Outgrown Infant Seat, Expired Convertible and No Booster

My 1 year old nephew is currently riding in our snugride 22, but he has outgrown it. His mom plans to move him to an expired convertible when she feels like he has outgrown the infant seat. I'm not sure what her criteria are for outgrowing it.

My 5 year old niece rides in nothing with the shoulder belt behind her back.

There are also 2 older kids, 9 and 11, who have been in nothing for years.

I have 3 questions related to this...

1- What concise yet complete handouts could I give my SIL about car-seat use? I have the NHTSA handout, but it doesn't address expired car-seats, how to check fit, etc.

I will only have 1 shot at talking to her about this. She has 4 children, and she thinks I am super overprotective and crazy about safety issues with our 4 year old. She may not be very receptive to the information, but I would feel awful if something happened to any of the kids without at least providing her with information to make an educated choice.

2- If I were to purchase a convertible for the 1 year old would an Evenflo Tribute 5 work in a 2004 Suburban? I believe DN is around 20lbs. I am very limited on funds right now, but no better deal has one of these for around $40 with shipping.

3- If she is willing to use one what booster is cheap but would work for a 5 year old? SIL says she thinks my niece weighs 40 lbs.

Thank you!!!

I think the Tribute is on NBD for 34.00 and there may be a coupon..

I got a booklet from USAA that is perfect. Hits it all, And shows proper and improper usage

It is called Installing Car Seats? I think?
How about a Turbo booster? those seem to be the go to and are not more than 40.00... There are some cheaper ones but some need to have head rest support like the Pronto. I only paid 25.00 for it..

Here's the link for the USAA booklet, you can order them for free and they have great visuals and all the basics for carseat safety (including boosters and ERF I believe). https://www.usaaedfoundation.org/Safety/safety_544_child_safety_seats

For the 5 year old, even a Harmony Literider from Walmart, less than $15 and it fit's pretty much all kids great. I have one as a backup for my almost 6yo. Ideally a high back booster would be better for a 5yo, but if she's riding in nothing now the Literider would be a huge improvement! http://www.walmart.com/ip/Harmony-Juvenile-LiteRider-Backless-Booster-Car-Seat-Pink/10992661

I'd get a scenera for the baby and a literider for the 5 year old. In my experience, for some reason people are more willing to use a backless booster than a high back booster and a backless booster, while not ideal for a 5 year old, is a lot better than nothing.

The USAA booklet is awesome! I ordered a bunch to send to DD5's preschool to be handed out and they got here in less than a week.

My big complaint about the USAA booklet is that it is anti-ERF (if ERF is defined as RF past age two). It is very clear that kids 2 and up must ride in forward-facing seats. However, for this purpose, I think it would be fine. Trying to get her to ERF past two is probably really pushing it. Getting her to use properly fitting car seats at all is what you want. The booklet even shows a child in an outgrown infant seat (with the recommendation that the child needs to be moved to a FF seat).

It covers everything from infant seats through boosters and the 5-step test so I would definitely recommend it for this. When I hand it out, I include the NHTSA sheet to show that I'm not nuts saying that it's ok to RF past age two, but that's probably not necessary for you.

I would get either a Scenera or the NBD Tribute and the Harmony Lite Rider for the 5 year old.

Brigala said:

My big complaint about the USAA booklet is that it is anti-ERF (if ERF is defined as RF past age two). It is very clear that kids 2 and up must ride in forward-facing seats. However, for this purpose, I think it would be fine. Trying to get her to ERF past two is probably really pushing it. Getting her to use properly fitting car seats at all is what you want. The booklet even shows a child in an outgrown infant seat (with the recommendation that the child needs to be moved to a FF seat).

It covers everything from infant seats through boosters and the 5-step test so I would definitely recommend it for this. When I hand it out, I include the NHTSA sheet to show that I'm not nuts saying that it's ok to RF past age two, but that's probably not necessary for you.

I would get either a Scenera or the NBD Tribute and the Harmony Lite Rider for the 5 year old.

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That is not true. It says" all infants and toddlers should ride in a rear facing car safety seat until they are 2 years of age OR UNTIL THEY REACH THE HIGHEST WEIGHT OR HEIGHT ALLOWED BY THEIR CAR SAFETY SEATS MANUFACTURER."

I am just glad we have 2 as a guideline. I don't think they are anti erf. I think they are just passing along minimum guidelines.



auto-correct on the loose..

But then it says

All children 2 years or older, or those younger than 2 years who have outgrown the rear-facing weight or height limit for their car safety seat, should use a Forward-Facing Car Safety Seat with a harness for as long as possible, up to the highest weight or height allowed by their car safety seat's manufacturer.

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Brianna said:

But then it says

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Yeah. I see that. It almost contradicts the first guideline.

auto-correct on the loose..

Yes, they're actually recommending to turn the kids ff if they outgrow rf before 2. Thats the AAP's position, too. I like NHTSA's so much better. (Generally speaking, because I do think the USAA is better for your purposes.)

I think we all know that RFing as long as possible is the best thing to do, but the fact is that many parents are not going to buy a new convertible with a higher rear-facing capacity for a 36# 20mo child. It would be ideal if they did, but if they don't, it's better to have that child properly restrained forward-facing than over the limit rear-facing.

carseatcoach said:

I think we all know that RFing as long as possible is the best thing to do, but the fact is that many parents are not going to buy a new convertible with a higher rear-facing capacity for a 36# 20mo child. It would be ideal if they did, but if they don't, it's better to have that child properly restrained forward-facing than over the limit rear-facing.

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I'm learning this. Parent by parent. It still amazes me that parents aren't willing to invest in safety but it is what it is.

20 months is much better than 1 yr.

auto-correct on the loose..

I pmed you a few minutes ago... I also have the usaa booklet I can send you in the mail if you would like to have it.