# booster for tiny 7 yo and 3 carseats in Passat wagon



## Awaken (Oct 10, 2004)

Ok, I have 3 questions (I think!)

We're about to have baby #3 and have a Passat wagon, no hope of getting a new car anytime soon.

My 7 yo is very small, probably 33# and 40" (guessing). My almost 4 yr old is the same weight, a little shorter. Someone is giving us a 1-yr used infant seat for the new baby. Currently we have a Marathon and a Roundabout. The Roundabout is now 7 yrs old so I believe it's expired so we'll have to get rid of that.

We want to move the 4 yo into the Marathon, that leaves needing a new seat for the 7 yo. What kind of booster is narrow enough to fit 3 across in a station wagon with a Marathon and infant seat, has a good safety profile, and is appropriate for a smaller big kid? Money is definitely an issue, however, if we have to pay a lot for a seat that's safe and fits properly in the car, then we will.

Oh, and our car doesn't have LATCH, if that matters.

(And as an aside, I feel terrible just throwing in the trash what seems like a perfectly good, although expired, Britax Roundabout! Is that really my only option? I wouldn't pass it on to someone else if it's not safe, though, obviously.)

Thanks for any help in figuring this all out! There are just so many options out there, I am having a hard time narrowing down what to even consider!


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## DahliaRW (Apr 16, 2005)

I don't think you'll be able to use the MA and an infant seat and get 3 across.

I'd look into a radian for your 7yo who should have a lot of time left in it (being so tiny). If that will fit with the infant seat and MA your good. Otherwise your 4yo might need a radian too to make it work.


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## Maedze (Dec 16, 2008)

Britax seats expire 6 years from date of manufacture, so the Roundabout should be disposed of, although you could retain the cover and sell it if it's in good condition.

I agree that you'll need one, probably two Radians in the mix here.

In your shoes, I would put your four year old outboard in a forward facing Radian, the newborn middle position in a rear facing Radian, and the 7 year old in either a Recaro Vivo or a Graco Turbobooster, both of which fit small booster riders very well.


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## WC_hapamama (Sep 19, 2005)

My oldest was a tiny 7 year old, and we used a Graco Turbo Booster with him. We used to be able to get 2 TurboBoosters and an MA in the back of my MIL's Lexus


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## Mama2Xander (Jul 3, 2004)

With a child the size of your 7 year old I personally would want to keep them harnessed for safety reasons (actually I don't think a booster would even be legal here for a child of that weight), but keep in mind too that if you have a tight 3-across set up, it will be easier to buckle up a harness than to cram your hand in between the seats to do up the seat belt for a booster.


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## Maedze (Dec 16, 2008)

There are no known 'safety' reasons for harnessing a developmentally typical, albeit petite, seven year old. It wouldn't be 'unsafe', but there's no reason to believe it would be safer than a good booster, either.


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## TheGirls (Jan 8, 2007)

Safetly wise I don't think it matters, but it might be EASIER to harness the 7yo, especially since she has lots of harnessed time left in most seats. I'd get 2 radians, and put the big kids in them for now with the baby in the bucket, then when the baby outgrows the bucket, put the oldest in either a dedicated booster or something like a Nautilus, depending on what you can make work. At that point the baby goes into the other Radian.


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## Mama2Xander (Jul 3, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Maedze* 
There are no known 'safety' reasons for harnessing a developmentally typical, albeit petite, seven year old. It wouldn't be 'unsafe', but there's no reason to believe it would be safer than a good booster, either.

OK, interesting. So the size of the child has nothing to do with it? I thought there was a concern about small kids slipping under the seat belt? Maybe I'm thinking of something else. My kids are all big for their age, so I'm not really up on all of this!

So when the law says 40 lbs minimum to use a booster, is there some kind of exemption for kids who are small for their age? (eg. in the OP's case)


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## DahliaRW (Apr 16, 2005)

If the law is 40lbs, that is the law. Unless there is an age that makes it an exception.

I was thinking radian simply because buckling a booster 3 across in that car would most likely be a huge pain in the rear! Not because I felt it was necessarily.


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## leighi123 (Nov 14, 2007)

Kids under 40+ lbs can 'submarine' under the seatbelt in a booster.
Also there are only a few boosters with a 30lbs min. limit, many have a 40lb min.

And I agree it would be a pain to buckle in a booster with 3 across! I'd keep her in a 5pt.

Mama2Xander - some states have a weight limit, some have a weight or age limit (whichever comes first) so it would depend on the state.


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## Maedze (Dec 16, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *leighi123* 
*Kids under 40+ lbs can 'submarine' under the seatbelt in a booster.*
Also there are only a few boosters with a 30lbs min. limit, many have a 40lb min.

And I agree it would be a pain to buckle in a booster with 3 across! I'd keep her in a 5pt.

Mama2Xander - some states have a weight limit, some have a weight or age limit (whichever comes first) so it would depend on the state.


THe bolded is definitely true for three and four year olds. However, seven year olds have different body proportions and more developed hips and bone structure.

The Vivo and the Turbobooster are designed and tested with children the size of the OP's child. While I would never recommend putting a child of that size who was three or four in a booster, a seven year old is a whole nother ball game.


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## Mama2Xander (Jul 3, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Maedze* 
THe bolded is definitely true for three and four year olds. However, seven year olds have different body proportions and more developed hips and bone structure.

Ah, okay, thanks for clearing that up!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Maedze* 
The Vivo and the Turbobooster are designed and tested with children the size of the OP's child. While I would never recommend putting a child of that size who was three or four in a booster, a seven year old is a whole nother ball game.

See I was confused about that, because the Turboboosters here say the minimum to use them is 40 lbs. But it would make sense for them to be labelled that way, since that is the legal minimum here. I guess they are marketed with different weight limits in places with different laws.


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## DahliaRW (Apr 16, 2005)

A LOT of boosters in the US are marked 30lbs and up. There are actually very few that specify 40. The only two I can think of are the backless turbobooster and the parkwaysg.


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## Awaken (Oct 10, 2004)

Thanks so much for all the recommendations! This is super helpful!

I had heard of the radian from this forum, but the others are new to me- we'll look them up. It's good to know there are boosters designed for 30# and up. The "submarining" issue is scary, I would not want to chance that! At the rate my 7 yo grows, it'll be many years before he reaches 40#!

Currently we do have a Britax Parkway installed in the middle for when we carpool other children (bigger than mine)- given to us by the other child's mom. So I know 3 seats will fit, but we haven't tried it with an infant base yet, just the Marathon and Roundabout.

I totally agree, buckling the Parkway in the middle position is a MAJOR PITA with 3 seats in the car and I wouldn't want to deal with that and a new baby!!! A booster behind the driver's side wouldn't be too bad, though. I hope putting in and out the infant seat in the middle isn't too much of a pain (I've never used one, only convertibles).

I guess the next step is narrowing down the list after looking at all the proportions and finding a baby store that sells some of these seats so we can actually try it. I would suck to finally choose one and find out it didn't work in the car.

ps. too bad about the Roundabout expiring







It's what I suspected, though.


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## Eris (Sep 11, 2002)

The old-style Parkway makes a very nice booster for smaller riders.


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## Eman'smom (Mar 19, 2002)

The only reason I can see harnessing is buckling and unbucking is a PITA when you have 3 across.

We have a Recaro Vivo for our 8.5 year old, and he is pretty thin at just over 50 pounds and it fits him really well.


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## Ellie'sMom (Aug 10, 2002)

I haven't read all of the responses, but since we are in a somewhat similar situation, I thought I'd respond. We have 3 kids, including a petite 7 year old in the backseat of our Passat wagon. Our other 2 are 4 year old twins. When they were born, there was no Radian (or I didn't know about it), so we opted for putting dd in between the infant seats in a high backed Turbo Booster. No flames! She was 3.5 and weighed barely 30 lbs, but we couldn't figure out how else to make everyone fit. I certainly would make a different choice now.

The boys are now ff in 5 point seats and Dd is still in the booster (weighs about 43 lbs now). Fastening her seatbelt is THE BIGGEST PAIN IN THE A$$. She cannot buckle herself. One of the twins is in a Radian now, and I love it so much. I have been really tempted to get a Radian for dd just for convenience, but I am hoping to get a minivan in the next year, so I don't think I can justify the expense.


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## Awaken (Oct 10, 2004)

thanks so much for your ideas, esp. Ellie's mom with 3 kids in a passat wagon! I'm glad you found a solution that works for all of you!

- that is a good consideration- they JUST got to the point that they can and want to buckle themselves in with the 5 pt harness (of course I check it and tighten it) and with the booster, he can't reach at all and I'd have to do it. With 3 kids, any amount of increased independence on their part will be a huge bonus and may add points in the 5 pt harness column!

- I haven't looked into the spec's for the Parkway yet, to see if it would fit my 7 yo (since it's for the carpool kids)- the other mom actually said we could have it if it works out for us. I have to find out how old it is, too, b/c if it's close to expiration we need to buy one anyway.

- I talked to dh about the radian (or two) and he seems good with spending the $- since we're buying nothing for this new baby (have it all already and getting lots of hand me downs) he doesn't think a few hundred $ is out of line if it's the safest and easiest option for the car. whew.


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## Ellie'sMom (Aug 10, 2002)

Do some digging for good deals on the radian. I wish I could remember who I ordered ours from, but I got it for something like $189 with free shipping and a free carrying case.


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## pixiepunk (Mar 11, 2003)

we love our Radians, we have two of them flanking a Graco TurboBooster 3-across in our Toyota Highlander. I would think since your 7 yo is so tiny, you'd get plenty of use out of it. if nothing else, keep the 7 yo in it until the baby grows out of the bucket seat, then graduate your oldest to something like a TurboBooster and give the Radian to the baby. That's what i did, our baby's first year my DD1 (who was at the time 5 yo and around 40 pounds IIRC) rode in a Radian (as did my then 3 yo DS) and the baby rode in the bucket. then when baby outgrew bucket, DD1 graduated to the TurboBooster and baby got the Radian.

re: fastening the TurboBooster when there's three across... i'm sure it depends on the car, and the width of the other two carseats, but it's really been no fuss whatsoever with my oldest. at one point i took the seats out to clean the car and reinstalled them, and did something weird that made the buckle harder to reach, so i had to take them out and do it over again. but when they're all installed just right, she can reach the buckle to do and undo it herself no problem.


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