what do I do in this situation

I really am shocked, by the rate that Fionas torso has grown suddenly.. I measured her at school Friday and she was 42 inches tall. (1 inch in like 6 months)

Anyways She rides in the radian xt sl in Keiths car, but I am using it in my car for our upcoming road trip, so I sat her in it, and holy cow, to my shock, she has about a half an inch to 3/4 an inch left till she is even with the top slots, at the rate she is growing this gives her 6 months TOPS.

She is turning 5 on the 1st, BUT she only weighs 33 lbs, like she is super skinny.. she is one of those kids that lives on veggies and fruits and hates carbs and meat. go figure why she is rail thin. (but healthy as a horse)

What do I do in this situation.. I obviously have my frontier 80 in my car that I see her lasting another year in the harness in.
But For DH's car.. is it safe for a child that is so light to booster? she is perfectly mature enough imo to ride in a booster with a locked belt, but I seriously do not like the idea of her being boostered under 40 lbs (like unless she was 6 or 7 )

is there any solution.. we 3 across his car and it is an 03 passat, so really not a lot of options space wise.
 
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autumnlily

New member
Tough call. However, I thought Radian allowed a child's shoulders to be above the top slots as long as the top of the ears were below the shell? Not sure how I'd feel about going above the slots and I know there are some threads on our speculation about the safety...

I'm thinking though - If she is barely going above the slots in the next year while she gains weight... perhaps the Radian isn't out of the running yet.

I think I've mentioned this before - Fiona and my Lucy are very very similar in size and share the same birthdate (5 years old too)! However, Lucy has the tiniest torso known to man (she is still flush with the second from BOTTOM slots on the Nauti and flush/slightly below with the second from top slot on the RN65SL). But we will be struggling with the light weight child who will be booster ready before she weighs more.

I'm curious to hear what others say.
 
Tough call. However, I thought Radian allowed a child's shoulders to be above the top slots as long as the top of the ears were below the shell? Not sure how I'd feel about going above the slots and I know there are some threads on our speculation about the safety...

I'm thinking though - If she is barely going above the slots in the next year while she gains weight... perhaps the Radian isn't out of the running yet.

I think I've mentioned this before - Fiona and my Lucy are very very similar in size and share the same birthdate (5 years old too)! However, Lucy has the tiniest torso known to man (she is still flush with the second from BOTTOM slots on the Nauti and flush/slightly below with the second from top slot on the RN65SL). But we will be struggling with the light weight child who will be booster ready before she weighs more.

I'm curious to hear what others say.
radian 80 allows it I know (of course the one kind I don't have, we have an xt, an xt sl, and a 65 lol) if someone know differently that would help me out
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
They all allow it. However, the XTSL has wings that sit just north of the top slots. So a child will literally be slamming against the underside of the wings and jammed in there.

I'd wait and see. Piper had 3/4" of an inch left in her Wizard at 4, and 1/2" left in her wizard at 6. That's a lot of torso growth (probably two inches overall, so another year or so).

Wendy
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
If she just had a one inch torso growth spurt in the last 6 months, you probably have a ton of time. Children's growth is not linear. They don't grow at a steady rate in general, and different parts of their body grow at different times.

I bet you that she'll suddenly go up a couple of pant and shoe sizes within the next 6 months, then she'll gain a few pounds while her brain takes over allthe rest of her resources picking up a ton of new information for about a year.
 

An Aurora

Senior Community Member
I too would wait it out before making a decision right away. My DD1 is in an XTSL as well, and is just barely below the top slots, and I won't be letting her go above the top slots, mostly because the wings are right there. I'm starting to panic a little as the Radian barely fits in the car, and her Turbo doesn't fit, but she's really slowed her torso growth lately so I'm hoping she'll fit for a few more months.
 
yea I pretty much have to wait and see anyways.. I promised no more swap, and I really don't want to swap anymore anyways lol shipping car seats is a pain.

Oh is it ok to go over on the 65? or no? If so I could just give Nolan her xtsl and have her use the 65. Julianna had a radian 80 and we went slightly over on hers because she was 6.5 and still not mature enough for a booster. (crazy how different each kid can be, Fiona would have sat perfectly fine when she was 3 lol, but Julianna I still had to lock the seat belt with at 7)
 
also maybe I should booster train her at least so I have the option, maybe have her take a few rides here or there in the turbobooster. is it too soon?
 

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