At what age (height, weight?) can you move a toddler from a car seat to a regular booster seat?

Question

At what age (height, weight?) can you move a toddler from a car seat to a regular booster seat?

Answer 1

at 40 pounds - 4 years old...

Answer 2

They must be at least 40 lbs AND 40 inches but my son is beyond that & I leave him in the booster with the back. Its safer and its more comfortable for him. He likes to nap in the car.

Answer 3

Forward facing harnessed seats are outgrown when a child reaches the weight limit, or more commonly when the child's shoulders are above the top harness slots.

If the child is 4 years AND 40lbs, then he may move to a booster with vehicle lap shoulder belt seatbelt.  If not, then the child needs a larger FF harnessed seat.  There are many seats that harness to 55-80lbs.  Some are the Britax Marathon, Decathalon, Boulevard, Frontier and Regent; the Sunshine Kids Radian; the Evenflo Triumph ADVANCE; the Graco Nautilus and the Cosco/Safety First Apex.

Stay away from: The Alpha Omega 3-in-1 seats only harness to 40lbs and most 40lb weight limit seats are outgrown before a child is mature enough for a booster seat.  They also have very low top harness slots, so are outgrown by height at around 2 or 3 years old.  The Graco Comfortsport also has very low top slots.

A child should ride in a booster with vehicle lap/shoulder belt until he or she reaches approximately 4'9" (around age 12) and then can move to just the adult seatbelt if he passes the 5 step test and the seatbelt fits him correctly.

Answer 4

How old is your child? What size? If he/she is under 2 years old and/or under 30-35lbs, he is safest rear facing and should stay that way as long as possible. The old 20lbs/1 year rule is just that. OLD. It came about in the 1980's when our seats were only capable of rear facing to 20lbs and we didn't know any better. Now we definitely know better and all current convertible seats rear face to at least 30lbs, but its hard getting people to realize this.

Turning kids forward at 20lbs/1year is an outdated practice that could cost you your child's life!

1)A forward-facing child under 2 years old is 5 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash than a rear-facing child of the same age.

2)A child's vertabrae do not fully fuse until 3-6 years old, before then, she is at great risk for internal decapitation. The spinal column can stretch up to 2 inches in a crash BUT the spinal cord can only stretch up to 1/4 inch before it snaps and baby is gone.

3)Current research suggests that children under the age of two years are 75 percent less likely to die or be seriously injured when they are riding rear facing.

4)In a recent article from Injury Prevention, it was found that the odds of severe injury to forward facing children age 12-23 months old was 5.32 times higher than a rear facing child. (Car Safety Seats For Children: Rear Facing For Best Protection; Injury Prevention 2007; 13:398-402.)

It works this way: when you get in an accident and run into something, the car stop suddently, but everything and everyone in the car keeps moving in the direction the car was moving when it stopped, in most accidents, this is forward. So in an accident with a child in a forward facing seat, his head, the heaviest part of the body on babies and toddlers, flies forward very forcefully and easily snaps. If that same child is in a rear facing seat, his head tries to fly forward but is supported by the back of the rear facing seat, so there is no stress put on the child's neck and spine.

Check out this photo album exclusively of rear facing kids, many of them much older than 12 months: http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum... There isn't a single documented case of a child breaking their legs b/c they were rear facing in an accident. There are, however, lots of cases where children have been killed and seriously injured where a rear facing seat would have protected them better. And most kids actually prefer to be rear facing b/c they can rest their feet on the vehicle seat back. When they are forward facing, their legs don't receive enough support and will frequently fall asleep.

WHY REAR FACING:

http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi...

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.ph...

http://www.carseat.org/Resources/633.pdf

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrea...

http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum...

http://www.thecarseatlady.com/car_seats/...

http://myangelsaliandpeanut.tripod.com/i...

http://momtoaliandshae.tripod.com/keepin...

http://www.aap.org/family/carseatguide.h...

http://www.aap.org/family/1to2yrs.htm

http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/tra...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRP7ynNI8...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9916868

BOOSTER SEAT INFO:

http://parentcenter.babycenter.com/404_w...

Answer 5

At 40 pounds or 4-5 years old. I have found that they sleep better in bigger car seats versus boosters. I take lots of long trips and and my 2 boys are still in big car eats so they can sleep better with the cushy side rails. Anything to make long tris better!!! Good Luck!