Hello! My son is 22 months old and over 30 pounds. We had an used car seat in our 2nd vehicle, but he seems to have outgrown it, and we are looking for something new. When I looked on craigslist, the used convertible seats are the same price as a brand new booster with back. Is he too young for that type of car seat? Of course I want him to be as safe as possible but don't want to continue to purchase car seats because of quick growth. Thank you!
A. ~
Michigan law states 40 lbs AND 4 years old. I recently looked this up for my grandson, because he is also almost 3 and about 40 lbs.
D.
Try the Graco Nautilus...it has a harness for little ones and converts to a booster seat up to 100 lbs for when they are older. That way you never have to buy him another seat! I don't think you can use a regular booster until 3 years anyway.
Backless boosters really aren't for kids under 40lbs. I'd go with the convertable. At 22 months, your son will probably level out his weight for awhile.
He needs to be in a harness. There are some booster seats that still have a harness, but make sure you check the age, height, weight requirements when you buy.
Two of my children were 30 pounds at a year. Then you add a winter coat and they don't fit in the younger car seats. I would take your child with a winter coat and make sure they will fit. Depending on the maturity and "squirm" factor choose your seat from there. The requirement for age and weight never matched for my kids since they are in the 90th percentile. I only had one incident with my daughter at 3 where she unbuckled on the road. I stopped....and it never happened again.
with your son only being 22 months old i would find a different car seat for him. they reccommed to be harness for as long as you can. i know our older kids (6 and 4) will be going back into a 5 pt soon thanks to the kyle david miller foundation(kyledavidmiller.org) our youngest son is in my ride 65 still rear facing. for your oldest i would say the graco 3 in 1. that is a forward only up to 65lbs then turns into a booster seat up to 100. then for you youngest i woould get the my ride 65. its for 5-65 lbs. rear facing up to 40lbs. which by the way is 5 times safer than forward facing. i wouldn't do a alpha mega seat as a booster cuz the seat belt don't fit kids right. but never never buy a used car seat unless you know who the seat is comming from, cuz you don't know if its been into an accident or recalled, but most car seat have an expiration date at them also. so dont' use them after they expirt. if you can afford a new seat i would call 211 and see if they know who would be able to help you get a new seat. good luck with your choice.
22 months is WAY too young for a booster! My son will be five years old in two months and weighs about 34 pounds. He still sits in an actual carseat with a five-point harness! We have a Recaro Signo and it seats a child from 5 to 70 pounds, up to 59 inches tall and up to 8 years old. It converts to a booster and we'll do that as soon as our son is tall/heavy enough to have outgrown the carseat feature. Also, PLEASE don't buy used carseats. You don't know if they have parts missing or if they've been in an accident. It can be very unsafe and isn't worth the risk. A used seat may also be outdated. Safety features on these seats are constantly updated. Good luck!
He really needs to stay in a 5 point-restraint car seat for as long as possible....that really is the safest for him. Not even 2 years old really is too young to safely seat him in a booster....most kids this age are NOT mature enough to sit properly in these kind of seats. One great seat that I highly recommend is the Graco Nautilus...it is a 5 point restraint car seat the will allow him to be strapped in up 65lbs and then it can used as high back booster or you can take the back off and use it as a backless booster seat. As a booster seat it is good until the child weighs 100 lbs. The seat runs about $179.99 but you can usually find on sale for around $149.99. I know that is a little bit pricey BUT the seat will last for 6 years. You can check out the seat at http://www.gracobaby.com/Catalog/Pages/ProductListingPage...
Here is a link to the recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics:
http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/ped...
I think that is a good source to follow. I, too, have a quickly growing child. My daughter already weigh 40 lbs and is 40 inches at 3 years old. 40 pounds is the cutoff for boosters - anyone less should be in a harness.
I loved the Cosco Alpha Omega. Rear facing 5-35 lbs, forward facing 22-40 lbs, booster 30-100 lbs. 5 point harness system, 4 position padded headrest, 3 position recline, LATCH equipped for rear and forward facing positions. You can find it at Walmart, Sears or Target.
It was great having just one carseat the entire time. We had two of these, one for each of our vehicles.
We never had a problem with the seatbelt and the booster, as stated by one of the posters.
I agree with the other poster... you have a few other considerations there. Double check a few things. Boosters are not the same for younger children.
no.. not ready for a booster. too young too squirmy not able to sit nicely in a seat that doesnt have a 5 pt harness.
I have 2 kids.. 2 1/2 and almost 4. they are both tall an thin.. they still fit in their convertible seat but just barely.... their convertible goes up to 40 inches and 40 pounds. they are both close to 40 inches. although the height really depends on the seated height.. so a long leg child will fit in a seat longer than a long torso child.
we bought a graco nautilus... we hate it. the biggest problem is the crotch strap fall down under the child when you try to put the kid in.. so you have to reach under the child to get it. the graco nautilus has slippery fabric which makes the crotch strap slip down also. the graco nautilus does go up to 100 pounds.
the gracos are in one of our car (we have 2 matching seats) we will be looking for a different seat for the other car. we will probably go with a britax seat. we have 2 britax seats in our first car and they are the best seat... we have no complaints with the britax. but like I said the britax we have is almost too smalls so we will have to get bigger ones.
in michigan kids have to be in a car seatuntil age 8 or 80 pounds so you might try to find a seat that goes up to that weight.
A. - you need to look at the height, weight, and age requirements of the booster seats with backs. I do not believe that a 22m old is able to be in a booster - they aren't tall enough for the shoulder strap to fit them properly.
I just checked the requirements of my daughter's and it is children 3-10, from 30-100 lb, and 38"-57" tall. She had the weight at 3 to be in it, but we had to wait until she was 4 for her to be tall enough. Even then, she was over the 38", but she's all legs and her shoulders just hit the spot where they needed to be to have the shoulder strap fit her correctly.
With baby #2, you might consider purchasing something like the Cosco Alpha Omega convertible seat. You can purchase at BRU, Target, and I think I recently saw at Sam's Club. It fits 5-100lb. I ended up purchasing a 2nd one of these so that we could continue to use it for my daughter when my son was born. Now that she is in the booster seat, we use the extra one in the 2nd car since they are so bulky and obnoxious to switch.
J.
I know that the other poster does not like her Graco Nautilus but I have only heard good things about them. Personally I would go to BRU and check it out. Put your son in it and see how you like it. You can use the harness up to 65 lbs and then it converts to a booster seat up to 100 lbs. I actually had a problem with the buckle on the Britax being too short and pinching my kids thighs...and they are not chunky. So really the fit of a carseat is diffrent for each kid.
Blessings, K.
GO with the Graco Nautilus. It's the best value out there and the safety ratings are awesome. It will be the last seat you purchase for him as it converts from convertible carseat to high-back booster to regular booster. :)
Lisa O. down there is the ONLY person I've ever heard of complain about this seat. Seriously.
NO way! They should be 4 and 40 pounds for any type of seat that uses the seat belt to restrain them instead of straps attached to the seat (it may be a MI law but I'm not sure). They also need to be mature enough to sit in the seat properly and keep the seat belt positioned over their shoulder. You should be looking at convertible or forward facing car seats only! Also be very cautious when buying used car seats. They have expiration dates and a seat used in a crash should never be used again. Also, washing certain parts of the seats voids some warrantys (company cant then be liable for failure of a part if it were in a crash)!
I would find a booster with a five pt harness or one that use the tether system to install it. It should be a high back booster most convert to a low back booster. A five pt harness is the safest.
Also you should never but a used car seat. It is not safe you do not know if the car seat has missing parts or if it has been in an accident or outdated . If you have a used car seat and you go to a car seat safety check they will take the car seat away and give you a new one. That is how un-safe it is.
If you can not afford to by a car seat there are a lot of organization out there that can help.
