Thoughts on keeping a kid harnessed past age 6

dulcita77 · Feb 15, 2010

DD is almost 46 inches tall but is all legs. She still has 2 inches in her Graco Nautilus (x3).

She is 48lbs and does ride in a Monterrey once a month or so for a few blocks.

No requests for a booster.

In July she will be 6 and is a typical almost 6 year old in maturity.

No reason to booster her?

2 inches of torso height is at least 2 years? (especially for short torso'd long legged kids)

tjham · Feb 15, 2010

My granddaughter is also short torso-ed, a car seat lovers dream! She was harnessed in a Marathon til 7 1/2 and would have stayed that way but her mom's new husband thought it was ridiculous

so she went to a backless booster and then to nothing in a few months, in her mom's car.

She was a bit longer in a Nautilus in my car, until I took the straps out and made it a booster.

If your daughter hasn't requested a booster, keep her harnessed and enjoy it while it lasts.

I thought it was much easier for my granddaughter to do herself up in the harness than it is for her to do the booster. But your DD is old enough and weighes enough and if she is mature enough, a booster is just as safe.

thepeach80 · Feb 15, 2010

If harnessing is working, keep w/ it. AJ will be 7 in May and we just moved to the PW SG. He's almost even w/ the top slots of the GN so he needed out. I still have to watch him and remind him often to sit up straight though. I think when I get the RN back out there for Evan (he couldn't hold it till he got to the potty!) I might just take out the PW and move the GN over for AJ. At least till the snow is gone.

asch884 · Feb 15, 2010

My son is going to 6 in a week. He is in the same seat as your child. He is 45 inches and 43lbs. He hasn't asked to be moved so I am keeping him in the harnessed carseat One of these reasons is because he is still so light. he is 43 lbs with shoes and clothes so he might be closer to 41 or 42 pounds

BookMama · Feb 15, 2010

I agree, if she still fits in her harnessed seats and there are no complaints, there's no reason you'd need to move her to a booster. And really, we don't have any real evidence that boosters are safer for bigger kids (say, 6 and older), nor do we have any real evidence that a harnessed seat is safer than a booster for that same age group.

My DS will be 9 in April and still rides in a harnessed seat in our primary vehicle. In our situation, he's still harnessed mainly so that we can accommodate three car seats in our fairly small vehicles (Focus and Escort), but he really does prefer a harnessed seat. I'm planning to move him to a booster full-time after school's out in June and we don't have to worry about him being able to buckle in the pick up lane at school. (Baby will be in a narrower harnessed seat by fall, so I don't anticipate that problem next year.)

zactayaus · Feb 15, 2010

I've been wondering about this too. DS2 will be 7yo in April. His shoulders are dead even with the second to the top slots of his GN. He only weighs 41lbs and is about 45" tall. He has been asking a lot lately about moving to a booster (we will more than likely not use the GN in booster mode cause it's so heavy and I don't have latch in my vehicle). I'm struggling with the decision. Part of me thinks it's a waste to move him to a booster when he still has so much harness time left in his GN. The other part of me respects the fact that he would like to be in a booster so he can be more like his friends. I know with his age either will be a safe choice. I just can't decide.

jennzee · Feb 15, 2010

My son will be 6 in July as well, and I have no plans to move him into a booster right away. He has ridden in a booster seat a handful of times and sees it as a special treat when he goes in daddy's car, but he doesn't complain one bit about getting into his Nautilus in the car he rides in 99% of the time. He's even smaller than your daughter (42" and 39#), so he's got loads of room to grow in it.

I agree that it's easier for him to buckle up his harness than it is for him to get a seatbelt on, and he likes that independence. Once he turns 6, I'll start booster training him a little more seriously, because I know that there will probably be more opportunities for him to ride in other cars, with friends or grandparents, as he gets older than there are now, and I want to feel comfortable letting him ride in a booster in those situations. But for now, I don't have any reasons to move him out of a harness, so I'm going to milk it for all it's worth!

tweetybaby2005 · Feb 15, 2010

My DD will be 6.5 yo in 1.5 months (41 lbs and 45") and is still being harnessed in the GN (2nd to top slot). My reason to keep her in the harness is because she is autistic. I have started training her to ride in the booster in short trips (5 min car trips) last week. Since your DD hasn't asked to be moved to a booster and she still has room in her current seat, I would recommend that you keep her harnessed. I'm also very surprised that my DD does very well in a booster (HBB) given her condition :thumbsup:

. I plan to keep her harnessed in her GN until it is outgrown then move her to booster. She is growing more legs than torso now so I expect to see her in her GN until she is about 7.5 or may be 8.

Kuan

Qarin · Feb 15, 2010

I've been feeling sort of ridiculous just this week- my 5yo had about .5" left in her Wizard, and with the trade-in sale going on plus our tax refund arriving, I decided now was the time to change things up. I wanted to get my 8yo a booster seat, and move the 5yo to the Nautilus... but DD1 really did not want to do that, she loves her old gray Nautilus. So, I got DD2 a Mariposa (pink butterflies) Nautilus, and feel kind of absurd that I just bought a new seat essentially to keep my 8.5yo harnessed another year (she's got about an inch in the harness in her seat), PLUS the 8yo is super jealous of the pink Nauti (AND decided she loved the Abby pattern on the Turbo booster at BabiesRus AND DD2 was bribeable with a stuffed animal to accept the gray Nautilus as hers even though she was very excited to get the Pink one- so right at the end there, I could have done what I'd set out to do in the first place, boostered the older).

Both of my kids ride very well in boosters- at this point they are ONLY harnessed in my van (where they spend the vast, vast majority of their vehicle riding time).

I really hope I made the right, safest decision, but I would surely feel that way no matter which decision I made.

BookMama · Feb 15, 2010

Qarin said:
So, I got DD2 a Mariposa (pink butterflies) Nautilus, and feel kind of absurd that I just bought a new seat essentially to keep my 8.5yo harnessed another year

I bought two Radians last summer so that I could keep DS harnessed until the end of this school year. (I already had two seats that could do that, but neither would fit in a 3-across.)

And even before I had a 3-across to accommodate, I bought a Nautilus for DS's 7th birthday, because he'd been asking for "another seat with straps" in our secondary car. Not the same as age 8.5, but still.

momto3girls · Feb 15, 2010

DD1 is 6.5yrs and still harnessed in a frontier. She'll be in it for at least another year. That's when DD2 will go into it and I'll buy DD1 a booster. She rides in a booster in daddy's car. He takes her to school every morning.

mykidsmylife · Feb 15, 2010

Well Johnthon had about an inch left in the harness of his Apex and he went to a booster full time at about 6.5 yrs old. His choice and I had NO issues doing it. But he wanted it.

bobandjess99 · Feb 15, 2010

No reason to switch ...my dd HAS been begging for a booster, so i told her she had to wait until she is 6. She'll have about maxed out the nauti by then anyways...

thepeach80 · Feb 15, 2010

bobandjess99 said:
No reason to switch ...my dd HAS been begging for a booster, so i told her she had to wait until she is 6. She'll have about maxed out the nauti by then anyways...

Good, I was feeling weird on this thread w/ all these 7 and 8yo who still fit w/ lots of room in the GN, lol.

solmama · Feb 15, 2010

My dd is 49.75", and about 52lbs (she turned 6 today). She currently has about an inch to go in the Regent (installed with recline bar).

She's ready for a booster, full time, and is looking forward to getting the red Monterey when our tax money comes.

If kids are more comfortable in a harness, go for it. Otherwise a 6 yr old is perfectly safe (provided s/he can sit properly) in a booster. My dd may switch back to her Regent for long car trips.

Qarin · Feb 15, 2010

thepeach80 said:
Good, I was feeling weird on this thread w/ all these 7 and 8yo who still fit w/ lots of room in the GN, lol.

Well, my 8.25yo is the height of your 6.75 year old, according to your signature. She's around the 3rd-5th percentile for height.

libranbutterfly · Feb 15, 2010

My DD will probably also outgrow the nautilus before or near her 6th birthday.

thepeach80 · Feb 15, 2010

Qarin said:
Well, my 8.25yo is the height of your 6.75 year old, according to your signature. She's around the 3rd-5th percentile for height.

That's how Evan is, but he's not on the height chart he's so short, lol. Gotta love rfing at 5!

oxeye · Feb 15, 2010

I just moved DD1 to a booster in our van this last week. Mainly, I want her to know how to use it and figured that rides to and from school would be a good start. She's been doing great with it (and loves it).

She has a ton of growing room in her Frontier. I will still harness her for trips that are longer than 20 minutes or so (mainly because she is a car sleeper).

I'm 100% convinced about the added safety benefits of ERF - that's the reason my 4.5 year old is RF and will be for quite some time still. I haven't found any argument that there is a safety benefit in keeping a child harnessed once they are at least 6/40 pounds. Given that, I think a booster and harness are perfectly reasonable options. If the child likes being harnessed and they still fit, then definitely keep them harnessed. If the child wants to be boostered and they are big enough and mature enough, then go for it. This is a VERY gray area IMO. I wish we had data to say conclusively which was safer!

BABYGIRLLYNDSEY · Feb 15, 2010

My older DD graduated from a Roundabout to a Marathon and stayed in that until age 6 1/2 yrs and then graduated to the Britax Bodyguard booster. She is now using the Clek Olli and the Britax Monarch booster.

Younger DD will remain harnessed until she outgrows whatever seat she is in. I may have to buy a new Frontier if the harness height is really that much higher.

Most of the children in her nursery school are in backless booster. They're age 3 and 4 yrs.

Thoughts on keeping a kid harnessed past age 6

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