Tall Toddler and Car Seat Issues

Try a convertible booster, such as a Graco Nautilus or Britax Frontier 85. That way you can have her in a five-point harness for a few more years, and then eventually convert the seat to a high-back booster and then a regular booster.

We have both of the convertible boosters I mentioned. My 5-year-old is tall for age, but she still easily fits the five-point harness on both seats. They are meant for bigger kids.

those rules cant possibly apply to tall children, its unsafe. Ive read the guidelines and the rules seem to apply to the average or below average children(for height and weight) in order to maintain safety. Both my children have been tall and grew out of their seats before it was time, their infants and the next stage and the boosters. Personally i dont care what the law says, im going to put my children in what is safe, they can write me a ticket if they want, my kids would look ridiculous in the "right" car seat".

Look into the Britax Frontier 85. We LOVE ours. We checked out the Natilus at the store and were not that impressed. My hubby made the call and said we were NOT buying the Natilus. He is very happy with our Frontier85 purchase as well.

Just an FYI after reading your update she should not be wearing bulky clothing/winter coat in a car seat, that is ver unsafe and could cause her harm if you were ever in an accident.

We have 3 Britax seats...but no Boulevard. I know it has higher limits than some of the others...Could you possibly rear face her for awhile? Surely that seat has a RFing limit of 35 lbs. at least.
If she is rear facing the straps are supposed to be below her shoulders.
Other than that idea we have a Frontier and it has a really high height/5 pt. harness limit. We too have a tall skinny girl. Our 5 year old is still in the 5 pt. harness in this seat.
I would keep her harnessed as long as possible.

Time to switch TODAY. OTW an accident with straps below her shoulders can (and usually do) snap children's spines from the directionality of the pressure caused by impact + low straps.

It's called "common sense exemptions". We actually had to get a note from the fire department child safety seat inspectors (that I kept pinned to kiddo's seats, in case of being pulled over) when HE was little because we had to turn him FF at right around 6mo, and had to switch to a booster right around age 2. ((By age 2 he was well over 30lbs, and over 3' tall)). I switched too late as well (inspector was horrified that his shoulders were 2" above the highest holes, and took them off the seat right then and there)... so DON'T feel bad. Rules are made for the *general* populace, and we have a very diverse populace (My grandmother, for example, doesn't "qualify" to sit in a car without a carseat according to height/weight laws).

Most states do NOT have an infant/ child/ booster seat by age law. Instead they have wording that says "appropriate carseat" until x height/ y weight law for precisely the reason that due to genetics kids are different sizes. Ditto, children in the backseat usually has a caveat "where practical" (which exempts cars / trucks without back seats as well as when you're transporting more kids that seats in the back as well as when you're transporting something that would make it dangerous for your child to ALSO be back there -tools, boxes, animals, anything heavy/sharp/etc that could squish them if it fell on them OR that takes up the entire back seat-, or also if there's some kind of mechanical failure (like the belt clip is broken, or the seat has been damaged in some way).

IDEALLY everyone should be in a 5 point restraint, regardless of age. And for about $500 per seat, you can retrofit your car with "racing straps". But the fact of the matter is that we don't live in an ideal world. If your daughter slid down during an accident in a booster (which are usually angled to prevent that a LOT more than a regular seat) the most common injury are broken legs. IF however, in an accident her straps are too low, the most common injury is a severed spine -paraplegic, quadrapalegic, or fatally. Do what's right for YOUR daughter's body (and get a note from a seat inspector if you have to), and avoid everyone's "horror" at not doing what they do for their SMALLER children.

Look at the Britax site and measure her sitting height. You can plug in her info and it will generate a list of seats that are appropriate for her. But you need to get her out of that seat asap. Below the shoulders is not safe for her.

One of the biggest concerns in putting a little one in a high back booster is that they have to be able to sit up appropriately and keep the shoulder belt on in the correct spot and they can submarine (meaning they slide under the lap belt portion) and this can cause significant injury. Britax high back boosters have anti-submarining straps but I would keep her in a 5 point harness as she is only 3.5 and like you said not nearly heavy enough. I bought my son's Britax that goes to 80lbs/5 pt harness when he was 3 and would have jumped on the Frontier if they had it then. I would have never considered a high back booster at that age.

No winter jackets in the car seat! If you have to loosen the harness to fit a jacket its too bulky. In a crash a bulky jacket will compress causing the harness to become too loose and subjecting your child to ejection or being thrown around violently. IF you doubt this, put the jacket on your child and hook her into her car seat, tighten the harness so you think its safe. Then, without loosening the harness, unbuckle her and remove the jacket, then rebuckle her. All that slack is what the harness would look like in a crash!

Anyway, at 3.5 she still needs a harness, so the Frontier or the Nautilus would be perfect for her.

Just to be sure did you read the manual. I have a marathon and the seat to shoulder height is up to 16.75 inches and I think the Boulevard might even be higher. If she has outgrown it... I would consult w/ your doctor too. Check out the Britax site - a section on "fit your child" is very helpful. Thanks for the question by the way... I need to measure my daughter and adjust her seat... she's 4.5 and in her Marathon and TALL... 42"... doing that tonight!

My kids are super tall and big, my 3 year old is fine still in the marathon and she's taller than your dd, and my 6 year old is in the frontier, which I see you're buying, it's worth it and you'll love it! We got the best deal at albeebaby.com and I've seen them new in box on eBay, free shipping!

We had to switch to the high back booster.

That is so strange. My name is J. too, I go by J., and my 3 1/2 year old is also 32 pounds (maybe) and is too tall for his Britax carseat as well.

I actually just posted this same question to my neighborhood Yahoo group yesterday. LOL.

The recs that I got were the Graco Nautilus and the Britax Frontier. Big price difference, but both have the five point harness system. I'm checking them out this week.

Peace.

Try changing to a high back booster that ranges from 20- 80 lbs.
http://www.amazon.com/Cosco-Juvenile-High-Booster-Viola/d...

You may need a bigger car seat (higher shoulder straps and weight limit). There are a few to choose from including the Britax Frontier and the Graco Nautilus and possibly a few others. We have the Nautilus and it also converts to a booster. We got it when my son passed the 40 lb/40 inches tall limit on the old car seat (this was before he was 3). He is now turning 5 and still fits in the seat but I'm about to switch him to a booster soon because of the height of the should straps (he's still about 10 lbs under the harness weight limit). I think there is also a Britax booster with a seat belt guide at the crotch. Their web site shows all the models and info about them.

You could maybe go either way depending on her maturity with sitting in a booster properly. I'd take you daughter to a store with a good selection of car seats and boosters and have her try them.

WOW! Are you sure? You know you can make that seat "taller" by rolling up the side roll bar thingy (sorry, I don't know how else to explain it... but the side head protection piece). My daughter is 10 pounds heavier than your daughter and over 5 years old, and really not a "small" child by any means, and she still fits in the Boulevard!

lol.... I just realized you already sorted this out! My daughter does take her coat off when she sits in her seat! lol! She doesn't like the restriction... and the Frontier 85 is the perfect solution :-)

I put my daughter into a booster (graco) at about that same age and weight. Check out the site for specific weight and height requirements you may be pleasantly surprised as I was.

I go to a car seat installation station in NJ. The staff there suggested my daughter get the Graco Nautilus which will be the last car seat she will ever need. It's still got the back and as the child grows, it can be turned into a booster. So far she loves it- especially the "secret" compartments on each side plus the drink holder.