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Advice for big 4 year old

9 replies

Hiraeth20 · 22/11/2024 22:19

My DS is almost 4, he’s big for his age (23.5kg and around 108cm at last measurement a few weeks ago). We have two cars and have rear facing seats in both (Axkid and Britax). He’s now coming up to the weight limit for both seats (25kg) and we’re looking at options of what we buy next.

The RF seats that go up to 36kg all seem around £400/£500, I’m currently on maternity leave and can’t afford to spend almost £1k on car seats so I don’t think they’re an option. They’re also unlikely to fit in my car as the Britax we have now doesn’t give him or the passenger much leg room at all. I’ve had a look at FF seats but he’s too heavy for those too, is our only option high back booster? He seems really young and I don’t like the idea of him not being in a 5 point harness but equally I don’t want to buy a seat that he’s going to outgrow in 6 months.

Any advice?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
mitogoshigg · 22/11/2024 22:24

I'm not saying it's a good idea but when my dc were young, there were boosters approved from 9 months that used the belt. From 4 using the car seat belt with a high backed booster is safe as long as they meet high and weight parameters. The one my dn has attaches to the car in addition with hooks then you fasten the child in using the seat belt. She's 4, tall for age

BarnacleBeasley · 22/11/2024 22:24

I don't know whether it will fit in your car (it fits in my tiny hatchback but DP and I are both short and DS crosses his legs) but the Britax Safeway M is currently available for around £160-170 and goes up to 36kg.

Noodlesnotstrudels · 22/11/2024 22:26

Britax max safe pro is a very comfy 125cm / 36kg seat that is on black friday sale in loads of places for £189. It's a fab seat. DD1 (3.5yrs) loves hers.

TeddyBeans · 22/11/2024 22:26

@bertiebottsIs MN's resident carseat expert!

BertieBotts · 22/11/2024 23:35

Yes the Britax ones are on offer at the moment, so you could look at those :)

OTOH you could hang tight. He's close to 4, so not a disaster to forward face and you still have 1.5kg to go on the seats that you have, which isn't nothing. Since they were old reg Group 2, I don't think that the 25kg will be a hard limit of their capacity - obviously I would not go massively over this, because you would be operating in untested waters at that point. But for example, Klippan used the exact same shell of seat for the Century (R44, 25kg limit) and Opti (R129, 32kg/125cm limit) and there are a few FF seats which are identical other than the certification as well. I have Britax Advansafix i-size which has the bizarre wording in the manual that if it's used in an i-size car position then it's certified up to 102cm and 21kg, but if it's plugged into isofix ie exactly the same fitting method but the car is pre-2013 so it's not an i-size certified position, then it's allowed to use up to 18kg with no height limit mentioned. 🤷‍♀️

So I don't think you need to be weighing him every day in case he ticks over to 25,001g either, if that makes sense. You could just weigh him intermittently and if you notice one day oops he's 25.5/26 kilos now - then it's time to buy high back booster seats.

At this age they really can hover at a specific weight for a while anyway, as in over a year sometimes. Their growth seems to go in total spurts and they seem to either grow up or out, rather than both at once slowly as you'd probably assume. (I swear my 6yo has been 116cm for over a year now). Assuming the measurement was from autumn, it might also be that he has recently had such a growth spurt in the form of brown fat laid down for winter. (Even though we have central heating we are still mammals and still do this.)

There aren't any forward facing 5-point harness seats which go over 25kg unless you look at special needs restraints or import a seat from another country (which isn't technically legal to use in the UK). So once you switch to FF it will likely be a high back booster. If this makes you nervous, it might be worth looking at the seats with the extra restraint point on the lap belt e.g. Britax Kidfix, Besafe izi Flex fix. Honestly, it's not really necessary but they are nice seats anyway - and a lot of parents like it as a feature esp if feeling DC is still quite young. I believe the Britax Kidfix is on a Black Friday offer if you wanted to get some to keep at home in case a quick changeover does turn out to be needed.

Hiraeth20 · 23/11/2024 12:51

Thanks all. It feels unsafe to go straight to a high back booster because he’s been rear facing for so long but it sounds like his height and weight mean this is a safe option. I think we will wait for now and see how long we can keep him in the seats we have and assess again after that. Thanks again for your advice

OP posts:
RedRobyn2021 · 23/11/2024 18:34

I have the exact same problem and have found the Axkid Movekid which goes up to 36kg it's on sale for £295 atm (normally £380) worth checking out, not cheap but better than £500/600

RedRobyn2021 · 23/11/2024 18:37

Oh and with regards to the size, I have a small car too so have been looking at the dimensions of the car seats and comparing. We have an axkid move atm. As you can see below they are actually a very similar size and actually more narrow in terms of the depth

Axkid move dimensions - H61 x D56 x W44cm weight 9.8kg

Axkid Movekid dimensions - H65 x D54 x W44cm weight 10kg

BertieBotts · 23/11/2024 19:07

Some would say it is actually the best move safety-wise - keeping them rear facing until they are big enough/old enough to move to high back booster, skipping forward facing 5 point harness altogether :)

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