Advice needed - baby car seat questions (merged)

lil_me

My 5 year old is just under 135cm and have bought him one, but had to do it without advice as shops refused to sell us one as he's over the weight they are tested to, yes he's a BIG 5 year old. Problem being now is it sinks under his size.

BernadetteN

bargainboy wrote:

seen this before but i think it is absoloutly shocking that a retail shop has an effect on the law and it is not the likes of the AA, RAC, and major insurance companies that have brought this law in seems to me that halfords have done for thier own benefit however the outcome is the correct one

Are you really implying that Halfords have brought in this new law?

I think the EUrocrats may disagree with you as the new law is the result of an EU directive and has nothing to do with any retailer. The EU directive will eventually mean that the same car seat rules will apply across 25 nations. It is an enormous step forward.

Just look up some DfT research statistics on the predicted effect of the new law - 90% less chance of injury/death with a car seat under 135cm than with an adult seat belt, 1800 less child injuries/deaths per year.

You can be a sceptic if you like. My kids are aged 1,5,8 and 10 and they have NEVER sat in a car without a car seat.

BernadetteN

lil_me wrote:

My 5 year old is just under 135cm and have bought him one, but had to do it without advice as shops refused to sell us one as he's over the weight they are tested to, yes he's a BIG 5 year old. Problem being now is it sinks under his size.

If you contact Britax, their advice will be that their seats have to be advertised for a weight up to 36kg but they have tested them and approved them for a weight up to 45kg - that should cover even most obese children under 12 years old.

I have a 10 year old who is 146cm tall and weighs 30kg and he still has room left in his Britax Hi-Liner.

ailuro2

We have had to revert back to a booster seat for our 7 y .o. She has been using a seatbelt diverter for the last couple of years.I contacted the local police, and the government body responsible but neither had heard of the diverter- y'know the trangle thing that holds the seatbelt in place.So we would be fined if stopped and not using a booster cushion.She complained a bit at first because it wasn't as comfy as the car's own seat, but is used to it now.

One other thing that was highlighted that we never thought about before- if you have only one child in the car,the safest place for them to be is in the centre back seat if it is a three point seatbelt rather than a lap belt. Better for them in case of a side impact crash,apparently.

dora37

BernadetteN wrote:

- that should cover even most obese children under 12 years old.

Just reading throught this thread - and think that though your reply was useful and informative, the above comment was rather unnecessary!

jellyhead

i thought ouch when i read it too, i've got a big child.

a quick look at the height and weight charts suggests that 36kg for 135cm child is too heavy but it's difficult to say because both measurements are off the scale, and while 135 is the average height for a 9 year old i think 5 year olds as tall as a 9 year old would be heavier than that 9 year old simply because younger children tend to be chunkier.

i wouldn't like to hear a negative term applied to my ten year old child, he's very small and extremely skinny, i remember all the comments i got for being so thin as a kid and didn't like it. my boy eats a healthy diet and there's no real reason for him to be underweight. if he was female no doubt he'd be called a lollipop lady like victoria beckham, callista flockhart etc.

my other child at a year old is at the very top of the scale for weight and off it for height, he's a huge thing and people thought he was 2 when he had his birthday, not 1. again he has a healthy diet, he's not obese.

i'm not keen on these recent murmerings about weighing schoolkids and sending letters home to the parents of the heavy ones - my baby will always be the heaviest in his class simply because he's the size of a much older child. he will be able to ditch the booster at age 6, as has a boy in my nephew's class at school. again not an obese child but a very large one.

there will be children who top the centile charts because of medical problems too, those who grow too fast (marthams?) or who have prada willi (?) syndrome.

toadhall

all my girls were in car seats leading up to boosters. now my 7 year old is the only one left as the other two aged 9 and 11 are 145cm and 155cm. the 7 yr old is 127cm so the rate shes growing it wont be long before she'll be out too! although OH's car the seat is built in - good old Volvo.
looking at the government website I dont think they looked at the way children especially girls are growing nowadays. my 9 yr old is not the tallest in her class by any means! goodness how tall she is going to be when she finishes growing.

Purdy_1

My 10 yr old nephew is 4ft 5in to the mm. Would he have to sit in a booster seat as he is under 12?

I will have to invest in a booster for my 6yr old. It was only a few months away we got rid of one from the garage. I could kick myself now

Poppy9

lil_me wrote:

My 5 year old is just under 135cm and have bought him one, but had to do it without advice as shops refused to sell us one as he's over the weight they are tested to, yes he's a BIG 5 year old. Problem being now is it sinks under his size.

I had opposite problem when DD was 6 months old (now 11). She was too long for her Britax Rear facing seat and too light and young for the Britax forward facing seat.

jellyhead

my baby outgrew his rear facing seat by 6 months (he wasn't too heavy but he was too tall), so did the baby down the road, he's even bigger than mine, same height but a lot heavier. his mum got a combination seat, and i did too. britax do them, they cost over a hundred though. it's a bigger seat that lasts up to age 4 (depending on how big the child is i suppose lol!).

you can use them for a newborn, but nobody thinks their newborn will be such a large child lol! anyway, the baby still faces the rear until they are 9 months old or so, but it's a bigger seat so more comfortable for taller babies. then you can turn it around for forward facing.