When do kids graduate from carseats to boosters?
Mine is 3.3 years old, about 40 inches tall and about 40 lbs.
My parents think it's time, but I disagree!

DistractedMom,
I read up on this just last week, as I have a 3 1/2 year-old. I'll post the link below, but to highlight the AAP recommendations:

Booster seats are for older children who have outgrown their forward-facing car safety seats. A child has outgrown his forward-facing seat when one of the following is true:
He reaches the top weight or height allowed for his seat with a harness. (These limits are listed on the seat and are also included in the instruction booklet.)
His shoulders are above the top harness slots.
Belt-positioning booster seat
His ears have reached the top of the seat.

Everything I read says stay in the car seat as long as they haven't outgrown it, so if his shoulders aren't above the highest strap hole (and I just learned last week doing this same research that the strap should always be at or above the shoulders on a forward-facing car seat, not at or below like it is for rear. big difference that apparently matters a lot for safety!).
Maybe this info will help silence the critics!
http://www.aap.org/family/carseatguide.htm

Here is a link to the Alabama car seat laws:

http://alisdb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/CodeOfAlabama/1975/32-5-222.htm

Convertible seats in the forward facing seats must be used until the child is at least five years of age or 40 pounds. After that, booster seats are required until the child is six years of age.

If I understand correctly, the child has to meet either the age or weight requirement, not both? I wasn't sure about that. You child meets the weight requirement, but not the age to move to a booster seat.

It says that a rear facing car seat must be used for infants till one year or 20 pounds. My LO will probably be 20 pounds several months before he is a year old. He already weighed almost 18 at his 6-month check-up. So, when does he move to a forward facing seat?

Thanks, Lawmommy!

Thanks LawMommy a million for the info. I just swapped Ronald's car seat around to forward facing on Sat, but didn't move up the straps to above his shoulders. I will do that tonight. I had no idea they should be above the shoulders, b/c I hadn't read up on the forward facing seats as much as I did on the rear facing. Again, thanks.

Thanks to you, too, SarahMay. But that law confuses me, too! I mean, what do I do? He's over the weight limit on our carseat, but is he too young for a booster seat under Alabama law?

I'm not planning on using actual boosters with either girl, just because everything I've read says the 5 point harnesses are the safest. We have Britax Marathons, and those are good up to like 65 pounds or something.

Britax does make a booster - the regent - that is still five point harness. I think that's the only one I'd consider personally.

Can you by a Britax at local stores, Moozle?

I wrote a column about rear facing car seats so I have all this info from the local police and Safe Kids....

BTW, Alabama law is not the safest when it comes to turning your baby around. It says your child must be 1 year old OR 20 lbs. The safest way is to be 1 year old AND 20 lbs. And even then the child should remain rear facing until the upper limits of the seat, I was told.
Jack is 23 lbs and 16 mos old and still rear facing. His seat goes up to 32 lbs. I don't plan on turning him around any time soon. The stats on how unsafe it is for a child to be forward facing during the second year of life alarmed me.

That said,
Booster info...lemme see what my materials say....
According to Safe Kids:
Ideally, the child should be 4 and 40 lbs.
Kids should remain in boosters until they are 8 years old (4'9" tall) or 60 lbs.

According to Alabama law:
Kids should be in forward-facing convertible or forward facing car seats until at least age 5 or 40 lbs. They should be in booster seats until age 6.

Hmmm...I see what you mean...if your child is 40 lbs but not yet 4 what should you do? I'd call and ask someone.

Here is the contact information for the Safe Kids reps in Northport and Tuscaloosa:

Janice Hagler at Northport Police Dept - 333-8196
Charlene Wilkinson at Tuscaloosa Police Dept. - 349-0556

HTH!

Thanks, Kristi! I think I might call those numbers, tho I'm now leaning toward getting a carseat that's good up to 60+ lbs, because I just don't feel comfortable with the thought of my LO restrained by nothing but a flimsy old seatbelt.
I don't know if y'all noticed or not, but I still think of him as a baby & sometimes have trouble letting him grow up (as proven by my previous posts on diapers, pacifiers and cribs...)

Kristi is right about Alabama law - we're not leaders in child restraint safety laws. I think the booster seat requirement is especially insufficient. It only requires that a child be in a booster seat until age 6. My 7 year-old weighs 55 pounds and is only 50 inches tall (4'2", nowhere near the 4'9" recommended by safety experts for moving out of a booster). But I can't tell you how many of his friends and classmates no longer use booster seats. I expect him to be in a booster well past his eighth and probably ninth birthday!
As for what to do for now, DistractedMom, I think your idea of getting another car seat that will accomodate your child to a higher weight is a good one. We have two Britaxes (Target carries at least one style), one that goes up to 6o-something pounds (the Marathon) and another that goes only up to 40 (the Roundabout), but since my LO is only 33 pounds at almost 3 1/2, we've got some time to go even in the Roundabout. Britxes are much more expensive than many other brands, but I think it is well worth the price - they're very safe and very durable - plus easy to use!

They do have them in lots of places locally - target, baby bundles, and a few others, BUT I bought both of mine online.

If you don't mind online shopping, you can get a MUCH better deal. The marathons retail for approx $269 or so.

MOST of the places you buy from online (not target.com or anything with a physical location though) do NOT charge tax - that right there is a huge savings with the high tax here. They also almost always do free shipping.

Plus, if you are open to different patterns, they put end of season patterns on sale a lot.

I got each of my two marathons back in October I think. Bought locally they would have been $269 + tax. I paid I think $190 or so, no tax and no shipping, each. So, I got two for just a bit more than the price of one.

So, shop around! I avoided britax for a long time because of the price, but now that we have them, I'm in love!

SarahMay, everything I was told by the Northport Fire Dept and certified carseat installer said you should not turn your car seat forward facing until he is 1 AND 20 pounds. I just turned Ronalds around and he was 20 pounds at 8 months old, he is now 15 months old and 27 pounds. I only turned him around b/c of our trip to disney and needing to be able to hand him things without get out of my seat to do so. I probably will turn him back around when we get home b/c it is so dangerous until they are over 2. I bought Ronald a convertible seat with higher weight limits once he outgrew his infant seat. The one I bought was by Evenflo, and it goes to 50 inches and 57 pounds I think. They are harder to find though. As long as your LO is happy, I would leave him rear-facing.

Wow, even $190 per carseat would totally break our budget! Do y'all think the Britax is actually safer than others? Because we're pretty poor, but we'd scrape together the money if I really thought it would make a big difference.

Is there a list of safety ratings somehwere? Or someone who tests these carseats and can give info?