Car Seat Safety

I wrote last week about us needing a new car seat for our 3.5 year old daughter. It was finally delivered two days ago, and today I had a Sheriff's Deputy come over and install it for me. I am really grateful for that because I would not have been able to install the latch by myself, as you really need two people (or one really strong one) to get a good, tight fit. Now it is installed, and we won't have to take it out for a very, very long time (or at least until she needs the belts adjusted, which will be quite awhile).

I landed up giving our older seat to my next door neighbor. For reasons I don't care to get into, I'll just say they are not safety conscious. Not one bit. I just felt like maybe they needed this seat for their 1.5 year old, since we couldn't do anything with it. The seat I gave them expires in two years, and has never been in an accident, so I figured, why not just give it to them.

I was horrified to see the seat they had for their son. First off, it expired a YEAR ago! The straps were all twisted and worn, the pad was torn and threadbare, and the chest straps were in the smallest slot when her son needs the middle one at least! I also noticed she only has the lap belt, so the car seat isn't even installed in her car very well either, but unfortunately, we can't do much about that. Oh, and she also told me she'll probably put the "baby" in a regular booster seat within a year or so because "he'll be big like his daddy".

Anyway, I did what I could, explained how to use the seat I gave them, and went on my way. I can't do much of anything about that anymore, but just hope they use it safely.

I also wanted so share some basic "rules" and tips.

1. A toddler/preschooler should be rear facing as long as possible. It is now recommended to rear face until at LEAST two years old

2. If a child outgrows their 40lbs/40" seat, once they outgrow one aspect, the seat is too small and they must be moved to another.

3. Check your state laws, most have height restrictions for only using a seat belt. Right now the consensus is to keep a child in a belt positioning booster till they are 4'9". WA state is 8 years or 4'9" (57"), but my 8.5 year old daughter is still in a booster seat because she is so petite. My almost 7 year old will probably be able to get out next year because she is only 54" tall, and will probably at or close to that height.

4. It's not "un-cool" to keep your preschooler/toddler in 5pt harness once they outgrow their smaller seat. Just because they reach 40lbs does not mean they are mature enough to be in a seat belt. In fact, most children aren't big enough for a seat belt booster until at least 4 years old. You can find many affordable 5 pt harnesses that fit a higher height/weight past the 40lbs/40". We bought our current seat, the Safety 1st Apex 65 and it fits up to 65lbs as a 5pt harness. The top strap/torso height is 17.25", which means it will fit for a very long time. My daughter has a 13.5" measurement from her bottom to the top of her shoulders, so she has a long ways before she outgrows the seat.

I wish I had known all this when the older kids were younger. I would have kept them in a 5pt harness a lot longer. Thankfully nothing happened.

Some good sites to check out

Car-Seat.org (the people on this board are EXTREMELY helpful and willing to answer any questions)

Kyle David Miller.org This website gives a lot of tips and education on using a 5pt harness.

The Great Carseat Debate

My daughter turned 3 in March, and is still in a 5point harness. She is also forward facing and has been since a year old. Before she was born, we bought a Graco car seat that fit up to 22lbs and 29", which fit her well for the first year, and then she moved into the seat that we had left over from her older sister. That seat will be good for another 2-3 years, so she has awhile to use it before it expires. Car seats are generally good for about 6 years after their manufacturing date.

She is about ready to be out of the 5point harness and moved into the belt positioning booster. Her car seat right now is a 5pt and converts into the belt positioning booster, but it uses the seat belt instead of the 5 point harness. I'm delaying taking her out because I am nervous about her being in a seat belt. I have to do it really soon though. I'm actually contemplating purchasing a booster seat for her that lets her still use a 5point harness for quite awhile longer, but this remains a debate between my husband and I. He thinks that we should use the belt positioning feature because the other kids were in belt positioning boosters by this age already.

Years ago when we had the twins, they were in convertible car sets for quite some time, and we put them forward facing in those seats at a year. We knew NOTHING about car seat safety, absolutely nothing. Once they outgrew the weight/height limits, they were moved into another seat. My Oma (grandma) told me that when she had her babies, they were in a box in the floorboards of the car!!! When I was born in the 80s, my mom said the car seats we had back then were nothing compared to what we have now.

I know that we put our children in belt positioning booster seats earlier than they should have been, but at least we haven't had a bad accident. I think the twins were in a high back one at 2? Our middle daughter was in this current seat (that our toddler is using) until she reached the size limit too, and she is now in a regular backless booster seat.

So here's the dilemma: Do I remove the 5 point harness straps from our youngest daughter's car seat and just use the seat as a booster? it will still be latched in to the seat. The seat has special slots on the side for the seat belt to go through, and then she can use this seat till she turns 5. Or do I go out and purchase a booster seat with a 5 point harness that she can use for quite awhile?

I was thinking of purchasing this one from Wal Mart for $45



The only problem I can see with this seat is that it only goes up to 40lbs and 43" for the 5pt harness, and then goes to the belt positioning booster. Now, she is already 40" tall and weighs 35/36lbs. Is it worth it to buy a seat so she can use a 5pt for only 3"? she'll probably grow that in a year or less (in between her 2nd and 3d years she grew 4"!!).
Or should we just stick with what we have and use that? It can be used as a belt positioning booster till 52".

There is also this option:



It's also $45, but has height limits up to 57" tall, but it's only a belt positioning seat. Wal Mart has a couple other options, but they are more expensive.

I do like this next one, but my husband would throw a fit if I said I wanted to buy it. It is too pricey, and like I said before, he thinks she can be in a seatbelt now. This one she can use the 5pt harness basically till she reaches 65lbs. I would like to buy it, but the problem lies in convincing my husband. He can be incredibly thick headed and I'm not quite sure how to get around buying $160 car seat and not pissing him off. *sigh*



Most of the convertible carseats/boosters you will find are only good for kids up to 40" or 40lbs or both, and kids at size aren't quite ready to be in a seatbelt. We're lucky nothing happened with our other kids when they were in seatbelts at those sizes.

I don't know what to do.

So my question is this: What would you do in my case? How old are your kids and what kind of seats are they in?