What car seat should your child be sitting in? How do you know when is the right time to switch seats? Here’s a complete guide.
Hi! I’m Lani Harrison. I live in Scottsdale Arizona and I’m a mom of 3. I’ve been a CPST (Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician) since 2015. I get questions almost daily on what type of car seats or boosters are appropriate for what ages. It is confusing! Manufacturers of course want to sell their seats, so they put the widest age range possible on the box. The same goes for the signs on the displays at stores like Target. But marketing is of course not always based on safety or science. I’d like to review what we call “ages and stages” in the car seat world.
Birth – about 15 months: A rear facing infant seat. Children of this age can also use a rear facing convertible (“toddler”) seat if it fits them correctly and positions the head correctly. Pay close attention to when the infant seat is outgrown. They each have a height limit, a weight limit, and a torso height limit and are outgrown when any of those is reached. Virtually every infant seat, including the Doona, must be discontinued when the top of the baby’s head is less than an inch from the top of the seat.
Until age 2, but ideally until 3 or 4: A rear facing convertible seat. This is a seat that starts rear facing and then can turn forward facing. It is very dangerous for the child’s neck and spine to forward face before age 2. Most convertible seats on the market today can easily rear face a child until age 3. It’s fine if the feet touch the vehicle seat! Many states including New York, New Jersey and California have a law that a child must rear face until at least age 2.
Minimum of age 2 – at least age 5: A seat that is forward facing and has straps. Make sure the seat is installed correctly, which includes the top tether strap that goes over the top of the vehicle seat and hooks onto a special bar. It’s an essential part of the forward facing installation. Some cars do not have these for every seat; in that case the car seat would need to go in a different seat in the vehicle. Make sure the straps are tight and adjusted correctly to the child.
Minimum of age 5 and 40 lbs: A high back booster. The disadvantage of a booster is that the child can move about freely or slump over if asleep. This would put them in a position where the booster and seatbelt cannot protect them. Because of this, a booster should not be used until a child can sit still and stay awake for the entire car ride. For most kids, this is not true even at age 5!
A no back booster can be used when a child has been in a high back booster for about 2 years according to the criteria above and will sit straight up without the back. Be sure to use the shoulder belt clip that comes with the booster if the shoulder belt is not touching the collarbone.
A child needs to use a booster until the belt fits correctly. That means the lap belt lies horizontally flat on the tops of the thighs, and the shoulder belt touches the collarbone halfway between the shoulder and the neck. For most kids, this occurs somewhere between 10 and 12.
The maximum age of the state law represents at what age the state wants to stop legislating about your child. Look at it this way – in Georgia, a child must be in a booster until 8. In Florida, the law is until age 5. If someone drives from Atlanta to Miami, is it safe to pull over and take the child out of the booster at the state line? Of course not!
A child should not sit in the front until age 13. This is written in every vehicle owner’s manual. The airbag is calibrated to hit the chest of an adult, not G-d forbid the head or chest of a child. If the child is 13 and the belt does not fit correctly in the front, that child should remain in the back until it does.
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Is there anything specific you would reccomend or advise for families that don’t own a car but occassionally need to take a cab or rental with a bunch of small kids?
Hi! There would be a different solution for each child. For a baby, you can’t beat the Doona for convenience, or any infant seat that clicks into a stroller. Every infant seat except the Nuna Pipa Lite and Pipa Lite r can be installed without the base. The Clek Liingo (with an o, very important) comes without a base just for that purpose.
The Cosco Scenera Next from Walmart fits under a stroller or can be looped around the handle. It weighs 7 lbs and can be used from birth – about age 3.5
The wayb Pico is pricey but SO lightweight. It can be used from about 2-5.
The whizrider vest is a good solution from age 5 and up. A no back booster can be used once the child is age 5 and 40 lbs and can sit still and stay awake.
Thank you for this important and informative post
I have a 5 year old that gets very carsick, going in the car in general is a challenge. He is currently in a backless booster but he definitely slumps and even sleeps, I see I need to change him to a better booster seat.
What is your opinion on this rider harness?
https://shop.saferide4kids.com/products/ridesafer-travel-vest?affiliate=216
Also do you have a recommendation on a booster seat with a back for a 5 year old that hates the car? I don’t realistically see getting him Back in the convertible car seat, being so confined makes him more nauseous
Thank you
Hi, the maxi cosi rodifix is a good booster for kids who get carsick. It has a recline available, and it doesn’t have the armrests at the waist.
The diono 3r is a good convertible if you want to try that. It’s completely open on the sides and has a rigid back. I’ve seen very good results with car sick prone kids in it.
The ride safer vest is not much different than a no back booster for a kid who slumps. You can lock the seatbelt if needed (pull it out all the way) but I can’t imagine that would be comfortable for a child who doesn’t like being confined. When a child is ready to stay upright and awake, I prefer the whizrider vest if a vest is needed.
Can you please advise on whether the seatbelt extenders are safe? It’s an item that you connect to the seatbelt to make it easier to strap in.
Hi, unfortunately these are not safe at all and are prohibited by every car seat and booster manufacturer. I’m sorry! The only use for this product should be an obese adult or teen who cannot otherwise buckle the seatbelt. If you are talking about a booster, there are some boosters that are easier to buckle than others and I’d be happy to make a recommendation. For example the maxi cosi rodifix has no armrests and is super easy to buckle. For a car seat, some are definitely harder to install than others. Consider using latch if that’s available for that seating position and that weight child.
I never knew this! Why are they unsafe?
Hi, the Car Seat Lady website has a fantastic article on them that I will link. First of all, they easily come unbuckled in a crash which of course is terribly dangerous. Second, for a booster they end up putting the buckle in the wrong place where it would be pressing against the stomach of the child. For a car seat, they often prevent the car seat from getting tight as they put the buckle right up against the opening to the car seat. https://thecarseatlady.com/seat-belt-extenders-2/
Hi, what car seat do you recommend for between age 1 when they’re done with the infant seat and age two when they still should be rear facing?
Hi! The traditional progression is to use a convertible seat that starts rear facing and then turns forward facing. Some examples are the Graco Contender, Graco Extend2fit, Nuna Rava. Keep in mind that age 2 is the minimum for forward facing. If you have a forward facing only seat with straps kind of waiting in the wings for you to use, then the cosco Scenera next from Walmart is a good choice. It’s a small rear facing seat that fits from birth until about age 3.5.
I have the cosco car seat for my 1.5 year old rear facing in a small car and I am finding it to be very flimsy. If I am making a sharp turn it tilts all the way to the side. Is it safe enough were a car accident to happen chvsh?
Hi! A correctly installed Car Seat will never tip to the side. So let’s try to troubleshoot. 🙂 If it’s installed with the seatbelt, make sure the seatbelt is pulled out all the way from the top and locked and then tightened. Usually when a seat tips, the cause is that the seatbelt was just put through the seat and buckled but not locked.
If it’s installed with latch, the latch strap should be so tight that when you put your hand on the seat where the latch strap goes through and try to pull the seat, it should barely move. I’m going to put two videos here that demonstrate a great technique to install.
https://youtu.be/pkcgvOLvKY8
https://youtu.be/Y6VHjabXB4k
Hi G, it sounds like your Cosco car seat may not be installed properly. I have a video that should help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkcgvOLvKY8 – but please reach out to Lani or myself for additional support.
Hi! I’m so sorry, I commented and linked to Saara’s videos and it auto deleted it because I linked to you too. So here’s what I wrote without the links. Search for saaracpst on YouTube for the videos!
Hi! A correctly installed Car Seat will never tip to the side. So let’s try to troubleshoot. 🙂 If it’s installed with the seatbelt, make sure the seatbelt is pulled out all the way from the top and locked and then tightened. Usually when a seat tips, the cause is that the seatbelt was just put through the seat and buckled but not locked.
If it’s installed with latch, the latch strap should be so tight that when you put your hand on the seat where the latch strap goes through and try to pull the seat, it should barely move.
Hi! The traditional progression is to use a convertible seat that starts rear facing and then turns forward facing. Some examples are the Graco Contender, Graco Extend2fit, Nuna Rava. Keep in mind that age 2 is the minimum for forward facing. If you have a forward facing only seat with straps kind of waiting in the wings for you to use, then the cosco Scenera next from Walmart is a good choice. It’s a small rear facing seat that fits from birth until about age 3.5.
I’m embarrassed to say that sometimes I double buckle for carpool. How bad is that? Any alternatives?
Hi, thanks for writing in. It’s never a bad thing to ask! Unfortunately there is no safe way at all to double buckle. I’m so sorry. An analogy I like to use is, would you ever squish two kids in the same roller coaster seat to get out of the park sooner? No! It’s very similar. One seatbelt protects one child. G-d forbid a million times, in a crash, in addition to the belt not protecting either child correctly, the children could impact each other.
The other problem is that if two kids fit in one seatbelt, each undoubtedly needs a booster.
It’s so hard to give up a carpool if there aren’t enough seats. Believe me I get it. It’s the name of this website!! 🙂 But just keep the roller coaster analogy in mind. It’s not worth the trade off in convenience to put the kids in that unsafe a situation.
Alternatives of course are using a different car, or perhaps compensating the member of the carpool who has a bigger car to do some extra driving shifts. Or slotting one of the kids into a different carpool.
Last of all, if you take a hard stance on it and refuse, that will spread to the other parents. Best of luck!!
Thank you for this informative post! I just ordered the Cosco Scenera Next for my 22 month old.
He has been in a forward facing seat ever since he outgrow his Graco infant seat – I didn’t realize it wasn’t ideal for him yet…
Thanks for giving budget friendly suggestions for keeping our children safe Be’H!
Wonderful!! You made my day with that comment! Feel free to be in touch if you have any questions at all about installing or using it. My contact info is at the end of the post. Thank YOU for being open to making a change!
I sure will! What forward facing car seat would you suggest for a 4 yr old?
Thanks! What car would it be going into? (They aren’t all compatible with all cars – some forward facing seats require that the car headrest be removed. )
Toyota Sienna minivan
The Sienna is great – The Car Seat world is open to you!
Here are some good ones
Chicco Myfit – has a recline available. Very padded
Britax Grow With You Clicktight Super easy to install. Very upright. Very wide internally.
Evenflo Maestro sport – can be used until 50 pounds with the straps. A terrific budget choice.
Thank you! I ordered the Evenflo Maestro sport.
The chicco is an amazing seat! I bought it for my 5 year old when he was around 3 and we still use it. Great quality, easy to install, and comfortable. We bought it on Lanis recommendation. I have the graco extend2fit as well, which we use with my 3 year old. It’s much more difficult to get a tight install. The strap is much harder to adjust.
Thank you for this. My sister-in-law who is an NP just told me that age does not matter in regards to sitting in the front seat. She said that it’s actually height that matters, which agrees with your comment that the airbag needs to hit the right spot. She said per medical advice that a child/person needs to be a minimum of 57 inches or 4′ 9″. Curious on your thoughts about this?
Hi! There are two issues with only going by height. The first is that it depends a lot on torso height and the length of the legs. If a child has a long torso but shorter legs, the shoulder belt might hit in the right place but the lap belt will be on the stomach, and the legs will be dangling. When that happens, kids – and adults! – try to put the feet on the floor. That moves the pelvis toward the front of the car which makes the lap belt ride up even further on the stomach. Conversely, if it’s a leggy child with a short torso, then the shoulder belt will be on the neck and the airbag would impact the head. These two hypothetical children that I’m describing could be exactly the same height in inches.
The second issue is that an airbag was designed to keep an average weight adult male safe. The chest wall of a child is not as mature, and an airbag has not been designed to impact the chest of a child. That is where the age does come into play.
So putting all of that together, once a child is 13, then an assessment can be done to see if the belt fits correctly. Many times, the belt will fit correctly in the backseat but not the front seat yet, as the front seats in the car are usually much deeper and more padded to accommodate an adult comfortably. Kids just sink into them.
Generally by 14 or 15 and after puberty, which of course comes later for a boy, a child will fit correctly in the front and be safe there.
My “baby” is 31m and his head is approaching the top of the rear facing convertible. Do I need to turn him around into a new high back harnessed booster when his head clears the edge?
Hi! What seat is it? Some of them are adjustable, and many people don’t realize that the seat itself can get taller.
Hi Lani! What car seats do you recommend for 3 across with one infant seat? I have a Honda Pilot, so it’s a pretty big car, but I can’t imagine an infant seat squishing between or next to my current two seats – chicco myfit and graco extend2fit. Do I need to spend the big bucks and get diono or clek seats? I should note that my older child is 5 but he doesn’t get weigh 40 lbs and I’d like to keep him in a 5 point harness for at least another year. Thank you!
Hi! Happy to help! What year Pilot is it? How old and heavy is the middle child?
2021. My middle child is 3 and she weighs about 27 lbs. She’s in the graco extend2fit forward facing. I wouldn’t be opposed to buying a convertible to use from birth with baby 3.
Ok! Unfortunately you’d have to give up the extend2fit as part of the equation. The graco slimfit3 LX is a super narrow seat that would work well forward facing in the middle and would also even let you flip the seat next to it. (Note this is different than the slimfit 3 in 1). For the baby, the clek foonf or fllo with their “infant thingy” inserts fit very well from birth and are narrow enough to work.
In response to Rachael above (it won’t let me reply to a reply) – Look on YouTube for installation videos for the extend2fit from the Car Seat Lady and Saaracpst. Both have similar techniques to get it SUPER tight.
Hi Lani
What car seat would you recommend for my 9 month old who is 20lbs and outgrowing the doona? Also we have 2 cars, is there such a thing as being able to move one car seat easily between both cars?
Hi! First of all, the Doona usually lasts till at least 15 months. Make sure you’ve taken out the bottom insert. It is outgrown at 32 inches or when the top of the head is less than an inch from the top of the seat.
I can definitely recommend convertible seats for you. It’s usually recommended to get one for each car. You can certainly get a nicer one for the car that’s used more, or something like that. Moving a seat back and forth increases the risk of error with each installation. Someone told me a story once where each parent thought the other one had installed the seat. The mom buckled the kid in and the seat was not installed. She stopped short and the car seat and the baby went lurching toward the front.
Let me know what cars you have, as not all seats are compatible with all cars. Also if you need something narrow or have a tall driver or front passenger.
Hi Lani
thanks for sharing all this info.
I have a 6 year old, a 4.5 year old and a baby of 18 mths old. right now my 4.5 year old is in the popular Graco no back booster. i realize now that i should probably give that to my 6 year old as he tends to sit on his leg so he lifts himself up a bit.
what would you suggest i get for my 4.5 year old instead? She is super skinny at 34 lbs. not sure her height but definitely taller than most kids her age.
my baby is in a cosco forward facing car seat. does she need to be rear facing?
Thanks!!
Hi! Two questions: How much does the 6 year old weigh?
And what car do you have? That will let me make sure whatever I recommend will be compatible and fit.
The baby does need to be rear facing. If you have the Scenera Next, you can just turn it around. And you are correct that the four year old needs to be in a harnessed seat. 🙂
my 6 year old is about 46-47 lbs.
we have the 2021 honda pilot.
the cosco seat i have is not the scenera. i think it actually cannot be reversed. maybe its meant for older kids?? i need to check the exact style. i think ill purchase the scenera for her so i can later turn it forward.
Ok! The Scenera is a good economical choice. It’s outgrown at about 3-3.5 though. The graco contender or sequel is a good choice to last till the child can be in a booster. (These seats go from rear to forward facing.)
The middle one can be in a graco tranzitions. It’s a terrific narrow forward facing seat that turns into a booster after.
Kol HaKavod – I give you such credit for realizing you need to make a change!
thank you so much for your inspiration and help!
hi! thanks for all this info! whats the story with expiration dates on car seats, specifically the doona
Hi! Each car seat (and base) has an expiration period. The Doona’s is 6 years from the date of manufacture. The Doona was first made in 2015, so the very first ones ever are expired. The date of manufacture can be found on a sticker on the underside of the seat and base.
It is necessary to follow it – I’m sorry. 🙁 The manufacturer and engineering team determine when they think the materials deteriorate to the extent that they wouldn’t hold up in a crash G-d forbid. Kind of like when you lift a 10 year old garbage bag of old clothes and the bottom falls out. Plastic just doesn’t last that long. And especially with the Doona, there is more pressure on all the parts than with other seats, since it’s being wheeled around.
thank you!
I recently read on the whizrider website “ NHTSA has informed us that the WhizRider does not meet the definition of a Child Restraint System as defined in FMVSS 213.”
Based on this recent posting, would you still consider is safe? Is it legal in the US? I bought it a year ago and use it when we carpool or when we travel, but now I am second-guessing!
Hi! I’m so glad you asked that. It’s a complicated answer but the very short version is, it’s still safe and you should continue to use it.
The long version is that the government does not have a category right now for vests. The other vest on the market, the Ride Safer, puts the belt across the stomach. For that reason, myself and many other CPSTs do not recommend it. BUT, they got themselves approved as a car seat by adding a tether to their product. A tether is not something you want on a vest. You do not want to hold back the shoulders and put the crash forces on the neck. You also do want the shoulder to move forward slightly so the belt will tighten on the lap.
Since the whizrider has not added a tether, for safety reasons, they cannot be classified as a car seat. However they have made their crash test results public and they pass with flying colors. It puts the belt in the right place and protects the child in a crash. But they are in a gray area of unapproval in terms of categories.
Because they did not make this clear in their marketing materials for instruction manual, they were forced to send out the letter. But that doesn’t change the safety at all. My guess is that within five years there will be a vest category for approval.
So you should continue to use it without any concern!