Booster Seat Ok for 34 Lb Child?

K.,

Our daughter is getting to big for her car seat as well in my husbands spare car. The car seat was given to us from a good friend who is a police officer. This officer is a trained car seat insatller/inspector. My husbnad asked him just the other day about putting our daughter in a booster seat for his car only. (Our other cars have Britax Marathon seats so they are okay for now) The officer said it is 4 years of age or 40lbs before a booster seat. Well my daughter will be 4 in Feb and she is only about 32 lbs now so most likely 4 will come before the 40lbs. I am not worried about her safety if she is not 40lbs being in a booster at age 4. Officer said she would be fine as long as the seat is installed properly and it is used properly. Hope this helps!

My daughter is 42 inches and 45 pounds and still fits very comfortably in the Marathon. So you may have some more years ahead of you in the Marathon.
A great website to check out for all car seat questions is:

http://thecarseatlady.com/

I used them to install all of my car seats and their website gives out a lot of useful information. Here is what they say about using booster seats:

"Children under 40 pounds receive better protection from a child restraint with a 5-point-harness than a booster seat.1,2 Unfortunately, 29% of 3 year olds (who weigh less than 40 pounds) are inappropriately graduated to a booster seat."

The NYS mantra used to be "4 or 40 pounds" for booster seat safety.

Height is a considerable factor as well. The shoulder belt needs to sit in a very specific spot on the shoulder to ensure safety. That is why we have booster seats; to boost the child up in order for the belt to fit properly.

HTH!

I don't have a child old enough for a booster, but I have read this many times - every step up in a car seat, is a step down in safety. I have read that low back booster are ok, but definitely not the safest. After the Marathon, can you get another booster combination (with a 5-point harness)? You can keep her in the 5pt harness until she out grows it and then turn it into a booster.

I'm a bit of a car seat geek. We were in an accident when my son was 6 months and I got a little obsessed with car seat safety afterwards. Here is a great site with lots of information - http://boards.babycenter.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&n...