When does a child move from a car seat to a booster seat?

[Amber76]

My 3 year old doesn't like her seat - was discussing car seats with friends yesterday and nobody seemed clear on when it was okay to do this.

3 is too little in my opinion but it does depend on height and weight. High back boosters are marketed as age 4-11. The legal minimum weight is 15 kg but children are safer in a harnessed seat up to the Max weight of 18kg. Perhaps she would be happier in a high back booster with harness? When she gets to 18kg you take the harness out and use as a high back booster with the adult belt. Britax evolva is an example of this, obviously other brands make the same thing.

3 is too little in my opinion but it does depend on height and weight. High back boosters are marketed as age 4-11. The legal minimum weight is 15 kg but children are safer in a harnessed seat up to the Max weight of 18kg. Perhaps she would be happier in a high back booster with harness? When she gets to 18kg you take the harness out and use as a high back booster with the adult belt. Britax evolva is an example of this, obviously other brands make the same thing.

When she reaches 18kg the 5point harness is no longer safe (on most car seats, obviously there are some exceptions).

my ds is 4 in a couple of weeks and just went into one, his head was above the top of the car seat so no longer safe. however he is on the smaller side of average and loads of his friends were in boosters much earlier

When they are physically too big for their seat so over the maximum weight or their heads over the top. Not before. And only to a high backed booster, not a backless one.

A 123 seat with harness will have a higher headrest than a group 1 toddler seat. To me they seem the ideal solution for tall pre schoolers who aren't really heavy enough to do without the harness. I imagine an almost 4 year old boy is probably over 15kg though and nearer to 18 and therefore a high back booster with seat belt is fine. However I often see only just three year olds on just a booster cushion without even the back bit and that is clearly not ideal.

Ds was just over 3 but he only moved cos he's bloody massive and his head was at the top of the seat.

my DD is 2yr8mo and weighs 18kg (she is a giraffe v tall)
we havea123 seat with impact cushion, should she now be using it as a booster with the 3 point seat belt? it's all a bit confusing.

Yes, the harness or impact cushion is usually only safety tested to 18kg. There are very few seats which harness above that, however if you felt that she was too young to be trusted not to undo her seatbelt there are some options but they are all erf seats. With the seat that you have, you convert it to a booster at 18kg, it is safety tested for children that size.

I'm wrangling with this problem too. Dd2 is 3 in June, and is about 17kg ATM. She's really tall too, seems the shoulder straps which are at their highest, are not level but got from her back, and over iygwim. I'm gonna check to see if her head is over the car seat. She looks really uncomfortable in the seat.

Thanks, car seats really are a minefield and if I put her in a rf seat she would go mad! she is good and doesn't undo the seat belt which she can reach now anyway. will have to get rid of the impact cushion then. Thanks kat

My 3.8year old is still RF but he's only just tipped 15kg's so will be RF for a while yet.

Ds1 is 5.1years and still in a 5 point harness at 22kg's and will stay in it until he reaches the maximum weight limit of the harness. He has only been in a forward facing seat about 9months. He was RF before that.

I wouldn't even consider putting a child under 4yrs old in a booster with just adult seat belt.

What seat forward faces with harness up to 25kg? I didn't know there was one, this might be useful to me in a year or so. I know the two way elite can do 25kg but i thought that only applied to the rear facing position.

Happy to be proved wrong, but I think you are supposed to change from harness to seat belt at 18kg.
I know some seats come with both, so it's confusing

tinkerbelltrains I'd also love to know what seat has a harness up to 22kg?