from carseat to booster

i am just curious to know when your child should go from a face forward car seat to a booster seat?  How do you know when the time is right?

[April2]

It depends on the car seat. I bought one that is supposed to go up to 7 years old. I think a lot of them go up to 4 years old and then you need a booster seat or bigger car seat. And I'd say you know the time is right when your child is too big for the carseat!

[Sashasmama]

It should tell you the maximum weight and height on the instructions from the manufacturer of your car seat, or you can google it.  LOL, but I stopped keeping track with my daughter's weight since she was 18 months old, so I'm kind of wondering about that same question.  One of my friends started using a booster with her girl when she was about 2.5.

[Renogirl]

If you check with your local emergency services (police, ambulance, etc) they can give you exactly what your state law requires - our local ambulance service provides a service as well where they do car seat safety inspections to confim that you have the seat installed correctly - good luck

[cutiemama]

Usually a child is ready for a booster usually when they reach 40 lbs but a lot of the convertible seats go up to 48 lbs. Basically, once your child has outgrown the convertible/forward facing seat is when he/she is ready for a booster.