what are YOUR minimums?

well, it's always been at least 2yrs old or when the limits of the rf convertible were reached... except for the boys, when it was just weight limits (as Damian had a seat with a 22lb rf limit and Jeffrey was 30lbs at 1yr old, which was the rf limit for his seat)

with the boys, the goal was harness to the limit, but then I scrimped for hwh seats... and now with the availabilty of them in different widths and budgets, my comfort zone says the minimum should be until age 4-6 for spare seats (depending on torso height, weight, and budget), and age 5-7yrs for the main seat to move into a booster.

for moving to a lbb, it's when the highback is outgrown, when a highback is not compatible, OR when a kid gets a good belt fit, is at least 6yrs old, and doesn't fall asleep in the car and need the support from headwings.

So for the boys, they were bigger and using backless boosters as spares at 6-7yrs old... Damian was in backless full time at 7 just from his size.

For Ruthie, she is so narrow and yet long torso'd that a backless booster was almost impossible to find to fit her in her dad's car... and if she'd had more room for a taller highback, I would have gone with that first... but it's a 2-door and her current booster was touching the ceiling and she was outgrowing it.

In my car, she's asking to go backless and I'm testing different ones and will probably let her go full time when she turns 9... aka, after christmas, the only time since she was 7 that she falls asleep in the car except once... and then it was for all of 10min... she woke up when we got home. I just don't know how she will sleep in a backless, so I'd rather avoid it if possible.

I think we're going to end up with another cosco top side, just because (so far) every backless I have makes her too tall to ride in the third row... and I'd like to have the option of putting her there so she can sit next to Jeffrey like she wants.

I like to get to 4 in the Radians since we have them. But our travel seats they are usually 2.5 and outgrown.

I wouldn't ever want to use a low back so I'll just keep with the high back, unless the highback were outgrown. But they have high backs now that go really high, so that's good!

RF till 3
FF till 5 (if mature enough, if not, when ever that may be)
HBB till outgrown, than NBB. Will NBB if necessary on infrequent occasions at 6. (my son who is 7 has a NB Amp as his infrequent spare and I am ok with that but he will be in a HBB in our main vehicle until its outgrown).

I would say my bare minimums are ff at 2, hbb at 4 and nbb at 5. But that would just be for one off, emergency situations. In actual fact my dd is still rf at 2.7 years and my ds switched to hbb at 5. I'll keep him in it until at least 7 full time but will probably get a nbb for carpooling and travel when he's 6. He's a big kid though, sits well and never falls asleep. I might have a different approach with dd as she's more petite. My plan is to switch her ff when she hits 30# which is the limit for her seat. She's currently 28.6.

RF to FF: 3 or has maxed out my seats. Would import to get past 3 for my own kids. Prefer to RF to 4, but have had to FF a 3yr old foster child before because of violent behavior.

FF to HB Booster: 6 or has maxed out my seats.

HB Booster to NB Booster: Until they've maxed out my HB Boosters.

NB Booster to Seatbelt: When the fit in the booster is worse than the seatbelt fit. I like to keep them in a booster past 5-stepping, until the fit is better in the seatbelt only.

Xandra, Foster Mommy to O, 8yrs-Parkway SGL, A, 5yrs-Frontier, and L, 14mos-RF Radian XTSL * Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org

FFing- 3 years old
High back- 5 years old
low back- 5 years old for once and a while use. Not sure yet for full time use.

For my kids my minimums are:

Rf till 4. I am ok with occasional FF at 3.5.
Harness till 7. I will booster train on short trips at 6.
LBB at 8.
Booster till 12 or 5 step (whatever comes first).


My oldest was FF at 1 and in a high back booster by 4-4.5.

I'm ok with FF Ryan at three. Harness till 6.5, booster till 5 step.

4, 7, 9? LBB will depend on size (DS is very small for his age) and peer pressure.

Minimum for me would be 3, 5, and 7.

Ideally? 4, 6, and 8.

I wouldn't move a kid out of a nbb until they fit correctly in a seat belt.

oh... when I said my limit for rf is 2 or to the limits, I mean that if they are 2 and have hit the limits, I'd turn ff before buying a swedish seat... obviously with the seats now, I would want to rearface to the 40lbs... man, Ruthie could have rearfaced to age 4-5 instead of 2.5yrs like she did... when she outgrew her Marathon rf... she wasn't 40lbs till she was 4.5 and stayed there till she was almost 5.5yrs...

kkcoconut said:

What's your personal minimums for moving from RFing to FFing harnessed to HBB to LBB? Just curious to hear others opinions.

Click to expand...

I prefer 3-3.5 for part time FF, and four for full time, although my four year old is still rear-facing and I think I am going to turn him when he outgrows the seat instead of turning him at four (like I told DH ).

I haven't gotten past ERF yet but I think I will be comfortable booster training at age six. I don't know about the switch from HBB to LBB.