Feel free to share weight and height of child, too!
I'm having an argument with my mom who wants to buy a booster seat (high back) for my 5 year old for our long car trip this weekend. I feel more comfortable with her in a harness for a long car trip but wouldn't *mind* the booster for around town trips.
36 votes
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
Age 6, just hit 50 pounds.
Harnessed and will stay harnessed until 90 pounds, especially for long trips or highway driving. My son can not be trusted to sit properly and he still falls asleep in long trips and I am more comfortable with him harnessed in that scenario.
We do have a belted booster but that seat is extra in case we need to pick up a friend.
grapefruit / 4291 posts
My almost 5yo very occasionally rides in a HBB for short trips with Grandma but there's no way she can sit properly for longer than about twenty minutes! The seats we have will probably keep her harnessed until she's seven or eight.
nectarine / 2085 posts
No. His harness seat is in good shape and we already own it. I considered going to a booster, but I'm not interested in spending more on something new unless he needs it.
pomegranate / 3350 posts
Almost 5 but not even considering a booster yet. He is small, only 33 lbs and his doctor said he would be at least 6 or 7 before we could even think about it. I definitely would not for a long car ride.
pomegranate / 3438 posts
Almost 5.5, 48" and 56-57lbs. We moved him to a booster recently because the harness was getting too tight to buckle and we couldn't adjust it anymore.
@looch: what seat do you have? I haven't seen any with harnesses that go up to 90lbs.
ETA: I actually hate it for long car rides because it's not comfortable if he falls asleep. His neck is in a weird position and then he wakes up cranky.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
@KT326: Britax frontier. It can accomodate a child up to 58 inches tall and 90 pounds in harness mode.
We also have a Grace Nautilus that can harness to 65 pounds.
To each his own though, different things work for different families.
pomelo / 5720 posts
He's turning 5 next month and is in the Frontier. No plans to move him to a regular booster until he outgrows it.
pomelo / 5093 posts
My almost 6 year old is 43 inches and 40 pounds. She'll be in a harness for a long time. She uses a HBB for occasional grandma trips around town, but I wouldn't use it regularly. I have a friend who just rolled her car with several children in it. She was badly injured, but the kids were in harness seats, and they were fine. That really cemented it for me.
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
My daughter is 5.5 and she is in a Britax Frontier. I think she is 37 lbs and 42 inches right now. I'll keep her in this seat for awhile!
pomegranate / 3438 posts
@looch: I didn't realize it went to 90lbs. Darn, I would have invested in that! I feel safer with a harness and even though ours went to 65lbs he wasn't fitting into it anymore.
pomegranate / 3983 posts
My 6 year old is in a harnessed booster. He's 45ish lbs, can't remember exactly but will easily fit harness for at least another year if not several more. I think the limit is 65 lbs.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
@KT326: I am nowhere near that point, but I believe the 90lb limit is rarely reached because most kids will grow too tall for the harness on the frontier long before they hit 90 lbs. but it does still have a very high height and weight limit.
My girl is almost 4 and in her harness in the frontier and will be for a long time. Both kids are petite so shouldn't outgrow for a long time.
nectarine / 2018 posts
Maybe this could be helpful to show your mom:
http://csftl.org/harness-or-booster-when-to-make-the-switch/
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
Almost six and still in a combo set that she's using with a harness. She's tall but doesn't mind the harness.
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
We just switched to a high-back from a harness as he turned 6. He is big(ish) for his age but I'm having to yell at him a lot to sit properly.
grapefruit / 4584 posts
My 5 year old is actually still in a convertible car seat! She's got another 10 inches and more than 35 lbs before she outgrows the seat (maxi cosi Pria 70), but I'll probably give it to her baby sister in about 6-12 months. At that point I'm planning to move to a harnessed booster, just because with three kids in the backseat harassing each other, I don't expect her to have the discipline to sit properly.
DD1 has complained a few times about wanting a booster in recent months. At her school, they carpooled for a few field trips, and she has noticed/commented that she rode in her friends' younger siblings seats while some of her friends had boosters. It's not been an ongoing complaint, though - only for a few days after trips, then she's over it.
grapefruit / 4321 posts
Kind of? She's in a Frontier which is technically a high back booster, but can be used with a Harness for a long time. Would your mom be on board for a seat like the Frontier that has a harness but can convert to be used with a seat belt in the future so it has a long life span?
grapefruit / 4455 posts
I didn't vote but my dd is a couple months short of five and she's in a convertible so I'm guessing it'll be awhile. She's only 38 lbs.
pomegranate / 3595 posts
DD is 5.5 and has been in a high back booster for about a year. She is tall for her age--maybe 44 inches and 45 lbs now? She is able to do the seatbelt with some help, able to sit appropriately and doesn't really sleep on car rides. It is working well for us.
We switched when we did mostly due to external circumstances and timing. Otherwise I think we would have waited a little longer. She asks sometimes about taking the back off but we have shut that down.
papaya / 10560 posts
My 4 but almost 5 year old is still in a convertible but I have been doing tons of research on what to do next. He's 49 pounds and fairly tall! I think we are going to go with a Britax high back that has a 5 point harness!
coconut / 8472 posts
My 3.5 year old is in a Frontier and I was hoping to switch him to a high back booster at 5 so he could pass down those seats to LO2. This thread is making me question that plan though.
He's a tall kid and grew out of his Nextfit around 3, so I'm not sure how long even the Frontier will work in harness mode for him.
eggplant / 11824 posts
MY 5 year old is still in her Britax convertible. I think we will need to move her soon but I am not sure to what yet (need to research).
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
@ShootingStar: My daughter is tall - 46" + (probably more like 48") at age 6. She still fits just fine in her frontier.
coconut / 8861 posts
My almost 5 year old is in a booster. He's close to 50 lbs and very tall like 90th percentile for his age. He just didn't fit in the convertible anymore. His old convertible went to his brother in one of our cars. This is his booster:
coconut / 8861 posts
@ShootingStar: My almost 5 year old is tall. The convertible we had was just too small for him. He's more comfortable in his booster.
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
Also, please remember there are options
Infant Bucket Seat
Convertible seat (can go RF or FF)
Combination Seat (can go FF with harness or FF with seat belt like a High back booster)
Booster Seat (high or low back).
A great option is a Combination seat so you get the option of both the harness (as long as you can keep them in it) and then switch to a seat belt like a booster seat.
nectarine / 2797 posts
DD just turned 5 and is still in 5 point harness. She definitely doesn't have the maturity to sit correctly in a booster and I would feel even more strongly about it on a longer trip where she might fall asleep etc.
coconut / 8472 posts
@T.H.O.U.: Does she still use the harness or the belt positioner? It really depends on how the kid's height is proportioned. Apparently DS carries most of his height in his torso. I didn't believe DH when he told me he thought DS was too tall for the Nextfit, lol. And when I looked for myself, sure enough - the belt was below his shoulders and the height was maxed out already.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
@ShootingStar: I agree with you, it matters where the child has their height. My son has long legs but a short torso. I am actually not sure how tall he is, I should check!
I think people don't realize that there is a seat between the convertible and the high back belted booster. I didn't know such a thing existed, but the combination seat is out there, and it's a great option if you want to harness for a bit longer. I think it's really important to also consider the child's ability to sit properly in the belted seat, which my son cannot do for long periods of time. He moves around, tries to see out of different windows of the car, etc.
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
@ShootingStar: She is really tall in her torso too. She outgrew the bucket seat before a year and out of the convertible pretty early too. She's still harnessed.
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
Four-year-old's in a harnessed booster and will be for a while.
pear / 1881 posts
We bought the Grace Nautilus, so she is still harnessed. She just turned 5 and is only 35 lbs and under 40 inches, so we feel most comfortable having her harnessed for as long as possible.
GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts
We just got her a harnessed booster. I won't feel comfortable with her in just a seat belt for a while. I know she wouldn't sit correctly.
squash / 13208 posts
In March she was 44 inches and 41 lbs - she is still harnessed
DS was harnessed until just after age 8
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
@Truth Bombs: I sent her a link to a Graco 3-in-1 at Target that I would be okay with for their car. I told her I prefer her to be in the harness for the long trips but when she's at their house, we could switch it to the booster setting (she's going to their house for a week in August). They wouldn't travel more than 5-10 miles with no highway driving and all 45 or under speed limits. At least then I would know that she is secured properly, they do the harness right about 50% of the time.
@T.H.O.U.: I really wish I had looked into a 3 in 1 when we bought her convertible seats. We are just going to wait until she grows out of her current convertible (Britax) to move to a harnessed booster. Stretching every inch out of this thing (4 to go). 
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37 comments