Car seat advice needed for very tall 6yo

[blueglue]

Hoping someone has solved a similar problem! Basically DS is 6.2yo and he is exceptionally tall considering his skinny little body. He is 137cm, so just over the legal limit for car seats but he definitely needs some sort of carseat still. He has outgrown his Maxi Cosi Rodi highback booster seat (the back is on the highest setting and can't go taller).

I don't know if I should just take the back off the Maxi Cosi Rodi and have him on the booster part of it only (not sure if safe for such a young child). I don't know if I could take off just the head part, leaving the majority of the sides intact (?) - the head hugger thing is on his shoulders so he isn't comfortable in the seat, not sure if the seat can even do this.

Or I don't know if the maxi cosi rodi comes up small and whether I can get a bigger high back booster?

Any help greatly appreciated!

might be worth going into halfords/mothercare and trying a few out to see if there is one that he fits into more comfortably?

My 11 yo is only just over 137cm :o

He seems to fit fine in a Graco high backed booster.

Halfords website says children legally have to have a car seat up to 135cm tall or 12 whichever they reach first , so he is over the legal necessary height.

Is it a comfort thing, to keep him in a car seat?

it's a safety thing i would presume

Sorry, I didn't intend to sound snooty or anything, I just figured, safety wise there's a height level in place. As her DS is over this limit, he is safe without a car seat.

but he is safer with one, for the side impact protection. he is still quite young!

Look at a concord transformer xt, they are pricey but great up to 12 as the sides move out with the top rising. Look it up on YouTube for a demo. Especially if you have another younger child will def make it worth it but tbh another 6 years in a seat is a good amount of use if you ask me :) also has a slight recline great if on a long journey maybe overnight as they can sleep

Whilst the legal minimum is 135cm, it is far far more advisable for the children to be 150cm and 12 years before coming out of a hbb.

That is what it is elsewhere and the only reason it was 135cm was because the government idiots who were writing the law didn't think that British parents would bother with it after that height.

The adult seatbelt is designed for a person over 5ft tall or who has gone through puberty, which alters the positioning of the hips and so the positioning of the seatbelt.

He will be far safer still in a hbb,

you could try calling In-Car Safety and see what they say re: different sizes of seat?

I would want to keep my child in a hbb at that age too. thankfully, although dd1 is tall, she is not that tall, and still has room for a bit.

my nephew is 5.5 and 137cm. I forget he's only young sometimes. he uses a normal booster with no back.

Sunshine Kids Monterey! They will take up to 63"/160cm and up to 120lbs/54kg (though in the UK they are only rated to 36kg as that's the upper limit of Group 3).

Fabulous seat - I love it and so does DD1 who's generally considered as tall at 120+cm at 6.2y but I see she's actually diddy

TS, do you know when they'll be selling them as Diono over here?
maybe just when they use up their SK stock?

me want matchy matchy seats ;-)

As far as I know they are keeping the SKJP brand in Europe but they may change their minds. Why, oh why Diono for goodness sakes? It just reminds me of 'Cars' the Disney film.....

oh really? bum

agree Diono is a weird name though, and yes, hadn't thought of it before but now i will always be thiniking of Dinoco!

I bought a Sunshine Monterey from amazon...absolutely love the seat, there is so much height and width adjustment in it. DD (age 7) says it is the comfiest seat she has been in.

Just been looking at which as we need a new one. Sorry to say but the sunshine Kids Monterey is on their "don't buy" list

That's because you can take the back off. Why you would I don't know unless you are using it for a 161cm child and then it's going to be safer than just the seat belt (assuming the child doesn't pass the 5 point test with out a booster seat). Which? mark down seats for all sorts of reasons including because the seat covers aren't machine washable - I have no faith in Which? what so ever.

agree with Truth.
Which? is a consumer report, NOT a safety report.

they put a load of ERF seats on their don't buy list even though they are 5 times safer than forward facing. they got marked down for having too many installation steps (regardless of how easy it was to actually install) and not having machine washable covers

Could one of you with the Montery please do me a favour and measure the width at the base and the widest part of the backrest please. A friend of mine is looking for two HBB for her 5yro twins that she can get and have enough room for her 12yr old to squeeze between them.

All you need to know about the Monterey is here on line 37. Measurements are in inches and max weight limit is going to be 36kg in the EU (though I am happy to use mine to 54kg). Hope that helps.