How do you choose a carseat?

[Sonjuanja]

I already posted this in Life as a Babe as I didn't realize there was a family safety group.  

 LO is 7.5months and beginning to outgrow the graco snug ride as he is very long.  How in the WORLD do you decide on a new carseat?  Should we buy a 3 in 1?  Should we buy a regular carseat and then a booster later on?  This is our first, and we only plan to have two kids 3 years apart (i realize that doesn't ALWAYS go as planned).  

We will buy 2 for each car, so I don't want to spend a lot ($150-$200 max).  I know the Britax's are a lot of money, but good.  Our cars both have smaller backseats, so we want it to fit well without needing to shove up the front seat.  

[an_aurora]

Personally, I would skip the 3-in-1 seats.  All of the Dorel (Eddie Bauer, Alpha Omega, Safety 1st) 3-in-1 seats make horrible boosters, so you are better off getting a good convertible and buying a dedicated booster when the time comes.  Luckily, boosters are relatively cheap.

I would start by looking at the First Years True Fit, Graco MyRide, Safety 1st Complete Air, the Evenflo Triumph65 and Maestro,Sunshine Kids Radians and Britax's new "70" line.  If you have a Babies-R-Us near you, they carry most of those seats (except the True Fit and the Radians) so you can play with them and practice installing them in your car, and see how you like the features of each.  Really any of those seats is a fine choice, it's just up to you which one you like, and which one fits your kid and your car and your budget :)

[Sonjuanja]

How do you know if LO fits and is comfortable? 

[Farmer'sWife]

Originally Posted by an_aurora 

Personally, I would skip the 3-in-1 seats.  All of the Dorel (Eddie Bauer, Alpha Omega, Safety 1st) 3-in-1 seats make horrible boosters, so you are better off getting a good convertible and buying a dedicated booster when the time comes.  Luckily, boosters are relatively cheap.

I would start by looking at the First Years True Fit, Graco MyRide, Safety 1st Complete Air, the Evenflo Triumph65 and Maestro,Sunshine Kids Radians and Britax's new "70" line.  If you have a Babies-R-Us near you, they carry most of those seats (except the True Fit and the Radians) so you can play with them and practice installing them in your car, and see how you like the features of each.  Really any of those seats is a fine choice, it's just up to you which one you like, and which one fits your kid and your car and your budget :)

an_aurora knows her stuff and probably just mistyped, but the Maestro is not an option for your LO at this point since it is a forward-facing only seat.   On that note, do you know about extended rear-facing?  Here's a good link... www.joelsjourney.org  That's one of the reasons that the seats mentioned above are well recommended, they allow for most LO's to rear-face to 3-4 and forward-face to 5-6 at which point most kids can safely move to a dedicated booster.

Your child fits rear-facing if the straps are at or below their shoulders and have at least 1" between the top of their head and the top of the seat.  Since your LO is 7.5 months old he should fit in most convertable seats just fine.  I'd definately go to a store and start playing with seats to see what you like.