Car seats for tall 3.5 year old & 8 year old

[Newmotor88]

Hi all,
V grateful for any advice. Our car was written off earlier in the year and we are about to get a new one. It will be a small SUV which is a lot bigger than our old car and I need to get the seats before we have the car so can’t see how my oldest will be sitting in it. In mean time since car written off both kids are coming up to point we would have needed to change their seats anyway and I’m not sure what to get. Safety is my absolute priority. I’m extra nervous after what happened.

Youngest is 3 and a half but tall for her age - 99 cm and 15.8 kg. Eldest is 8 and 134cm. We only drive small distances day to day and don’t use car much but we go on long drives for holidays so need something comfy.

what do you all have? What should I look for? All advice gratefully received. We’ve always had maxi cosi previously. My youngest was in a swivel seat and eldest had one that used the car seat belt but they were imminently growing out of those.

For your 3yo if safety is your top priority, you would be best off with one of the rear facing seats which last up to 125cm - Axkid Minikid, Avionaut Sky, Avionaut Stardust (if you like the swivel) or Britax Safe Way/Britax Max Safe. Rear facing will give you the best safety and these will last much longer than a Maxi Cosi swivel seat. The Britax ones are the cheapest when they get reduced.

Axkid/Avionaut are less well known brands outside ERF circles but they are trustworthy and make good quality products. With a 125cm limit rear facing seat, she could stay rear facing basically as long as you want, as she'd only size out of them at about age 7 by which point your eldest won't need a seat any more.

If you or she are not keen on rear facing then I would look at Maxi Cosi Titan i-size (various versions mostly comfort differences), or Britax Evolvafix if you want a bit more leeway weight-wise, these can both use the 5 point harness up to 105cm which should last you another year, then it converts to a high back booster. The Maxi Cosi one has a lower weight limit than the Britax but both are good trustworthy options. Make sure to use the top tether when in 5-point harness mode.

For the 8yo, I would probably go with one of two options. Either get a simple backless booster, because at nearly 135cm, he's likely to be close to outgrowing a lot of high back boosters and a backless booster will be completely practical and safe in the meantime, and it doesn't need to be specifically fitted to the car. These are also just handy to have as spares, e.g. for lifts.

Or, take him to a physical shop where he can try different boosters out (they often have a demo "car" seat) to see if any of them have growing room and are comfortable. However, bear in mind that with some cars, the interior roof at the sides is too low to extend some of the larger high back boosters fully for children over approx 135cm, so it might be best to get a cheap backless booster for him for now and then only actually buy a high back booster once you have the car so you can check it fits. In terms of brands, they are really much of a muchness at this point and usually the pricier brands are more comfortable or look better rather than offering advanced safety. Essentially the seatbelt is the safety device, the booster is just making sure it is positioned properly.

If you wanted to go for one of the longer lasting rear facing seats it's often best to look for a stockist near you, if you use the stockist search on Axkid's website it will usually bring up any nearby ERF specialists. They sometimes stock high back boosters too so could try some out here, otherwise a bigger branch of John Lewis, Mamas and Papas or possibly a very big Boots might have some to try out. Halfords is also not a bad choice because although they don't stock as many of the better brands for other ages, for high back boosters it doesn't matter quite as much.

Thank you so much. That is incredibly helpful and very kind of you to take the time to write. I am not very science minded and have read quite a lot of specs but don’t know what I’m looking for so really really appreciate !

We have just replaced my nearly 6 year olds seats as she's at the opposite end of the spectrum and tiny, she's just out grown her 360 0-4 seat. At 5 she was 101 cm and 16 kg. We have a britax romer high backed booster that goes up to 150cm or 35kg and should be suitable for your 8 yo.

Your 3 year strictly speaking would fit in this as the lower size is 15kg and 100cm. This is where I would give caution as I notice a huge difference between small 5-6 yo that are this size and taller - average 3-4 yo. My daughter and her similar sized 6 year old friends are a lot sturdy and more in control of their body and limbs than the younger children of the same size. They are able to sit taller/straighter and are less "wobbly". I have a friend who's at the time 3 year old outgrew his 0-4 seat and they replaced with a high backed booster and weren't happy with how he was sitting in it due to neck and back strength meaning he was more slouched. I would look for 0-4 style seats that can accommodate children on the bigger end for their age

Thanks that’s a great point and I agree. I think I am going to go for the maxi così titan suggested above - it still has a 5 point harness and looks more like her previous seat, then can be used with a seatbelt and extended later. We’ve always had maxi cosi and she is also so tall I can’t see her rear facing for much longer though I would prefer that.. I’ve looked at the r extended rear facing ones and just not sure
my 8 year old has said he would prefer to continue with a seat with a back, I’m looking at maxi cosi topaz, it has side support and head rest but less of a fixed structure and folds up so it could also be useful for my youngest in future when she’s bigger for taxis etc. but will take him to try out..

I may also buy a backless booster to keep for friends and taxis/ travel so we will see
grateful for all advice❤️

On rear facing and taller children, my eldest is just about to outgrow her Axkid Minikid on height, so almost 125cm, and has been comfortable rearfacing in my very compact little car. We've actually just returned from a holiday where both children had to face forward due to the carseat rules in that country, and both complained about being uncomfortable with their legs just dangling.

I think as your main concern is longer journeys I would be less bothered about rear facing. You may prefer the perceived safety but a tall child on a long journey also deserves to be comfortable. Relatives tried to keep their child rear facing until physical limit but had to relent after a number of longer car trips where the child was clearly uncomfortable, unhappy and frankly got so upset it wasn't actually very safe either.

My son is almost 6 and is tall for his age (around 128cm) and he’s in a britax Römer KIDFIX i-SIZE, it’s a high back booster that goes up to 150cm so he’ll be in that until he outgrows it

The extended RF seats are more designed for taller, older children and do have much more leg room so are not necessarily uncomfortable as children get older.

Photo 1 shows a child at 105cm/18kg in a swivel seat probably similar to what you have now: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=701901036620415&set=a.701900873287098

Photo 2 shows the same child in an ERF seat up to 25kg (which is the older version of today's 125cm limit seats): https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=701907446619774&set=a.701900873287098

Maxi Cosi Titan is a good choice for a 3yo too

Ah well not sure my links worked properly - don't worry about it.

Thanks everyone.

i kept my oldest rear facing until 4, we had a very small car though and they had a long torso/ shorter legs but still tall. Eventually we did have to turn them as it wasn’t ok for them or the front seat occupants we already had the seat very far forward and I was very squashed..!

yes like i said we don’t drive much locally or day to day we use public transport and walk, hence managing without a car for these months, but we will be doing a 6 hour drive each way holiday this summer though within uk and also driving to France and back… we always self cater and drive for holidays (that’s another story!)

I had a good look at all the seats suggested and ordered the titan in the end as I need to have them ready. Yes I can’t see the links above sorry. I’m still in two minds about rear facing.. I found it tricky looking at some to know which models, the one that goes up I couldn’t see that we would need that.

Thanks all again for your help.
the car has arrived and seats installed. The one for my oldest looks quite narrow to me - ok for now but perhaps not for long. He insists is fine but he is almost the whole width of it?

I have a question about the seat for my 3 year old. Her knees are not as far as the edge of the seat - is this ok? She had red marks on back of calves after a short journey from where legs were resting. I have tried to google but can’t see clear information? She hasn’t complained though.

thanks so much

If it's not bothering her, then it's probably not a problem. It might be more of a pressure mark like when your pillowcase makes lines on your face? I would expect that as she moves into longer trousers it won't happen as much. You can put something into the footwell for her to rest her legs on though if you want to - there are inflatable leg rests or we used to use a big suitcase. Just make sure it's not going to fly around the car if you had an accident. Otherwise DS2 used to sort of cross his legs.

Aeromoov have a good anti sweat liner thing with leg extension which might work well to cover it, but they aren't cheap. Or the official summer cover for the seats tend to be like a fitted sheet so they stretch over.

I think the main thing I'd be worried about with this is if the plastic edge of the seat heats up on a sunny day and she has bare legs or the harness is pulling her skirt up.

With width, you'll probably just have to wait and see. It does get trickier to fit DC into high back boosters the further over 135cm they get.

Thanks so much for your reply! Yes it’s just a mark where legs resting but didn’t remember this with oldest prob because he was still rear facing longer. Just wasn’t sure if her knees were actually meant to line up with the seat edge to bend. And you’re right she was in shorts and hot.

eldest got measured at doctor yest and is now 137 cm anyway already! So maybe this seat will be just for shorter term. Have suddenly had to buy both loads of new clothes and shoes lol.

She said it was fine. I’ll have a look into covers though thanks.

Yeah it's one of the issues with the seats which convert from harness to booster. They tend to either end up with a really short seat for the older child when they're in booster mode, where the leg position is important for proper belt fit, or they have one which is too long ideally for children in the harness mode. I think as you say when they are rear facing, their legs are more supported. If she's happy then I wouldn't worry about it, maybe just check the temp with your hand on warmer days so she doesn't burn her legs. The other thing you can do is just keep a light coloured blanket or towel in the car to prevent the seat from heating up too much from the sun, but remove it when she is actually sitting in the seat.

It's been a while since DS rear faced he's 7.5 so I can't really help with the younger one but we bought a cybex platinum HBB because they go up to 150cm. DS is 136 cm already and I wouldn't want him not in a car seat yet