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Should Kindergartners Use Seatbelts, Boosters or Forward-Facing Seats (Or Should They Still Rear-Face)?

April 22, 2017 Mike

Your kindergartner doesn't need a car seat on this vehicle. But if s/he's in a car, then yes. Ideally rear-facing, but forward-facing is fine. — Your kindergärtner doesn’t need a car seat on this vehicle. But if s/he’s in a car, then yes. Ideally rear-facing, but forward-facing is fine.

One of the most frequent questions I get via email involves whether or not it’s okay to place kindergärtners in seat belts. In case you don’t have the time to read further, it isn’t. Another frequent question along the same lines is whether kindergartners can safely use booster seats. This answer is far less black-and-white, but typically, if you’re asking the question, the answer for your child should be “no” (I’ll go into why shortly). A final question are from parents who know that no kindergarten-aged child should use a seat belt and that many at that age aren’t yet capable of using booster seats safely; the question here at this stage typically involves whether forward-facing seats are the best choice for kindergartners or whether they should still be rear-facing. My answer here is the most controversial: it’s fine to forward-face, but it’s still better to rear-face if your child continues to fit his or her car seat by weight and height.

That was the short version. Let’s look at each of these questions in detail below. And as a reference, “kindergartner” in this article primarily refers to a typically-developing child between the ages of 5 and 6, but it also applies to 4-year-olds, who also attend kindergarten depending on cutoff dates in a number of states, provinces, boroughs, and territories across the US, Canada, and elsewhere in the world.

Is it safe, okay, or legal to put kindergärtners in seat belts? If not, why shouldn’t a kindergarten-aged child use a seat belt?

This isn’t my favorite question to answer because it’s one that makes the best (at least the child is restrained at all) of a bad situation (it’s an inappropriate restraint). On the other hand, it can serve as a conversation starter for parents and caregivers, and even if many who hear an answer they don’t like hearing tune it out, there are always some parents who make safer decisions after acquiring new information, so it’s always worth trying to spread and share best practices.

First of all, it’s not safe to put kindergärtners in seat belts.

Yes, it’s safer than having them bouncing around the back (or front) seat unbelted, but at the same time, it also exposes them to a number of unnecessary and potentially fatal risks. Why? Because seat belts are designed for adults and adolescents. The lap belt is designed to cross the lap while lying on the thighs while the shoulder belt is designed to cross from the waist past the shoulder blade. The shoulder belt isn’t the big worry here in a crash; it’s the lap belt. A kindergarten-sized child will have such a belt across her stomach, which means that in a crash, she runs a high risk of either a.) “submarining”, i.e., slipping completely out from beneath the seat belt due to the inertia she’ll carry in a crash or b.) suffering a number of internal organ injuries due to the belt crushing her stomach as she flies into it at 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70…mph. Neither scenario is one we want our kids exposed to, and both scenarios can easily lead to fatalities or to children suffering lifelong debilitating injuries or paralyses. Seat belts are never a good idea for kindergarten-aged kids unless you simply no other options besides seat belts or traveling unrestrained…and in those situations, I’d recommend walking unless it’s literally a life and death situation.

So no, it’s not safe, and it’s not okay. That said, it is legal in many states.

Due to a combination of an insane car culture and representatives more interested in (insert lobbyist-drafted proposal here) than in protecting our population from the dangers of metal boxes hurled at each other all day long at high speeds, many states don’t explicitly require child car seats beyond infancy; a few require some form of child restraint for some years afterward, but you’re almost guaranteed to be able to travel anywhere in the US without risking being pulled over for having a kindergartner in a seat belt.

But now you know better, it’s time to do better. Which brings us to the next stage of kindergartner auto safety enlightenment…

Is it safe, okay, or legal to put kindergärtners in a booster seat? If not, why shouldn’t a kindergarten-aged child use a booster?

I vastly prefer this question to the previous, because it indicates that the parents are at least using some form of car seat, or are considering doing so. The answer is also far less black-and-white than the seat belt question (which, once again, is no). Is it safe to booster a kindergartner? The answer is maybe, but generally not. Or in other words, it depends.

I recently wrote about Swedish policies regarding car seat use. In one of the two wealthy countries on Earth where children are least likely to die from car traffic (the other being Norway), the standard practice is to move children directly from rear-facing seats into high-back booster seats, with no forward-facing seat stage in between.

However, children are regularly rear-faced until 4 or 5 in Sweden. So what gives?

In Sweden, the reasoning is that harnessed seats a.) aren’t any safer than booster seats once kids reach an appropriate age for their use, and b.) that harnessed seats may increase neck loads due to restraining the body but not the head (which is the same reasoning behind the creation and use of HANS devices in auto racing) compared to seat belts in booster seats, which allow a more fluid movement of the torso and head. In the US, despite widespread advocacy for forward-facing seats over boosters, studies have yet to show a safety difference between harnessed seats and booster seats once children are old enough to sit properly in either (i.e., straight and centered).

The question then becomes not whether booster seats are safe for kindergartners, but whether your kindergartner can sit safely in a booster seat, even while asleep. Some children can do so by 5. Most children can do so by 7. Almost no children will do so at 4. The Swedes make it work at 5 by using high-back boosters, which keep kids’ heads positioned properly even when asleep. However, this still requires a child who will sit responsibly while awake. You have to know your children to know when this will be feasible for them.

So is it okay? It depends on your child. Is it legal? Throughout the United States, yes.

Personally, I think two of the best dedicated boosters on the market today are the Clek Oobr and Maxi-Cosi RodiFix, and I’d give the edge to the RodiFix because, like most Swedish car seats (and European ones in general), it doesn’t feature cup holders. The lack of arm rests also means your kids won’t get the seat belts stuck on them while buckling themselves in. If you’re on a smaller budget, the Britax Parkway also does a great job. Whichever seat you choose, it’s worth looking for ones that include LATCH connectors, as these will allow you to permanently attach the seats to your vehicle, preventing them from becoming projectiles when they aren’t buckled in.

The remaining questions are easier to answer; they’re just ever-higher levels of safety.

Is it safe, okay, or legal to forward-face kindergärtners? If not, why shouldn’t a kindergarten-aged child be forward-facing?

Yes, it’s safe, okay, and legal to forward-face kindergärtners. The only practical reasons why a kindergarten-aged child shouldn’t be forward-facing are if a.) she no longer fits her seat by height or weight, or b.) you have the opportunity to continue rear-facing in her current seat. It takes the work out of figuring out whether or not your child is ready for a booster seat; you just buckle her into the seat and continue using it until she outgrows it.

If you’re looking for specific forward-facing seat recommendations, I’m always a fan of the Britax Frontier and Pinnacle, due to how long they allow kids to be harnessed before converting into long-lived booster seats. Between the two, I prefer the Frontier because it gives more options for 3 across car seat installations.

Is it safe, okay, or legal to rear-face kindergärtners? If not, why shouldn’t a kindergarten-aged child be rear-facing?

An Extend2Fit is a cheap and easy way to keep rear-facing until kindergarten (Car Crash Detective) — An Extend2Fit is a cheap and easy way to keep rear-facing until kindergarten.

Finally, while very few people in the US would entertain the idea of rear-facing a kindergärtner, this is ultimately the safest option out there. Rear-facing doesn’t stop being much safer than forward-facing when children grow older; it’s safer at all stages of life, and that includes in adulthood. However, it becomes increasingly difficult as kids enter the elementary years simply because there are very few seats with the height and weight limits necessary to accommodate children in these sizes. However, there are a few out there.

In Sweden, you can buy car seats that allow you to rear-face all the way to 55 pounds, potentially allowing rear-facing until 6 or even longer. In the US, our best seats–such as the Graco Extend2Fit, Clek Fllo, Diono Rainier, Clek Foonf–allow you to rear-face until 50 pounds, which is a great improvement over how the car seat scene looked just a few years ago here. Fifty pounds will be enough to allow you to make it until at least 4 or 5, which is how long you’ll find the typical Swedish child rear-facing. The kids don’t protest it there because their parents treat it as normal, as do their grandparents and everyone else they come into contact with.

Among the US seats, the Extend2Fit is my favorite example for this phase, as it not only features one of the highest weight limits at 50 lbs, it also features the highest height limit (it’s 49″, or the same as the forward-facing height limit), which means you’ll might even be able to rear-face until 6 or 7 if you really want to, depending on the height and weight of your child. Growth charts indicate that a 50th percentile boy or girl (the charts are the same) won’t reach 50 pounds until age 7 and 49″ until 7.5.

In summary, rear-facing a kindergärtner is the safest option out there. It’s okay if you choose to do so, and yes, it’s legal. It’s our approach with our children–just as it is in Sweden.

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If you find the information on car safety, recommended car seats, and car seat reviews on this car seat blog helpful, you can shop through this Amazon link for any purchases, car seat-related or not. Canadians can shop through this link for Canadian purchases.

What are the Best Car Seats for Preschoolers (And Why Should They Rear-Face)?

April 19, 2017 Mike

Preschoolers can forward-face during piggy-back rides, but should always rear-face during car rides.

Since starting this blog, I’ve had the pleasure of writing a number of articles on the benefits of extended rear-facing and the even greater pleasure of answering more than a thousand emails related to the best car seats or cars for children and families of a range of ages and sizes. Lately, two of the most frequent questions I’ve been fielding from parents involve a.) what the best car seats are for preschoolers and b.) whether or not preschoolers should still be rear-facing. If you’re in a hurry, the answer to the first question is convertible car seats like the Graco Extend2Fit, the Clek Fllo, and Diono Rainier, and the answer to the second question is yes, yes, yes. If you’ve got some time to learn more, let’s go into both of these answers with a bit more detail. And no, preschoolers shouldn’t be in booster seats.

What are the best car seats for preschoolers, or 3-, 4-, and 5-year olds?

The Graco Extend2Fit – Review Here, Buy Here.
The Clek Fllo – Review Here, Buy Here.
The Diono Rainier – Review Here, Buy Here.
The Clek Foonf – Review Here, Buy Here.

The best car seats for preschoolers (which typically include three, four, and five-year olds, are seats that allow them to sit rear-facing. In the US, rear-facing at these ages is very rare; studies have shown that only 1 out of 4 parents are still rear-facing by age 2, and the figures for rear-facing at 3, 4, and 5 are far, far lower. However, rear-facing is unequivocally safer at these ages for a variety of reasons. We’ll look at those in a moment. However, under the assumption that children who are 3, 4, or 5 should be rear-facing, the top seats on the market are the Graco Extend2Fit, Clek Fllo, Diono Rainier, and Clek Foonf, which all allow rear-facing until 50 pounds.

Of these seats, the Extend2Fit is my favorite all-around seat because it allows rear-facing until 50 pounds and up to 49″ in height, which means virtually all children who use it will be able to rear-face until they’re out of preschool. The Fllo and Foonf are my favorites for making 3 across car seat installations work due to their extraordinary narrow width of 17″; between the two seats, there isn’t much of a difference in functionality, and the Fllo is cheaper, so that’s almost always my primary recommendation between the two.

If your priority is to keep your child in the same seat for as long as possible, then you’ll want to look at the Rainier and the Pacifica (if you can find one, as it’s since been discontinued), as both allow extended harnessing, or extended time forward-facing once you’ve exceeded either the 50 pound rear-facing weight limits or the rear-facing height limits. Both car seats also include a booster mode that can potentially give your child additional years within the same seat. However, don’t get stuck looking too closely at the details between the aforementioned seats; any of them is an excellent choice for a preschooler. If you completely can’t decide, just get the Fllo if you don’t have much room in your back seat or the Extend2Fit if you do.

Should preschoolers forward-face or rear-face?

Preschoolers should always be rear-facing. With the range of seats currently on the market that allow children to rear-face until 50 pounds and well past 40″ in height, it’s no longer a question of not being able to find or afford seats that allow kids to travel much more safely by car than at any other time in recent history. Remember that even though rear-facing at 3, 4, and 5 is rare in the United States, it’s the default approach in the two countries that feature the lowest rates of child traffic deaths in the world: Sweden and Norway.

I recently wrote up a guide to Swedish car seat practices for Americans, and in it noted that despite the lack of any national laws requiring extended rear-facing, the idea of doing so had been so heavily infused into the culture that it was normal and natural to see parents rear-facing their children until 4 or 5 by default.

Parents don’t feel like outliers when rear-facing until 4-5 because everyone else is doing it; it isn’t known as “extended rear-facing” there, and parents don’t have to justify to fellow parents or spouses why they haven’t turned their car seats around. It’s just what you do.

With that kind of cultural acceptance of extended rear-facing in place, it’s no surprise that parents don’t feel a pressure to forward-face. While it’s difficult to bring that acceptance of extended rear-facing to the United States and Canada, there’s no question that the tide is changing as awareness grows across both countries about the benefits of keeping kids rear-facing. And regardless of what’s going on around you, as a parent, you are the ultimate authority on best practices for your child, and when you know that there’s no need to forward-face a preschooler once you have a seat that fits him or her, it’s just a question of making the choice to keep him or her as safe as possible for as long as possible.

Why should preschoolers always rear-face?

Finally, preschoolers should always rear-face because it’s safer for them to do so. The precise degree of safety is always up for debate and will vary from one study to another, but one of the most frequently cited figures is a fivefold difference in the risk of serious injury (e.g., brain damage) or death for a forward-facing child vs. a rear-facing child. I’ve gone into detail about what exactly makes rear-facing safer than forward-facing in a number of articles, including one on the concept of the orphan seat and how it applies to children rear-facing in severe collisions. The excerpt below discusses how children’s proportions are different from those of adults, putting children at much greater risks of head and neck injury from trauma that would not necessarily lead to severe injury or death in adults.

Proportionally speaking, a child’s head is quite relatively compared to the rest of his or her body, and as a result, in a collision, the child’s neck must deal with that proportionally greater strain. To put it even more simply, if a 160-pound woman had the proportions of a baby, her head would weigh 40 pounds and her neck would be a lot more likely to break in much milder collisions than those normal adults could walk away from.

The science is clear; the facts have remained unchanged for decades. The Swedes started extended rear-facing more than 30 years ago, at least back to the 1980s, and we still haven’t caught up to them in terms of a cultural permeation of the importance of rear-facing. The American Association of Pediatrics recommendations are still far, far behind best practices by only recommending rear-facing until 2 or until seats are outgrown; this isn’t good enough.

The recommendation needs to state clearly that rear-facing is the best choice for children until at least 4 years of age, while continuing to emphasize rear-facing afterward until the height and weight limits of the seats are reached. To recommend anything else is to continue to neglect our responsibilities to promote best practices throughout society to the benefit of our youngest fellow human beings.

If you find my information on best practices in car and car seat safety helpful, you can do your shopping through this Amazon link. Canadians can shop here for Canadian purchases. Have a question or want to discuss best practices? Join us in the forums!

A Guide to Swedish Child Car Seat Safety for Americans

March 20, 2017 Mike

The Swedish approach to child car seat safety is deceptively simple, yet it results in the best child traffic safety numbers on the planet. Virtually no children die from traffic incidents in Sweden each year, and this has been the case for many years now. As far as child traffic safety is concerned, they are the standard (although their western neighbor, Norway, has followed their example, and is now demonstrating stunningly low child death rates in traffic as well). I like learning from people doing things well.

Of course, the world-class results aren’t simply due to how they restrain kids in cars–there are a number of other factors that tie in, nearly all of which are related to Vision Zero principles, a practical and philosophical belief in Sweden that no one, adult or child, should die from traffic incidents. This manifests itself in areas like nation-wide laws requiring driving with headlights on 24/7, using snow tires throughout the winter months, an acceptance of traffic cameras everywhere, extremely low alcohol limits for driving, $2000 driving licenses, and traffic speeds and road designs based on the trauma limits of the human body.

But today’s article isn’t about any of these factors, although I love writing about them. Today’s article is a quick guide to how Swedes approach car seats with their kids. Today, we’ll pretend we’re Swedish parents, and look at the kinds of seats they choose and why. The great news is that the Swedish approach is rather simple, yet quite effective, as evidenced by the near-nonexistent death rates for young children from traffic. There are only three main seats used: the infant seat, the rear-facing convertible, and the high back booster.

What kinds of car seats do Swedish parents use with infants and babies?

The first car seat nearly all Swedish children use is the infant seat (known as the cradle abroad). This is essentially the same approach as in the US; the infant seat is easy to carry and can be moved in and out of a vehicle without waking a sleeping baby (very important). Swedish parents will typically use it for the first six to nine months of life. Naturally, it’ll be rear-facing.

A great example of an equivalent infant seat in the US is the Chicco KeyFit 30. It doesn’t need to have a high height or weight limit; that doesn’t matter. What matters is that it’s easy to install and easy to carry. It’ll be used for less than a year before parents get tired of carrying it and switch to the next seat.

What comes after the infant seat, and how long do the Swedes use it?

After the infant seat, the Swedes, well-versed in the importance of extended rear-facing, invest in a rear-facing convertible seat. The typical Swedish family will rear-face until 4-5 even though there isn’t actually a law in the country requiring parents to do so. What you’ll find is a deep cultural knowledge of the value of rear-facing due to an effective and long-lasting public awareness campaign began by the government and media with guidance from research conducted throughout the country.

Parents don’t feel like outliers when rear-facing until 4-5 because everyone else is doing it; it isn’t known as “extended rear-facing” there, and parents don’t have to justify to fellow parents or spouses why they haven’t turned their car seats around. It’s just what you do.

An Extend2Fit will let you rear-face most kids until 5 and forward-face most kids until at least 6 while costing well under $200.

In Sweden, you can buy car seats that allow you to rear-face all the way to 55 pounds, potentially allowing rear-facing until 6 or even longer. In the US, our best seats–The Graco Extend2Fit, Clek Fllo, Diono Rainier, Clek Foonf, and Diono Pacifica–allow you to rear-face until 50 pounds, which is a great improvement over how the car seat scene looked just a few years ago here. Fifty pounds will be enough to allow you to make it until 4 or 5, which is how long you’ll find the typical Swedish child rear-facing. The kids don’t protest it there because their parents treat it as normal, as do their grandparents and everyone else they come into contact with.

Among seats available in the United States, the Extend2Fit is one of my favorite examples for this phase, as it not only features one of the highest weight limits at 50 lbs, it also features the highest height limit (it’s 49″, or the same as the forward-facing height limit), which means you’ll might even be able to rear-face until 6 or 7 if you really want to, depending on the height of your child.

In comparison, in the US, children are only required to rear-face until 1 in all but 4 states, and 75% of children are forward-facing by their 2nd birthday. That’s too soon. Aim for at least 4 if at all possible.

What comes after rear-facing in Sweden, and for how long? And what about harnessed seats?

Once parents stop rear-facing in Sweden, they don’t typically use harnessed forward-facing seats. In fact, the general Swedish perception is that booster seats are actually safer than forward-facing seats for children of an appropriate age (i.e., 4+). The reasons for this involve research in Sweden regarding how the harness system may put more load on the neck by restraining the rest of the body (and allowing the neck to snap forward), compared to how the body moves more completely when in a seat belt, spreading forces across the body.

As a result, parents will typically move from a rear-facing convertible directly to a high-back booster. The particular booster they choose doesn’t matter too much as long as it’s a high-back booster; the reason behind this is that they keep the child in place even if she or he falls asleep in the car.

Three of the best dedicated boosters on the market today are the Clek Oobr, Peg Perego Flex 120, and Maxi-Cosi RodiFix, and I’d give the edge to the RodiFix because, like most Swedish car seats (and European ones in general), it doesn’t feature cup holders. The lack of arm rests also means your kids won’t get the seat belts stuck on them while buckling themselves in. If you’re on a smaller budget, the Britax Parkway also does a great job. Whichever seat you choose, it’s worth looking for ones that include LATCH connectors, as these will allow you to permanently attach the seats to your vehicle, preventing them from becoming projectiles when they aren’t buckled in.

Swedish parents use booster seats as long as the law requires (there is a law here regarding this), which is until they’re 135 cm tall, or 53″ tall. This is a rather common law throughout the EU.

But aren’t harnessed forward-facing seats safer than booster seats?

It’s a common belief in the US that forward-facing harnessed seats are safer than booster seats, and this is true in certain contexts. It’s true when children should still absolutely be rear-facing (i.e., under 4), simply because children who are boostered too early are at tremendous risk for suffering abdominal injuries or submarining out of their car seats.

Even beyond 4, children who don’t sit properly will be safer in harnessed seats (which force them to sit correctly) than in boosters, where they can move themselves out of safe positions. However, once children are mature enough to sit properly (i.e., straight up in the centers of their seats), there is no safety difference between harnessed forward-facing seats and booster seats. The NHTSA recommends waiting until 8 (or until children outgrow their forward-facing seats) to cover all bases here, but it’s likely that most children who are 6 or older will be able to sit appropriately enough to use booster seats.

When do Swedish parents stop using car seats and just use seat belts?

Swedish parents typically stop using car seats and switch their kids to seat belts once they’re at least 135 cm (53″) tall. See the NTF’s responses for more information here. Their recommendations are generally in line with those of the NHTSA, which recommend that children stay in booster seats until they have good belt fit, which they state is generally around when they’re between 8 and 12 years old.

Do you recommend following the Swedish approach to car seat selection?

Absolutely. The American in me wants to suggest harnessed forward-facing seats over boosters, but the evidence doesn’t support their being necessary for most children beyond 5 or 6. I do think the 5-step test for seat belt readiness is a good idea, but I also think the harness/booster debates and 5-step test aren’t nearly as important as the core element of rear-facing as long as possible. If you take nothing else from this, take that and spread the word.

The 6 Narrowest Car Seats that Will Fit 3 Across in Any Vehicle

June 25, 2015 Mike

A Guide to Narrow Car Seats that will Fit 3 Across in Nearly Any Car — With the right seats (e.g., 3 Foonfs or 3 Fllos), you can make 3 across work in just about any passenger vehicle sold in the US or Canada, as long as the vehicle has 3 seats.

If you’ve got three or more kids, you know how difficult it can be to get them all buckled into your vehicle safely. It’s why I created the 3 across car seat guide, which has more than 60 different cars, minivans, SUVs, and pickup trucks listed so far. My goal was to help parents figure out which 3 sets of car seats were most likely to fit into their particular vehicles, taking into account how models often changed dramatically from one generation to the next, and how some seats simply puzzled, or fit, with particular seats in better or worse ways.

Which car seats are the easiest to install in my car / truck / SUV / minivan?

I’ve received hundreds of emails from parents over the years thanking me for the guides for their particular vehicles or requesting more specific advice. However, one of the most frequent questions I received involved a request for car seats that would work in pretty much all vehicles without lots of struggling, stubbed fingers, or the weight of ten Sumo wrestlers to hold them in place while tightening seat belts or LATCH straps. This is that guide.

Here are the 6 safest car seats that will fit 3 across in just about any vehicle. They’re not going to help you do the impossible, such as 3 across in a Smart Car or in a car that doesn’t have a back seat at all. But they’re going to work in pretty much any other normal, street-legal vehicle made in the last 20 years. Buy 3 of them and forget about car seats for a while; if you’ve got 3 kids, you’ve got more than enough to keep you busy.

Remember, of course, to use your seat belts for installations instead of LATCH if you have any trouble fitting your seats together, as you can often gain several inches with 3 seat belt installations over 2 LATCH + 1 seat belt or 3 LATCH installations. And if you’re in a smaller vehicle, every inch is precious.

The 6 narrowest (yet safe!) car seats that will help you get 3 across in nearly any vehicle, guaranteed.

Clek Fllo – 17 inches. Review here, buy here.

The Fllo is easily my favorite car seat on the market right now when it comes to a seat that you can buy 3 of and rest easy knowing that it’s going to fit in your car. It doesn’t matter if you drive a Fiesta, a Fusion, or a Yukon; you’re going to be able to get 3 Fllos to fit in it, and fit well.

And when you combine the Fllo with the Infant-Thingy infant insert, you’ve got a seat that you can use from the day your baby leaves the hospital until he or she weighs 50 pounds. And after that point, you turn it around so it’s forward-facing and you’ll get another year or two out of it until your child reaches 65 pounds. It’s not the cheapest seat on this list, but when it comes to a set-it-and-forget-it seat that lets you rear-face longer than any other seat on the market (besides a handful of seats including its sibling the Foonf), the Fllo is the best convertible seat you can buy.

Clek Foonf – 17 inches. Review here, Buy here.

The Foonf is like the Fllo except it has a few internal and external differences. It also costs more, weighs more, and sits up higher, making it more difficult to see behind. However, if you have the specific needs that draw you to the Foonf over the Fllo, or if you can find one at a discount, you’re still going to get one of the absolute best seats on the market for 3 across.

At 17 inches, it’s every bit as narrow as the Fllo and every bit as easy to use to get a 3 across installation in. And just as with the Fllo, you can pair it with the Infant-Thingy infant insert to get a seat that’ll be usable rear-facing from 4 to 50 pounds and then usable forward-facing until 65 pounds. You can compare the Fllo and the Foonf to decide which is the best choice for you, but if you can’t think of a reason to go with the Foonf, save some money and go with the Fllo.

Diono Radian RXT – 17 inches. Review here, buy here.

The Radian RXT is an excellent car seat overall, but it’s a particularly great one when it comes to 3 across installations, simply because it’s narrow, it’s been out for so long that people have had a chance to test its durability (and yes, it’s a very sturdy seat), and because it’s the first seat on this list that can be used for a great amount of time while forward-facing in addition to rear-facing.

The rear-facing weight range is 5 to 45 pounds, meaning you can use it from the day your baby leaves the hospital until s/he’s probably around 4 or 5. The rear-facing height limit is 44,” which give you a good amount of time. You can then turn it around and forward-face until your child weighs 80 pounds or is 57″ tall, which is considerably more in height and weight than what you’ll get from the Fllo or Foonf.

It even has a booster mode that extends up to 120 pounds, although you may not get to fully use it if your child exceeds the height limit of the seat belt guide, which is unfortunately fixed. Overall, the Radian RXT remains one of my favorite convertible seats and is definitely a seat you can trust to get you a 3 across installation without fuss or muss.

Diono Radian R120 – 17 inches. Review here, buy here.

The Radian R120 is basically a cheaper version of the Radian RXT; the only real difference between the two seats, besides the price and the fabric options, is that while the Radian RXT comes with head wings, the Radian R120 does not. The head wings are meant to offer head protection from side impacts, so it’s up to you whether you think the price difference is worth it or not. Personally, I do think it’s worth the difference, but I still think the Radian R120 is a strong seat and it’s still one of the best out there for 3 across installations. As with the Radian RXT, you can use it to rear-face from 5 to 45 pounds, to forward face until your child reaches 80 pounds, and to booster until your child reaches 120 pounds.

Diono Radian R100 – 17 inches. Review here, buy here.

The Radian R100 is basically a cheaper and slightly stripped-down version of the Radian R120, which itself is basically a slightly stripped-down version of the Radian RXT. It remains an excellent seat for 3 across installations despite its changes, but it’s worth noting that its changes are more significant than those of the R120.

Your rear-facing limits are now 5 to 40 pounds while your forward-facing weight limit drops down to 65 pounds. Your booster range also drops down to 100 pounds. In other words, you’re not going to get as much time in each stage with this seat, which is why I’d recommend the other two Dionos before it. However, it’s still quite competitive among seats out there in terms of the time limits it does offer, and it’s still well worth consideration, especially if you’re on a smaller budget.

Combi Coccoro – 17 inches. Review here, buy here.

Last but not least, the Combi Coccoro deserves a special mention as by far the lightest of the seats I’ve mentioned so far, which makes it the seat you’re most likely to appreciate about if you’re constantly needing to change vehicles with your seat, but still need as narrow of a seat as you can get for 3 across installations.

That flexibility does come with a cost; it has the lowest rear-facing weight limit of any of the seats here at 33 pounds, but it also has the lowest starting rear-facing weight range at 3 pounds, meaning it can be used with very, very small babies (preemies) safely. The forward-facing weight limit is 40 pounds with a 40″ height limit, which does mean children will outgrow this seat sooner than they would any of the other seats on this list. That said, if you’ve got particular needs, such as extreme portability, very small babies, or if you simply want a seat as small as an infant seat that still offers some of the advantages of a convertible seat, this might just be the one you’re looking for.

All the seats you recommended are convertible seats! Am I allowed to use one of these when leaving the hospital?

Yes! I wrote an article about this the other day to address a number of new parent concerns about leaving the hospital (or clinic or birthing center) without a typical, rear-facing only infant “bucket” car seat. The truth is that you can do it as long as the convertible seat properly fits your child and is safely installed in your vehicle.

If you find my information on best practices in car and car seat safety helpful, you can buy my books here or do your shopping through this Amazon link. Canadians can shop here for Canadian purchases. Have a question or want to discuss best practices? Send me an email at carcrashdetective [at] gmail [dot] com.