Let's Talk Carseats

[mamacatsbaby]

Right now we've got DS in a Cosco Highback Booster, which has worked out fine but we'd like to get him something else. I'm thinking of going with a True Fit Convertible for the new baby and getting one for DS as well. He's 3, tall and skinny, and this seat may last him a couple of years yet which would be well worth the price.

Going to talk to DH about it and start saving up. Tax time will help also . What's on the agenda for carseats for your babe?

[catchthewind]

Meredith is in a Britax Marathon right now. We were thinking of putting the new babe directly to a Britax, but when Meredith went in at eight months she was still pretty tiny for it. So I think we will start the new baby in a Graco SafeSeat which is what Meredith started in. (It was in an accident though so we'll have to buy a new one unforunately, though DH's parents paid for it last time so I'm hoping they will again.) Once the new baby is big enough for a convertible, we'll get either a Radian or a Britax depending on car space, or if DD is ff by then we may move her to something ff only and put the baby in her Britax.

[sehbub]

I think we're going to start babe (assuming I get a BFP next week...jumping the gun a little ) in the new Evenflo Symphony. DD3 and DS are in the Graco Nautilus and we love the seat, but it's not convertible. I want something with a high harness height and preferably an all-in-one seat, and the Symphony fits the bill. Harnesses to 65 pounds, then can be used as a belt positioning booster to 100 pounds. Only having to buy one carseat? Score! It'll hurt to plunk down the initial $200 for it, but that's better than buying two or three seats over the life of the kid, especially since my kids are in car seats until they're at least 10 (if DD1 is any indication of trend).

Here's the seat I'm talking about for anyone who hasn't seen it yet...
http://www.evenflo.com/product.aspx?id=219&pfid=939

[lincap]

We have to make that switch from 2 to 3 carseats.... so I am worried. So far everyone keeps telling me I need to get a minivan or 3 radians. So the 3 radians will be cheaper so we are going to go that way. We have a Mazda 6 and it is a mid-size sedan so I really think 3 car seats will fit, I just hate to get rid of my evenflow triumph and graco (high back booster).

Anyone else have 3 in a car? What works for you?

[an_aurora]

DDC crashing

Originally Posted by mamacatsbaby

Right now we've got DS in a Cosco Highback Booster, which has worked out fine but we'd like to get him something else.

Honestly, if you don't need the RF capability, I'd skip a convertible and get a FF-only seat, like the Graco Nautilus.

Originally Posted by sehbub

I think we're going to start babe (assuming I get a BFP next week...jumping the gun a little ) in the new Evenflo Symphony. .. Harnesses to 65 pounds, then can be used as a belt positioning booster to 100 pounds.

The Symphony only harnesses to 40 pounds but it does have nice high top slots and would last until 40 pounds, whereas some of the 3-in-1 seats have low top slots and won't get most kids to 40 lbs.

[HippieChristianMum]

We have Radian 80s for our 2 kids now. The only car we have is a Honda CRV, so we will have to buy another Radian 80 for the baby (probably will ask for it for Christmas). Both of our kids still rear face now (dd is 29 lbs and ds is 24 lbs), but when we put the 3rd seat in we will have to put dd in the middle, forward facing. The Radian 80 rear faces to 33 lbs, and then it forward faces to 80 lbs with a 3 point harness (I'm not sure of the heights, as both of my kids are short and I'm sure they will outgrow the weight, eventually, before the height). It isn't even a booster at all. I love it, because I really don't like boosters.

[Charmie981]

We're big Britax fans over here, but I'm considering someone's suggestion to put my two littles side by side in Radians so that my two bigs don't have to sit side-by-side in the backseat.

Right now DS1 (8) is in an evenflo high back booster, DS2 (6 next week) is in a Britax Regent, DS3 is in a Marathon, RF. He will be 18m when the new baby comes, so he'll still be RF. I'm not sure my car can handle two Marathons RF! I'll just have to think about it more as time goes on.

FWIW, my plan was to only put DS3 in a Marathon and we actually took him home from the hospital in a marathon, but he was far too short (7lbs, 6oz, 20.5 inches at birth) for it and I ended up buying an infant carrier for him for the first few months. It worked out anyway, because he was a winter baby and I liked being able to put him in the seat in the house where he and the seat were warm. When it started to warm up in the spring and he was about 5 months old, I put him back into the Marathon and he more than fit.

[SuzyLee]

We have our Safeseat from Ds which I loved. It is bigger than the typical baby buckets, which was ideal for us bc he was in it rear facing until 15 months before he outgrew it.

Now we have a Britax Boulevard in 1 car and a Radian in the other. I like both seats. However if finances are tight by the time #2 needs a convertible seat, we may just use the 2 seats we have and not buy another.

[ishyfishie]

We currently have dd in a True Fit with a Britax Boulevard in my mom's car (we just got the TF because she's very tall and all torso, so the TF is letting her stay RFing in our car), and a Cosco Scenera as our back up. Unless we have a second vehicle by then (which seems unlikely), dd will have to go forward-facing in the Boulevard and the baby will get the TF (unless by some miracle the new baby fits in the Blvd right away)...then I'm not sure what we'll do for my mom's car, maybe a second Scenera? If we do have a second vehicle by then, I'll probably get another TF for the baby and they'll both be RFing, and then the Blvd and Scenera can be our back-up seats in the other car (or my mom's car...or whatever). We want to work with what we have as much as possible and our budget is pretty limited for new baby purchases!

[1babysmom]

We have a Safeseat for the baby and just got Recaro's for my other girls (they were on sale, otherwise we couldn't have afforded them). DD2 is 13 months and could easily still be in the Safeseat for like 6 more months but we needed more room in the car and the Recaro takes up less of that RF than the SS.

Before the Recaro seats we had a Scenera, which despite it not being a "luxury" seat, it was all we could afford and I was quite happy with it! I think it's a great seat.

[judybean]

I feel so completely overwhelmed with this topic (car seats)... I'm trying to wade through it all.... *sigh*

[HippieChristianMum]

Originally Posted by judybean

I feel so completely overwhelmed with this topic (car seats)... I'm trying to wade through it all.... *sigh*

Yes, it is all very confusing! Kind of like trying to pick out which type of cloth diaper you would like. I just encourage you, in all of your wading through, to do a little research of the benefits of long-term rear facing as opposed to turning forward facing at 12 months. Also, check out all you can find on car seats with extended use of a 5-point harness as opposed to a booster seat. If you want to do some searching, you can look at these videos. This is the video that is talked about in the first video, but I can't get the music to work. I'm sorry, it won't be nice to anyone's pregnant hormones, but these videos made me determined to get my kids the safest seats possible (even though they are a bit more expensive)

[catchthewind]

Originally Posted by judybean

I feel so completely overwhelmed with this topic (car seats)... I'm trying to wade through it all.... *sigh*

Check out the forums at http://www.car-seat.org. They have tons of information there. They basically say that the safest car seat is one that you can install in your particular car correctly every single time. For example, my friend has a Radian, but she couldn't get it installed ff in the Honda Accord we had for a while. I went and looked at the forums at car-seat.org and it's a common problem with Radians and Accords. We were thinking of getting a Radian instead of our Britax but the Radian is too long for our car to rf.

I've read that because your baby's shoulders are supposed to be above the harness slot when rf, that you should start with a bucket car seat. I know there is debate about that though, since it means buying an extra car seat. But seeing how small my daughter was in a convertible even at 8 months, I personally couldn't imagine putting a newborn in one. We started with the Graco SafeSeat because it's bigger than most other buckets and the babies fit in it longer. My daughter would have outgrown some of the smaller ones after just a couple of months. She still hadn't outgrown the SafeSeat at 8 months (and would have fit in it until well after a year), but we were in a car accident and had to destroy it. Luckily for us the insurance company paid for our new one (the Britax).

We chose the Britax because it had good side impact safety and I like the fact that it tethers rear facing as well as forward facing. But I know there are lots of other really good ones out there and some that are a lot cheaper. My personal suggestion is to go to the store and try a few out (play with the buckles, touch the fabric, loosen and tighten them, you might hate one that most people love or vice versa), then read reviews on car-seat.org, then pick one and take it to a car seat clinic or a fire station and have someone show you how to install it in your car. The brand/make of car seat really doesn't matter nearly as much as having it properly installed. I know so many friends with two year olds already who still don't know how to properly install their car seats in their cars.

[catchthewind]

I found this and it might be helpful if you're wanting to go directly to a convertible. Looks like I'm right about a newborn not fitting in our Marathon, but there are some convertibles that would work fine: http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=89031

[Charmie981]

I like http://www.carseatdata.org/ for car seat information. You can search the database to see what seats are a good fit with your car.

[sehbub]

Originally Posted by an_aurora

The Symphony only harnesses to 40 pounds but it does have nice high top slots and would last until 40 pounds, whereas some of the 3-in-1 seats have low top slots and won't get most kids to 40 lbs.

Well shoot. I coulda sworn it was 65lbs, but you're right. Whoops. Back to the drawing board. I really want one that harnesses to a higher weight than that.

[mamacatsbaby]

Originally Posted by an_aurora

Honestly, if you don't need the RF capability, I'd skip a convertible and get a FF-only seat, like the Graco Nautilus.

Yeah? Wanna tell me more about the Nautilus?

I'm just so impressed with the True Fit and it fits all of our reqs for the kind of seat we really want our kids to have. I said to myself "Screw it, I'll take two!"

Plus we're about to have major babies around these parts (friends/family PG) so it would be great to have a seat that can accommodate RF as well as FF for when someone needs another babe picked up/dropped off or whatnot.

[annettemarie]

A "poll the DDC"-type thread is fine, but specific questions about specific carseats need to be placed in the Family Safety forum. If the thread continues along this vein, I'll be moving it over there.