Please Help Me Understand Booster Seats

[cyberfish]

My daughter just turned 5. I graduated her from using her Graco Nautilus as a carseat to using it as a booster gradually in the 2 months before her 5th birthday. She sits in it properly, and the seat belt falls where it should. So she's been riding this way for about 3 months now.

My understanding of the high backed booster is that it is to just be plopped on the seat of the car and the car seat belt holds both child and booster in place. Is this right? It feels like a huge change from having the seat firmly latched in place on the seat when we used it with the harness.

Also, my daughter is 43 inches tall but only weighs 38 pounds. I'm banking on the Swedish idea that it is not weight but age that determines appropriateness for a booster but I see a lot of states with laws about the child being 40 pounds. I'm really more concerned with safety than legality but I'm wondering what is up with the 40 pound thing. I honestly can't see making my daughter go back into a harness.

Thanks for any help here.

[leighi123]

The GN can be LATCHed as a booster. Not all boosters you can do this, but the seat you have is one of them. The point of a booster is to make the adult seat belt fit a small child, and to serve as "artificial hips". A HBB also offers some side impact protection.

This is why they say 40lbs for boosters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2LFo8vVi04

There is just more chance of submarining, the belt not fitting correctly, people boostering kids that are way too young, etc. I personally would wait until she is 40lbs, but if she really does fit and sit correctly using these guidelines:
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=38893
Then you are probably o.k.

[nutritionistmom]

You may want to reread your manual. I can't speak for the US version, but the Canadian one clearly indicates that a child must be 40lbs to use the Nautilus without the harness. Maybe one of the US techs can speak to this.

[pregnant@40]

I definitely no expert, but common sense indicates that 38 + some pounds is close enough to 40. Obviously there hasn't been safety testing at lower than 40 pounds, but that doesn't mean that 38 is not as safe for a 5yo.

I'm not advocating, just stating an opinion with which the "experts" will disagree.

[chickabiddy]

The US Nautilus allows booster use at 30#, and very few (I think maybe two?) states actually require a child to be 40# to be boostered.

I agree that a 38# 5yo is fine in a booster if she can use it properly (which IME is iffy with a new 5yo) but disagree that in general "close enough" is good enough when it comes to carseats. Some seats pass testing by mere millimeters. We don't know how close is too close to make a seat fail.

[pregnant@40]

Chickabiddy, you are a great resource & thanks for your input.

[cyberfish]

Thanks everyone, for your input. That video is so, so sad. That poor little girl.

But my daughter has been securely harnessed until recently. And yeah I practically when I saw the 30 pound minimum for using the Nautilus as a booster. Not something I'd ever do with my particular child.

Part of my decision to switch was because I read something that said for age 5, kids may actually be safer in a seat belt for head on collisions if they sit properly. And my dd is pretty mature for her age in some ways and will sit properly. I'm glad to hear 40# is not some magic number for everyone.

I wonder about the LATCH, though. Is that safe to do if you're using it as a booster? Why do so many boosters not have this, then? This is where I am confused. Should I Latch the seat or leave it the way it is?

Thanks again, everyone.

[chickabiddy]

Graco allows the Nautilus to be LATCHed in booster mode. We can (hopefully!) assume that this means it's been tested that way.

Not all companies allow their combination seats to be LATCHed, or put LATCH on their dedicated boosters: this may be because they were not testedthat way, or it may be that they tested and failed.

Why do many boosters not have LATCH? It's a convenience, not a safety advantage for the booster rider. Other companies may not consider it an important feature, and/or they may not want to go to the expense of developing and testing LATCH attachments for boosters.

[leighi123]

one of the points of using LATCH for a booster, is so that when the child is not in the car, in a crash the booster wont fly around and hit YOU in the head. You can also just buckle it in when its not in use.

[leighi123]

Originally Posted by pregnant@40

I definitely no expert, but common sense indicates that 38 + some pounds is close enough to 40. Obviously there hasn't been safety testing at lower than 40 pounds, but that doesn't mean that 38 is not as safe for a 5yo.

I'm not advocating, just stating an opinion with which the "experts" will disagree.

"close enough" isnt good enough when it comes to carseats. You dont FF a 18lb 11month old b/c they are "close enough" to 1 and 20, because its flat out not safe. Minimums are just that, the absolute minimum size of kid that passed for that seat/setting. Go below (or above) the manufacturers stated weight/height limits and you are using your child as a crash test dummy.

OP's child fits within the manufacturers specifications for the seat she has, in other boosters a child that size may not meet the minimum requirements (boosters rated from 40#) so she should not use those. The GN she can use from 30lbs so she is at least following what they say is o.k. based on testing.

[blessedwithboys]

Originally Posted by leighi123

one of the points of using LATCH for a booster, is so that when the child is not in the car, in a crash the booster wont fly around and hit YOU in the head. You can also just buckle it in when its not in use.

This is why I bought a clek. I love that I don't have to remind him to buckle it in every morning when he gets out for school.

OP, since the Nautilus allows it, I recommend you LATCH it in, even if you are rarely in the car without dd. That one time that she is not in it and it's not secured could be the one time you crash...

I think that in the future, we will see more and more, if not all, boosters with LATCH for just this reason.

[cyberfish]

Latch the booster. Got it. Thanks, everyone, for your advice.
Though I have to admit that with all the stuff we have in the car sometimes, a flying booster seat would be the least of my concerns for hitting me in the head.

[nutritionistmom]

Originally Posted by cyberfish

Latch the booster. Got it. Thanks, everyone, for your advice.
Though I have to admit that with all the stuff we have in the car sometimes, a flying booster seat would be the least of my concerns for hitting me in the head.

Yes! I took the ice and snow brush out of the back window of the car I was doing an RF install in at Saturday's clinic. I asked the woman nicely to please put it in her trunk. I know I wouldn't want to get that in the face.

[chickabiddy]

My daughter is in a bowling league. I cringe every week at all the families who just stick the bowling bag (with an 8#-16# ball inside) in the back seat. (I confess, though, even as a CPST who knows better, my car is cluttered. No knives or bowling balls, though.)

[zippy_francis]

It is so funny that you say that because I often wondered about people who have TONS of garbage in their car. Does it ever occur to them if they were in a wreck all that stuff will come flying at you? I keep my car clean for that reason! Plus I just don't like having my car look junky. ;-)

[Llyra]

Originally Posted by chickabiddy

My daughter is in a bowling league. I cringe every week at all the families who just stick the bowling bag (with an 8#-16# ball inside) in the back seat. (I confess, though, even as a CPST who knows better, my car is cluttered. No knives or bowling balls, though.)

I was in a car accident when I was in my twenties, and had a gallon jug of cider just narrowly miss hitting me on the head. Instead, it flew right past my head and cracked the windshield. I can only imagine what it might have done to my head, if it hit hard enough to crack the windshield. And even so--- I'm not as careful with this as I should be.

[cyberfish]

Yikes on all the potential projectiles! I do worry about things, such as the stroller, the tire iron, etc. launching themselves from the cargo hold in the back. No trunk on this car.

Not to hijack my own thread But it's all good food for thought.