Car Seat help

[matey]

I am needing help and will try to be brief.

I am wanting 2 new car seats. I drive a 2001 chevy malibu.

DS is foward facing, three years old, and 25 pounds. DS is behind passenger seat. I am thinking about giving his seat to my parents so he will need a new seat.

DD is rear facing, 6 months old, and around 16 pounds. I would like to get a convertable seat for DD that I could still put in the middle, if possible.

So, I am needing seat for ds that is slim enough to maybe fit dd next to him rear facing. Regardless of the location of dd's seat, I need something that is not huge front to back. The titan did not work well behind the passenger seat rear facing. I want to have the option of putting dd behind the passenger/driver seat.

I'm reading through threads too, but find myself getting overwhelmed.

[matey]

I was just looking at the britax frontier. I's minimum weight is 25. Ds is like 25.5 fully dressed. Is that just too close? A friend told me she likes her nautlius, but it just looks so wide and bulky in pictures. Is it wider than the frontier?

[an_aurora]

Depending on your budget, I'd look at the Evenflo Maestro, Graco Nautilus and Britax Frontier for your oldest.  I'd put him in the center if possible.

For your DD, I'd look at the new Britaxes, Graco MyRide, and Safety 1st Complete Air, all of which install more upright easily and take up very little room front-to-back. Of those, the Complete Air is the narrowest, and also has the tallest shell, which is nice if you have a taller child.

[an_aurora]

He would be ok for the Frontier as long as he's above 25 lbs fully dressed.

[matey]

I am curious about putting him in the middle. What would the reasong be?

We don't have a ton of $$ but our tax return is on its way so I thought I better do this now. I'm not too worried about having a tall child. dh and I are both 5'6 and ds is about the size of a two year old. DD is at the 50% for height and seems huge, but in reality, probably won't be tall at any point.

I just talked to my mother and she said maybe she would buy another seat to make it easier for me. So I am wondering how long I can keep ds in his seat, titan elite. Is there a reason to switch if he is well below the top of the shell? Maybe just replace dd's seat and have ds stay in his?

[leighi123]

Originally Posted by matey 

I am curious about putting him in the middle. What would the reasong be?

We don't have a ton of $$ but our tax return is on its way so I thought I better do this now. I'm not too worried about having a tall child. dh and I are both 5'6 and ds is about the size of a two year old. DD is at the 50% for height and seems huge, but in reality, probably won't be tall at any point.

I just talked to my mother and she said maybe she would buy another seat to make it easier for me. So I am wondering how long I can keep ds in his seat, titan elite. Is there a reason to switch if he is well below the top of the shell? Maybe just replace dd's seat and have ds stay in his?

I am curious about putting him in the middle. What would the reasong be?  Because rearfacing is MUCH safer than forward facing.  The middle seat is the most protected.  So you put the least protective seat in the most protective spot.   If they were both rearfacing (which I would highly recomend, my 25lb 3yr old is RF), then I'd put the youngest child in the center.  

We don't have a ton of $$ but our tax return is on its way so I thought I better do this now. I'm not too worried about having a tall child. dh and I are both 5'6 and ds is about the size of a two year old. DD is at the 50% for height and seems huge, but in reality, probably won't be tall at any point.

At the size of a 2yr old, I'd keep him rearfacing.  

I just talked to my mother and she said maybe she would buy another seat to make it easier for me. So I am wondering how long I can keep ds in his seat, titan elite. Is there a reason to switch if he is well below the top of the shell? Maybe just replace dd's seat and have ds stay in his?
 

The seat is outgrown when he reaches the weight limit, ears above the shell of the seat, or the shoulder harness is no longer at or above his shoulders in the highest forward facing slot.    The reason it would make more sense to buy your ds a new seat is because you can pass his seat to your dd, and get him a seat that will last longer.  If you get a combination seat, you can use it as a 5pt forward facing, and then a booster.  That way in the future, you wont have to buy another 5pt forward facing, and might not have to buy another booster (depending on how he fits in the seat as a booster down the line).   Also, when your ds switches to a booster, your dd could switch to that seat forward facing.  The titan will probably be expired at that point anyway, but if you got a nautilus it would last a lot longer.   

Things change of course if you are willing to re-rearface your ds. 

[matey]

This would be much easier if dd would grow really slow and be small like her brother then she could stay in her infant seat for a long time. But she just keeps a growin'.

I have contemplated switching him back to rf. I know it is safer. I had not planned to switch him when I did, but I needed to put him on the outboard, where the seat won't fit rf. So, now that I have 2, if I switch him to rf, I will need to get 2 new convertible seats to make it all fit. I wonder if he would freak out if I switched him back to rf.

[an_aurora]

What seat do you have know?  Did you try installing it more upright?  Once a child has good head control you can install the convertible more upright, which gives the front seat passenger more room.

[matey]

I guess that is part of the problem. I don't know all the tricks or angles. I have an Evenflo Titan Elite. It has a thing on the bottom that you flip one way or the other for ff or rf. Maybe all carseats have that, i dont know, since I only have the one I have. Anyway, I have just tried to keep it level in the past, you know, with the arrow on the base of it that says to make that level with the ground. But then I hear people talking about degrees and installing more upright and that is like beyond what I know.

[matey]

I just looked at it. My seats are very slanted in. I remember a carseat technician commenting on it before. The evenflo will just fit if placed rear facing behind the pass seat, but it does not sit even on the seat with the arrow. In the center, I raised it up with a towel rolled up under it. If I put a towel under it behind the pass seat, it doesnt fit without making the front seat positioning very awkward.

[leighi123]

If you have slanty seats, that will actually help you install them more upright.  Dont use the rolled towel, and ignore the arrow (thats for newborns only anyway).  

How tall is your ds? 

[leighi123]

Here are pics of my ds in several seats, he is 25lbs, 35"

http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/1286131/comparison-pics-efta-ca-mr

[mama2soren]

Here is a link to help you with figuring out the angle of your car seats: http://www.carseatsite.com/reclineangle.htm

The Malibu is not a super-small car.  Unless the front seat passengers are unusually tall, you should be able to get 2 RF seats back there without making anyone uncomfortable.  A more compact seat like the Titan takes up very little front-to-back room when installed at a 30* angle (the arrows you're referring to are to get a 45* newborn angle).  Other compact seats to consider for DS or DD would be the Evenflo Triumph 65 ($140-ish), the Graco MyRide ($130-ish), and any of the Britax seats (though, these are considerably more expensive).  

The least protected child should be in the most protected seat of the car.  A FF child is less safe in an accident than a RF child, so, he should be in the middle seat if possible.  If it is impossible to configure the seating this way (ie: the FF seat will not "puzzle" well with the RF right next to it), it is acceptable to put both seats outboard.  When my second child comes this summer, both my kids will likely be outboard, and I feel comfortable with this.  However, my DS is still RF at almost 3, and will be until he outgrows his seat RF (he'll likely fit until he's 4+).

If you know for sure that you will not RF your DS, look at the Evenflo Maestro ($80).  It is much narrower than the Nautilus.  You might be able to get it FF in the middle with a RF Titan for DD next to it.

[matey]

Originally Posted by leighi123 

If you have slanty seats, that will actually help you install them more upright.  Dont use the rolled towel, and ignore the arrow (thats for newborns only anyway).  

How tall is your ds? 

Do you mean the slanty seats make it more upright using the towel? Thiws wan't my experience. I put the seat rearfacing when he was younger and then put the towel to get it to recline more. They start off high and slant in real deep toward the center. Otherwise it was too upright.

I guess I just thought that arrow was necessary since it says the arrow must always be level with the ground on both the rearfacing and foward facing instructions.

[matey]

Originally Posted by mama2soren 

Here is a link to help you with figuring out the angle of your car seats: http://www.carseatsite.com/reclineangle.htm

The Malibu is not a super-small car.  Unless the front seat passengers are unusually tall, you should be able to get 2 RF seats back there without making anyone uncomfortable.  A more compact seat like the Titan takes up very little front-to-back room when installed at a 30* angle (the arrows you're referring to are to get a 45* newborn angle).  Other compact seats to consider for DS or DD would be the Evenflo Triumph 65 ($140-ish), the Graco MyRide ($130-ish), and any of the Britax seats (though, these are considerably more expensive).  

The least protected child should be in the most protected seat of the car.  A FF child is less safe in an accident than a RF child, so, he should be in the middle seat if possible.  If it is impossible to configure the seating this way (ie: the FF seat will not "puzzle" well with the RF right next to it), it is acceptable to put both seats outboard.  When my second child comes this summer, both my kids will likely be outboard, and I feel comfortable with this.  However, my DS is still RF at almost 3, and will be until he outgrows his seat RF (he'll likely fit until he's 4+).

If you know for sure that you will not RF your DS, look at the Evenflo Maestro ($80).  It is much narrower than the Nautilus.  You might be able to get it FF in the middle with a RF Titan for DD next to it.

Thank you so much for that link. Ok, so I don't know for sure what I am going to do with rf or ff, but see this is what I didnt know about angles and stuff. So, I dont need to worry about the full recline. It is so dark outside but maybe I will be able to go look at angles. Friday night and I'm checking carseat angles, woo hoo!

So wait, if I put them both rf, will they both fit with one in the middle and one outboard?

[matey]

So I guess if her head comes too far foward, it is too upright? Is there any other way to know?

[leighi123]

Using a rolled towel or pool noodle gives you more recline, thats why I said to not use it (to get the seat more upright)

You might be able to get them side by side, but it depends on how the seats you get puzzle together.  I would look at narrow seats like the complete air and radian (not the britax seats, as they are outgrown more quickly in height, especially sense the new ones are shorter than the old!), and the MyRide is wide but puzzles nicely with some seats sense it flares out kinda.  

Yes, if her head is flopping forward too much, then it needs more recline.  But what I would do is have both rearface, but with your dd in the center so her seat can be reclined more, your ds outboard but more upright.  If you get a narrow seat, then it might fit sticking in between the front seats, allowing for more recline.   So maybe get a couple complete air's or radians...