Car seat for 3yr old

[lisbapalea]

Can anyone remind me when my 3yr 3mth old DD (c. 15kg) can come out of her 5pt harness car seat and move to a high backed booster?

We have the Graco Nautilus 123 seat which has a really tight crotch strap (just read some reviews and it seems this is a universal complaint) so I want to see if I can switch DD into the high backed booster option of the seat.

I know laws changed from today in terms of manufacturers so high backed boosters have to be used until children are 12yrs / 125cm but I can't see any law change on switching from 5pt harness to high backed booster with seatbelt.

Can anyone shed any light?!

(Ps - I do have an older DD so should be able to remember what I did with her but age and parenthood has addled my brain!)

It's not normally recommended until they exceed the weight for the harness i.e. 18kg. They are still very young to use no harness

She's too young for a high backed booster, both in terms of physical development and mental maturity. She needs to be old enough to understand that she must sit still and upright in the seat for the entire journey and not lean out of the seat, put her arm over the top of the seatbelt or try to unfasten the buckle.

It's a lot safer to use the 5-point harness to the maximum of 18kgs rather than switch to using the seatbelt at the 15kgs minimum.

I switched ds to a hbb when he was nearly 4 amd we used the harness until he was around 4.5yo as I didn't trust him not to undo it before then. We've got the recaro young sport hbb and I'd recommend it, although it's only fixed in place with his weight and the seat belt now, whereas we tried a britax hbb recently and it had about 3 different fixings to the seat!

The change is usually between 15kg and 18kg (anywhere in between as there is an overlap here between Groups). There are now a few seats which have 5 point harnesses up to 25kg too. I would leave switching until as late as possible, but give yourself time to transition your child as well. It is quite a change for them and some children take time to learn how to sit safely.