Size of kids

I have been lurking about for a bit, and I am shocked at the sizes of a lot of the kids in the posts. My son is no peanut, but it seems that for this board he's little. He is 6.5 years old. He weighs about 49 pounds fully clothed, and I think he's about 44 inches tall (he's boob high on me, and I'm 5'0"); he's all leg though. Length wise he needs a size 7 pants, but his torso is 15.5 inches. His shoulders are about 12 inches wide, and he has long arms.

I'm switching him to a Monterey in his dad's car soon. I have one for him in my mom's car, and he fits in it nicely. He even stayed in place, when he fell asleep. In my car he rides in a Frontier 80 harnessed. If he mentions wanting to ride in a booster, I'll switch it. He seems content for now, though, and he's not yet on the highest slot. I'm switching him to a booster in his dad's car because at his age and size there seems to be no benefit for harnessing over boostering or vice versa, and his dad is a loose belt offender. I don't want to have to keep after him about this any more. Lol. Currently, he is in a SK Radian 80 in his dad's car. I have ordered his booster, and it should be here shortly. I'm pretty excited, and I can't wait to play with it. I just needed to share with someone, and most of my irl friends just don't understand.

Diana & Charles (8/10/2004)

Welcome!

ANd be glad There are many here that needed this place in order to find a suitable seat for a 2 year old that was outgrowing 40 pound seats by height

Welcome to cs-org

Your post made me giggle because I have a 6 1/2 year old girl at 42" and 36-37lbs

Anyways, we loved the Monterrey as a booster for her, except it was a tad bit wide in the shoulder area so the shoulder belt came a bit to close to the edge of her shoulder for my comfort. She could lean to the side in the seat just a bit and the belt would be off her shoulder. Of course, she could also lean the other way and it fit fine

I have a hubby with the loose belt syndrome sometimes too, so I can relate. I have actually been more nervous with him using the booster over a 5-point harness since the booster needs just as much care when installing your child in it. Maybe practice with your little guy to see if he can buckle himself in when he is with dad? Go over with Dad how the belt should lay flat against your son, be under the armrests, and should be at or above his shoulder level (with the MOnterrey you may need to put the headrest up a few more clicks than you normally would so the belt fits nicely between his neck and shoulder). I know when our friend takes my daughter I cringe when they grab the booster by the back to pick it up and **rrrooouuupp*** up goes the headrest all the way. I kindly tell them to be sure and "adjust it back down" when they put my daughter in the seat

Welcome!
I have small kids myself as well. My DD is 5.5 and only 35 lbs, but average for height at about 45". She still fits RF in many of the seats on the market now (by weight and height!). She's still harnessed and will stay that way until she's closer to 40 lbs. I would actually be fine boostering her now, if only she weighed a little bit more. Most kindergartners at her school aren't even IN boosters, let alone harnessed seats

Hi there, and welcome!

I wouldn't say your little guy is small. It sounds like our boys are quite similar . My 6yo's bday is August 18 2004. He's 50lbs, and all legs, although he's 50" with a 16.5" torso. He's also in a Monterey, but it's still a bit wide for him I think (he's very skinny). I have a Frontier arriving in the mail any day now :thumbsup:. For now, the Monterey will be in DH's car for whichever boy he's taking to hockey.

I have big ds. My not yet 5y is 55# and wears a 7 shirt and moved into 6-7 pants. His 4-5s wear capris. He's in the top slots of his Husky that expires in May. I tried him in a friends frontier85 and he is on the 2nd to tallest setting. He is getting a montery in April. He is already in the 2nd to top setting on he turbo in dhs truck. We got it last summer b/c his Husky doesn't fit in the truck with 2 other kids in the backseat.

I think my little man is just the right size, and I wouldn't want him to be any different. It just seems that every post I have clicked on has a child both much younger and much larger than Charles. Lol! I'm glad that I haven't had to deal with him growing out of any of his carseats by height. I've mostly just gotten new ones because I wanted to.

My son is very safety conscience, and he can strap himself into the Monterey correctly. He learned this summer while we were on vacation with only my mom's car. His dad is actually concerned about safety too, but he tends to be too worried about hurting little Charles' shoulders by making the straps too tight. Fortunately, he drives like an old lady and has never been in an accident. I think that the booster will be a better choice in his truck.

my 6 year old turns 7 next month. he is 48inches tall and 46lbs. he is all legs He is one of the smallest and one of the only kids in his class who can still fit in a harnessed seat. He is in a nauti and a turbo booster

My 3 year old on the other hand is all torso. he is 33lbs and 40.5 inches tall with a 16.5 inch torso last i measured which was almost a year ago. will be a year in April. He is in the frontier85 because it has the highest top slots.

Artemis777 said:

It just seems that every post I have clicked on has a child both much younger and much larger than Charles.

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I think part of the reason for this is that the bigger kids are the ones that are trickier to find a seat for. I never had to ask "Please help me find a seat that will fit my 33-lb., short 4YO!" For those of us blessed (in terms of car seat options, that is) with smaller children are lucky enough not to have to worry about that too much.

Welcome!
I have an almost 7 year old in a Monterey. We love it!

She's 58 lbs and 56", so she's quite tall.

yeah, he's on the smaller side of average... and wow... you lucky duck... he's got a short torso!

welcome!

Welcome!

Lots of people on here have very large kids. It may be what drew them here in the first place...trying to find seats to fit them! There's also some kids here that are teeny tiny.

My son is 50% height and a little lower weight. He'll be 6 next week, weighs 42 lbs and is 46" tall. He's a skinny dude.

Welcome to c-s.org!

BookMama said:

I think part of the reason for this is that the bigger kids are the ones that are trickier to find a seat for.

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Shaunam said:

Lots of people on here have very large kids. It may be what drew them here in the first place...trying to find seats to fit them!

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And :yeahthat: to Andrea and Shauna. I came here over seven years ago because my 2 year old was outgrowing her convertible seats by torso height. She was over 40 inches tall and 40 pounds at 3 years, 4 months old. She's 9.5 years old now, and less than an inch away from being 5 feet tall. She's also wearing women's shoe size 8.5 to 9...and still in a booster seat, due in part to a poor lap belt fit in our vehicles, but also because we don't have rear head rests. As long as she fits in highback boosters, and we have these vehicles, she's safer in a highback booster. Thankfully she's all legs, and pretty skinny, so she still fits, for now.

Lol! Your daughter is about my height. There are a lot of cars that I feel like I need a booster in. Interestingly, that is how I convinced my son's dad that we would be boostering beyond the state's requirement of 8 years. I told him that I stopped growing, when I was 11, and I don't fit properly in most cars.

Here he is in it.

Artemis777 said:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1382.snc4/163442_492509059693_793759693_5809902_4137541_n.jpg

Here he is in it.

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He looks so enthused to be having his picture taken, lol.

It looks to me like his bum may not be all the way back so that he's sitting straight in the booster - it's almost like he's slid forward a little bit?

The way he is in the picture I'm really not fond of the fit of the seatbelt, but I'm not prepared to say the seat doesn't fit him because I can see some adjustments that need to be made.

- there's a knob on the back of the booster used for adjusting the width of the body wings. Those should be brought in closer to his body.
- the headrest needs to come down a click unless the fit is significantly different when he's sitting straight.
- pull his sweater up so that there's no bulk between the lap belt and your son's legs - it's hard to tell for sure if the belt is on his tummy or if it's the sweater preventing the belt from sitting snug across his thighs.

Sometimes kids who are shorter in the legs try to slide forward so that their knees bend at the edge of the seat - I've struggled with my son with this even just in his harnessed seats, and it can be really hard to tell sometimes because he scoots himself that little bit forward so fast in the seats that he does it in. I'm not sure if this is what's going on for your son based on a single picture or not, but I'd check that - the reason I'm wondering so much is because usually the lap belt fit in the monterey is really low across the thighs even when the shoulder belt fit isn't ideal, but it appears to be a bit on your son's belly - which would make sense if he had slouched a bit. Then again, it could just be the sweat shirt.

Hope that helps - maybe you could have him sit in it again and try making some adjustments to see if you can get a good seatbelt fit on him? You want the lapbelt to be low across his hips/touching the tops of his thighs - or right on his thighs would be even more ideal, and the shoulderbelt should cross midpoint between his neck and the edge of his shoulder. Sometimes the headrest ends up being adjusted a bit higher for a good seatbelt fit, but I believe this may be bordering on the edge of having to adjust it up too high depending on whether he was sitting straight or not.

Oh - one thing you could try - and I'm not sure if it's possible with the shape of your backseat or not, but you could scoot the booster a little bit towards the door - that might make all the difference in the world in terms of shoulderbelt fit.

Thanks for sharing the picture. He looks like a fun loving boy.

eta:

Here are 2 pictures of my daughter in her Monterey. In one you can see her holding her coat up so you can see the lapbelt underneath and how it's pulled nice and snug across her lap, in the other you can see how it crosses midpoint between her shoulder and neck.



This link is to last Febuary when we first put her in the Monterey in our one vehicle. She was I'm guessing between 45 and 50 lbs at the time? You can't see the lapbelt, but it should give you an idea as to the position of the headrest and shoulder belt. This picture is a bit bigger so it's easier to see.
http://i46.tinypic.com/124uicj.jpg

He actually has quite long legs - not short. I will take the headrest down a click and check on the lap-belt tomorrow. I will see if it can be pushed more towards the door too. I really hope that will help with the seat belt; it's coming into the belt positioner at such a weird angle that it snags (it was worse with the headrest lower). Also part of the problem was me. I was trying to adjust the booster while standing outside the truck. I am very short, and I was having a hard time with it. The vehicle is a Toyota Tacoma, and the back seat was clearly designed for a bunch of construction workers. I feel like I need a booster seat, if I try to sit back there because the top of the seat belt is so high up. As far as the width of the seat goes, I'm not going to tighten it back up. His dad felt that his shoulders looked too constricted with them in further, and I don't want him to mess with the seat and make it even wider.

make sure the shoulderbelt fits him... I'm guessing when you move the headrest down, it won't.... and I don't like the lapbelt fit on him, either.

I'd say that it isn't a good booster for him at all.

I also think the body wings need moved further in... you want them snug.

This is an example of a really good fit in the Monterey... this is when we first got it for him


he fit like this the whole time he was riding in it... and I just kept the wings set to right next to his shoulders... this was his final pic in it... he was at the top setting and the wings were all the way open

I moved the headrest down, and it still fit him. I also explained how the lap-belt was supposed to fit on his hips and showed him. We were able to get it down a little further. This is in his dad's vehicle (we're not really together - long story), and I was only able to mess with the seat for a few minutes. I didn't have time to get a new picture.