Child car seat how tall

This maximum height must not be exceeded. In most cases, the maximum height marks the end of when you can use the seat, but in addition, also check step 2! Ideally, you should look for toddler seats already some time before your baby has reached this point. Such a movement can happen if the belts are not perfectly tightened.

Even though we know that parents do their best to always tighten the belts correctly, it can happen — when in a rush or if the baby moves a lot — that the belts are not as tight as they should be. It can be used from approximately 6 months of age up to approx. According to the regulation UN R i-Size , children must remain rear facing for at least 15 months, but we at BeSafe recommend to keep your child rear facing until at least 4 years of age, preferably longer. Some seats in this group can be used both rear or forward facing.

We at BeSafe advise you to keep your child rear facing for as long as possible or at least until the age of four. Therefore, we recommend you to move your child to a booster seat only when all three of the following conditions are met:. If your toddler seat is approved to UN R, you have to stop using your seat once the maximum height of your seat according to its approval is reached.

It is time to change to another seat once your child has reached one of the two limitations, whichever comes first. Once your child has reached this maximum, you have to change. However, practically you might not always be able to use the seat until the maximum weight as your child can outgrow the seat in height before.

Check step 2 for this! This is the car seat that your child will use for the longest time — from approx. Using a high back booster seat instead of only a booster cushion ensures that your child is provided with a side impact protection during the whole period of use.

We recommend you to use a high back booster seat for as long as possible, even if not required by national law anymore to give your child the best kind of protection. If your booster seat is approved to ECE R, you have to stop using your seat once the maximum weight has been reached, which is 36 kg based on the regulation.

If your booster seat is approved to UN R, you have to stop using the seat once the maximum height has been reached, which is cm based on the regulation. Each country has own regulations regarding until when a child car seat has to be used. In the UK you are required to use a child car seat until your child is either 12 years old or cm tall — whichever is reached first. In Ireland, children are required to sit in a child car until either 12 years old or cm tall.

The appropriate age is generally at least 4 years old. If you can safely keep your child in a harnessed car seat for a while longer, do it. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that kids use a car seat until they reach the maximum height or weight for that five-point harness. Three-year-olds are not ready to ride in a booster seat, even if they fit within the manufacturer's height and weight guidelines.

To sit in a booster seat, children should:. Many convertible and harness-to-booster car seats have harnesses rated to hold kids up to 65 pounds. In fact, children in the U. Thanks to advances in car seat safety technologies, four-year-olds that might have been moved into a booster 10 years ago can still safely ride in a rear-facing car seat.

Even fairly tall children can remain rear-facing through toddler years and then switch to a forward-facing harness until kindergarten age.

Any step up in car seats—from rear-facing to forward-facing, from the harness to booster—is actually a step down in safety. The 5-point harness spreads crash forces over more points on a child's body, lessening the potential force any one part of the body must take in a crash. While some high-back booster seats have a minimum weight of 30 pounds, kids should weigh at least 40 pounds before riding in any booster seat.

From a practical standpoint, parents find that it is easier to keep the child sitting properly when in a car seat than in a booster; in a booster the child can unbuckle themselves more easily than in a car seat. They can also lean and slouch, which is dangerous. They can't do that in a car seat when the 5-point harness is properly adjusted. The seatbelt cannot protect a child who is not in the proper position. Most children cannot be trusted to sit properly until at least five years old.

Many parents find that their child is actually much older than four before they can be expected to sit still in a booster. If your vehicle has lap-only seatbelts in the rear seats, keep your child in a harnessed car seat as long as possible. Harnessed seats can be installed with a lap-only belt. Extended harnessing, or using a harnessed car seat with a higher weight limit, is vastly preferable to moving a child into a lap-only seatbelt. If you have a pre vehicle with a lap-only belt in the center, it is important to know that car seats can safely go there but boosters and big kids should not.

Boosters and big kids need the protection of a shoulder belt. Therefore, if you need to have a kid ride in the center, make sure to use a car seat with a 5-point harness there. If you think your child is outgrowing their harnessed car seat, first be sure that you're checking the right signs to judge the fit.

Most children outgrow harnessed car seats by height long before they outgrow by weight, particularly with the pound seats. When your child is forward-facing, the harness slots should be at or above the child's shoulders. When the shoulders are above the top slots, it's time to change seats.

A forward-facing car seat is also outgrown by height when the tops of the child's ears reach the top of the car seat shell, unless the manufacturer states otherwise in the instructions. When checking the weight limits of the car seat, and be sure you're looking at the forward-facing harness weight limit, not the booster weight limit if it is a harness-to-booster seat. We use cookies to allow us and selected partners to improve your experience and our advertising.

By continuing to browse you consent to our use of cookies. You can understand more and change your cookies preferences here. Read on to find out what to consider to keep your baby or child safe in their car seat, or head straight to our car seat reviews to pick a Best Buy in your next size up. But the height limits can differ between manufacturers. Maxi-Cosi infant carriers often only go up to 75cm, which is around 12 months old, while Cybex car seats are approved up to 87cm, which is closer to 18 months old.

Remember, always keep your baby in the seat until it reaches the upper height limit to ensure that your baby is adequately protected in the event of a crash. Car seats approved to the older but still legal R These include:.

The sheer number of options for R44 is one of the reasons the newer regulations have less options. To check the weight of your baby, step on some scales to weigh yourself and then weigh yourself again while holding your baby.

Then simply subtract your weight from the combined weight of you and your baby. Car seat weight groups explained.