Boring, but - what car seat/booster for a light four year old?

[SarahAndQuack]

Thank you!

She's been in a Joie 360 but she's just hit the minimum weight limit for a booster seat. She's bang on average height but is quite light.

Stay in the harnessed seat for as long as possible. Until they reach the weight limit.

Is she too tall for the 360?

If she is still under 18kg and not too tall, then keep her in the 360.

If you want to keep her in a rear facing seat, a lot of people recommend the axkid minikid.

If not then any good brand of high back booster is fine. I have heard good things about the Joie Bold.

No, sorry, she has to be out of the 360, she's too tall.

Joie Bold sounds good, thank you!

We've always had isofix HBB to avoid having to strap them in when they aren't being used.

I had a light 4 year old and went for a 123 seat, got a Britax Evolva then used it with the harness until he hit the weight limit.

Thank you!

Depending on your budget, you can get HBB with a seatbelt guide between the child's legs to help keep it positioned right over their hips and to stop them submarining under the belt in an accident. We have it, and it does seem to help keep them sitting correctly in the seat and stop them slumping too badly.

That's really useful to know, thank you!

Joie Stages or Bold - the bold will last you longer. Wouldn't recommend the Elevate though.

I've got the bold and love it, my 5 year old is still using the harness as it goes up to 25 kg.

The seats that harness up to 25kg require top tether so don't fit every car.

I’d either go Joie Bold (which will probably harness until your child is 6, and then you can remove it and use seatbelt until age 12 or so) or Britax Kidfix III which has this thing to keep the seatbelt in the correct place and is age 4-12.

Similar issue here when mine outgrew spinning seats - they do seem smaller somehow than other harnessed options. Both mine still got another year to eighteen months in a harness once moved to a Britax Advansafix. This then converted to a high back booster once they hit the weight limit. Obviously they’re more expensive than just buying a HBB though and it’ll depend on if your child fits whether it’s worth it.

@superduster

The seats that harness up to 25kg require top tether so don't fit every car.

That's absolutely true, depends on your vehicle OP, and of course you should always take your car and child when trying out new car seats.

I don't know if you can try things out at the moment, @treefella?

But thanks all, this is really helpful.

Axkidd mini kid or axkidd move would be my choices.

But if you really want to forward face her I'd choose a decent high back booster with crotch guard such as the besafe izi flex or britax kidfix III M.

There's no evidence that forward facing a harness is safer than a good high back booster for a child of 4 and above.

@SarahAndQuack like pp said if you want to Lee her Rearfacing still the axkid minikid is a great option as you can rearface up to 25kg. If you want her forward facing the Axkid big kid or the Besafe Izi flex are good options. So is the Britax duoplus if I remember correctly or the advansafix as already mentioned.

I think I'd prefer forward facing TBH - I know ideally rear facing is safer, but we've had the odd incident where she's been sick and we can't see if she's choking, and I'd as soon avoid that!

This is really helpful, thanks all so much.

Sorry for the late reply but yes that is a very good point... I hope you find a seat you're happy with soon