What carseat for a 20kg 3 year old?

[MamaPan]

OMG this is toooooooo confusing!

[Ginger]

OMG this is toooooooo confusing!

tell me about it. wait till you try to install a carseat with a harness. absolute nightmare.

[Ginger]

just spoke to dh about it and looks like we'll be sticking to the maxi-rider and protecta harness. someone somewhere really needs to try to find a solution to fill in this gap. surely not all kids under 4 years old weigh under 18kgs?
the irony is we can never actually get ds1 to sit down and eat a meal!

[Olive]

if he were my son id use the maxi rider with adult seatbelt and antisubmarine thingy (its tucked down inside the the maxirider, it attaches to where the current buckle is)

ETA someone is also making a seat sutible for older/bigger kids, i have no idea who or when

[Ginger]

yeah, i'm just not sure that it's completely safe iykwim? apparantly it's safer to use the harness than just the adult seat belt.

[sweetpea678]

Although the advertised inbuilt harness weight it 18 kg, the crash test dummy they use is 22 kg. They say to 18 kg because it gives a leeway for parents who do not often weigh their children. I kept my now 7 yr old in her maxi rider harness till she was 20.5 kg, mind you she was 5 yrs old to. But it is up to you if you feel safe with him in it above the advertised weight limits.

My youngest won't break 18 kg till prob 5 years. She is 2.5 years now and only 12.5 kg. But will stay in an inbuilt harness till about 20 kg.

[2girls]

My understanding is that, while the Protecta harnesses are sold as being safer than just the adult seatbelt, tests have shown that they can actually cause injuries if fitted incorrectly and it's pretty easy to stuff it up. Kidsafe Victoria actually post a warning on them in their child restraint factsheet here There's some detailed research on this around somewhere which I can try to dig out if you want it.

If your child has outgrown the 5 point harness by weight then they can go into the booster mode, however has PP mentioned, they are actually tested up to 22kg so there's some leeway. I'm going to have the same issue with DD2 who has just turned 3 and is 17.5kg now. I'll be leaving her in the 5point harness up to 20kg unless she outgrows the straps height-wise (still a few cm to go so it's a while yet!) On the other hand, DD1 has only gone out of her 5 point harness recently at age 5 after only just hitting 18kg I bought her the Infa Vario booster with the adult seatbelt due to it's high safety rating. I'll probably get DD2 one of these when I have to convert her too as we have the basic Maxirider which doesn't rate too highly in booster mode.

[~me~]

if he were my son id use the maxi rider with adult seatbelt and antisubmarine thingy (its tucked down inside the the maxirider, it attaches to where the current buckle is)

ETA someone is also making a seat sutible for older/bigger kids, i have no idea who or when

That's what we have with the Hi Pod.

[Ginger]

ok......so if i buy either the infa vario booster or the safe and sound high liner, can i put him straight into one of these seats using the adult seatbelt and forget about the protecta harness?

eta- i just don't get it though, i mean why do they evn sell these protecta harnesses if you don't really need them and they are unsafe?

[2girls]

Ginger, I don't think they're unsafe if used correctly, it's just that it's so easy to not fit them correctly. As far as why they are sold, I guess it all comes down to baby store profit But yes, you can buy one of those boosters (or there's a Hipod one that's highly rated too) without the harness. I got the Infa one for $125. Although check out how the seatbelt fits on the MR you've already got - if you're happy with the anti-submarining clip and the "fit" of the seatbelt around his neck, you would be fine to use it with the seatbelt as Olive suggested. The manual should show you how to convert it to booster mode.