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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Car Seat - is this right, I'm quite worried about it, tall child...

21 replies

Weegle · 10/08/2008 20:05

DS is 2.2. He weighs 16.2kg and is 98cm tall. Very heavy and extremely tall for his age, but the normal proportions of a two year old, ie head in relation to body size etc, maybe a little on the skinny side. He's in a 5 point harness car seat but his head is now a good few inches above the top so today we went to Halfords and the man there said as his head was over the top, and his weight is over 15kg then he needs to go in to a high back booster with an adult belt. There are no high back boosters with 5 point harnesses that he knows of. This scares me. DS is just 2 - he will pull at an adult seat belt (I think) and I will be powerless to stop it, and he won't understand me saying why not. The seats barely recline (he still sleeps in the car often) and it just seems insane to me to put a just two year old in an adult belt? His head is still much larger in proportion to his body than a child 4+. So is that really my only option - to put him in a high back booster with adult belt? Am I being precious about it?

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eandh · 10/08/2008 20:09

not sure what is legal etc but my nephew is 2.6 and in size 4-5 clothes for height and wreighs 3stone (in fact he is as tall as dd1 who is nearly 4 so around same height as your ds)

Brother and his gf bought him a britax evolva 123 seat still 5 point harness but can convert into a booster and he does look a lot more comfortable than when he was in his maxi cosi (at the moment they still use 5point harness as he thinks he is houdini and can escape normal lap belt and he has speech delay/possible hearing problem so cannot always comminicate how dangerous teh seatbelt thing is)

eandh · 10/08/2008 20:11

britax evolva 123

CoolYourJets · 10/08/2008 20:14

If his eyes/tips of ears are about the top of the seat he needs a new one. It is no longer safe for head protection at this stage.

Evolva might be a good idea. They came out well in which testing too.

LIZS · 10/08/2008 20:14

If you can get hold of one, the Britax Elite has a harness for up to 22kg and is larger than most. We have Evolva 123 for dd but there is very little recline to it.

Original poster

Weegle · 10/08/2008 20:19

thanks - we sat him in that today and the highest position of the harness was just below his shoulder, so I don't think he could keep the harness on that for much longer so would seem a waste of money? He did sit in the Britax Trio and that had a good few inches above his shoulders to the top harness setting, so I wondered if that was ok but the man said that even so, when he reaches 18kg he'll have to have the adult belt.

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Original poster

Weegle · 10/08/2008 20:23

LIZS - that sounds good will google now, they didn't have that one

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tissy · 10/08/2008 20:26

give the In Car Safety Centre a ring. I bet one of teir special needs seats would be suitable. They aren't cheap, but they may know of other brands that would suit. They're very helpful.

anonymama · 10/08/2008 20:29

Have a look at www.rearfacing.co.uk whilst you are shopping around. Plenty of food for thought.

If you live near Basildon in Essex the County Council run a free try-before-you-buy service and they have a very comprehensive range of forward and rearfacing car seats. They can provide lots of advice and are not selling, so all impartial.

Their contact details are on the above website.

woodenchair · 10/08/2008 20:30

Kiddicare do car seats for 9 mo to 11 yo. here

The nania ones are hard wtih very little padding but the britax one's were good.

if you can get there they always have more instore than on their website.

tissy · 10/08/2008 20:31

this one goes up to 25kg. It can go forward facing if you prefer, but rear facing is safer.

Original poster

Weegle · 10/08/2008 20:31

LIZS - any idea where you can get them - I'm doing a google search and not finding stockists...

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Original poster

Weegle · 10/08/2008 20:35

thank you all - I remember the discussion not long ago about the rear facing seats so will have a good look at that site, thank you.

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moshie · 10/08/2008 20:36

[[www.babyequipmentcomplete.com] have them, they're on offer too

moshie · 10/08/2008 20:38

www.babyequipmentcomplete.com

LIZS · 10/08/2008 20:41

moshie's link or here perhaps but £££ or here

mumfor1standmaybe2ndtime · 10/08/2008 20:49

I had exact same problem with ds, he went into a high back booster seat at age 2.5 due mainly to his height - the fact that his legs were too long to fit between back seat of our car and his seat, due to angle of the chair he was in, and the car we had at the time.
He is in a Mamas and papas booster seat, forget the name of it. It is upto age 11 and can be used with a normal seat belt across his chest. He has never tried to undo the belt.
When out at a funpark with playschool we were lucky enough to bump into some fire fighters who were doing some safety checks on car seats in cars, with the local council. They looked at the seat I was using, I asked if it was fitted correctly and if they thought it was suitable. They were happy with it.

mumfor1standmaybe2ndtime · 10/08/2008 20:52

www.mamasandpapas.co.uk/product-trek-car-seat-flint/244676100/type-i/
This isn't the exact seat I am using but very close to it!

LackaDAISYcal · 10/08/2008 20:56

We have a Britax car seat that has an adjustabble headrest, and can be used with the five point horness, but then it comes off when they are older to use with an adult seat belt. Man in Halfords is talking pants imo.

Anyhoo, ours is a Britax Trio (not sure you can get them anymore though, at least new). DS is 6 and used the harness till he was nearly four and there is still spare height in the adjustable headrest.

LIZS · 10/08/2008 21:12

Trio was phased out and replaced by Evolva 123. You can still get it , under the Fisher Price brand but it didn't test well in Which? a few years back.

LackaDAISYcal · 11/08/2008 19:37

that's it LIZS. am now slightly worried about it not testing very well.

DontNeedAnything · 11/08/2008 19:40

The Britax trio is still available but with a Fisher Price label on it.
However IIRC it got very poor ratins in teh which test.

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