Not sure if we need to change car seat now?

[loueytb3]

I have DTs who are nearly 4 and are currently in stage 2 car seats. DS1 is fairly tall for his age and his head is now above the top of the car seat. Do we need to move to the next stage seat now? Not sure what the rule is on this.

The problem is that although he is tall, he's skinny and only 14kg. His twin is even lighter. Most of the next stage seats seem to start at 15kg and they won't be heavy enough for these for a while. We also need to keep DS1 in a car seat with a 5-point harness as he had SN and tries to escape from car seats. He's not ready for a seatbelt.

An added complication is that we are expecting DC3 in June and will need to get 3 car seats across the back of an s-max. The baby will be in a maxi-cosi cabriofix and we need 2 high back boosters that will fit alongside.

Any suggestions welcome!

Hi Louey
We were told either 15kgs, or too tall for the seat - in either case get the next size up. Can you have a look at what they offer in the next size up for I? There might be something with a 5-point harness, in fact there must be! For L I would highly recommend the one we have for ds, over here it's called a Romer, but I think it's Britax in the UK, and is the Kidfix model. Absolutely brilliant, and with an Isofix point that you can use or not use depending on the car.
I researched it loads, and the Kidfix looked great and seemed to be very safe. It also cradles ds's head when he's asleep, so it doesn't loll on his chest.

Re I's seatbelt, perhaps there is something like a seatbelt harness/claspy type thing which would stop him being able to undo it?

Hope you're doing okay and are not too tired! Xxx

I had the same conversation about my ds head being above the carseat with the man in halfords.
Apparently it doesnt matter if the top of their head is above the car seat top as long as their eyeline isnt above the top. (Thats really important!!)
The problem with your ds only being 14kg is that if you put him in a booster car seat, his weight wouldn't set off the lock of the seat belt in a collision.
They wont sell you a car seat until they are 15 kg. However I have been using an argos own brand of car seat in the meantime, as its a 5 point harness and it lasts until 18kgs. Baby-start is the brand.
Hope this helps!!
Caroline

if they are under 15kg do not use a highbacked booster,the seatbelt wont work properly in an accident.

buy them the likes of the kiddy comfort 9m-12y seat,or the cybex pallas,they are quite narrow and use an impact cushion until 18kg,then turns into a normal high backed booster and you use the seatbelt.

theres also the recaro young sport which is also a 9m-12y seat,and uses a 5 point harness until 18kg then turns into a normal high backed booster.

Whitebuttons - thanks. His eyeline is nearly above the seat so I think we will need to change it very soon. Did you find halfords useful for advice? I know Mothercare are awful.

Hi monkey I wondered why the poster knew my boys names...and then I realised it was you! Will check out the britax one here - I think they have pretty good write-ups generally. There is a lock you can put over the seatbelt but I is so bendy I think he could get under the strap and get out that way. He is getting better about not getting out though so he may well be fine by the time he gets to 18kg and can't use the harness anymore.

Yes it sounds as though you need combination seats for them - the kind which go from 9 months to 12 years. The backs will be higher as they convert into boosters, but you can keep using the 5-point harness for longer. As a previous poster said, you need to keep them in a harnessed seat until they are at least 15kg - 18kg is the maximum for a harnessed seat, unless you get a SN seat, or some of the extended rearfacing seats use a harness until 25kg, but both of these options will be more expensive (and may not be necessary.)

The Chicco Neptune is a slimline seat so should fit 2 and a baby seat in the back more easily. The Britax Evolva is a good seat but it's quite wide.

We spent ages in Halfords this afternoon waiting to talk to the car seat expert. He said that it didn't matter that his head was above the top and he would recommend keeping him in the seat until he was at least 15 kgs and then moving him straight to a high back booster (where you just use a seatbelt). So now I'm confused - is he right????

He also recommended the graco high back booster as it is narrow and apparently does well on crash tests.

I had a similar problem and brought a recaro sport. ( well STM starlight which is same but cheaper)

DS was getting to eye level on britax yet he was only just 15kg and wasn't happy with him just using belt. So we have used the sport with the harness up to upper weight limit of 18kg which he has reached today.

Still not overally happy that he's just going to have a belt as he's vey mischievous!

Got a graco junior for second cars. They are so flimsy in comparasion.

Just realised may be too bulky for 3 in the back.

How about the evolva 123?

OADCB - the evolva 1-2-3 is very wide in comparison to some,

if you go to halfords/mothercare/toys r us or a local baby shop and they can try the seats in the car to make sure they fit.

you would be best putting the baby in the middle and then taking it in so they can find a seat which will fit either side.

Is it? In which case the recaro will probably be too wide too,,

the recaro is much slimmer than the evolva 1-2-3
i had the evolva (when we only had 2 dc) and it was a fab seat,problem is that its wide,nobody could squeeze in the middle of our car,

the other option is the cybex pallas or the kiddy comfort (the 9m-12y one) which have impact cushions instead of harnesses,

sazm again You are probably right- I only tried the evolva in mothercare. Didn't fit either car. The recaro just looked big at mo. Possibly because it's next to graco junior.

If you look on the mothercare website they list the dimensions of all the seats. The recaro is 48cm wide I think. I know the chicco is sold as being a slimline one and is 46cm wide. It looks sturdy from the picture but haven't seen one in real life.

ahh thats handy bertiebotts,
theres also a new graco - natulitious or similar the name is,it looks good and is a bit slimmer that the evolva,the halfords fitters rave about it,but i've only seen it once in the shop.
not sure about chicco,i had a chicco baby seat for my first,but i know which dont rate chicco seats anymore,as they felt the older chicco seats ratings were very low (rated as dont buy's),but im not sure about the newer ones.

Aargh. Britax website says to move the child when his eyeline is above the highest part of the seat. Which contradicts the Halfords man. We have a bit of time because DS1's eyeline is about level with the lowest bit of the seat, but not the highest bit.

Which don't appear to have reviewed the graco booster at all (which is a bit ominous seeing as it seems to be sold everywhere). The evolva does look big. Will have a look at the recaro.

sazm - will google the new graco. We have to put the baby seat in one of the outside seats. Its an isofix and the isofix points are around in the outside seats. Besides which I think it would be impossible to strap in the baby seat into the middle seat using the seat belt when there are two highback boosters either side of it.

ah if you are putting the baby seat at one side,thats probably why you cant fit the other seats in.
ours wont fit in with the 2 high back boosters next to each other,ours fit perfectly together with the eclipse in the middle (used to be the cabriofix)
we had the cabrio inbetween the 2 high backed boosters.

cant you just strap the base in?

tbh i dont know if you will find a solution,you would just need to try all the suitable seats in and see if they fit x

OP mentions an issue that is extreemly important but has not been addressed yet. DS1 is a Sepcial Needs child who tries to escape. This rules out all 18 kg harness limited seats.

There are a few that harness children past 18 kg forward facing

Britax Two Way Elite - 25 kg
Britax Traveller Plus - 36 kg (HUGE seat)
Recaro Start - 36 kg (HUGE seat)

You can take a look at the Two Way Elite here

www.sikkerautostol.dk

Lena

OH and OP, if you decide for the TWE - get a chest clip for it!

Lena

Thanks Lena - when you say the other two are huge, do you mean wide? Will have a look at the two way elite. I am still hopeful that he will grow out of it soon, but we will have to decide what to do before we change the car seat.

TBH though,it if he is only 14kg just now,it will be a while before you need to decide whether he would be safe in a harness or fine with a seatbelt,so you could get away with a seat that the harness goes upto 18kg.

lenats - the recaro start uses a seatbelt,or are there 2 versions?

She might as well go for a seat that harnesses longer than 18 kg now. These seats have higher harness slots and have taller seatshells. The TWE is the shortest one of them and will accommondate him to 130 cm with the inbuilt harness. he is tall and skinny and seems to have trouble understanding the importance of sitting properly in his seat. the other two are taller and higher harness slots.

Recaro Start Special Needs seat

www.incarsafetycentre.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/31/products_id/186?osCsid=nu2hn5f84fb15libds7joe8nb7

Britax Traveller Plus

www.incarsafetycentre.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/31/products_id/167?osCsid=umikpeg57hfdq06f4272g7rr07

Britax Two Way Elite:

www.incarsafetycentre.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/31/products_id/185?osCsid=c65klm5n77krmuin9tgl3lsj55

the recaro start with harness looks good - £430 though!!
other problem is its pretty wide,not much chance of it fitting in beside another harnessed booster?

You can´t have three seats across! You can have one on either side. I know I was able to fit the KISS seat in the middle seat in my Peugeot 307 Estate Between a Britax Regent (similar to Traveller Plus) and a Britax Multi-Tech. There was no gap between the Regent and the KISS. There was a gap between KISS and the MT.

Lena

lenats - why cant she have 3 seats across?