Booster Seat? - Spring,TX

Texas just pass a law. Seat belts will be worn in back seats for childen and adult. Please go back and research
information on the per pounds. Safety is what's important.

Legally, your 3 YO (JUST TURNED 3) MUST be in a harness until he is 4, and a booster until he is 8 or 49". The problem is that most likely your seat harness only goes to 40 lbs. That means that in an accident the harness may snap and your child get injured.

Your 4 month old legally must be in a rear facing seat, so if your larger seat does not go rear facing then you may need a new seat for him too.

My girls are 6,5,4,2. They are all in harnessed seats (I purchased Britax seats.) My infant seat holds harnessed 5 to 65 lbs and my other seats are 20-80 lbs in harness and 80-100lbs in booster/seat belt. I know that's way above the law requires but I felt strongly that it was necessary and two months after we purchased them we were in a rollover that would have strangled my girls or thrown them from their seats if they weren't in harnesses. Recently my brother in law's cousin was in an accident (she's 9.) The vehicle rolled and she was strangled by her seatbelt and she died twice. thankfully she did come back (her mom, who was in the vehicle, is a pediatrician.)

PLEASE don't put your 3 YO in a booster. If the harness in your seat only goes to 40 lbs then get a seat that harnesses longer. DON'T put your 4 MO in a front facing seat, either.

S., mom to 4 on Earth, 5 in Heaven, and 1 knit in the womb!

I have a 4 1/2 yr old 40.5 #, & 3 yr old 37 # child. Both of them have outgrown their carseats for height because the straps come out of the seat below the level of their shoulders.

I want to keep them in a 5 point harness as long as possible and the choices are pretty slim. I went with the Britax Frontier. I like the Britax Regent but one of the cars I usually drive is a Honda Civic and it was too big.

The seats were very, very expensive but I don't trust my kids to sit properly at all times in a regular booster w/ seatbelt. These seats are rated to allow the kids to wear the 5 pt harness to 80#'s so this should be the last carseats I have to buy for them. The Frontier has the side impact protection which also gives them something to rest their heads against when they fall asleep. The seats also have a recline feature that is very nice.

Another thing I found while doing my research is that many auto manufacturers do not publish the load restrictions on the LATCH system. I understand that for my vehicles it is 40 lbs so we use the LATCH but also use the seatbelt to secure the seat to the car.

If you look into the Britax you'll probably have a heart attack about the price, like I did. I bit the bullet because I don't want to have any regrets about something I do have some level of control over.

Anyway, good luck in finding a solution for your child.

You don't give the size of your younger son. Your oldest sounds about just the right size. Essentially, when they outgrow the younger carseat at about 40 pounds.

GO TO:

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/director_staff/public_inform...

This should provide you with the proper guidelines.

There are also local police or fire stations to check the car seat.

80% of car seats are not properly installed.

you can call your local police department and they can give you the correct info, but if i am not mistaken, kids have to be in a booster seat until they are 57 inches tall. And as of the 1st of sept. there are new laws about seat belts. So you need to check into it. Because my grandson is 3 1/2 and just a seat belt is not enough protection for these little ones.

Children should remain in a five-point-harness car seat for as long as possible. I think most seats have a weight limit of 80 pounds. Also, children should be rear-facing for as long as possible as well. I think a lot of seats have higher weight limits for rear-facing (around 30 pounds) based on crash statistics that you can read about on the following site: Please read through this site before making your decisions.

http://www.kyledavidmiller.org/

Pediatricians who recommend turning children around at age 1 and before they reach the 30 pound limit are relying on outdated information. You'll read more about this on the site above.

Texas Traffic laws effective September 1, 2009

Seatbelts

SB 61 amends the existing statute regarding child passenger safety seats. The bill requires that any child younger than 8 years of age be restrained in an approved child passenger safety seat unless the child is at least 4 feet, 9 inches in height. The fine is no more than $25 for a first offense and $250 for a second offense. The law also creates a new court cost for conviction of an offense under this section to be collected and used by TxDOT to buy safety seats for low income families. The law becomes effective on Sept. 1, 2009, but tickets for this offense cannot be issued until June 1, 2010. Police officers are allowed to issue a warning before that date.

State law requires boosters. To see all requirements, go to www.dps.state.tx.us

Mine were in a booster seat at age 3 but it was the high back ones. Infact since Texas passed a new law Sept 1st stating a child under 8 yrs of age & under 4ft 9in must be secured in a child safety seat, I went & bout the Turbo booster at Walmart. It was $45 but well worth it, since my children are only 6 & will need to ride in one 2 more yrs, so it was worth the investment. I first bought the regular little $16 one but I took it back & got the better one. The back adjust to the height of them or it will come off. Great little seat!!
I had just taken my girls out of a booster seat in April because they reach the age & weight requirements to sit in a regular seat belt, but the new law changed that :)
So now rather than Texas has a rush to buy Germ-X everyone is rushing to get booster seats & they had been difficult to find a decent one, but Walmart (and other stores)is starting to stock up :)
I would like to add, one reason I chose high back boosters is so that if my children fall asleep on a trip or in the car at all, they have something to lean their head on besides the window.

I believe the minimum is 42 inches tall, but I could be mistaken. My husband pressured me to put our then-3 year old in a booster (he was 42" and 42 lbs and I thought that was the minimum height). Though I didn't like it, he has done very well. In retrospect, however, I would have gone with the Britax or Graco Nautilus. THat's what we bought for our daughter so that she will use it for a very long time.

I get what you're saying - the baby needs to be out of the infant seat and rear facing in a convertible seat, so you'd like to put the older one in a booster. Are you sure the baby is outgrowing his seat? The Graco snug ride infant seat has a maximum height/length of 27 inches, I think.... My boy had to move out of it and into a convertible at 6 months, when he hit the length and weight maximums.

Good luck. I think he may just about be big enough, but I personally wished I would have bought my older boy a seat with a 5 point harness for safety's sake. The Graco Nautilus is highly rated and not as expensive as the Britax.

Kids shouldn't be in high backed booster until they are at least 4, even then most kids don't have the maturity to sit correctly in a booster 100% of the time. There are some other seats that can grow with him until he doesn't need a seat and it will still free up the convertible for your younger son (who should be rear facing until at least 2) The Graco Nautilus is inexpensive at around $150 (shop around) and will keep him harnessed until 65 lbs and in a high backed booster until 100 lbs. Its a great seat :) My 4 year old LOVES hers!

Good luck! Let me know if you have any more questions!

You need to get a high back booster with harness attachment for your 3 year old. When my son was that age, I got one with the harness. The harness was removable after it became lower than his shoulders. You then hooked the seatbelt through it. Shortly after he started kindergarten, we switched to a seat only booster, no high back. He will sit in it now until he turns 8.

The Texas law that just went into effect says that children under 8 or less that 4'9" tall must ride in a booster seat. It does not make specific that the booster be a high back booster.

Also, your baby is too young to be riding in a forward facing car seat. They should stay rear facing until they are 1 year old. That is not a law, but recommended by doctors. My son's pedi told us at 10 months that our son was big enough and well developed enough that we could turn him around.

I would suggest you get out the books on both seats that you currently have and follow the recommendations for size, weight, and age that both state.

Also, before passing along the older boy's seat, you need to do a thorough inspection of it. The plastic gets brittle after time, especially sitting in a hot car. I passed my son's infant seat along to my sister whose baby girl is 9 1/2 months younger. Upon inspection by my brother-in-law, he found a crack in the plastic frame of mine that I did not know was there. He worked at a car dealership at the time and has had several courses on car seats in vehicles.

One more item, most car seat instruction booklets advise that if you have a car accident the car seat should be replaced because it's integrity could have been compromised.

i think they recently changed the law about this. the child must be taller than 4'9" ( i think) to ride with out a booster seat. call the department of public safety for exacts on this.

You should check out your carseat's weight limit anyway--most carseats with a harness have a weight limit of 40 pounds (though if you can use it as a booster seat, you can use it at higher weights with a seatbelt). There are some expensive carseats out there with higher weight limits of 60 or 80 pounds for use with the harness, but if you don't want to invest in those, your son is big enough for a booster seat (minimum weight is 30 pounds), though I would still get one with a back rather than the backless one. I just recently moved my 7-year-old to a backless one.

I think you might have more peace of mind if you buy a Britax Frontier or a SafeGuard Go booster or a Graco Nautilus and then you can harness your 3-year-old longer. My almost 5-year-old is still harnessed in her Evenflo Chase because she's only 34 pounds, but if she were bigger, I would have chosen the seat that harnesses longer.

Check the laws where you live or are coming back home to!