to be too stupid to understand car seats?

[whatareyoueventalkingabout]

little one is 2 and 2 months and is 16.5kg. What do I do about a car seat? The one they have at the moment is up to 18kg, but I don't think that they are supposed to be in booster seats until they are four?

I am an intelligent woman but I appear to be entirely too stupid to understand what to do in this situation. do I put them in a booster seat even though they aren't old enough?

Do I keep them in the five point harness one? HELP!

the britax Xtensafix seems to harness to 25kg with a maximum weight of 36kg so would be fine up until your lo no longer needs a seat

my ds did go into a seat using the adult seatbelt at the age of 3 as he was too heavy for the seat he had (was over 18kg) and at the time there wasnt an option of extended weight ranges for harnesses, etc.

My 3.5yr old is in the Britax Two Way Elite & has been since about 15mths and rear-faced til 2/2.5.

Not sure of her weight but she's average size for her. age and I can see her in this seat for at least another year though def not ready to use the adult seat belt yet. It was quite expensive at £200ish but if it lasts 4yrs then it works out quite well.

What's wrong with a 3 year old in a HBB Mortified?

With no 5point harness? just seems incredibly small. I had thought they would need full harness til about five.

18kg is pretty big!

In fact, 18kg is 98th centile for a 3 year old and 50th centile for a 5 year old, so most children can stay in a harness until they are the size of a 5 year old - actual age is irrelevant.

I am not sure what the problem is - there is another 1.5kg before your child is too heavy for the seat, and that is quite a bit of growing to do, so your current seat will be fine for a while.

If you are concerned about going forward facing, then Besafe have just released a new seat, the Besafe Izi Pro which is rear facing to 25kg or about 5.5 years old.

You might be fretting when you don't need to.

The weight gain between 2-5 is usually much slower than earlier weight gain. Go have a look at the charts in your red book you will see that the lines change dramatically from steady upwards to across.

mortified my ds is 3yrs 3 months and weighs 18.5kg. So it was no longer safe to keep him in his harnessed seat as the weight limit is 18kg. I took advice from mothercare and a local independent shop and both told me the safest thing to do was move him to a isofix highback booster. He's also very tall at 114cm, so definitely big enough for a high back booster.

It's about size/weight of the child not age, for this stage (infant stage age also matters).

An isofix one was recommended because it is tethered to the car so the seat belt only holds the child, not the seat and the child ifyswim? Also it won't become a projectile if I travel without him in the car and forget to strap it in.

I suppose my problem was it seemed a bit early to just put kiddo In a booster seat with an adult belt.

only just two and is bigger than some five year olds and I was fretting but you have all been really helpful. I don't know what I will do but it's so great to have the advice. I would imagine that will be 18kg by 2 and a half though....

Honestly it takes them ages to put on a kg at this age, it will be a while I think. If you look in your red book and follow the centile line you can gain an idea but I'd say you probably have at least a year by which time he'll probably be absolutely fine in a HBB.

I do remember DS racing through the kilograms when he was tiny and being worried he was going to grow out of things too quickly, but it slows down hugely at 1 year old and then again at about 2.

Oh I see, hang on, I have looked up on the growth charts and it DOES look like 18kg on his centile line is about 32 months which is a bit before 3.

Some of the extended rear facing seats are harnessed up to higher weight limits, but I think I would just put him in a booster, if it was me. Perhaps go for one of the very structured ones like the Recaro ones, or a smaller one like the Graco Maxi booster.

Thank you for that! This is why I love mumsnet, that someone else will go to the trouble of looking at charts for you!

kiddo between 98 and 99th centile and is 100 for height x

And is lovely :-)

YANBU. I couldn't understand car seats or buggies or anything that involved assembly and clicking things together or apart. That's probably why I waited till I was 37 before deciding to have a baby!

I have the opposite problem to you OP, my DD is 6 and only weighs 16kg.....she's tiny ( small, but perfectly formed !!) and we've always had to move her before she reaches the weight limits (or otherwise I would have been still carrying her in the infant carrier at the age of 2.5!)

No room within these guidelines for those tots at the extreme ends of the weight limits......

Sorry, that was of no help to you whatsoever!!

A high back booster with a seatbelt can be a risk with a younger child- it is much easier for them to wriggle out of than a five point harness. Therefore if they don't have the maturity to understand why they need to be strapped in they might be more likely to get out of the seat. Of course one child might be ok with that at 2 1/2, whilst another might be climbing out at 6.

If you think your child is a wriggler/climber, then get a higher weight limit five point harness when he reaches the 18kg limit. Otherwise a high back booster is fine.

I keep seeing an advert on Facebook for some sort of cross strap for a hbb but I haven't looked into it. My children are the other end of the spectrum, ds1 is only 13kg at 4.4 so will probably be about 6 before he's out of the harness!

Eddie, now I think my kid is even bigger than I did before! Would love to see them next to each other. I feel bad for all the times that people will say that the best things come in small packages because my kid will look in the mirror and know that doesn't apply.

and earslaps/ I have a wriggler.

Now I deffo don't know what to do!

Right, in your shoes I think I would-
-investigate where to buy 25kg limit harness seats (securatot and in car safety centre are good bets- try car seat topic on here for advice). Just in case!
-hold off buying anything until 18kg is reached (growth does slow down so it could be a while)
-start a campaign with your boy about car safety- each time you strap him in tell him it's to keep him safe etc. Hopefully some of it will sink in .

-when he gets to 18kg get a high backed booster. Use for short, low speed journeys at first. If he wriggles out and safety talks, stopping the car each escape or briberyetc won't keep him in it then purchase fancy 25kg harness.

And great things come in all size packages .

Bugger strike through fail

I agree with EarSlaps and was going to suggest exactly the same thing.

Ds1 is 90 something centile for height and weight and didn't put on much weight between 2yrs and 4yrs so only went into a high back booster with adult belt when he was nearly 4.

Ds3 is also 90 something centiles - 16kg and nearly 3yrs so I'm hoping he won't be 18kg for another year, especially as ds2 is still in the same car seat but is 4.4yrs and 17kg - he is a wriggly climber and staying in the harnessed car seat for as long as possible. Confused? Oh yes.

Thanks again all of you so much