High back boosters

[jezebel]

When did you put your kid in one? Any recommendations?

[hopecounts]

DD (6 almost 7) is just now transitioning to one.
Main points are that they need to be consistent and trustworthy in sitting properly and not falling asleep.
It needs to put the seatbelt on them at the appropriate places.
They need to meet the guidelines for the seat and any state laws as to when you can switch.

[VillainV]

The new AAP guidelines say no younger than 5 or when a harnessed seat is outgrown. My nephew is a big 6-year-old (off the charts big) and still fits in his harnesses seat, so no booster yet. He's probably not mature enough to keep the seatbelt positioned correctly and still falls asleep in the car sometimes.

[mandymay]

We transitioned my daughter a few months after she turned six. She has a Britax Frontier so we just took the harness off her seat.

[Leeham Rimes]

I haven't yet, X is almost 7 and I really don't want to give up the 5 point harness. But he's almost maxed out on the weight, gah. We have a securekid and it turns into a booster so we'll just use that unless I decide to buy one with a higher harness limit.

[redheadbaker]

DS will be 6 in November, and we don't plan to transition any time soon. I doubt he would sit correctly (back against the seat without slouching, bending over, pulling feet up, etc.)

[mmmomof2]

My DD2 turns 6 in December and we just switched her to the high back booster all the time.

[imimahoney]

My 5 yr old is in a Britax frontier. He is harnassed and will be until he's 6.5 (or so). The seat then goes to a seatbelt positioner.

Other seats are the Britax Pioneer, graco nautillus and the evenflo maestro.

We moved my son to the Frontier when he was 4ish. It's just like a front facing convertible.

[bugandbibs]

DD1 was 7, but that was seven years ago and harnessed boosters didn't be go to as high height/weight limits.

DD2 is 6 and won't outgrow hers for years. I won't switch her in our main cars until she reaches the max in her seat. We just started allowing her to ride in a high back booster in my sister's car because I needed to use the 5 point in her car for DS when I flip him FF soon. She only goes on short trips with her (lunch, movies, etc) and I have no concerns about falling asleep or staying upright. She falls asleep in our car often, so I won't considered it safe for frequent travel.

[jenna]

E was 6 when I put him in a high back booster. He is tall for his age (about the size of an 8 year old.)

[huskymom]

Aug 5, 2017 18:57:59 GMT -5 imimahoney said:

My 5 yr old is in a Britax frontier. He is harnassed and will be until he's 6.5 (or so). The seat then goes to a seatbelt positioner.

Other seats are the Britax Pioneer, graco nautillus and the evenflo maestro.

We moved my son to the Frontier when he was 4ish. It's just like a front facing convertible.

Those aren't only high back boosters though, but harnessed combo seats. I'm currently shopping for a high back booster as our extra seat for friends when carpooling, that will eventually be DD2's high back booster (when she's 7 or so), when we hand down her Frontiers to DD2, and am looking at the Britax Parkway, Evenflo Amp, and Graco turbo booster.

We have a maestro as our extra travel seat but I hear it has low height limits.

[imimahoney]

Aug 5, 2017 20:18:49 GMT -5 huskymom said:

Aug 5, 2017 18:57:59 GMT -5 imimahoney said:

My 5 yr old is in a Britax frontier. He is harnassed and will be until he's 6.5 (or so). The seat then goes to a seatbelt positioner.

Other seats are the Britax Pioneer, graco nautillus and the evenflo maestro.

We moved my son to the Frontier when he was 4ish. It's just like a front facing convertible.

Those aren't only high back boosters though, but harnessed combo seats. I'm currently shopping for a high back booster as our extra seat for friends when carpooling, that will eventually be DD2's high back booster (when she's 7 or so), when we hand down her Frontiers to DD2, and am looking at the Britax Parkway, Evenflo Amp, and Graco turbo booster.

We have a maestro as our extra travel seat but I hear it has low height limits.

Correct but she didn't specify. Most people don't realize that HBB can be harnessed. We just bought the maestro for my MILs car as a backup seat. It goes up to 57 lbs in seatbelt mode. My son is only 39 lbs so we will gets of use.

[m15]

DS was in a harnessed booster until last summer, so 7. He had just reached 40 lbs midway through 1st grade. He's in a high back now. My almost 5 year old is in a harnessed booster as well because there is no way he'd be responsible enough to be in a seatbelted booster.

[Deleted]

I switched Sofia to a high back when she was around 5.5

[sarahbear]

My kids were both 4. Tall and fit the weight requirements. They're older now. Both sit still and don't sleep in the car.

[jezebel]

I ask only because my pedi's office had a poster and I noticed I *could* switch her to a booster at 5 and 40 lbs. She'll be 6 in October. She's 42 lbs and I think 44". She just seems to be getting too big for her seat now.

My only concern is the lack of harness, but she's pretty responsible and doesn't really sleep in the car anymore.

[redshoejune]

I did it for my oldest a few weeks before she turned 7

[jezebel]

Aug 5, 2017 20:35:12 GMT -5 @stilljustash said:

not recommending anything either way, but remember, these boards skew incredibly conservative when it comes to these ages.

I don't know a single person IRL who has a kid over 5 in a 5-point harness.

My eyebrows have been a bit higher than normal reading these responses. Lol.

[redheadk]

Dd is 5 but only about 37 lbs. She's also been in 2 car accidents with me, the most recent of which was 2 weeks ago so she just got a brand new 5-pt seat.

I do have a high-back booster as my back-up seat if I need to pick a friend's kid up from school. It's the Chicco Kidfit and I like it a lot. Dd will use it when she's big enough so I wanted one with latch so it won't slide around when she's not in the car. I let her ride in it if it's in the car and we are staying in our actual neighborhood (park, friend's house, etc).

From taking kids on field trips at dd's school, it seems that kids who had on older sibling were all in boosters but kids who were the oldest in the family at 4/5 were still in harnesses. All of dd's close friends are in harnesses; some turn 6 soon.

[lauralala]

Aug 5, 2017 21:21:39 GMT -5 jezebel said:

Aug 5, 2017 20:35:12 GMT -5 @stilljustash said:

not recommending anything either way, but remember, these boards skew incredibly conservative when it comes to these ages.

I don't know a single person IRL who has a kid over 5 in a 5-point harness.

My eyebrows have been a bit higher than normal reading these responses. Lol.

DS was the one of the only kids in his first grade class still in a booster of any kind, FWIW. These responses do not match my experiences at all.

We switched him to the high-back booster at almost 5, and at 7 he is in a backless in DH's truck and high back in my car.

[penguingrrl]

My kids are large and all switched at 4-4.5. They were all over 40 lbs, 45+ inches and their shoulders were even with the top slots on their radians. I never once had them misbehave in a booster and even my 4.5 year old sits still even while sleeping. There's no evidence that a harness is safer than a properly used booster and my son's orthopedist and I discussed it and he prefers a booster due to it keeping the spine in alignment.

My younger two were FF for less than a year each as we kept them RF until they outgrew their radian RF, and they outgrew it FF within a year of outgrowing it RF.

[niki]

We were 6.75 and could've waited a little longer, but I found a good deal on a seat. We also wanted to practice a little before we went on vacation and were using a BubbleBum for a week. He does well. He never falls asleep and he is quick to tell me if the straps get twisted and he can't untwist them.

[huskymom]

Aug 5, 2017 20:29:46 GMT -5 imimahoney said:

Aug 5, 2017 20:18:49 GMT -5 huskymom said:

Those aren't only high back boosters though, but harnessed combo seats. I'm currently shopping for a high back booster as our extra seat for friends when carpooling, that will eventually be DD2's high back booster (when she's 7 or so), when we hand down her Frontiers to DD2, and am looking at the Britax Parkway, Evenflo Amp, and Graco turbo booster.

We have a maestro as our extra travel seat but I hear it has low height limits.

Correct but she didn't specify. Most people don't realize that HBB can be harnessed. We just bought the maestro for my MILs car as a backup seat. It goes up to 57 lbs in seatbelt mode. My son is only 39 lbs so we will gets of use.

I thought the post title was pretty clear? Why pay for a seat that harnesses if you are looking for a high back and the price is less than half the cost?

Watch the the height restrictions on the Maestro, harness-wise, they'll outgrow it much sooner due to height than weight.

I don't know any 4 / 5 year olds in booster seats. Most of DD1's friends seem to switch when they hit 6/ 1st grade but she's barely 40 lbs and had never complained (and my state now has a 5+ yr old law for a booster). My friends say it can be tougher for kids to buckle their own seatbelt vs the harness so I'm totally cool with her staying harnessed for as long as possible. Hate the judgement for keeping kids safer longer...

[sofamonkey]

We HVe the graco turbo booster and like it a lot. My dad found a good deal awhile back, so we got an extra for their car too. DD is tiny, so she was super excited to hit the 40 pound mark required. (I think she was 6) DS is similar build, so he'll likely be 6+ too. If it wasn't for the weight, we would've done it near 5.

[jezebel]

Aug 5, 2017 23:00:00 GMT -5 huskymom said:

Aug 5, 2017 20:29:46 GMT -5 imimahoney said:

Correct but she didn't specify. Most people don't realize that HBB can be harnessed. We just bought the maestro for my MILs car as a backup seat. It goes up to 57 lbs in seatbelt mode. My son is only 39 lbs so we will gets of use.

I thought the post title was pretty clear? Why pay for a seat that harnesses if you are looking for a high back and the price is less than half the cost?

Watch the the height restrictions on the Maestro, harness-wise, they'll outgrow it much sooner due to height than weight.

I don't know any 4 / 5 year olds in booster seats. Most of DD1's friends seem to switch when they hit 6/ 1st grade but she's barely 40 lbs and had never complained (and my state now has a 5+ yr old law for a booster). My friends say it can be tougher for kids to buckle their own seatbelt vs the harness so I'm totally cool with her staying harnessed for as long as possible. Hate the judgement for keeping kids safer longer...

Oh please. Nobody is judging. And to be perfectly fucking honest, saying "safer longer" is the judgy part. Even if you make a different choice, a high back booster is still very safe for a child who meets the height and weight requirements.

[shananagins]

My kids are 5, but they're tiny so I'm keeping them in the harnesses for awhile longer. Honestly, at this point it's easier. They can buckle and unbuckle their harnesses themselves, and to switch their seats to HBB's I'll have to move the one that's in the center because there isn't LATCH in the middle. Then if anyone needs to ride in the backseat they have to squeeze between the seats and it's uncomfortable. So, I'm keeping them harnessed. They're the only 5+ kids I know still in harnesses.

[Mrs. ChanandlerBong]

I'm sure I've posted this before but:

If you are using a Frontier or any other seat that can convert from a 5 pt to a booster, make sure you check ithe whole seat on a regular basis.

Once we switched my dd's Frontier to a high back booster, we never took it out of my car until we were ready to be done with it. It was well within the expiration period for the seat and we'd never been in an accident.

The shell was split in the back.

Those seats can be used for a long time. I have no idea how long it was like that. Just make sure you check them regularly.

[eddy]

Leo is 5 and I think we are switching this weekend. Both his seats have been expired over a year. It is beyond time to give those ole things a rest. I used them for both Jack and Leo.

We switched Jack at this same time. Right before Kindergarten. With Jack it was because Leo needed to get in the seat.

[cjcouple]

I had to look back at old pics. Haha.
DS1 was about 4y9m and over 5.5 for DS2. DS2 is a lot more fidgety and didn't sit well before that. I made sure they sat properly.

I will say I was considered an over protective mom by many moms in my area, but I truly didnt care. I actually learned a lot about car seat safety on this and the bump boards. Recently, the CT laws were updated (effectice in Oct) and people are pissed.

[cabbagecabbage]

If you're looking for only a belt positioning booster, I think you should feel confident choosing any new appropriate seat. It's a very low feature item and you don't need to consider rethread harnesses, installation, etc. and it's fine to go cheap. I use a Nautilus for DD that I intend to use in the booster mode when we're ready but the booster part is just positioning for your vehicles' existing safety stuff. If you want the 5 point harness, I rally like the Nautilus and my DD loves it after being in her convertible and hating that it was a "baby" seat. She's turning 5 in a week and I have no plans to switch. I know many who switched for school dropoff lanes but we will walk to school.