OT:Help!!! In need of a good booster seat...

[dsnygirl2006]

Hi Everyone
I am trying to research and find a good booster seat for my almost 4 yo DS....I cannot find any reviews on the one's I like and I thought, I need to ask on the disboards....I always get good reviews and advice, so please help me ..thanks

 

[all4fun]

Four years and 40lbs is the bare minimum recommendation for moving up to a belt positioning booster (BPB) seat. If he still fits in his current harness seat, I would plan on keeping him there as long as possible. His 5pt seat is outgrown once one of three things occurs:

• The tops of the shoulders go past the top harness slots, or
• The tips of the ears go past the top of the shell, or
• The weight limit is reached

What seat is he now? Where are his shoulders in relation to the top harness slots? How much does he weigh? Also what kind of vehicle do you drive and what is your budget?

If you can also sit him down and measure his torso, that would be helpful as well. I recommend sitting him on the floor, back flat against a wall, mark where the top of the shoulder is, then measure from the floor to the mark.

Post back with more info and I can give you some recommendations.

ETA: PM me if you feel more comfortable with that!

hth

 

[WantToGoNow]

I would strongly recommend that you keep your child harnessed. In my experience there are few children that age that are mature enough to be in a booster seat -- I know my 3.5 y/o is not. She recently outgrew her harnessed seat by height. I bought her the Safety 1st Apex 65 seat -- it harnesses up to 65 lbs.

 

[laughinplace199]

DS is almost 6 (although not quite 40 lbs. yet) and he's in a Britax Parkway booster seat. DD is almost 8 and she's in a Britax Starriser Comfy booster seat. I like the Parkway better because it has side impact protection.

 

[tammy1210]

I recently bought the Safety 1st Apex 65 after a lot of research - my 3.5 year old is 40", but only 34 pounds - I love this seat - it's high back, 5 point harness for now, but can be used as belt positioning seat later.

http://www.safety1st.com/product.asp?productID=2569

 

[natenapril]

My DD ( who turns 5 in 2 weeks) has the Britax Parkway booster. LOVE IT!!
MY son ( 2 years 3 months) weighs 50 lbs and has the Brtax Regent. LOVE it!

 

[tinkandpan]

I have a 5 year old and have both the graco turbo booster and the britax comfy starriser. I actually prefer the turbobooster over the britax (which surprised me).

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I have a Graco highback booster. I love it. My ds was big enough at 2 for a booster seat but we waited until 3.5 to put him in it. At that point he barely fit in a harness. I am a huge fan of Britax (I have 3 carseats) but the Parkway was too narrow for my ds.

 

[tammy1210]

I heard the same about the Parkway - I've always loved Britax - both of my kids have used nothing but until it came time for the boosters.

 

[bkreitzel]

we use the britax booster w/ the high back that has the adjustable head rest ... my daughter likes it a lot, especially the cupholders ... I wish we would have purchased something that still had a harness and I felt when she was a young 4 that it provided her w/ too much freedom to move around.

 

[mom2aredhead]

I recently bought the Safety 1st Apex 65 after a lot of research - my 3.5 year old is 40", but only 34 pounds - I love this seat - it's high back, 5 point harness for now, but can be used as belt positioning seat later.

http://www.safety1st.com/product.asp?productID=2569

Something that is not mentioned about this seat until you open it and read the manual is that your car MUST have headrests behind this seats headrests.
We have this seat and LOVE it, but just something to keep in mind before you purchase...

 

[Manda]

We have the Britax Regent for our nearly 4 year old. We also have some sort of Evenflow booster ($30 at Walmart) that we got to keep in the grandparents cars. He's totally not ready for a booster seat. It's a nightmare. I'm so glad we've got the harness seat for our car. That being said... for $30, that seats not too bad if you really want a booster type seat. The Regent is wonderful though. He absolutely loves it and it's so soft and comfy. Great seat and much safer. And he can't sit any way he feels like and hang all over the place and stick his hands out the window and yada, yada, yada...