High backed booster age

[Tiredmamallama]

Hi all, my little one is nearly 4, 105cm and 18kg. We were advised a high backed booster when we went for a car seat consultation however I'm not sure if little one is too young for this still....wondering what others have done at this age? Thanks

When my daughter was that age, my car seat knowledge was none existent so she was in a really unsafe set up unfortunately.

I would personally go for an extended rear facing seat with a 25kg limit. But if that isn't an option you can get some harnessed forward facing seats with a 25kg limit as well. I personally wouldn't feel comfortable with a high back booster for a year or two. Four just seems incredibly young. That may just be me though 😅

Dd was in her harnessed seat until 5 and 9ish months when she reached 15kg. As well as the weight, I do think they need to be reasonably sensible so as not to fiddle with the belt etc.

Thanks that's so useful! I didn't know there was a harnessed seat up to 25kg so i'll check it out!

Joie bold has a 5 point harness which you can then tuck away and use with a seat belt when they get bigger. We needed this as she was 18kg well before she would be safe just wearing a seatbelt.

Just watch as some seats the harness is fine to 18kg but there is still height restriction of 105cm

You can get longer harnessing seats. Joie Bold R, Cozy n Safe Hudson, Cozy n Safe Excalibur or Puggle Safe Fit & Grow are the 25kg harness seats forward facing which convert into high back booster seats.

You need to avoid the i-size versions of any of these, some of them have newer versions but the harness use is limited to 105cm. It has to be the older R44 regulation to have the 25kg limit with no height restriction.

Or there are rear facing options as others have said. Axkid Minikid 2 or Britax Safe Way M are the best value at the moment. These go up to 125cm and 25/36kg so no problem with having the newer regulation. They don't convert to high back booster seats, but they are Swedish plus tested so do offer increased safety compared with forward facing.

Four is considered basically the earliest it's safe to use an adult seatbelt (with high back booster) but some people prefer to keep the 5 point harness longer and that's fine as well.