Yikes! I was locking the seat belt with DD in a booster. Won’t be doing that anymore!
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DD 12/10
DS 10/15
After reading the article, I still think locking the belt is preferable to child who cannot sit correctly or who is unbuckling themselves.
For the op, my kids too find it much easier to buckle and unbuckle themselves in the 5 point seat then the booster.
Unbuckling themselves before I tell them to is a huge no no in our family, resulting in consequences of some sort. (Usually losing access to their audiobook or other in car entertainment is enough to produce the safe behavior.)
Sleep is also a big issue for us, as mine frequently nap or sleep in the car. This is another reason we wait on the booster until they outgrow the Radian.
loving my dh and our littles (dd ~ 11 yrs, ds ~ 9 yrs, ds ~ 7 yrs, dd ~ 5 yrs and baby brother ~ 20 mo)
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If this photo loads, it is the relevant part of the article linked above. It specifically says that locking the seatbelt is unsafe unless you use a specific seat that compensated for the resulting safety problem. (With a locked belt, the child can slide under the lap belt and have no belt protection in a crash.) A child who wiggles in a booster and will not sit still is not ready for a booster, and it’s unsafe for that child to be in one. Locking the seatbelt is not a solution. It may stop the wiggling, but it doesn’t enable the belt to protect a child in a crash, so it is not safe. The point of using the booster is for safety. Locking the belt prevents it from doing its job properly. Keep wiggly kids in a 5 point harness until they are ready to be still. If kids are in a booster, don’t lock the belt. A booster with a locked belt is unsafe (unless you are using the specialized seat mentioned in the article.)
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I'm not trying to be argumentative... But that post says they recommend locking the belt as a last resort, if the child cannot sit correctly and if they cannot ride in a 5 point seat. Yes, there is risk to locking the belt, but it must be less than the risk of a child sitting incorrectly.
I don't put my kids in boosters until they can sit correctly. But I also think it's important to know the options. If I could not buy a 5 pt seat and my child would not sit correctly in the booster, I would lock the belt. I can only assume a child leaning over in a booster with a very lax belt would be a risk of ejection in a crash.
Last edited by abh5e8; 05-29-2018 at 03:55 PM.
loving my dh and our littles (dd ~ 11 yrs, ds ~ 9 yrs, ds ~ 7 yrs, dd ~ 5 yrs and baby brother ~ 20 mo)
I’m not trying to be argumentative either, but there are many 5 point seats to fit bigger kids, and only a 5 point harness is safe for a child who’s unready for a booster. A locked belt is not. So, yes, if there is no way a child young enough to be incapable of sitting still can fit in existing 5 point seats (which would be highly unusual), and the child is not mature enough or obedient enough to not wiggle, and is not eligible for a special seat that accommodates larger children who still need restraints, locking the belt is a last, but not very safe, resort, and should be done using a Britax booster featuring a Safeguard strap that will “try” to prevent the submarining problem and “may” decrease the risk. I think this is saying that locking the belt is unsafe and should only happen if there are no other available options. I’m pretty sure a healthy sized, neuro-typical child can find either a seat with a harness or can be taught to sit reasonably still. In general, I think some wiggling with an unlocked belt would be much safer than not wiggling with a locked belt since the locked belt is known to be unsafe at all times whereas the wiggling would be intermittently unsafe and could ultimately be extinguished.
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