- She reaches the top weight or height allowed for her seat with a harness. (These limits are listed on the seat and are also included in the instruction booklet.)
- Her shoulders are above the harness slots.
- Her ears have reached the top of the seat.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Need Booster Seat Advice
To all my readers who are moms, I need your advice! At what age did you move your child from a harnessed carseat to a booster seat? For some reason you don't often hear hard & fast rules regarding this issue, the way you do about keeping them rear-facing until they are 1 year old and 20 pounds. The AAP says the child is ready for a booster when:
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9 comments:
Do the readers who are fathers not have a say in this?
For the record, when they are over 30lbs
A father who is home sick.
To be honest, Kylee isn't even sitting in a booster seat anymore... Kasen was put in one when he was about 3. I asked the hubby what he would say if asked this question while on duty and he said that it's really up to the parents. When do you feel comfortable taking your little one out of a harnessed car seat and moving them into the booster seat? It's not really something that they worry about too much. They aren't going to pull you over to measure and weigh your child to see if they meet the height and weight requirement! What matters most to them (police officers) is that the child is buckled safely in the back seat of the car!
30 lbs was the magic number for us...well, I guess both were 29 something. We had to make sure Landon was able to understand that he wasn't allowed to unbuckle himself. After a few times, he learned.
We're pretty stickler on this one actually. But the guildines the AAP gave seem to be good ones to go by. Its good to have them buckled of course but you really do need to make sure the seat belt is sitting correctly on them (for instance we had Clay in a booster the other day but the belt still came up across his neck area, so we had to put him back in his regular seat, way to unsafe.) But the opposite can occur too, if they are to big for the regular carseat then whats the point of even having one, its not doing its job. :0) If your unsure I know the police department used to take time before to come out to the car and check to make sure its installed right and that its a good fit, but I don't know if they do this anymore?
sbmhWe are also sticklers
Abbey is in a booster
Andrew is in a carseat.
Although Andy is not yet 25 pounds either but the other day I had to put him in a booster and I felt very unsafe, it was under his neck but I think he is still so little he probably would fly right out of it if something did happen. So we just base it on their height I guess. Abbey just moved to a booster when we had Emma. I guess it is your judgement.
Homesick Dad: Yes, of course you have a say! I didn't realize that there were many {if any} dads reading.
Hollie: Thank you for asking Jeremy! That is soooo helpful. I am more concerned about her being safe in an accident than me feeling comfortable about it ;>)
Everyone else: Child in question is 30 lbs. {Jor~ Andy is such a peanut! I can't believe he isn't 30 lbs yet!!} I have one of those high-backed booster seats & it has a shoulder strap "guide" that you can feed the seat belt through so that it sits at the correct position across my kid's chest. That is the one I would feel comfortable using as opposed to the one that my 6 year old is in, which is just a seat that helps her sit higher. I so appreciate everyone's opinion & am thankful that I have you all to bounce ideas off of!!
I think that's what Jeremy was trying to say, if you are comfortable with your child being in a booster seat and feel that he or she is big enough for it then move them into one, but if you are not then don't! It's really up to the parents here. Also, they do have saftey things out there for children in seat belts. If the seat belt is coming across the neck you can use a seat belt adjuster to adjust where the seat belt sits on your child... here is a website with an example of what I am talking about...
http://www.mypreciouskid.com/seat-belt-adjuster.html
We have a booster that has a 5 point harness that our 5 year old still sits in because he's tiny--only 30 lbs. As for the other kind, we waited until they were self-sufficient and could buckle themselves in with the shoulder belt.
Thanks again guys!!
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