Large 3 year old

[Neenham]

My son just turned 3 and is very nearly at the height limit in his RF Radian. We have the nextfit, but he's 39.5lbs, so at the limit. Should I turn him FF in his Radian or buy the Clek Foonf?

 

[carseatcoach]

Rear-facing is always safest, and there's nothing wrong with buying a new seat if you can afford it, but I personally would not buy a new rear-facing seat for a 3yo.

 

[Brigala]

That's totally a personal choice based on your budget and comfort level.

You have followed even the most conservative safety guidelines already by keeping him rear-facing until he reaches the height or weight limits of the seats he's riding in. There is nothing at all wrong with turning him forward facing at this point.

I have a big 3 year old, too, and I've opted not to buy her a Foonf. She's too big to RF in anything but a Radian or a Foonf right now, and she can RF a little while longer in her Radians but she'll just be forward facing pretty soon.

By the time my daughter is too tall to RF in the Radian, she'll be at the height limit for the Foonf anyway (the Foonf's limit is 43 inches inclusive, which means anything under but not including 44"; i.e. 43.9 inches). She will likely hit 45 lbs right about that same point also (right now she's 42 lbs and 42" tall with about 1" torso height left to grow before her head is too high for the Radian).

I guess what I'm saying is that even if you do buy a Foonf there's a good chance you won't get much if any more rear-facing time in it. It would be different if he were heavier.

 

[Baylor]

I would ff and not buy the foonf. You did good!

 

[kookaburra]

That's totally a personal choice based on your budget and comfort level.

You have followed even the most conservative safety guidelines already by keeping him rear-facing until he reaches the height or weight limits of the seats he's riding in. There is nothing at all wrong with turning him forward facing at this point.

I have a big 3 year old, too, and I've opted not to buy her a Foonf. She's too big to RF in anything but a Radian or a Foonf right now, and she can RF a little while longer in her Radians but she'll just be forward facing pretty soon.

By the time my daughter is too tall to RF in the Radian, she'll be at the height limit for the Foonf anyway (the Foonf's limit is 43 inches inclusive, which means anything under but not including 44"; i.e. 43.9 inches). She will likely hit 45 lbs right about that same point also (right now she's 42 lbs and 42" tall with about 1" torso height left to grow before her head is too high for the Radian).

I guess what I'm saying is that even if you do buy a Foonf there's a good chance you won't get much if any more rear-facing time in it. It would be different if he were heavier.

Thank you for writing this.

My 2yo DS is very tall (but average weight), and according to the growth charts will max out nearly all seats height wise except the Foonf by age 3. We turned his sister at 3 because it was a bit of a compromise between DH and me, even though she was smaller and could have probably stayed RF until 4.

Because our kids ride equally in both our cars, we'd need 2 seats, and I was having a hard time justifying a Foonf in our budget, especially since this is our last kid.