Baby state update: car seats

[ailbhe]

I took them to be weighed yesterday. Linnea is almost three years old and weighs a bit over 16kg, or just over 35lb 10oz, dressed except for shoes. Emer is almost eight months old and weighs almost 9kg, or 19lb 6 oz ish, naked.

So Linnea is of an age and a weight that some carseat manufacturers say she could go into a booster seat, which would be handy, but I can't find any unbiased information on their safety and usefulness, really. Her height is tricky to gauge - according to her clothes she's about 104cm. And Emer is still ickle enough to be in all the baby gear.

Comments

[tiggsybabes.livejournal.com]

Kate is still in an actual car seat. She weighs 3 stone & 2 lbs & I have no idea how tall she is, probably slightly longer than average.

She's in a graco seat that uses the actual car seat itself, rather than a 5 point harness & It converts to a booster seat too.

She started using it when Holly was heavy enough to start using the maxi cosi one that Kate originally had, so she would have been 3 & a bit.

They'll probably both end up in one once Holly is a bit bigger.

[lackofgravitas.livejournal.com]

Hello ... please excuse the stalking, I wandered on by because you were in the loos, and I wondered how you and your girls were getting on these days.

Would you count Which? as unbiased? I can give you some scores and advantages/disadvantages on specific seats if that would be at all useful.

I've just bought a high back booster that does well in their tests, to put in my parents' car so we don't have to keep switching the carseat in and out of ours/theirs. Not actually used it yet ... we'll keep using the 'proper' carseat until N outgrows it one way or the other (exceeding the weight limit, or just not fitting). I wouldn't feel at all comfortable putting her on just a normal booster, she seems way too small ... but then if Linnea is about 104cm then her weight is in her height, whereas N's is more in her width, which I think makes a difference.

[ailbhe]

We have a carseat in Rob's parents' car, which we'll use whenever we use their car, but we don't have a car of our own. As soon as she's safe enough in a booster seat, I can use taxis to get to hospital, for example, rather than bus and walking.

My gut feeling is that she's not yet safe in a normal booster, but my gut feeling is very anti-car anyway, so I tend to check it with harder data.

[alison.hemuk.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

I wouldn't take her anywhere on just a booster in my car. But that's my gut-feeling, I have no hard evidence either.

FWIW, E is about 125cm, ~25kg, and he's on a high-backed booster in our car, and on just a plain booster when he goes from here to my mum's in her car. Lulah's roughly 110cm, bit over 20 kg, and she's still in a 5-point harness seat. At some point in the next few months, I'll get her a high-back booster seat (she has one already in my mum's car). In fact, I'll probably get two the same (to minimise fusses) and put E's current one in my mum's car.

[ailbhe]

Thank you, that is very helpful indeed.

[iuil.livejournal.com]

I switched Sorcha to a high-back booster last year when she was almost 4 years old, around 18kg and had outgrown the weight limit for the Stage 1 seat. We have a couple of booster cushions that get used occasionally but only for short journeys (ie if my Mum is giving her a lift to school) even though they're not recommended until 6 years old.

I don't trust salespeople to tell me when my kids can move up to the next stage. I was told that I could move Ruaidhrí to forward-facing when he was 8.5kg on the grounds that he was sitting unaided for 30 minutes despite the fact that he was just barely 7 months old!

The fact is that up to 12 months, the vast majority of babies haven't the calcifiction in their neck bones to withstand a crash if they're forward facing. The new EU legislation and the Which report makes it a bit simpler now.

[k425.livejournal.com]

Linnea is 10cm taller than Jack. Goodness!

Jack's still in his first seat and we probably won't start looking at anything else till he's nearer 4. At which point I want a proper car seat rather than a booster seat for him, but one which can transform into a booster later (Transformers! Transformers! Boosters in disguise!).