Do you really need to get seats for both your car and your husband's car? Does one of you drive them to school and the other one pick them up or something? Unless it's really necessary, you could get by with just one seat per kid. That's what I always did. Yes, it's not as convenient but it can easily be done.
yes we need carseats for both cars, i have 3 carseats across the back of my car and once they are in they don't come out because it usually takes some work to get it back in
I have giant children and they were moved to boosters at 4; they just didn't fit in the five point harness anymore and were well above the height and weight limit. For example, my DD is also 6, and she is 53" tall and weighs 65 lbs. We have the Graco turboboosters and the kids like them.
BTW, car seats have expiration dates on them. Just look at your seat and I'm sure you can find it.
i would not feel comfortable moving my kids to booster seats at 4, they still fall asleep in the car alot, and the rule of thumb is 5 point harness until they can maintain the proper position and my kids are such monkeys i know they wouldn't
I'm not very familiar with the seats you currently have so maybe my suggestion won't work for you, but what about the Safety 1st Alpha Omega Elite?
We just got this one for my parent's car for DD since it can be a RF'ing & FF'ing car seat AND converts to a booster.
They're only about $140-$150 at BRU.
Sorry i thought i put ages, Emma is 6 and Natalie will be 4 next month. so she has well outgrown the alpha omega elite, which btw most kids outgrow in height before they get close to the weight max
Totally crazy because my kids are in Radian XTs in my car and Evenflos in my husband's car!
We bought her Evenflo in 2006 (and I'm just about positive it's 5 years on those). And she weighs 45 pounds... she is super tall though, over 4 feet at her 6 year check!
I would go with the Graco Nautilus, honestly. Because it converts to a booster, you aren't shelling out MORE money later so the long term savings is there. And do you have to buy them both in one shot? Can you buy one now and one in a few months? Spread out the cost, ya know? But if you caught a good sale, you could get Britax Frontier 85 seats because those last to a taller height and they also turn into boosters so in the long run you are covered.
Good luck deciding. I am struggling, too, with when to move my 6 year old to a high back booster. It's such a hard decision after I started reading about Kyle (KyleDavidMiller.org). Kyle changed my life (he died the day after my 6 year old was born and that fact rocked my world a little!).
i need to replace the two evenflo's in the very near furture, i could wait on the radian for my car a little bit, but my daycare baby is outgrowing her comfortsport (man that was a porrly thought out construction!) so my plan was to get something new for Emma and move Grace into Emma's radian
I know you want to keep them in 5 point harnesses, but if she is 45 pounds and over 40", then she is big enough to just use a regular booster. The seatbelt will keep her safe - they wouldn't make the reccommendations on the height/weight if they weren't. You might want to consider it - it would be a cheaper option, and she would still be safe. I did quite a bit of research before switching my kids on American Association of Pediatric's website.
actually it is reccomended that if your children still frequently fall asleep on trips in the car they are safer in a 5 point harness. and seatbelts often can fail in a crash, especally if the child is able to keep themselves in the proper position, or if the seatbelt dosnt fit in the proper position in their carseat
I am often in a similar situation. My son is almost 6 and not a lot over 40 lbs. We have a mixture of Radians, Monterey and a HB Graco Turbobooster. I don't mind him in the booster when we're just driving around our very small town. He's not going to fall asleep on those drives. For the longer drives that it's hard to keep in a good position for I make sure he's in the Radian no matter what. Is that an option? Have the Radian in the vehicle she is in mostly and a TB for the 2nd seat? I'd say my son uses the booster 10% of the time he's actually out in a vehicle but it's good training time! We discuss how to sit and how it works.
the kids actually ride in both cars equally, and now that it's summer i would actually say that when we don't have all 3 of them we take my husband's car more. the radians have to stay in my car so i can have 3 carseats across the backseat (i go places with my daycare baby often)
A little confused on the ages of the kids lol...
But just wanted to say I know money can be tight but if something were to happen (car accident) and you child was injured because they were only in a booster and not in a 5 point harness would it be worth the savings?
Please dont take this the wrong way (as there was a bit of time I was researching when my 4 year old could sit in the front so it would be easier...yeah its a long way off...lol).
I just think you must be a good mom (obviously since you are posting here) and for younger children the 5 point harness really is the best place for them.
Good Luck
thanks! im just sooo torn, im going back and forth on this decision. i was actually gonna go look at carseats today but i woke up with the worse stiff neck and upper back so taking 3 kids out and about is not something i want to do!
In NY your kids have to be in carseats until they are 8 years old, there is no way they could be in a harness until they are out of carseats. My 2 girls are: DD almost 5, 43", 42lbs - in a turbo booster. And DD7.5 is 51", 62lbs and in a backless booster.
As for how long your current seats are good for, check the bottom of the seat - they print expiration dates on them. It's a pain to get it out and buckle it back in, but you will know exactly how long they recommend you to use it.
Good luck with your decision
it is possible to 5 point harness them until they are 8, if you buy the right seats, but i need to be able to have 3 carseats across the back of my car (because even when i dont have grace i often take my mom and grandma places)
The bottom of the carseat is the one place i didn't check, and now its at work in my husband's car so ill have to get him to do it
