Car Seat - what now?

[teachallday]

My little one needs a new car seat. I want to keep her in a 5-point harness if possible. But, she is 7 years old, 55 pounds, and 47 inches high. Developmentally a three or four year old.

For the last 5 years she has been in a Britax Wizard. It's expiration date is six years, so I have to start looking for new one. She is also about to outgrow it. It only goes up to 49 inches. In her snowsuit it is very obvious she is about to outgrow it. Six months ago she finally got the strength and cognitive ability to figure out how to get out of her 5-point harness by herself (well most of the time she can do it). She still can't get herself buckled in, but she does try.

Like I said, I really would like to keep her in a 5-point harness if possible. Any suggestions?

 

[christymarie]

We use a Britax Regent. We have a 6yo who is around 43inches and weighs about 53pounds. It's good to 80 pounds.

If you want one bigger than that the only one we've found is the Britax Traveler Plus that goes to 105 pounds.

We were the same way in wanting something with a 5 point harness. They also sell covers for the buckle to make it harder for them to escape.

Good luck!!

Christy

 

[teachallday]

Britax has two that meet guidelines: the Regent and the Frontier - - but both of them only do the 5-point harness up to 53 inches. A couple of months ago she was 47 inches, so if she gets another growth spurt she will hit that max height very quickly.

I like the safety and quality of Britax however, so I might go with one of these.

 

[ireland_nicole]

are you sure about the height max? I don't remember seeing that (although we're still well below that) but a weight of 80 lb w/ a ht of only 53 seems a bit odd. May be true, but I would double check.

Another vote for the Regent btw; love, love, love them; and super comfy, too.

 

[teachallday]

are you sure about the height max? I don't remember seeing that (although we're still well below that) but a weight of 80 lb w/ a ht of only 53 seems a bit odd. May be true, but I would double check.

Unfortunately I am sure about the height max. I got it directly from the Britax web site:

Regent: height 53 inches or less
http://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/regent

Frontier: Forward facing Harness - height 30 to 53 inches
Booster - height 42 to 60 inches
http://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/frontier

I remember buying her Wizard car seat 5 years ago and paying attention only to that weight element. It was 65 pounds. She is not there yet, but I can definately tell with the straps that she is close to the limits of the 5-point harness. She is just too tall for the height limit of the Wizard, which Britax says has a height up to 49 inches (and she is 47 or 48 inches). But also when she was two and I bought the Wizard car seat, I never expected her to still be needing it at 7 1/2 years old. I figured she would be fine in a booster seat by now. I also never paid any attention to the fact that car seats have experation dates on them, and her seat is about to expire.

 

[Stellapedia]

A height is only a guidelines required by law to be there but doesn't affect or determine when the child outgrows the seat. A child outgrows a forward facing seat once they've exceeded the weight limit OR when their shoulders go above the top slots OR when the midpoint of their head (roughly the top of their ears) goes above the top shell of the seat.

Britax has discontinued the Regent, but you can still find it online in some places. There is also the Frontier but the harness height on that is about two inches lower than the regent. The Graco Nautilus has higher slots than a Frontier, but a 65 pound weight limit so may or may not last her much longer, depending on her growth.

Beyond those, you also have the Merritt Roosevelt or Britax Traveler Plus. Or into Columbia and Special Tomato seats which you probably don't need.

There are also vests from EZ-on, such as the 86-y, which are a bit more cumbersome to use but they will last much, much longer. Or a ride safer travel vest which isn't a five point harness, but disperses crash forces just as well and is similarly confining.

try car-seat.org and post in the special needs area. You don't need to register to ask a question, and we've got lots of techs and otherwise knowledgeable folks to point you in the right direction.

 

[SueM in MN]

http://www.adaptivemall.com/safetycarseats1.html

has a good variety of seats.

 

[MarieS]

We used the Columbia car seat for Ds until we bought our lift van. It has a five point harness. We were able to put it through our insurance as DME equipment due to health and safety issues.


http://www.adaptivemall.com/colcarseat1.html