Backless booster or high-back booster

Our guys are in a booster that had a 5 point harness, but converts to a booster. I don't like the belt positioner, so I want to move to a true booster. But I don't know whether they need a highback booster or just the small backless booster. Aaron is about 47" and 52 lbs. Jacob is a bit smaller. Sitting in the backless booster, their heads do not yet reach the seat's headrest. They are still prone to fall asleep on trips over an hour.

All of the guidance says that they do fit in a backless booster. But I worry about head support when they fall asleep. And I worry about side impact protection (our car does not have side air bags).

Any advice?

 

We are not quite there yet, but I am looking at this one and this one from Graco. Meghan isn't quite there for weight, but Nolan is definitely getting too big for his car seat.

 

I attended a session on car seat safety his past week which was terrific. I really think everyone should have to.


I would say yes to a high back - especially if they still fall asleep. A seat belt only does what it should in an accident when it is positioned correctly. Better safe than sorry.

 

We are ready for boosters.

I like the ones that Mo mentioned above. The head rest is a big plus.

They are on sale at Target so I think I'll head there tomorrow.

We do have an extra pair of backless boosters to use in DH's truck and the grandparent's cars (which doesn't happen all that often).

 

We initially got the Graco Turboboosters, the plus with them, is that you can remove the back and use them as a backless booster (If you can wait until June, I can give you 2, well, actually, I could give you one at SP-we have 3 booster seats ). We removed the backs around the boys' 6th birthday. It got to be uncomfortable for Jon, since he is long, and the couple of inches taken up by the back pushed him too far forward in the seat.

 

I have two of the ones pictured I am trying to sell. They were great. I highly recomend them,especially if you have sleepers. IMO much better than the booster bottom only.

 

We had the high back boosters that converted to backless when you removed the back. They worked well for us. It was great when they would fall asleep (the only reason why I wish we still could use them). At some point they did become uncomfortable for the girls, like Sharon said, the back did push them forward an inch or two and it became a problem. We have been out of them for a while (age 9 and size-nearly 5 ft tall), and the girls still do fall asleep, and wake up with sore necks. I wish there was a way put side rests in the back seat.

 

I second (third, fourth???) the recommendation of the Graco Turbobooster with the removable back. We have the ones with memory foam for their tushies and they are great! My boys are quite tall and large for their ages - 6.5 and about 60 lbs. and still fit comfortably in the high back. I like having the removable back, though. They are smaller and easier to transport if we are traveling or if the boys are riding in grandma's car or something. They've been using these seats for over 3 years now and they've held up great, wash well, have reversible covers, and adjust easily.

 

We also have the high back boosters from Graco. I find that they have more head support in those than they did in the Radian 65 we had prior. We're really happy with them.

 

Another vote for the highback boosters by Graco.

 

Well, we ended up with the Graco highback. After I posted this I watched crash test videos. While in front or rear collisions, it probably doesn't matter, for side collisions, the highback provided a lot more head protection. Given that we live in a very urban area - where making turns across busy streets is an everyday thing - we decided the head protection was necessary. The boys are so much more comfortable in these than the previous booster. Hopefully they won't grow too fast and get uncomfortable. I know, wishful thinking.

Sharon, thanks for the offer. :friends: But we just couldn't last any longer in the boosters we had.

 

This is what we have. We maxed out the height on the Graco 5 point seats we had. Our Pedi said that although we did not meet the suggested weight requirements (the girls are less than 40lbs reccomended but over the minimum of 30 lbs) that the danger of using them past height limit (can damage neck when head is over the back of the seat) is worse than being too light.

We really like them so far!

 

I just bought Graco Turbobooster for Leah and I/she is very happy with it.

 

We were wondering this about 2 weeks ago. I went to the store and had them sit in several different high-back booster seats, they did not look comfortable at all. My kids aren't real big, Zack is 41 lbs and Paige is 44 lbs. Paige is kind of tall, but Zack is not. The seats did not look "roomy" enough. I couldn't imagine having to sit in it for a 4 hour car ride back home. We chose to go backless.

 

We have graco highback boosters as well. Jessy couldn't handle a 5 point harness after heart surgery. They do keep them from falling over when they fall asleep