Light weight 4 year old on a plane?

[erin327]

We will be flying this fall. Our youngest will be 4y4m at the time. Now, at just shy of 4, she is 40" tall and 31.5 pounds. In the next 4 months I can't see her gaining more than maybe 2-3 pounds. This means at the time of our trip she won't be more than 35 pounds. It is a 2.5 hour flight. We will be using Disney's Magical Express and all Disney transportation while there so we won't need at seat there. She rides in radian rf at home. Do I need to take the radian for her on the plane? What would you do?

 

[EmmasMom]

My daughter was bigger at that age, but we used her nautilus on the plane and needed it at our destination. Are you sure you won't for any reason at all need a seat when you get there? No last minute ventures to the grocery store, target, or spontaneous beach trip? I just know I'd hate the feeling of being "stranded" even at Disney. On the other hand I know there are tons of people who make the trip without a seat. If you do bring one you would probably just want to bring a light weight travel seat. Sorry I'm not a better help.

 

[erin327]

No. Short of an absolute emergency, we won't leave Disney property. The only reason to bring a seat would be for the plane.

 

[tarynsmum]

We went to Disney in October and DS was very similar in stats (4.5, about 33lbs, right at. 40"). We didn't take anything. ME has seatbelts but not really install-able ones, and I would HATE shlepping the Radian around just for the plane. If anything, maybe a CARES harness for the flight?

 

[erin327]

We went to Disney in October and DS was very similar in stats (4.5, about 33lbs, right at. 40"). We didn't take anything. ME has seatbelts but not really install-able ones, and I would HATE shlepping the Radian around just for the plane. If anything, maybe a CARES harness for the flight?

Did you find the plane seat belt to fit reasonably well?

 

[tarynsmum]

Did you find the plane seat belt to fit reasonably well?

I would have preferred he had been in something (why I suggested the CARES) to you, it wasn't awful. He was good about sitting still and content to look out the window and watch a movie on the Kindle.

 

[cantabdad]

FAA's recommendation is to use a carseat or CARES for kids under 40 lbs.

The lap belt's fit to the child can vary on different airlines and seating configurations and with kids of different shapes, even those who have the same overall height/weight.

My daughter is 3 and around the same size (maybe more like 35 lbs.) and she used a Britax Marathon for our last plane trip. But just out of curiosity, I had her sit on an empty seat and buckle up while I was installing her carseat. It actually seemed to fit her just fine. (This was JetBlue, E190 aircraft.)

Would I be comfortable with her in just the lap belt? Maybe -- in the sense that even with potentially sub-optimal protection from the lap belt, she would still be statistically safer than if we drove the same distance with her in a RF carseat.

Of course, she would be safER in a carseat, and we needed one at our destination anyway.

There's not a ton of research in this area, but this FAA report from the 1990s describes lap belt performance on a 50th percentile 3-year-old test dummy as less than ideal but generally acceptable, especially compared to some forward-facing carseats that (at the time) did not do well:
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a285624.pdf


Overall, although CARES doesn't always get rave reviews, this does sound like the perfect situation for it -- you won't need a carseat at the destination, and the child is old enough (and the flight short enough) that I wouldn't worry too much about unbuckling or some of the comfort issues that are sometimes cited. Alternatively I would consider a lightweight carseat that is easy to get through the airport and can be kept as a spare for travel/carpool/grandparents.

 

[erin327]

The CARES harness says children up to 40" tall, right? Would you still be comfortable with that? She will be over 40".

If I don't go that route, what light weight seats might be good to consider for her? At home, we will leave her rf in her radian until she outgrows it. Then she will turn ff in it for quite a while. By then, my oldest will likely be ready to move out of her frontier and pass it down, so I don't really need a seat for down the road. We have the same set of seats in Grandparent's car, so shouldn't need one there. If I were to purchase a light weight seat for this trip, it would probably be used only on this trip or maybe on some future flight.

A Cosco Scenera is a seat I often see recommended for travel. At just over 40" tall, she would be very close to outgrowing it now, right?

 

[martygras]

We just did a combat shopping trip to Korea (less than 24 hours in country, walked from the terminal to the hotel and then out shopping) with my 4.5 year old who is probably 40-41" and 31.5lbs and the seatbelt fit on her surprisingly well.


I can't find a pic from that trip, but this is one from when she was 3y 9m and probably 38.5" and just under 30lbs... It's kind of hard to tell from the pic, but the seatbelt was touching her thighs.

 

[erin327]

We just did a combat shopping trip to Korea (less than 24 hours in country, walked from the terminal to the hotel and then out shopping) with my 4.5 year old who is probably 40-41" and 31.5lbs and the seatbelt fit on her surprisingly well.


I can't find a pic from that trip, but this is one from when she was 3y 9m and probably 38.5" and just under 30lbs... It's kind of hard to tell from the pic, but the seatbelt was touching her thighs.

Thanks!