Anonymous wrote:My 8.5 year old is still in a 5-point harnessed seat with wings (Britax Frontier). Having survived a car crash as a teenager, I am paranoid about car safety. He'll be in this until he maxes out and understands why I feel so strongly about it. For travel, we have a backless booster -- unless we're at my family's house where we keep a Britax Highpoint. I like the wings for long car rides...he can lean against them for resting, reading, etc.

My very small 8.5 just swiched out her diono radian-she already uses a backless booster when traveling in other cars.

To those who went backless, what did you do to avoid falling to the side when the kids are sleeping on a long car ride? This is an issue with us now that we removed the back, because the shoulder of the seat is now uncomfortable.

My 8.5 year old is still in a 5-point harnessed seat with wings (Britax Frontier). Having survived a car crash as a teenager, I am paranoid about car safety. He'll be in this until he maxes out and understands why I feel so strongly about it. For travel, we have a backless booster -- unless we're at my family's house where we keep a Britax Highpoint. I like the wings for long car rides...he can lean against them for resting, reading, etc.

OP again. I also looked at buying those seat belt buckle holders like you see on amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Toddlers-Arthritis-Seatbelt-Universal-Minivans/dp/B07G3FTWZQ/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=selt+belt+buckle+holder&qid=1567703054&s=gateway&sr=8-4) but everything I read says those aren't considered safe - though I'm not sure why given it doesn't change lap/shoulder path of the belt.

Anonymous wrote:Our 7 year old 99th percentile son still uses a full booster in our car. He still fits in it and is handy for him to nap in when we are driving. We have a backless booster when we travel that we use because it is easier to carry and he is fine in that.

I don't see the need to move him to a backless booster when the one that he has now works just fine. Why toss it and get something else?

We'll stop using it when he outgrows the need for a booster.

OP here. Fit is part of our issue/motivation for considering the change. We have captains chairs in our second row SUV and since we switched from using the 5pt harness to the seat belt we've found the width of the Britax Frontier doesn't leave room for the seat belt to be easily buckled and unbuckled. The buckle is angled tpwards the seat base so you have to shove the seat over and wrestle to get the buckle in the attachment - all of which is very difficult with a child sitting in the seat. This isn't an issue in our second SUV, but it in our primary daily driver.

7-8. 6-7 from harnessed to high back booster depending on the seat fit. I don't care what other parents are doing. In my car, you use have a good belt fit.

We switched around 8.

Like other posters, my 7 year old likes having a back on her booster, so why not? I can take it off if she decides it's babyish at some point.

7 year old in high backed booster. 5 year old in 5 point harness. They haven't asked to not use these, so I don't offer.

7.5

Our 7 year old 99th percentile son still uses a full booster in our car. He still fits in it and is handy for him to nap in when we are driving. We have a backless booster when we travel that we use because it is easier to carry and he is fine in that.

I don't see the need to move him to a backless booster when the one that he has now works just fine. Why toss it and get something else?

We'll stop using it when he outgrows the need for a booster.

We switched by 6 (maybe a bit before) when he outgrew the 5-pt harness and the high-back booster we had could not really be positioned correctly in our car. I did a lot of research and couldn't find anything indicating that the 5-pt harness was any safer than the booster at that age, or that the high-back booster was any safer than backless.

I'd say first or second - maybe a bit earlier if they're big or have older siblings.

Kindergarten/1st grade

I realize its also weight and height dependent but, assuming averages, at what age did you transition your kids?

Trying to decide if we should transition our avg height/weight 6.5 yo to a backless booster now. We stopped using the 5 pt harness on our Britax Frontier already, so it's really a question of whether the head protection ("wings") alone are worth holding off on switching to a backless booster. Just curious what others concluded int he same situation. Thanks