When to switch to a booster seat?

[mom of 2 boys]

My son will be 6 in July and I still have him in a harness booster seat in the car. He is about to outgrow the weight limit on the harness (50 lbs.), so I can either start using it as a booster seat, or buy a new harness booster with a higher weight limit. He is tall for his age and doesn't try to move around a lot in the car, so I think he is "ready" for a booster seat, but if a harness is still considered to be the safer choice than I will probably just purchase a different seat. I guess my question is - at what point does a booster with a seat belt become the safer choice? Is it ever a safer choice? Thank you! 

[Guest]

I switch to a booster around 4-5, but my kids are bigger. Five point harnesses are almost always safer, even for adults, but practically speaking once they can not mess with the shoulder restraint and are big enough to sit up straight the booster and lap belt combo is fine. By six and the weight limit I'd definitely be switching and not worrying about it.

[barnwife]

From the Car Seats for the Littles website:
Once a child has outgrown their harnessed car seat, there isn’t any scientific information that gives us reason to believe that a harness is safer than a properly used booster seat. The key is the booster being properly used: where the child is of appropriate age and the belt is positioned properly. 

Read more here.

 

[Carrie12345]

I wish I hadn't moved my 10yo to a booster even now.  Everyone in our family is a car sleeper.  He slumps.  

[HTRMom]

"The ability to sit correctly for the entire ride, 100% of the time, happens somewhere past age 5 for most kids, and not until 6 or 7 for many others."

 

...I still don't have this ability...

 

 

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[rainbowmama]

I like having a harness at that age, because I don't like trying to keep kids up in the car. However, if your kid doesn't sleep in the car, a high back booster is fine.

[Upptacka]

I wish I hadn't moved my 10yo to a booster even now. Everyone in our family is a car sleeper. He slumps.

Agree.

I am hoping to keep my 9 year old in her 5 pt harness for as long as we can. She very rarely sleeps in the car, but she still slumps and fidgets and would never be "properly positioned" with a seat belt 100% of the time. So I have more peace of mind having her in the 5 pt.

 

We also have a close friend who was paralyzed from the waist down when she was in a car crash as a child (she wearing a seatbelt, but the shoulder strap wasn't positioned where it should have been due to her size). So we will ride out the 5pt harness as long as we can, even though the majority of her friends moved to boosters years ago.

[Elizabeth86]

Goof question. My ds is 5 and weiģhs 38 lbs and we still have him in a car seat. I guess he will move to abooster when he outgrows his car seat.

[mom of 2 boys]

Thanks, everyone! I guess I'm having trouble feeling comfortable moving to a booster, so I'll probably stick with a harness for a bit longer. Wish we could just walk everywhere!