How to make high back booster seats comfier?

[LauraRuralMumOf3]

My 4 year old and 6 year old are both in high back boosters. They have to be in these to fit into my car so there isn’t an alternative car seat I can buy. We get an hour into long journeys and they both start crying as their bums are numb and their legs get pins and needles. There’s no padding on the seats, just plastic. There’s nothing I can do to make them better without compromising safety is there?

Does the manufacturer sell better covers for the seats? Some companies makes summer covers out of fabric that feels like toweling.

They shouldn't be uncomfortable to begin with, why are they just hard plastic, what seats are they?

Can you fold up a fleece blanket for them to sit on? That shouldn't impact safety.

What about a footrest so their feet aren't dangling?

Most of the basic ones are uncomfortable and testing is basic. I would look into better seats. They are expensive £100 ish but worth it for extra safety features and comfort. Britax Romer is one and the Axkid Bigkid is one I'd probably go for as we have an Axkid ERF seat and the comfort is amazing.

I'd invest in better seats as you've got a few more years use to get out of them.

I'd go to a car seat shop (see if you're near an In Car Safety Centre shop) with the kids and get them to try sitting in different ones.

We have a Cybex Solution G and a Britax Kidfix 2. DD finds them both comfortable (regular very long journeys of 3–6 hours). The Cybex has a slight recline which shifts weight a little more away from her bum so that's the seat of choice for long journeys.

What seats are they?!?

We have a Cybex Z fix and a S fix. We have had no complaints about comfort.

We have BRITAX RÖMER Car Seat ADVENTURE seats. They have very thin coverings on them and it’s just not enough for their bums on long journeys 😢

We have those exact seats. My 5 and 7 year olds do journeys up to 3.5 hours in them with no issues, never one complaint about being uncomfortable or sore bum? They're not hard plastic, they have a padded layer covering the seat.

Honestly OP, they’re kids. If they didn’t have uncomfy seats to moan about, they’d moan about something else. Kids in cars and long journeys don’t mix!

The Adventure cover is thin and uncomfy. Britax have a newer seat called the Kidfix i-size which is much comfier and just as slim, although it's quite expensive unfortunately. Joie Traver is I believe around the same size but has a comfier cover. The newer version of the Adventure might also be more comfortable - Adventure Plus - it's still slimline and lightweight without isofix, but has the same shell and similar covers to the i-size one. You could look in a shop selling the Adventure Plus and Kidfix i-size and see which one seems comfier?

Unfortunately you can't add anything to the seat because it would likely cause slipping under the belt in a crash, that positions the belt too high up on the abdomen which causes injuries, the whole point of using a booster seat is to avoid this scenario. Britax do not have any extra cushions or covers which can be used with this model.

However, I did do a really long journey with DS1 in this seat a couple of times (8+ hours) and we found what best helped the pins and needles was a leg rest. We used a suitcase that we put in the footwell for him. You can also buy leg rests designed for use with high backed booster seats, there is an inflatable one or one that is like a solid step which attaches to the back of the seat underneath the booster. You don't want to push the legs up so far that the child is slouching in the seat with their hips tilted forwards, but enough support that their legs are not dangling is a big improvement for comfort, at least according to DS1.

By the way; if you don't have isofix, you don't need to limit yourself to non-isofix with high backed boosters, the majority of high backed boosters (definitely including the Britax ones) you can ignore the isofix and fit the seat just with the belt.