At what point are you personally comfortable with a child in a NB booster?

todzwife

New member
Age/Weight that you personally feel comfortable using a no-back booster for occasional and/or full time use.

I'd love to see what everyone's thoughts are.
 
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carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants
I'm conservative on this. For typically developing kids, for convenience and preference reasons, not because it's the only seat that will fit the child or the car): 5.5 for emergency use (emergency like a carpool emergency, not a zombie attack emergency), 7 for regular occasional use, 8.5 for full-time use (though not MY 8.5yo!) .
 

BabyKaykes

New member
8 or 9 depending on size and whether they can sit in one correctly. My just turned 7yo godson is the size of your average 10yo and uses a high back in my car (nothing with parents) because the backless gives him too much freedom.

My kid at 8 or 9 will still be tiny, so we'll see.
 

urchin_grey

New member
I'm conservative on this. For typically developing kids, for convenience and preference reasons, not because it's the only seat that will fit the child or the car): 5.5 for emergency use (emergency like a carpool emergency, not a zombie attack emergency), 7 for regular occasional use, 8.5 for full-time use (though not MY 8.5yo!) .

This is pretty much me, though it will be a long, long time before we even get to that point because the one kid I have isn't typically developing. He's not even big enough for a highback yet.
 

lorismurph

Senior Community Member
Depends on the kid totally. If they can handle the "freedom" then a bit before 8 for occasional use. My son was almost 8.5 before he moved full-time to a lbb. He moved because he was too tall for the back on his Turbo so we went to a backless.
Weight is not as much of an issue but at least 60 pounds I guess. (geez, at that rate, my dd won't be in a backless until she's 12!)
 

Sarah62008

Senior Community Member
My sister 7yr old sister has been in one since she was 5yrs because her parents didn't want her in a baby seat anymore. :rolleyes:
 

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
Personally for my own kid? Hopefully never. With some of the information about how backless boosters don't provide nearly as much protection, I will keep my kids in highbacks until they can no longer fit, hopefully until well past the age they are 'legally' required to be in boosters anyway. If we get to a point where the fit in a backless is better than the fit in a highback(or there simply is no highback left to still fit), and yet they still do not 5-step, then I'd use a backless, i guess.
\given that the women in my family and dh's are all in the 4-10 to 5-2 range, it's possible dd will NEVER 5 step (*I* sure as heck dont in most positions in most cars!!!), I think I will at some point have to make the decision to just let her be in a seat belt anyway.....I won't make her take her driving test in a booster :)
 

scatterbunny

New member
I'm with bobandjess for my own child; she's 9 years old, 4'10 now (always at the top of the charts, or off the charts) and still uses a highback the vast majority of the time. There are some rare carpool instances where I've sent her with a backless, starting when she was about 6.5 years old+, 51 inches+, and 60 pounds+. For my own child, 6 was the youngest I felt comfortable with her using a backless booster, even though she is large for her age and had used boosters for awhile, part-time, by that point.

For other children, 5 is the absolute youngest I would feel comfortable with a backless part-time; 7-8 is the youngest I'd like to see a child in a backless full-time.
 

babyherder

Well-known member
In my car I try to keep kids in highback boosters until age 8. If they fit longer and I have a highback I generally still put them in it. It really depends on the sibling sets I have though. When I had a 5 yr old and a 7 yr old and only one highback the 7 yr old had to go in the backless. It didn't really bother me. I agree that highback boosters are safer than backless at any age. But at some point many kids just don't fit in highbacks anymore but don't fit the seatbelt correctly. I have zero issues with backless boosters in those situations, no matter what the age of the child.

If I know other people that use a no back booster for their child I generally just say how cool it is they are still using a booster and have they heard that kids need them until they fit the seatbelt correctly which is around 10 to 12 years old. Most people are surprised but respond positively to this. I hope it means they're kids end up in boosters longer. Most people won't go out and buy a highback if they already have a backless so what's the point of me saying anything?
 

April

Well-known member
For preference/convenience full-time use? 8, 55lbs, 50". For occaisional emergency use? 6 and 45lbs. Only my oldest (9 in a month) is in a backless, and only since July, and only because its all I can get to fit there. The only highback that fits her is the Frontier and that's not going to happen with 5 kids in my Windstar. My 7.5yo, 62lb, 52" DS is still in a highback cause he fits and the seat fits where I need it to in the van.
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canadiangie

New member
For my own children around age 8.

For other children anytime after age 6.

I tend to recommend highback boosters that later convert to backless boosters because I see the transition from hb to backless as a great compromise for when kiddo starts complaining about having to use a booster. Parents tend to find this piece of advice reassuring and I think it helps to keep kids in a positioning device for a little bit longer.
 

Joddle

New member
Parents I know happily put their then just-turned 3yo in a backless booster. Now that the laws have changed, he's still only in a crappy foam HBB at under 4yo :(
 

Amaris

New member
I prefer 7 or 8, depending on the kid. Michael had to move to a backless a few months before he turned 8 because I was not paying for a frontier to use as a booster! He's currently between 4'10 and 4'11. He actually passes the 5 step test and begs to ride without a booster but that is not happening for a while yet (at least not on a regular basis)! Isaiah still fits in our monarch and loves it, and I won't move him out of it to a backless until he outgrows it. Probably 8 or 9. That said, I have 2 of my friends kids tomorrow, ages 6 and 9, and only 3 boosters, so Michael will probably take a 5 minute trip in just the seatbelt since he's the only one who actually fits the seatbelt. Really, I guess it depends on the child, both their maturity and what they still fit in.
 

melniemi

New member
Well, my boys are 9 & 10 and still in highbacks. 10yo complains sometimes but will still fall asleep in the car. 9 yo loves his pw and says he doesn't want to get rid of it.

They are on the small side - 10yo 53", 62#s, 9yo 52", 57#s. And I drive a Chevy Venture, which is not the safest vehicle on the road. I'm going to try to keep them in their pws until they outgrow them, both are on the highest setting with maybe an inch to grow, so likely within a year I'll be looking for backless boosters.

Ds1 does have a backless Turbo in dh's truck that he rides in once in a great while.
 

menfusse

New member
Oh...I guess 8 or 9, at least average sized with consideration to certain factors. A's 9, and very tall. She still fits the Monterey, but the other high backs we had she was too tall for, so we went backless for awhile. She's recently had another spurt and the backless in our main vehicle made the belt fit worse and she 5 steps. She doesn't 5 step in dh's pick up which is an old s-10. She rides in that daily so the Monterey is in there. In MIL's car, she also doesn't 5-step and we had no other high back to fit her, plus they were hitting the ceiling of the car when they did fit her and kind of tilting to fit at that. So she's backless in there.

I'm ok-ish with it. I figure for long trips, we'll put the Monterey in our Jeep for support and all that. Otherwise, she's riding in the seat belt only now :(.
 

momto3girls

Senior Community Member
I'm with bobandjess too. I'm not comfortable with children in nbb. Maybe at age 9 or 10. Now for emergency uses age 8, hopefully with side curtain air bags.

I tell parents it's ok to convert to a nbb when the child outgrows the hb portion. Unfortunately around here most parents have bigkids with some turbos in the mix. Most kids will convert around age 8. I do tell them there are higher hbb's on the market and where to get them here in town. ;)
 

andre149

New member
Other children when there is no other option: 7 ish depending on maturity, etc.

Children I'm watching frequently or my own: when they outgrow a hbb... and something like the frontier, not a tb ;)
 

tiggercat

New member
for regular use, I'm ok with moving to a backless around 8 yrs old. But, my kids are on the big side, and Greg was about 75lbs at 8 yrs old when he switched to a clek olli in the van. I'd want them close to 8/80lbs, I think.
for a situation where you're in a pinch, I'd use a backless much earlier. Megan (5) has been in Greg's backless a couple of times for very short rides when I've had to transport younger/smaller kids (who ride in nbb in parent's vehicles, sob) and put them in her 5pt. Not ideal, but sometimes ideal doesn't happen. I have been thinking of getting an extra hbb to slide under the back seat or something, though :whistle:
 

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
There are a some studies with conflicting data on this topic, but the most recent one by CHOP (who is probably the foremost entity in booster research) in 2009 in the Journal of the Amercian Academy of Pediatrics has this to say:

Importantly, these results suggest that the effectiveness of booster seats does not vary by the type of booster seat: backless or high-back. Backless booster seats are less costly and often more acceptable to older children because of the absence of a back that makes them look like a toddler child restraint. These results give confidence to parents and health educators that choosing this type of restraint for their child does not represent a compromise in safety.

Among children who were restrained in BPB seats, there was no evidence of a difference in the performance of backless versus high-back boosters. On the basis of these analyses, parents, pediatricians, and health educators should continue to recommend as best practice the use of BPB seats once a child outgrows a harness-based child restraint until he or she is at least 8 years of age.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/124/5/1281


I think it's fine to use a backless booster for any child who is within the age/weight/height ranges designated by the manufacturer, who is mature enough to remain seated properly in a booster. An appropriate high back booster would be necessary for situations where adequate head restraint is not provided by the vehicle. In a vehicle that lacks side curtain airbags for the rear passenger and does not have high side impact crash test results, a high back booster with side impact protection may provide a theoretical benefit for a child in an outboard seating position.

My 5 year old has used both high back and backless boosters from time to time since he was 4 years old, though he rides in a 5-point harness most of the time because he tends to be a little squirmy still. Otherwise, I'd have no problem with putting him in a backless model that provides a good fit. As with almost every debate of this type, the key is correctly restraining kids in the back seat. Variations in type or brand of child seat, seating position and other factors may make a difference, but it is quite small compared with the key element of proper use of any appropriate child restraint system in a suitable rear seating position.
 

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