What Age, Weight, Height Do U Switch to Booster Car Seat?

We finally went to a high back booster just this summer (he's 6 1/2). He was in a 5 pt harness until then.

He's skinny (still just 45lbs) but very tall, and the highest adjustment on the harness straps was just below his shoulders.

The truth is, keep them in a carseat until they can't fit. Why would you switch to a less safe harness if you didn't have to? 5-pt harnesses are just much SAFER than seatbelts. Period.

My son is 5 years old, approx 46" and 47 lbs. He still sits in a harnessed seat most of the time. We use a high back booster when he rides in the car with his grandparents or a friend. It's the Graco Turbo booster. I plan to keep him harnessed as long as possible when he rides with me or my husband.

Hey mamas, I'm a car seat tech (CPST) and the director for Safe Kids IL/Safe Kids Chicago. Most of these answers are right on target. No matter what the booster says (most are 30 lb minimum), we recommend that kids are at least 4 yrs old and 40 lbs before they switch to a booster (high back or backless). Like many other posters said, it's best to keep kids harnessed as long as possible, and rear facing as long as possible before that. Is it overkill to keep kids as safe as possible? I don't think so, but it's every family's choice to make. Many of you won't have a serious crash in your lifetime, but since we never know when that life changing crash will occur or who will be involved, I like to know that my family is as safe as possible, even though some people may think it's overkill. Though a rear facing child's knees may be bent, his legs are at no higher risk of being hurt in a crash, and his head and neck are much, much safer. I digress :)

Anyone can use a backless booster seat as long as there is a headrest behind their head. The high back booster must be used if your vehicle's seat backs are too low, to prevent the head from whipping back in a crash.

Please remember to keep your kids in a booster until they are 4' 9". Age and weight aren't as important as height when making the decision to ditch the booster. By 4' 9", the adult seat belt will fit most kids properly. While I certainly recommend following your local laws, please follow the current safety recommendations as well. If your state only requires boosters to age 4, your 4 yr old won't be safe in just a seat belt--keep using that booster! Most kids won't reach 4' 9" until they are between 8- 12 yrs old. And kids should stay in the backseat until they are at least 13.

I know that most of us remember a simpler time, when we could just use our seat belts and we could race our siblings to the car for shotgun. We all survived, but there are other factors to think about now, including better crash tests and airbags in vehicles.

If anyone has questions, please call or email me. I don't think I'm supposed to list my email and phone in a post, but if you google Safe Kids Chicago, or go to the national SK site and look for our coalition, you'll find my contact info.

Thanks,
J. Choi

My girls did not switch until they outgrew the 5 point harness, or it just became embarrassing beyond belief for them to still be in it when they were seen by their friends. For my older one that wasn't until right before 2nd grade. She was in a booster seat (backless) until she was starting 7th grade. Only then did she get tall enough for her butt to be back on the seat and the seatbelt hit her right as well as her feet touch the floor. In 8th grade this year she has almost reached 5 feet tall and has always had a tiny torso.

My younger daughter was a bit bigger in the torso then her big sister ever was and also had major issues with things not feeling right so we moved her to a booster a bit younger. In the middle of kindergarten she was allowed to go to a booster seat. She just got out of her backless booster at the start of 5th grade, much to her sister's anger. But she can only sit in the back bench seat in the van without it, if she is in the other seats she still needs it, so it's not completely unused.

Two years ago they were both in boosters when the van was rearended. The cops said that having them in boosters saved them from internal injuries. He commended them on being so old and still being in them.

My child is 4 1/2 and still sits in her five point harness car seat and I think will continue to until she no longer fits then we will use the booster portion. Like others have said look at your car seat for weight requirments and look at your state laws cause they are all different

Information and opinions about car seats are like...well...belly buttons. Everyone has O.!
Do yourself w favor and find a certified seat inspector/educator near you. Call your local police/fire department. Normally they will have at least O. certified, educated tech on staff.
Do that instead if getting 5 million opinions--some educated, some not.
Your child's safety is too important to guess.
Good luck!

The current safest recommendation is to use a car seat (5 point restraint) to the maximum capacity of the seat. My son's will accommodate up to 65 lbs as 5 pt restraint and the convert to either a high or low back booster up to 80 lbs. We will switch him when he hits 65 lbs (he is currently 6-1/2 and 54 lbs).

Every seat has different minimums and maximums. For safety purposes, you should keep your child rear facing for two years or more, in a five point harness for as long as possible, then in a high back booster. By that point they'll probably never need the no back booster. We have the britax frontier, harnesses to 85 lbs then uses the back and belt to 120, which should get us well past the minimum for seatbelt use. Minimums are just that, can dos, not should dos.

http://www.safekids.org/parents/ .....I hope this helps! : )

we switched my daughter to a harnessed booster last fall when we needed one for our car and one for his parents car, she was still able to use the old carseat so we put it in his parents car and got the graco nautilus 3 in 1 for ours and just recently got a new one for our car and are putting our old 3 in 1 in there car one day soon. as she out grew the one in their car. so she was 2.5 when we switched but she is still harnessed and will be until she outgrows it

I think switching to a high back booster around 4 years old for most kids is reasonable. Thats when we switched my 6 1/2 yr. old and 4 1/2 year old. My kids barely met the weight/height requirement at that age and were trustworthy enough to not try to unbuckle etc. That being said, some people suggest that you keep your kids rear facing until the limit stated on the carseat or keep them in a carseat until they exceed the height or weight limit. Seriously?! Are we going to also wrap are kids in bubbles and never let them out of our sight? I think that is a bit overkill. My daughter is almost 7 and only weighs about 44 lbs... and my 4 yr. old son is not even 40lbs. His old carseat could be used rear facing up to 40lbs... which means some people would argue it is safest to have him rear facing still. (that seems less safe to me with his knees in his face etc.!) If I went with the conservative guidlines my kids will be in boosters well into middle school! I think it is reasonable and cautious to have your kids rear facing until about 2 and then front facing/5 point harness until about 4 (give or take given size and temperment of the child). This is pretty much the guideline our pediatrician suggests (and make sure they meet the minimum guidlines for the booster- I think most are 30 lbs.). I started off both of my older kids with the hight back booster to better position the seatbelt and for more support, ie. if they fall asleep.

I can honestly say that until I came to mamapedia that I had never heard of anyone not putting their children in a booster by age 3. All our grand-kids were front facing at 1 year and then into a booster by age 3. It entirely depends on your states car seat laws.

You'll need to google them and look at the link that is from your department of motor vehicles or highway patrol, some sort of official site.

The requirements are very different for backless vs high backed boosters. You'd have to look at the minimum seat requirements on the booster itself, but I think generally it's a 30lb min for the high back booster and 38-40 inches in height, plus generally recommended that they are at least 3 years old. Now, that's assuming you use the booster as a booster. There are a LOT of the high back boosters that also have the 5 pt harness system, so you can get a good, high-back booster (which also usually converts to a backless) now and (potentially) use it for the rest of the time your little one needs a car seat at all.