Combination seat that can be used as booster w/o removing harness?

Are there any combination seats that can be used as a booster without having to remove the harness? Right now my four kids ride in an Incognito (DS10), Kidfit HBB (DS7), FF Radian (DS5) and RF Radian (DS2), and I have a RF Contender installed as an extra seat. I babysit and transport a 4 year-old (in the FF Radian) and 2 year-old (in the Contender) in addition to my 2 year-old and soon-to-arrive infant. When baby arrives, my toddler will move from the RF Radian to the Contender and baby will take over the Radian. I need some option for my babysitting toddler that I can also use for one of my older kids. He's already FF in his parents' vehicles, so I was hoping for a seat I could use harnessed for him and that my 7 year-old could use as a booster instead of the Kidfit. The 4 year-old isn't anywhere near booster ready, so he has to stay harnessed as well.

So the combinations of kids you’ll transport are 10/7/5/2/infant and 4/2/2/infant?

How much are you looking to spend? And what vehicle do you drive? Do you need to fit 3 across?

Off the top of my head, I’d look at the Graco Slimfit. It’s not technically a combination seat (it can rear face too) but it meets your criteria, and it’s pretty narrow. Depending on your answers, though, it might not be the best choice. (And other people may have better suggestions.)

The frontier is the only combination seat that I know of that will allow you to stow the harness while the booster is in use. If the child using the harness is small enough for a latch install, it will be easy to go back and forth. If the child using the harness needs the seat installed with seatbelt, it will be an extra step to uninstall and reinstall the seat every time.

Yes, our combinations will be 10/7/5/2/infant and 4/2/2/infant. The vehicle is a 2006 Chevy Uplander with buckets seats with latch in the middle and one tether in the middle of the back bench. Right now we have FF Radian, RF Contender, Incognito across the back and a RF Radian and Kidfit HBB in the bucket seats. I also have a Keyfit that could be used short-term for the infant (due in March, seat is good through April).

How terrible would it be to use the infant seat for one month past expiration? If I do that, I can use the second Radian for the extra toddler/my 7 year-old (just checked him yesterday, he's 55lbs and still slightly under top harness slots). I only babysit during the school year and our last day is June 1. When school resumes in the fall, I won't have the 4 year-old anymore so we wouldn't need this set-up anymore.

Unfortunately for your scenario, it would still be all the way terrible to use the seat past expiration. The seat isn't going to just crumble in your hands the day after expiration, but truly, the expiration is there for a reason, and there is no telling if the seat would protect baby or not. However, using it right up until the expiration date is no problem. I had a similar situation--infant seat expired two weeks after due date. Baby came on due date and we had thrown the infant seat into DH's car just in case we wound up with his car coming home from the hospital, and we did, so we used the seat to come home, and a couple appointments that first week home. It worked out great, then DH went back to work and we went with the convertible in my regular car. Using the Keyfit til expiration would also give you those few weeks for baby to grow into the radian, since not all newborns will fit a radian at birth.

Are you talking about sharing the second radian with the 7yo and 2yo babysitting kid, or 4 year old? Even with the 4 year old, how far is he from that top harness slot? If the kids sharing a seat don't also share a harness slot, I wouldn't even consider a seat that doesn't allow for quick adjust while installed. I'd rather swap out a seat entirely than have to uninstall, adjust harness slot, and reinstall every time you switch.

I think the 4 and 5 year olds are sharing the Radian. She’s looking for something that both the 7 year old and 2 year old can use. I’m still thinking Slimfit.

I think I remember the Graco Tranzitions allowing the harness to be stored while using as a booster.

MamaChirpy said:

I think I remember the Graco Tranzitions allowing the harness to be stored while using as a booster.

Click to expand...

I had the same memory, but I checked, and no.

Looks like the Milestone and SlimFit have the harness just tucked behind the seat cover rather than removing. I'm leaning toward the SlimFit, hoping it will also fit next to the Contender, where a soon-to-expire Radian currently is. The SlimFit harness can be adjusted without uninstalling, right?

Right.

I was just browsing seats and the Graco Atlas allows you to stow the harness.

https://www.amazon.com/Graco-Atlas-...22700&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=graco+transitionz