8 year old car seat

[Anonymous]

I know some 8 year old uses high back 5 point harness, high back booster seat, high back booster with seat belt, backless booster with seat belt or zero carseat. What is the law for maryland? What do you use?

[Anonymous]

Maryland law does not require any car seat or booster if a child is 8 or over. And for children under 8, it is only required if they are under 4'9".

We still use a high back booster for our 8 year old as she is small. But with a lap belt. The booster ensures the lap belt hits her in the right places.

We also have a backless booster we use for cabs, travel, riding in someone else's car, etc. She's totally fine in it. But since we do a lot of freeway driving, I prefer the high back booster for extra safety as our family car set up.

[Anonymous]

They are called the car seat police and you should never admit to them that you don't even know exactly how much your kids weigh at any given time

[Anonymous]

We just switched to a backless booster for our 8 year old who weighs 45lbs.

[Anonymous]

My 8yo DD is small, so we have her in a high back booster using the seatbelt in one car. In the other car, she uses a backless booster with the seatbelt.

[Anonymous]

5 point harness is such a PITA. My kids can't undo them and take forever to put them on. We removed the 5 points from her carseat and let her use a seat belt. My car also notifies me when it clicks and unclicks.

[Anonymous]

The law is age 8. But AAP strongly recommends kids under 4’10” be in a booster. Most 8 yr olds are not that tall. Some kids aren’t 4’10 until they are 10-12. By then you’ll get a lot of push back from them about the booster, which is understandable, and I’d consider letting go shy of that height. But I’d keep her in at least a basic booster until she is closer to 4’10”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:5 point harness is such a PITA. My kids can't undo them and take forever to put them on. We removed the 5 points from her carseat and let her use a seat belt. My car also notifies me when it clicks and unclicks.

Really? I feel like my kids could get in and out of these at 4-5

[Anonymous]

There isn't a safety difference between high back and backless, once you're using the shoulder belt. My kids used 5 point until they outgrew it. And backless until their feet comfortably touched the floor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There isn't a safety difference between high back and backless, once you're using the shoulder belt. My kids used 5 point until they outgrew it. And backless until their feet comfortably touched the floor.

That’s not true. High back offers better side impact protection. Both because they limit the body’s side to side movement in an accident, and because of the actual wings absorbing more of the force. They also position the belt better for smaller kids, and keep them in position better.

That said, we removed the back when my 8 year old asked to, but I would have loved to move the seat to the center position if that was possible.

https://www.consumerreports.org/babies-kids/car-seats/keep-the-back-on-your-booster-seat-a4806370987/

[Anonymous]

Good for those parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:5 point harness is such a PITA. My kids can't undo them and take forever to put them on. We removed the 5 points from her carseat and let her use a seat belt. My car also notifies me when it clicks and unclicks.

Really? I feel like my kids could get in and out of these at 4-5

My four year old can get in but it takes forever. Definitely can’t get out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The law is age 8. But AAP strongly recommends kids under 4’10” be in a booster. Most 8 yr olds are not that tall. Some kids aren’t 4’10 until they are 10-12. By then you’ll get a lot of push back from them about the booster, which is understandable, and I’d consider letting go shy of that height. But I’d keep her in at least a basic booster until she is closer to 4’10”

4’10 seems extreme unless you have a particularly tall car/SUV — by 4’7 my 9 year old’s head was uncomfortably close to the interior roof of our car and compact suv when she was in her booster. At 4’10 her head would literally touch it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:5 point harness is such a PITA. My kids can't undo them and take forever to put them on. We removed the 5 points from her carseat and let her use a seat belt. My car also notifies me when it clicks and unclicks.

Really? I feel like my kids could get in and out of these at 4-5

Yeah +1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are called the car seat police and you should never admit to them that you don't even know exactly how much your kids weigh at any given time

LOL