Carseat/ highback booster advice

[Unregistered]

My daughter - 6.5 yrs old, 52", 65lb, is at the weight limit for her 5 point harness in her Graco nautilus, and I want to buy her a new car seat with a 5 point harness, she is embarrassed to be in a harness with other kids in the car when we carpool and we have agreed that in those instances she can be in high back booster mode. I thought we could do this in a Britax pinnacle / frontier but Britax say not.
Watching the demo it looks like we could just not put the straps away and have her sit on top of them and use the click tight. The Diono Pacifica looks too narrow and in any case at 57'' height limit she will not last too long. Anyone have any better ideas? Thanks

 

[jjordan]

Hello and welcome to car-seat.org! Is there any reason why you are not comfortable with your daughter using a highback booster (no harness) for full time use? We have no evidence that a harness is any safer for a child who has sufficient skeletal maturity (i.e. at least 4 years old), weighs at least 40 pounds, and uses the booster properly (i.e. the seatbelt is properly positioned and the child is mature enough to keep the seatbelt in place and to sit still). At 6.5 years old, and being motivated to be permitted to sit in a booster, I'd say your daughter is likely ready for full time boostering. You can either use the Graco Nautilus that you have in booster mode, or you can buy a dedicated booster.

At her weight, you're probably going to have to install a harnessed seat with the seatbelt, and so switching between booster and harness mode (in any seat) would at the very LEAST involve un-installing the seat and re-installing each time it is used. And, as you noticed, many harness/booster (combination) seats also require that the harness be completely removed to use in booster mode. I believe that the Graco 4Ever is an exception to this general rule; however the weight limit on the harness is 65#.

 

[Nedra]

I agree with jjordan -- at her age and size, you will probably find it better to booster train her, rather than try to switch back and forth with harness and booster. Since she has already outgrown so many seats, you might be better off booster training her now, when she is motivated and you can still "threaten" to put her back in harness, rather than later, when she is bigger and she knows that your only option for her is a booster, no matter how wiggly she is.

If you are really worried about it and you have the budget, I would get her a Frontier, put it in booster mode, and start booster training her. If she proves herself to be not ready for a booster, you can always reinstall it and put her in the harness (and keep her harnessed for rides with friends as motivation to get better at the booster). The frontier also has very high height and weight limits in booster mode -- if I am remembering correctly -- so it will keep her in a highback booster longer than some other booster seats. (I am assuming because you want to harness as long as possible that you also want to keep her in a highback as long as possible before moving her to a backless booster?)

 

[Athena]

Many booster seats are going to have that 57" overall limit, but I'd be more concerned about shoulder height because that's how most kids outgrow seats most of the time. For forward facing seats, a child's shoulder height should not be above the harness slot height or, for boosters, shoulder belt guide height. Where are her shoulders compared to the Nauti's top harness height? That will tell us her shoulder height, how much time she'll have in another seat, and which ones will be options.

I'd booster train her. Even with the Frontier, you'll have to install the seat every time you use the harness, and uninstall/tuck harness away, to use the booster. But you could get one in case she does not booster train well or if you want to use the harness for a long trip, or for the tall booster it provides, or if you just want to keep her harnessed. Otherwise, the Britax Parkway SGL is another booster that's on the tall end of the options, and I hear the similarly tall Recaro Performance booster is nice too. For her height, I'd stick with one pf the tallest options. If you won't need latch, I read the boost air is nice and tall, but it requires vehicle head rest support, as well as the tall Diono boosters, so that's something to consider. I think those are the 4 tallest options right now. I hope that's helpful.