When to switch from infant carrier to tall back booster seat?
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012 at
4:22 pm
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You’re missing a couple of important seats in this equation. There’s the infant carrier (which I tend to believe is uncomfortable after about 9 months old for the baby), then there’s the convertible which goes rear-facing until your child is at LEAST 2 years old or as long as they will fit (according to current AAP recommendations) and then there is the forward facing car-seat with a harness which should be used until 4-5 years old at least, and THEN there is the high-back booster seat which is appropriate for 4-8 years old depending on the height of the 4 year old (and most of the time it’s better to wait until almost 6 years old.)
So yeah, it’s far too early to switch either to a forward facing seat (which should be at the earliest 2 years old) and WAY WAY too early for a tall back booster seat.
So look for a convertible car seat. The Britax Line makes some very comfortable ones if you don’t mind spending the money (tax returns are coming up and you could always use it for that, the new ones rear-face to 40lbs and forward face to 70lbs so they’ll easily last you until your child is ready for a booster), the Graco My-Ride goes rear-facing to 35lbs and forward-facing to 65lbs (so you’d use it probably until he was ready for a booster), or something like the Cosco Scenera (at Wal-mart for $40, rear-faces to 35lbs but forward faces only to 40lbs so you’d have to get a forward-facing harness seat to carry them to 5-6 years old.)
But it’s definitely too early for a toddler forward facing upright seat, perfectly fine for a rear-facing convertible seat.
Check your states laws. Many laws states that babies may not be front facing (wich is what the tall back boosters are) until 1 year old.
My daughter is 6 1/2 months and 17 1/2 lbs and 26 1/2 inches long. We bought her a convertible seat for Christmas and will be putting it in the car shortly. It’s a rear-facing/front-facing/booster and she fits great in it. The one we have also came with an extra cushion to use because it’s rated from newborn up so if you feel he needs some extra support you can use that. We got an Evenflo Symphany 65 and it’s a great seat, easy to install, easy to use and adjust.
I switched my daughter at 9 months, even though she could have stayed in her carrier for awhile. She just got too heavy for me to carry around!!! You want to get a convertible car seat. (one that can face backward and forwards). The law is usually that the child has to be one year AND 22 lbs to face forward in the car. As for a convertable car seat, I recommend getting a Britex car seat. It’s one of the top of line child seats. It can face forward and backward in the car. And can hold a child up to 65 lbs.
You want a convertable car seat, NOT a booster.
Graco MyRide 65s and Sunshine car seats are top rated car seats.
Professionals recomend rear facing until children are 2, if not longer.
We never used an infant seat, we always used a convertible seat right home from the hospital. We LOVE our True Fit http://www.thefirstyears.com/Convertible-Car-Seats/True-Fit We also have the Evenflo Triumph 65 and the SK (Diono) Radian. These seats have high top slots of 17 inches. DO NOT be fooled by going by weight limits, the top slot height is what matters. (The Evenflo Titan for example, advertises to 50 pounds, but in use actually fits a child up to age 3 as the top slots are low. and I know ours would never weigh 50 pounds at age 3!) Our 8 yr old is barely hitting 65 pounds at 4’9". As for rear facing, the new recommendation is age TWO. The ‘state laws’ you read about are seriously out of date and proven unsafe. The NHTSA recommends RF to age THREE! The seats I listed have deep seats, and are great for rear facing older toddlers.
http://aapnews.aappublications.org/content/30/4/12.2.full
http://www.nhtsa.gov/ChildSafety/step2
The law is 22 lbs AND 1 year they CAN go forward facing.
Until then you need a rear facing convertible. Many rear facing convertibles have a 35 lb or higher weight limit now.
After a year you CAN put them forward facing but if they stay rear facing until 2 or the weight limit of the rear facing seat they are 5 times safer in a crash when rear facing.
The latest recommendations are that a baby should be rear facing for 2 years. It is the safest option.
The baby can turn forward at 2 per the AAP http://aapnews.aappublications.org/content/30/4/12.2.long, but the NHTSA recommends rear facing through age 3 http://www.nhtsa.gov/ChildSafety/step2
Here’s a visual explanation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sssIsceKd6U
If you’re still not convinced, it’s explained in more detail here http://carseatblog.com/5168/why-rear-facing-is-better-your-rf-link-guide/
And the sad story of an 18 month old 33 pound boy, big and tall for his age, who broke his neck in an accident because he was forward facing http://www.joelsjourney.org/
Pictures of children as old as 4 years, 9 months rear facing
http://www.photoshop.com/users/CarSeatsAreCool/albums/2a9fce7bbf5040bab2f8925bc7b7a2e4
Here’s my list of recommended car seats with rear facing weight limit in parenthesis:
Sunshine Kids Radian (65SL – 40 lbs., 80SL or XTSL – 45 lbs.)
Britax Marathon 70/Boulevard 70/Advocate 70 CS (40 lbs.)
Safety 1st Complete Air (40 lbs.)
Learning Curve True Fit models (35 lbs. but taller than most)
Graco MyRide 65 (40 lbs)
Evenflo Triumph 65 (40 lbs.)
Evenflo Momentum 65 (40 lbs.)
Cosco Scenera (35 or 40 lbs)
Once your baby is at least 2 years old- but hopefully longer- then you turn the convertible seat forward facing and use in it forward facing harness mode. Around age 6 the child should be ready for a booster seat (that uses just the car’s seat belt, not the car seat’s harness)