Booster Seat Advice

I agree with the other posters--he should still be in a 5-point harness.

The Babycenter.com car safety board has been very helpful for me in the past. The ladies on the board are Certified Child Safety Technicians. They can help you find the best seat for your child--just tell them your child's age, weight, torso height (from bum to shoulders), and the type of car you drive (and if you have other car seats that need to fit with the new seat, like if you have a three-across situation). The ladies on the board will respond very quickly and help you find the best seat for your child, your car, and your budget.

Here's a link to the site: http://boards.babycenter.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=bcus...

Hi C.,
I have an Eddie Bauer booster seat for my 4 yr old. I love it, it was a little expensive though. I do suggest finding a booster seat with a five point harness if possible. I started off with this disney princess booster seat where you use the car seat belt to secure the child in the seat. Well one day while driving on the express way she unbuckled her self. I had to pull over and buckle her back in. It totally freaked me out!!!! She can't get her self out of the five point harness. her little fingers are not strong enough to push the button.
Hope this helps!!!!!!

The others posts are definately correct about a 5 pt...a child should be 4 and 40 lbs before moved to a booster seat...getting a convertible car seat/booster seat sounds like what you might need. The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia has a great website that shows you what types of seats a child should be in based on their age and weight. They have a large study that has been going on for over 5 or 6 years and have posted results on car seat issues and accidents. Here is the link: http://www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/division/generic.jsp?id=...

Also I saw you live in Erie...I work for State Farm Ins and they work with an org in Erie each year for a car seat safety check, I believe it's over Memorial Day weekend. It's held at the Target in Erie. Here is the link for more info: http://www.statefarm.com/learning/child_safety/penn.asp

They have car seat safety inspectors who can look at your seat and show you how to correctly install (90% are not installed properly) and tell you if your seat is correct for your son.
From what I understand it can be a big event but you may need an appt...give a call. It's a free seat inspection and no follow up.

Good luck!

Hi

There is a new booster with a 5 pt harness out there made by Britax called the Regent which is suppose to be super safe...we are planning on checking it out for our 3 yr old boy who just crossed the 30lb mark. He is also in the roundabout and he looks uncomfortably lanky in it these days.

I agree with going with a 5 point harness. My son was also able to get the others unbuckled but the 5 point is to hard, plus it's more secure when in an accident.

I also recommend going to Babies R Us and try out the car seats They have a automobile seat in the store and you secure the seat to it, then I put my son in each brand to see which one he fit best in and which one I could actually operate...there was one model that neither my husband, sales rep or I could figure out how to buckle.

HTH

I have the Britax Roundabouts too and cried when my son outgrew them because I love LOVE LOVE them. We ended up buying an Evenflo booster with a 5-point harness. It took some getting use to how to adjust the straps (It adjusts on his chest instead of between the legs, but I like it. And he can't escape from it. If I had it to do over, I would have sunk the money into the Britax Marathons instead of the Roundabouts on the front end. I will tell you I did a lot of research on the front end in terms of Evenflo versus Graco. I chose Evenflo because when he hits the point of using the seatbelts, Graco had a lot of bad reviews and I wanted a seat I would get some use out of.
H.

My son isn't that age, but I would suggest going with the Britax Regent. You will most likely have to order it online, but no matter what you go with you definately want to keep him in a 5 point harness. Here is a youtube video showing you why:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ

Goodluck in your quest for a new seat!