Broad shouldered 7 year old car seat

[Calmestofallthechickens]

My DS is 7 and big for his age, tall (135cm) but also very broad in the back/shoulders (his dad has the body shape of a gorilla so this is not surprising).

He can no longer sit comfortably in his car seats (we have various Joie seats in my/dad’s/grandma’s cars - all were meant to do up to age 12) because the back bit is too narrow for his shoulders/torso. At the moment he is just using a booster seat (ie no back).

Is it fine to just use the booster cushion (I know legally he doesn’t actually need anything because of his height but it’s still recommended/ideal to be in something until 150cm) or would a high backed booster still be better - if so does anyone have a suggestion for a high backed booster that might fit him?

We only have two kids so no worries about fitting it width-wise into the back seat, although I have found that when he sits in our isofix seat his head touches the ceiling of my small car because the base is quite bulky, so I would avoid isofix if possible.

Thankyou in advance!

Booster cushion all the way

Yes, a booster cushion is absolutely fine at his age. Once he can sit with his bum at the back of the seat and his knees bent over the edge of the vehicle seat, and with his knees bent the lap belt is over his hips or thighs rather than his tummy, he is OK to go without a booster seat at all. A backless booster will help with the lap belt position until he reaches this point.

If you were wanting to find one he will fit in with the high back/head support, I would look at Cybex Solution Z or G, Avionaut Maxspace, or Besafe izi Flex Fix, but the problem if you have a small car is that a bigger seat might not physically fit any more. These are all fairly expensive seats as well. Isofix doesn't usually add extra height to the base of a high backed booster, unless it's a combination harness/booster seat it often does and some of the older Cybex ones were on a slightly raised base, but their current models aren't like that.

I don't suppose one of your Joie seats is the Duallo high back booster? That one expands widthways as you raise the headrest, but it wasn't that popular and isn't sold any more.

Thankyou so much! That is really helpful - it’s good to know it’s an acceptable option to just use the booster cushion (he looks absolutely fine sitting on it, seatbelt is in the right place etc - I’m just wary of moving him ‘up’ too soon as it seems like that’s a common mistake.). I might see if I can sit him in some of those bigger HBB ones you suggested, to see how much growing room he has, although I shudder to think of purchasing yet more car seats!

Our Joie seats are Trillo, Elevate and Traver - as far as I could tell there’s no adjustment on width on any of them, one of them has a harness so that must be the isofix / bulky one (we’ve now moved it to one of the bigger cars). It hasn’t really occurred to me before but my car is really small, a tall adult would struggle to fit in the back seat so actually it makes sense that a tall child on a big booster would too.

Yes sorry I think I said age in the last post, but it's his size really which makes a booster cushion the right option.

It is common, not all high back boosters actually extend enough to accommodate a 135cm+ child and even if they do sometimes they hit the ceiling of the car as you've found.

It makes sense to max out a stage before moving to the next stage. Moving up too early is more when people move as soon as the child hits the minimum requirement, which is 15kg for most of the backless boosters on the market and most 15kg children are much too small and young to be well protected by a seatbelt alone, but at 135cm your boy is big enough for that to work fine, with the booster as long as it gives him a better fit.