the seat belts, the outer part of the female end didn't come up high enough so the red button (the one you press to release the button) was exposed so if something hit it, it could release easily. To my knowledge, there's never been a recall all on it. IIRC it was in some Jeep Cherokees among others.

Sound like you made the right decision moving your son to a booster when you did.

 

[Nicolepa]

What kind of car was that happening in? There are some GM models that have problems with the seat belts, the outer part of the female end didn't come up high enough so the red button (the one you press to release the button) was exposed so if something hit it, it could release easily. To my knowledge, there's never been a recall all on it. IIRC it was in some Jeep Cherokees among others.

Sound like you made the right decision moving your son to a booster when you did.

It wasn't the seat belt on the car that was unbuckling. It was the buckle to the carseat. On the newer (at the time) Britex, it was 2 seperat buckles, one of them would come unbuckled at an alarming rate. Only once did both come unbuckled and I think that was the final straw for me. I thought about calling Britex to complain, but like I said he was very close to the cutoff and my girlfriend hasn't had any problems with it so I think it was just his build. I had 2 other Britex exactly like it but an older model and I never had the problem in those.