My daughter will be 5 in July. She is in a Britax marathon car seat right now and really wants to be in a booster seat. She is about 43lbs. We have a Ford Explorer Sport Trac and a Honda Accord. She feels like a baby in the car seat. She sits very high and her feet hit the car seat in front of her. She is asking the Easter Bunny for a booster seat. I am fine passing the Marathon on to her little sister but I also want the safest possible and most economical booster seat. Any advice would be very much appreciated!!
the first reply was great! i personally cant afford a britax so i would go with the greco booster (with the detachable high back). i like the high back because it positions the seatbelt. if you can afford to go with another britax since they seem to be the best and i also agree with looking at the recals. good luck!
I definitely agree that you should keep your daughter in a 5 point harness seat as long as possible. There are some good 5 point harness booster seats out there, many of them already mentioned here. I would take your daughter to a store like USA Baby or Right Start and have her try out all the ones you are interested in. My friend did this recently with her daughter (also 5) and found that 2 of the ones my friend liked were very uncomfortable for her daughter.
I will also be in a similar position in the next year as my 4 yo son will outgrow his Britax Marathon soon (he is getting too tall for it). I am thinking about either the Graco 5 point harness one, the Eddie Bauer 5 point harness one, or the Sunshine Radian. Luckily for us we have a USA Baby store just 20 minutes from us, so I will have my son try them out there before buying.
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/childs...
Here is the NHTSA website, to read about recalls for booster seats. Including the Britax brands.
This will really help.
For us, we have the Britax "Parkway" and the Compass brand booster seats. Very happy with it. None of these are listed on the recall listings.
You can find both at www.amazon.com as well as the reviews on it.
Good luck,
Susan
I do not know if they still do, but, Britax made a booster seat. My son hated it because it had these "wings" by his head. I'd keep he in the car seat as long as you can-but, mshe may really end up disliking the Easter bunny.
Please take a look at this website and reconsider getting a booster:
http://kyledavidmiller.memory-of.com/About.aspx
People consider them safe, but seatbelts do fail at times, with tragic consequences to kids in booster seats. I'm looking into the Britax Regent when my daughter outgrows her Roundabout. Just FYI.
My daughter felt the same way about her car seat. (she just turned 5) We got a seat belt booster and after further research, I determined that they are not recommending seatbelt boosters anymore. I ended up buying a Sunshine kids Radian car seat. It will hold up to 80 lbs. I got the girly pattern and she is very happy with it. It is very low to the seat and is very highly rated for safety. You can order from target and you can return to the store if itdoesn't work for you. They always have free shipping deals on baby gear.
I can tell you that most booster seats are the same for safety as long as they fit your vehicle seat and the child fits in the booster properly. Booster seats are seat belt positioning devices and do not in and of themselves provide restraint for your child like car seats with harnesses. They are designed only to help the seat belt system (lap and shoulder belt) fit your child better - low across the hips and across the middle of the chest (without hitting the neck). I know children feel like they are being "babied" in seats with harnesses, but they truly are much, much safer for them to remain in until they outgrow the upper weight limits of that harness system. If you are looking for a booster seat, I would say getting one with a high back would be best as they do provide a bit more support behind the child's head. I say this to you as a Child Passenger Safety Technician and Instructor. Good luck to you!
At around 4 ish, I took my daughter out of the Marathon and bought her another 5-pt harness - the Graco Nautilus.
Please see this video about the importance of keeping your children in 5-point harness car seats as long as possible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ
I bought my daughter a Graco Nautilus (similar, but less expensive than the Britax Frontier.
If you want a bigger, seat that is similar to the Graco full back booster, look at this one:
Sunshine Monterey - no 5 point harness, but I think it offers WAY more protection than a flimsy Graco full back booster.
http://sunshinekidsbaby.com/?OVRAW=sunshine%20monterey&am...
My son is 9 now. When he was around 5, I purchased a Britax Husky (the biggest, safest 5-point at the time). He was in it till he was 8!
I hated having to put him in the booster bottom, but he sits in it now because he's not quite ready not to be.
Hi E.,
As the other mothers said, it is safer to keep your daughter in the 5 point harness as long as possible. However, if you are going to go with a Booster first check consumerreports.com for the latest safety and cost ratings. I did this 2 years ago when my son was ready for the booster. We wound up buying the Graco Turbo Booster because it had great safety ratings and was not expensive. It comes in high back for about $60 at Target and about $20 for low back. We bought the high back for each of our cars (Honda Accord and Acura TL). Then we had our parents buy the low back for when we went to visit them - it was easier than carrying the seat on the plane which I've done a few times. The low back comes with an attachment that helps keep the seat belt off your child's neck.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
