When to move on from 5 point harness

[ChocOrange1]

Sorry if this has been asked many times.

My daughter is nearly 4 and weighs 17.7kg

Am I right that the weight limit for a 5 point harness is 18kg. Will she have to move to using the main car seat belt soon?

My concern is that she still often falls asleep in the car, even on short journeys, and if she is just using the 3 point seatbelt she would slump forward.

Any advice appreciated :) thank you

For most seats the harness limit is 18kg, yes.

If you want to keep her in a harness longer, you'll have to look for a seat that harnesses up to 25kg, as this is the next stage. They usually combine with a booster seat, so once you feel she's safe without the harness you can swap to booster, you don't need to use it right until 25kg if you don't want to.

There aren't very many of them available in the UK and they all need top tether, so if your car doesn't have top tether then unfortunately you'll have to swap to a booster seat at 18kg. It isn't safe to use the harness past the weight it's approved for. Joie Bold and BabyAuto Dupla are the two 25kg harness seats I would recommend out of all of them (the selection isn't in general great).

There are some booster seats which have sculpted/shaped headrests which can help keep them in the right position when they sleep so that they don't fall out of the seatbelt, so if this is a concern it might be worth changing to a seat which has this? Which seat do you have now?

Or another option if you don't have top tether points would be to change to a rear facing seat up to 25kg.

Mine moved into a hbb at 4/18kg.

They lean their heads to the side if they sleep, same as when in a harness.

@BertieBotts

For most seats the harness limit is 18kg, yes.

If you want to keep her in a harness longer, you'll have to look for a seat that harnesses up to 25kg, as this is the next stage. They usually combine with a booster seat, so once you feel she's safe without the harness you can swap to booster, you don't need to use it right until 25kg if you don't want to.

There aren't very many of them available in the UK and they all need top tether, so if your car doesn't have top tether then unfortunately you'll have to swap to a booster seat at 18kg. It isn't safe to use the harness past the weight it's approved for. Joie Bold and BabyAuto Dupla are the two 25kg harness seats I would recommend out of all of them (the selection isn't in general great).

There are some booster seats which have sculpted/shaped headrests which can help keep them in the right position when they sleep so that they don't fall out of the seatbelt, so if this is a concern it might be worth changing to a seat which has this? Which seat do you have now?

Or another option if you don't have top tether points would be to change to a rear facing seat up to 25kg.

Thank you @BertieBotts we currently have a Joie Stages. I'll look into whether our car has a top tether.

@minniemango

Mine moved into a hbb at 4/18kg.

They lean their heads to the side if they sleep, same as when in a harness.

Thanks :) my daughter doesnt lean her head to the side, she often flops forward (which looks so uncomfortable!). The harness holds her in but I worry a seatbelt would just stretch.

Yep, Joie Stages you can only use the harness to 18kg. So you'll have to either change to the seatbelt or look into another seat when she gets to 18kg. If you want to get another seat I'd probably start looking now in case she has a sudden growth spurt.

Try a neck cushion (child sized). We found that helped with the floppy head.

If you don't have top tether, you might want to look at something like the Britax boosters. The headrest is more V shaped which can help keep them in the right place. Or Cybex boosters (other than the cheapest one) have a little "reclining" section to deepen the headrest for sleeping children.

Or indeed the rear facing ones could be a good option.

The shape of the Stages headrest is quite straight up and down, so that might be why she's falling forwards rather than resting her head to the side.

The problem with boosters in general is that you can't really recline them as a seat because it puts the child's hips further forwards which increases the risk they would slip under the seatbelt in a crash which is really dangerous.