booster seats-advice wanted.

[ludoscotts]

hi does anyone know are children allowed to use booster seats from 3/4(ive seen some from age 3 and some from age 4)in cars at any time or are they only allowed to use them from such an early age if there is not enough room in the car for a full size car seat? ive read a couple of different articles on it and ive read conflicting reports.

We dont have a car but do have a seat for emergencies or rare trips in the care with friends. would be so much easier to just have to store a booster seat rather than a huge car seat for such a few occassions a year.

[edanna]

I'm not sure but it may be to do with weight. Booster seats are not v safe though, according to Which?

[ladywotlunches]

I asked my nursery nurse and she said that the weight of the child was the most important factor. My 3 year old went into a stage 3 seat (which you use with the seat belt rather than 5 point harness) as he's quite tall and over the 15 kg weight limit. The 5 point was also getting very difficult to fit, esp in wintertime with coats etc.

At the same time I did buy a booster seat to use for friends and to put in other cars for those occasional trips. It can just be left in the boot of my car so is perfect for those impromptu lifts. The booster bit is the same as the bottom of our stage 3 seat. and the Britax version I have has a seat belt holder which attaches to the adult belt and keeps it on the LO shoulder rather than digging into their neck. Only thing is if you're on a longish trip and there's no-one in the back for them to lean on, then sleeping is a bit difficult as there is no headrest.

Of course, booster seats won't offer as much protection as a full seat (back to the Which? point), and we all want to keep the littlies safe. But the safety features are there in the event of accidents, in which case most cars should have plenty of safety features/crash panels/airbags etc should the worst happen, before the seat even has to come into deployment. I'm not saying accidents don't happen everywhere, but for the odd occasion ludo, I think the benefits of a booster for you will outweigh any downsides of not having 'side impact wings' and the like!!