Convertible Car Seats for Tall Child

My son was the same way, always 95th percentile. Since he was about 11 months old we have him in the Safety 1st Alpha Omega Elite. It's great. He loves it. I just bought another one for my ten month old. The only downside I found out is that after 40 pounds when you convert them to the booster, the study showed the seabelt doesn't lay where it should across the shoulders and pelvis. So, long story short, it's a great, safe seat for rear and forward facing but you'll need to buy a new booster when the time comes. Hope this helps even a little bit.

Try a First Years True Fit seat- not terribly pricey, and great for long-torsoed babies. A Marathon 70 would be a good choice as well, or a Radian. Any of those should be able to fit your little one rear-facing for at least another year, and well beyond that as well.

Do remember that as your child grows, a lot of his height will be in his legs, not his torso, so the seat will fit much longer that it seems like right now.

If you're determined to forward-face your baby, a Britax Frontier will easily keep an average child in a 5-point harness until age 7.

I did a search of "convertible seat tall child" on the forums at http://www.car-seat.org according to this thread (http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=165104) some good options for tall kids are the SK Radian, First Years TrueFit, and Safety First CompleteAir. A child can remain rear-facing until either 1) they reach the rear-facing weight limit of the car seat; OR 2) they have less than 1" of hard plastic shell above the head (this link gives a good explanation/illustration of the 1" rule: http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=30201

And to all my fellow car-safety geeks: please remember that not every parent here speaks car seat as a second language ;-) - I've lost count of the time I panicked over the sight of the word "booster" in a thread only to realize later from reading further that the poster meant a "Combination" seat like a Nautilus or Frontier (Car Seat dictionary moment: a "Combination" seat is a forward-facing harnessed seat that can be used without harness as a belt-positioning booster when the harness is outgrown by height or weight. IMO this is probably one of the least-well-known car seat categories, partly b/c these seats are often categorized with "boosters" in store displays and online listings often call them "boosters" - shoot I wouldn't be surprised if some manufacturers even label them as "boosters" on the box)
IMO asking a clarifying question (e.g. "by 'booster', do you mean.....") prior to presenting your information is helpful netiquette and can help prevent unnecessary hard feelings :-)

My DD was/is an extremely tall child.
I did a lot of research as far as the hight limits go.

And my conclusion was that Britax makes the highest height limits.
(I was looking at 3 manufacturers at the time: Britax, Sunshine Kids, and Recaro.)

Have you looked at Britax? 49" is the height limit. That is about as tall as my DD is now (she will be 6 in 2mths.)-she towers over kids her age. Go grab a tape measure!

http://www.elitecarseats.com/Britax-Marathon-70-convertib...

Don't buy in store, you will always pay top dollar. If you shop around online you will get a far better deal. I bought this seat for my DS last fall, I think I got it for $220 on Amazon. But you could certainly check it out in store. ;)

Also if you have LATCH this seat is super easy to install quick and tight. I'd probably still get another one eventually but if you have to wait a few weeks to buy the 2nd...

DD now sits very comfortably, 5 pt. harnessed in a Britax Frontier.
And I no longer fret over her height issues.
Well, at least not as far as carseats go... ;)

Yes a lot of people say booster unknowingly..my kids are super duper tall and one used the britax marathon until she was 4.5, the other is 3.5 and still in it. The oldest moved to the britax frontier85 after the marathon. Babies r us had a britax sale this week, and lets you try all the seats, we ordered from Albeebaby.com or new in box on eBay! Kids go from infant seats to convertible seats (can go backward or forward), to booster/combination seats.

I am also confused about your suggestion of a booster. I'm not sure the exact law in NJ but in KS the child has to be 4 and 40lbs before a booster can be used. I would not recommend getting a booster for your child yet. My children are both off the charts for height and have been since about 4 months, so I do feel you! For my daughter we have the Alpha Omega Elite and really like it. For my son we have the Evenflo Triumph and I like that even better. The downside is that it's really bulky and hard if you fly a lot, but if you just leave it in the car it's wonderful!

I do know that my cousin (who is freakishly tall himself!) had to order a special car seat for his son from Sweden to accomodate his height. I think this is a pretty rare scenario but I bet if you google 'car seats for tall kids' or something you could find other options. You will need to keep him in a convertable for a few more years. I know it's expensive but it's worth it. Both my husband and I have double car seats as well, so I get it, but it's just one of those things I'm afraid! Sign up for Babies R Us coupons and you will probably get one for $25 off a car seat, they send those out a lot. Target also sends out coupons sometimes for this stuff.

I would look at those height measurements again. My son is also quite tall for his age. He is in the 75th percentile, but he is also almost 2 1/2. He still has plenty of room to grow into our Cosco convertible carseat. I know many frown upon using Cosco, but I think they're great and they cost less than $75 at our Walmart. Totally worth it, since we also have one in each car.

I do understand your height concerns. I used to think the age recommendation on boosters seats was silly, since you should be more concerned with their weight and whether or not their body was safe. That is until my niece kept wiggling out of her booster seat. She thought it was funny. Her parents put her back in a 5-point harness. Made me rethink just our soon our little one will be ready for a booster, even if he will soon be 40 pounds (and not even 3!).

I can't believe you would even consider buying a booster seat!!! That is unsafe its not even funny!!! Go to a certified carseat tech and ask them what seat they would recommend for your son.
The aap recommends children remain rear facing until at least 2 I like the graco my ride 65. That seat should last you until he is the appropriate age for a booster (4 is the minimum) I won't put my son in a booster until he reaches the max height/weight for the harness of his nautilus.