Hi, What is the average age children move out of a convertible car seat and into a booster seat? The reason for my question is I am wondering if I should add 2 more convertible cars seats to my baby #2 registry. By the time baby #2 is ready for a convertible car seat baby #1 will be 3. We currently have the Britaz Marathon car seat which I believe goes up to 65 lbs but children outgrow the height first is my understanding. Thanks!
Thanks everyone for your advice. Based on what I have read so far I am going to guess baby #1 will be out of the convertible car seat by the time #2 is ready for them. My 16 month old is already 18.5 lbs (consistently in the 75th percentile for size & 90th percentile for weight). Thanks for your time!
My oldest was 5 when she weighed 40 lbs and moved to a booster her sister is 2 yrs younger but quickly catching up to her older sister in size.
I guess my answer is there is no easy answer. Each child is diffrent.
Remember car seats work on laws of physics. That means height and weight are more important than age. My children were 30 pounds at one year and too tall for the "lawful" car seat. Now all my children were over 4' 9" by the time they were 5. If your children are larger keep the intent of the car seat in mind. All my children buckle and weigh over 100 pounds already.
I think that height is more of a key factor than age. My girls are taller and both moved to booster seats fairly early. I think they were close to three. However, they were both tall enough and understood that they needed to leave the seat belt the way mommy left it. We actually put our youngest back in the convertible car seat because she wouldn't leave the seat belt in the correct position.
I don't know the avg. age but my son will turn 5 in June and only weighs 30 pounds so he is staying in the 5 point harness one until he is around 40 pounds, which could mean 4th grade :).
good luck.
Hi Angela
It really depends on the child. My eldest was in a booster at just over two years old because he weighed too much for the 40IB limit, and was too tall for his convertible seat. My youngest just went into a booster seat from the same convertible seat at 3 1/2 years, he is smaller than his brother but was only one inch away from the top of the carseat and just a couple of pounds from the weight limit.
Studies show that the five point harness is the safest, keeping the child more secure.
The Michigan state police website states the child passenger safety law as this...."all children under age 8 must be properly restrained in an approved child safety seat or booster seat, unless 4ft 9" tall."
So your son does not, by law, have to stay in the convertible seat until he is four but he is safer there if you have one that goes to a higher weight limit, I don't really know about the height limit.
I would say put an extra one on your registry incase you need it for your new baby.
Just remember it is not just physics. A child at the age of one has less muscle to support the spinal cord then an older child, hence the law about rear facing until age of 1. Check out this website. It has a lot of info.
www.kyledavidmiller.org
My 7 year old is still in a 5-point harness and my 2 year old will be rear facing until she hits 35lbs.
Lots of great advice already. I just wanted to 2nd Rebecca W.'s message. My daughter is 25 mos and still rear facing in our car. MIL has a britax frontier so she is FF'ing in that one now. My daughter will be in a 5 pt harness until at least 65 lbs. That is the limit on our Britax Marathon. The Frontier might have a higher limit and it also changes into just a booster seat up to 100 lbs. My mother in law did a lot of research and I guess its the best one out there. I would highly suggest getting the Britax Frontier for your oldest. The britax website has a lot of great information. I belive it doesn't expire for 8 or 9 yrs so you could get a LOT of good use out of it for the money you would be spending.
What ever 40 pounds is. Than after that when ther at 80 pouns or 8 years old they can sit in the regular car seat with belt. I have two in a booster since 40 pounds. One she grew out of the baby one at 20 pounds.
With the new law that passed last July, legally you have to keep the child in a five point harness till they are 4 years old. From there, there are also rules of then you child no longer has to use a booster seat. You can look this up online for the specific specs. I just know you can't put them in a booster till they are 4. I know this can be hard, because my daughter 3 and I have to buy another 5 point harness seat because she out weighed her other one!! You have to think though, they passed this law for the safety of our kids :D
You should keep your child in a 5pt harness for a long as possible. It is the safest seat for them to be in as it keeps them buckled correctly and seated correctly in the vehicle. Which will protect them in an accident. You don't want to find out the hard way that your child is not physically or mentally capable of sitting in the vehicle correctly, with only a lap/shoulder belt to protect them.
My kids are rear facing until they are at least 2yrs old or until they are over the weight limit for rearfacing in their convertable seat (usually around 30lbs) They are then in their 5pt harness until they are at least 65lbs. we have the Graco Nautilus that is rated for a 5pt harness up to 65lbs, if I could afford the Britax seat that goes up to 80lbs I would use that.
Angela,
What I know to be correct is that switching to a booster can happen at age 4 and/or at 40lbs. My son is currently 40.5lbs and will be 4 in May so we are in the process of picking one out for him now. Hope this helps!
K. :)
It depends upon the age, height and weight of your child. Follow the guidelines on the respective seats. My daughter weighed less than forty pounds at 5 so she stayed in the regular car seat until she corssed the next threshhold.
