High Back Booster v. Convertible Car Seat for 6 month old

J

Jennie S.

Guest
My daughter is almost 6 months old and getting to heavy for me to carry in her infant carrier. She is approx 16 lbs. I was planning on getting the Britax Roundabout but a family member with an 18 month old son said that she went right to the high back booster at 6 months when she took her son out of the infant carrier. All of the high back boosters I have seen are from 22 lbs and up which she isnt but neither was the cousin mentioned above.

I cant seem to find any info regarding high back boosters v. convertible car seats

Any info would be super helpful.
 
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joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Your daughter is lucky to have such a good mom! :). I'm so glad you're asking about this before making a purchase.
The absolute bare minimum for forward facing a baby is 1 year AND 22 pounds (the lowest limit for forward facing in many seats), but rearfacing much longer in a convertible is much, much much safer if you can do it to the full 30+ pounds (age 2 or 3). So, long story short, if you want a roundabout, go for it, it's definitely the right kind of seat :). The marathon is even better, as it's much taller and will last a couple of years longer, but only costs a little bit more.

Read this page over, it explains why rearfacing is so safe, and why it's a little bit sad that your cousin didn't get the proper safety message (I wish we had more billboards saying how to use carseats safely, lol)

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx
 

mominabigtruck

New member
I know that most combo boosters are rated from 22lbs but I would never put a child that small in one. To me combo boosters are for tall thin children who have outgrown traditional convertible seats by height but not weight. In comparison to a convertible seat combo seats have absolutely no sip protection at all and that isn't even touching on the fact that no 6 month old should ever be in a ffing seat.
 

AdventureMom

Senior Community Member
You've definitely come to the right place to ask about carseats ;) And that's great that you're researching before making a purchase...

I wanted to add to the above responses by pointing out the different between an adult seatbelt vs a 5-pt-harness. When a 20-lb child is in a crash and the car is going 40mph, then that child becomes an 800-lb force against whatever is restraining her. When an adult is in a crash, they usually have bruises/marks for weeks afterwards where the seatbelt held them in place. A small child's skeletal frame is not strong enough to take that kind of force from an adult belt because of the way the force is concentrated on the chest and across the pelvis. A 5-pt-harness, on the other hand, spreads that crash force out on the body on additional skeletal support areas - the shoulders. This is alot less risk for the child than the adult belt because the force on the upper body is not concentrated on the chest.

Another issue is that the lap belt - even in a booster - will probably sit too high up on an infant/toddler. It should sit on the upper thighs/hip bone, but often times in smaller children the lap belt is on their abdomen. There is nothing but soft organs behind there - that will get crushed by the force of that seatbelt... :(

Here are links to stories of children crushed by the adult seat belt because they were too young to be in a booster:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2LFo8vVi04
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G59s3PjcntQ

Hope this helps you :)
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
I *think* the OP was talking about a harnessed highback booster, since she mentioned it's starting weight was 22 pounds (and the Cosco products are actually brand named High Back Booster).

Still, good info :)
 

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