Car seat or booster? Help, tall toddler!

[MaMattoo]

I have a maxi cost axiss which has worked quite well for the past 2 years. In the past few months I feel the harness has grown to be too tight for DS. It is extended to max and its hard to snap the harness closed. He does whine and wince from time to time depending on how many clothes he has on.

He has always been a large/tall baby (is 93cms and 17kgs) he is 2.6 yrs old now. Axiss was a blessing with a heavy child..but I am nt to sure how to make space for him in the seat.

What should I do? What comes next? Do we need to wait till he is 3 to get a booster? Are there extensions available to a harness? Was this bound to happen with thick winter coat on him?

Any advice will be highly appreciated! Thanks

Take his coat off as a first step, and any bulky jumpers. There's loads of guidance stating that bulky winter wear can reduce the protection offered by car seats.

You could ring the in car safety centre in milton keynes for advice - they have extensive knowledge of car seats and are v helpful.

I personally wouldn't consider my 2 yyear old not having a 5 point harness, and have both dds in erf seats.

Never ever put a child in a car seat with a coat on

dd1 is 3.4. She is 19kg and 104cm and I have just moved her to a booster because her head was above the back of the seat. That was a Britax Prince.

I would try it without a coat first and see if that's better.

Boosters have a minimum weight, and sometimes a minimum age, but I have read there are other (unofficial) requirements - such as for a booster seat to be safe the child has to sit upright and properly in the seat - so no falling asleep and flopping, but also no fidgeting/leaning forward etc as younger children may. Those articles claim children don't reach this level of ability until 6 or 7.

However I don't know of any UK seats which will fit with a harness beyond 18kg, so I don't suppose me saying that has really helped any. Sorry!

I bought this for my DD when she was I think 3? as she was also v tall for her age, but very slight with it too. It's bigger than most other seats for this age range, and does last way beyond the 5 point harness stage. My DD is now 7, is probably size-wise near aged 9, and she still comfortable in it now especially on long journeys as it's very well padded. I was most impressed with the side impact protection too. If you read up on renolux, they have had some very bad reviews for another model, but this isn't the one they've been slated for. I would recommend this for larger/taller toddlers as it's still 5 point harness (which you can remove once they've grown out of) and the 5pt lasted until my DD was 5 when she then had the seat belt come across etc. Just another alternative to think about.

Thank you so very much! Shall keep his coat off and that should help for a while I guess. He is quite fidgety and tends to fall asleep quite often on long journeys. Shall take it back to halfords too to get guidance now.
Thank you all!

My dd has just turned 8 and only now has got a booster seat, until a couple of months back she was in the Britax two-way rear facing seat, which has a tall back. She is not short but is light for her age, which is how she's been able to use it for so long, but with a big toddler it would help keep the child rear-facing for longer which is much safer for a toddler than forward facing. My smaller dd is five and has lots of room to grow still in hers.

Why not change to a group 1/3 seat, we have one with a cushion round the front for when he was group 1, then you use it without the cushion when they are bigger. We have this www.mamasandpapas.com/product-cybex-pallas-2-car-seat-chilli-pepper/2221c8700/type-i/

My dd's seats are similar to onetwo's. They were slightly cheaper at about £220. They also fit up to 25kg.

Oh just realised that ours are the same as onetwo's spare seat, so easy for you to look at her link there, I'd only looked at the link for the first one. Have a look at all the info on keeping children rear-facing, as it is so much safer. In Sweden they are rear facing by law until 4. The irony is that the Britax seats are made by a British company but then sent to Sweden, our first one came from Sweden but the second was available in the UK.

I think the Axiss is quite small, we had a lift off a friend who had an Axiss when DS was 3 and his head was a couple of inches off the top whereas in his Kiddy Infinity seat he didn't get too tall for another year almost.

I agree with getting a group 1-2-3 seat which you can convert later, the thing with boosters is that you have to trust them to sit still which I don't think most 2 year olds will. The only thing to be careful of is how big the harnesses are - some are just as small as the group 1 seats. See if you can try any out before you buy.

12345 it won't be that they've specifically failed after 18kg, but that they won't have been tested further than that as UK/EU law specifies that car seats have to fit into certain "groups" which is why all group 1 seats/harnesses are for 18kg max only. You can get seats which harness longer but they have to be tested up to 25 kilos as that's where the next "stage" ends.