Hellobee Boards

I don't know if we quite count as extended, but we switched at 3.5. Now, that was literally the week before shelter in place started so she's only rode forward about 3 times For us she hit the height limit on one of our seats, so we decided to switch her in both seats at the same time.

My goal is 4 with my daughter. If your son were my child I would probably rear face till 5 since he’s smaller. Just my opinion.

@peaches1038: My DD was the same - she hated when we turned her forward facing. She cried for every ride for weeks. Part of it was that she just hated change but she also hated the feeling of her legs dangling. You can use an upside down styrofoam cooler or a rolled sleeping bag as a foot rest.

@catgirl: thanks for the ideas!!

@Purpledaisy: My 3.5 year old has similar stats; we had JUST turned her seat before we went into lockdown and she's barely been in the car since. We were going to keep going, but she was starting to get really resistant to being rear facing, and I felt she could safely and securely sit in the carseat we have facing forward (it's a Maxi-Cosi Pria, so designed for much younger kids). I would not let her ride in the combination five point harness booster/belted high back booster her 6 and 8 year old sisters sit in. I just moved the 6 year old out of the exact same Maxi-Cosi because at 45-46 inches and 41 lbs, I finally was starting to feel like she is physically large enough to be in a smaller, less enclosed seat (but she still uses the harness).

We flipped around at 3y3m because he was decently big (don't remember the stats), we had a big drive coming up, and with a baby it was easier for him to get himself in his seat and do his chest clip by himself.

My daughter is really small and will probably be RF til kinder, hah.

My kids are reasonably average size around 3-4 yo, and I flipped my oldest at 3 yo in our rarely used (for kids) secondary care, and 4+ (I think she was a few months past 4) in the primary car. I had told her she needed to be 4, and waited until she remembered and asked! Only FF in the secondary car because we bought a lightweight seat to use as our backup travel seat and she was too big to RF in anything reasonable for travel. We use Clek seats as our main RF seats. LO2 just turned 3 and she is still RF - we actually have a Clek in each vehicle for her now, we put LO1 into a Chicco MyFit with 5 pt harness in the van, she's in a HBB in the secondary vehicle. Baby brother though is a hulk and needs out of his bucket seat, so I think we're going to do a big seat reshuffling next week. So then LO2 will be FF in the secondary vehicle and she and LO3 will both be RF in the cleks in the van. So my hard stop is 3 yo for any FF, but goal is RF for the majority of travel. The secondary vehicle only has the kids in it for daycare drop off (3 min from the house) 3x/wk. Otherwise they're always in the minivan (unless DH takes them on rogue errands, he doesn't like to drive the van...but now the kids don't leave the house except for school!).

@purpledaisy

My first grader has similar weight and height as yours and she’s in a high back five point harness. She hates it. She’ll be in 2nd grade in a couple of months, her friends are mostly just in a booster,etc. But last fall, a guy rear ended us. She was sitting in the 3rd row and closest to the impact. Doctor said that bc she was sitting in a high back, it had less damage but she still had to go see the chiropractor a couple of times. So she has no choice. I tell her that if she gets taller then we can reconsider (she eats like a bird).

@misolee: @Purpledaisy: I’m glad to see this. My oldest is in K and is small for her age, so she’s still in a five point harness and I don’t have plans to move her anytime soon. She is starting to notice a lot of kids aren’t in them anymore though. I’m actually surprised by the amount of people who had their kids in backless booster before K.