Booster Seat - Summerville,SC

Updated on November 20, 2008
L.G. asks from Summerville, SC
4 answers

Hi, we have our children in Graco convertable car seats in the middle row of our mini van. Our one child is about to outgrow his convertable carseat and we have his seat in the middle latches in our van. Does any one use a booster seat with the seat belt and the seat in the middle latches (so it is not next to the door)? Any recommendations on booster seats?

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M.N.

answers from Charleston on

You need to check your car manual to make sure you are able to use LATCH in the middle. Most cars do not allow this and if in an accident then its your fault if something happens to them not the car or car seat people.
How old are your kids? how tall? how much do they weigh?
Like another poster said, KEEP YOUR KIDS HARNESSED as long as possible. when in an accident, a 5point harness will distruibite the force all around the body. In a seat belt accident, the lap belt could cause internal bleeding. If your child is not sitting properly, your child will be a flying object. Seat belts are only good if our children sit in them right the whole time. They are many car seats out there in many budgets. Your best bet would be Car-seat.org. they they can tell you what seat would fit best for your budget, car, and child. I can not recomend a booster because my daughter is still harnessed at 4yr 6mo. but I have a list of carseats for you.
Graco Nautilus $170 when child out grows harness by height, will be used as high back booster. when child out grows hbb, then it will convert to no back booster. Harness is good for 6year, booster is good for 9years.
Britax Regant $280 harness only to 80lbs. britax is discontinu this seat because of the frontier. you may be able to get a deal on it.
Britax Frontier $280 When child out grows harness, use as high back booster. Also has side impact protection.
Evenflo Triumph Advanced LX $140 only harness to 50lb has been side impact tested
First Years Truefit $190 harness only to 65lbs. this is a big roomy seat. I played with one and fell in love with. My aunt got it for her grandson and they love it. Easy install
Radian 80 $250. harness only 80lb. This seat is very slim. in any car, you can get thress across. However the draw back is, it does not work in all cars. They is a new model coming out in January. You can get some great deals out on the old model befor the new ones come out.
Radian 65 $200 Harness only to 65lbs
I recomend you go to car-seat.org there are Car seat techs there along with other moms and dads. there, they can tell you what seat would work best in your car, and for your child. Please Please, for the safety of your children, put them back in a 5 point harness. I know my dr still says booster at 40lbs and forward face at 20lbs 1 year, but they are not updated with the lastes recomendations from AARP
(America Academy of Pediatrics) It is recomended to keep your child rear facing to the max limit of the seat. Also keep them harness longer.

1 mom found this helpful
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M.J.

answers from Charleston on

If your child is under 65lbs I would keep him harnessed! So many spinal injuries occur when I child is turned forward to soon or taken from a harnessed seat to a booster too soon. We use the Britax Boulavard and absoluty love it!! It is pricy though.. I have also seen the Graco Nautilus which sells for about $122 on Amazon. It can also be harnessed upto 65lbs. If you insist on getting a standard booster, I would get the full back type with the protective side wings. Not sure about the latch thing. Good luck to you:)

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.G.

answers from Savannah on

You might want to double check your middle vehicle seat and your owners manual as most vehicles don't have LATCH for the middle seat, only the side seats.

As far as car seats go, if they are just now growing out of the convirtable seats, they still need to be in a front facing harness car seat. We had the Graco Platium (SP?) for my son and hated it!! You couldn't tighten the harness with the pull strap, you had to put your had behind the seat and pull that way first then with the strap in the front!! He could also loosen the harness on his own as well and he was only around 20 months old at the time!! We sent it back for a refund and got a Britax Marathon. Happy as pie with that one. We also, just recently got a 2nd front facer to use in the hubby's truck and for when I watch friends' little ones, and got the Evenflo Chase DLX. It has nice padding (took the head padding out cause it interfered with the harness straps, and put the butt padding under the carseat cover as it interfered with the buckles on the harness. Can only use the cup holder as having both tray and cup holder won't allow my car door to close all the way!). The harness tightening took me a bit to get used to but it seems to hold the kids in ok and the kids don't complain about being in it.

So there is my 2 cents!
Good luck!
S.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.W.

answers from Macon on

I am a paralegal at a personal injury lawfirm and also a mother of an almost 3 year old. PLEASE do not get one of the little booster seats that has the short back or no back to it. I have seen too many injuries in the last 9 years. I literally just signed up a case 30 minutes ago that was a front end collision with a 4 year old child in the back seat in a booster. Upon impact, she was thrown out of the booster into the windshield, landing in the front seat and fracturing her skull. The mother did everything right and had a proper booster seat, just one of the short ones. Keep a harness as long as possible and go with a full booster seat as opposed to the shorter "half" boosters.

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