What a difference 5 years have made in the car seat world!

[abacus2]

When I found this wonderful forum, I was debating what to do with my almost 3 year old 38lb child. I was afraid I would need to put her in a booster. If I'm remembering correctly, my entire list of options was: Britax Marathon and clones, Britax Regeant, Safeguard GO, and Safety First Apex. The Apex and the GO wouldn't work for my no-headrest backseat, so I choose a Decathlon on sale for $220. My daughter outgrew the seat by height slight more than a year later.

Now my third child is the same age and similarly framed, weighing 38lbs. She just this week turned forward facing. Only one of the 5 harnessed seats I own has a 40lb limit. None of the seats I've purchased since have been as expensive as the Decathlon. I could go to my local Walmart or Target and find several harnessed seat options she could still use. Thank you car seat manufacturers for making the seats I need affordable and readily available.

 

[jeminijad]

You are so right.

My 2.75 year old is thisclose to outgrowing the Titan by height- if we only had the old shell heights, she'd be boostered early. Now there are a few seats that she could still RF in, and tons more she can FF in.

 

[MorgieBear'sMama]

I was just thinking about this.

4 years ago when I joined very few seats even had 35 lb rf'ing limits. I am so happy we now have 40-45 lb limits and the littles can rf until 4-5.

Trying to type on a tiny touch screen is hard, please forgive my typos.

 

[VoodooChile]

Amen to that!
I was JUST thinking about this the other day when I realized my ds has now out-rf my dd. When she was 2 1/2 she outgrew our classic MAs by weight, and our only options for 35 lb rf seats were the Dorel ones, which I hated (plus I figured she could have a growth spurt at any time, but wouldn't you know it, she sat at 34 lbs for a year). Now ds is happily rf in a 40 lb seat with tons of room to grow!
Although with the way dd was built as a baby/young toddler, I was seriously freaked about keeping her harnessed until 4/5. If someone had told me she wouldn't even hit 40 lbs until kindergarten, I never would have believed them.