Question How do I know if she's ready to booster for long drives?

Athena

Well-known member
6yo is doing amazing in a booster and stayed in position when she fell asleep, but she's only done short drives and we have a road trip coming up. I'm tempted to put her back in the harness because I'm worried if she sleeps soundly she won't stay in position. WWYD? How did you decide when you could get rid of the harness for good? Thanks! I guess I'm having trouble with this because I planned to harness to 7, but she's really surprised me and she's feeling such pride in this accomplishment, I don't want to undermine that.
 
ADS

Keeanh

Well-known member
If you have any doubts, I would say harness. My kids go at least a year, maybe more, of booster around town, harness on road trips, before they booster full-time. Just explain it's so she can be more comfortable when she sleeps on the long drive. If you're driving a long way to a destination, and then doing short drives while there (say, visiting relatives) you could use a combination seat and take the harness out for your stay, then put it back in for the drive home. Do you have a combo seat available?
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
If she sleeps for an hour or more without ever slumping, I wouldn't worry about it. Once they hit that point my kids have been fine. Before that there are issues.
 

tiggercat

New member
I'd ask her. My kids have often chosen to go backwards (booster kids harnessed, ff kids rf) on road trips so that they were more comfortable and could sleep better.
 

MommyShannon

New member
I always sell it to my kids that they will sleep better with the harness since they don't have to worry about staying in position. Plus our harnesses for them are Frontier 85s which they find really comfortable and have 2 cup holders. We hadn't used them as boosters before when I convinced DD to use it for road trips at 6 and 7. Then last month DD was traveling with me over her 9th birthday and she chose the harness mode over booster mode. I'm comfortable with her either way now because she always sleeps right.
 

aeormsby

New member
Honestly, once my kids were in a booster full time I didn't worry about them for long trips either. Now they both have winter birthdays and started using a booster full time shortly after they turned 6 and we didn't do any huge (6+ hour drives) road trips until summer so they had several months of booster use by that time.

My DS moved from the harness to booster in Dec, and he's a huge car sleeper. He had absolutely no problems in his booster on our road trip last week where we put over 1000 miles on the truck. (wasn't our first road trip with him in the booster, but it's the longest)

We always make sure the kids have a foot rest (usually their duffel bag of clothing) for the really long drives.
 

CMeMeC

New member
I think it just depends on the kid. My middle (6.5) has been back and forth for a while and she does great in a booster, but she can not sleep in one without falling forward. I use a harness for her if we are going to be in the car for a while. Today for example, I am using a nauti for her in harness mode because we are going to a park an hour away. She would have no problem using a booster on the way, but by the time we come home she will likely be sleepy and I don't want her slumping over. My oldest, however, doesn't budge awake or asleep so he has been boostered full time since he turned 6.
 

Keeyamah

Active member
Another option, if you have the room in the vehicle, is to have a harnessed seat installed and available for when she gets sleepy as well as her booster for when she's awake. I don't know what vehicle your gonna be in (haven't finished my coffee), so my apologies if it won't work.
 

Baylor

New member
If my kids sleep okay in the car on regular trips they are the same on long trips. So I would booster. I think they just get used to it.
 

natysr

New member
Jordan started booster training at age 6. It was for short, 1 mile drives to/from school. For 30 minute drives he would be in a harnessed seat. What he sat in varied based on how long the drive was and we gradually increased boostered rides.

We drive 9 hours each way, once a year to visit the in-laws for Thanksgiving.

He has a late August birthday, so was a young 8 when I first let him do that trip with a booster. He's been a difficult kid anyway, and harnessing for long trips would mean he was more comfortable and the trip as a whole was just easier.
 

Athena

Well-known member
Thanks for all the responses! I talked to her and although she initially wanted to take the booster, it didn't take much convincing for her to say yes to the harness, so I think we'll go that way this time because she's brand new to boostering. I think she'd probably do fine, but it'll be less distracting to me if I know she's harnessed and can't fall over no matter how tired she gets.

I could switch the FR90 back and forth between booster and harness mode, but I doubt I'll bother. Part of my motivation for thinking about this was hoping I could sell the 90 because we have too many seats and could really use the money right now, but I think we should keep it a while longer until I'm sure we don't need it. Not that I don't like the 90 because I really do and not that it's harder to install because it's so easy, but I've been enjoying how light and easy to move that dedicated booster is. But the FR90 is probably more comfortable.

Thanks for all the advice!
 

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