@trimeresurus Nope, not a chance. My 3.5 year old is 55 pounds and over 3.5' tall. His car seat was rated to 40 pounds rear facing and we had to switch him forward facing right before his second birthday when he maxed that out. He can ride in it forward facing with the harness until 65 pounds and I won't even consider moving him to a booster until he maxes that out. And truthfully, depending on when he hits that weight we might be looking for another car seat with a higher max because I may not be comfortable putting him in a booster if he gets there soon. To be in a booster safely they have to stay sitting up in the correct position during driving and not unbuckle themselves, I wouldn't trust any 3 year old to use one safely.
@jackrachel3 Unfortunately if you are in the US all current car seats max out at 65 pounds for harnesses. There used to be some that went higher but they’ve been discontinued.
@ezzeking Ugh, okay that's good information to have. Luckily my giant has slowed down a lot in the growth department in the last year or so. Hopefully we can get close to 5 before he maxes out the harness.
@jackrachel3 A lot of people like the ride safer harness which is like a wearable booster if their kid outgrows the regular harness but isn’t quite booster ready. It goes up to 110 pounds in the largest size.
@trimeresurus Generally five is the minimum age maturity wise for a booster. Additionally, boosters are a hard 40 pounds, meaning she can’t ever slip below it safely, so most CPSTs recommend your child be consistently weighing at least 41-42 pounds before transferring them too a booster.
With a booster the child has to keep their legs down at all times, is your three year old mature enough not to sit criss cross, put legs up, etc. if your three year old falls asleep in the car will they keep their head up at all times to maintain the belt position? Most three year olds do not have that level of maturity.
Personally, I would not be comfortable with it. In your situation I would get a forward facing harnessed seat that converts to a booster so you aren’t really needing to buy an extra seat anyway because it does both.
@trimeresurus Never. I'm keeping her harnessed until it's impossible. Honestly I don't understand why cars don't have harness-style seatbelts for everyone.
@trimeresurus That’s a hard no for me. My 5 year old is still in a 5 point harness and will be for at least another year or two. My almost 8 year old still occasionally has to be reminded to sit properly in his high back booster, a 3 yr old won’t know how to do that at all
@trimeresurus So my husband and I are v tall and kids are a couple of sizes bigger than age-we just last month put our 5yo in a booster. She is the size of an average 7yo and is just over 55lbs just some perspective ! It’s more about their spine development honestly
@trimeresurus I have a 4 year old who's 99th percentile height and weight and is regularly mistaken for a 1st grader. She's still in a harness - she uses a convertible seat in one family car and a regular carseat rated to 65 lbs in the other and I plan to keep the harness on the convertible one at least until she starts Kindergarten next year.
@trimeresurus Check out Graco tranzitions. It's reasonably priced, will forward harness to 65lbs and 4ft. Then it can be a high back booster when a backless booster
@trimeresurus My daughter is 3.5. She’s about the exact size of yours… 40.75 inches and 40 lbs. She rides rear-facing in my car with a Britax One4Life. In her dad’s car, she rides forward-facing with 5-point harness in a Graco TriRide. The only reason she forward faces in his car is because she hit the weight limit for rear-facing in the TriRide.
I would definitely not be comfortable with her riding in a booster at all. She’s nowhere near mature enough to sit properly without the harness.
I would get her a seat with a higher weight limit if you are able to.
@trimeresurus I just switched my 6.5 year old to a booster and he’s typically very responsible/cautious, he’s still dicking around in that booster seat now that he has some freedom from the harness lol. His 3.5 year old wild brother will 100% be waiting as long as possible especially after this transition with my oldest.
@trimeresurus I moved my daughter a week or 2 before she turned 4. At that point she had met the minimum size for the high back booster for more than a year. She never unbuckled herself while driving a single time, and was much more comfortable.
@mekinney01 That is an option, though my 5 yo weighs less than my 3 yo (by a pound or two). And I don't really like the high back harness booster my 5 yo is in, their is very little cushioning. I'm actually thinking now of getting them both new 3-in-1s.
