carseats? « Back to Group Discussions

[springmum]

Anyone thinking about carseats yet?

Up here in the cold canadian north I think I have to rethink my carseat plan. We have a bucket seat that will expire when the baby is about 4 months old. I thought it wouldn't be a problem, I'll just switch to a convertible at that point....but it will be pretty darn cold around that time.

So I'm thinking of investing in another bucket seat. I'm big on baby wearing, but I'm not big on struggling with bundling/unbundling a baby in the car, to pop in a carrier in -15C.... I like the idea of being able to bring the carseat in to where it is warm, then taking baby out into the carrier whenever possible (definitely leaning towards a Moby for the early months, that I will just pre-wrap on me). Also, if I bring the carseat in, then I can keep the actual seat warm, so baby doesn't get into a cold seat in the car. I know that snowuits and carseats are a big no-no, so I think having the seat somewhere warm with me, will make it easier to put baby in and then layer on the blankets/covers.

Also, I learned with #1, that sometimes a sleeping baby is much happier just finishing their sleep where they are, instead of getting moved out into the cold or wherever.

We had the Graco safeseat (up to 30lbs I think?) and I was pretty happy with it....would love to hear other reviews though.

So my plan is, buy a new bucket seat.

Anyone else have an idea of what they are getting?

Anyone else had to rethink the winter carseat plan like me - ha ha?

[pregnova]

blarg. Our carseat is going to need a new cover if we use it because I inaverdently destroyed it the ONE time I attempted to wash it. BUT, it's also stored away in the mother-in-law's basement and we'd have to have it shipped to us once we moved. Which seems a bit expensive and pointless since I'll have to figure out a new cover anyway. 

So, I'm leaning towards buying a new one and going for a convertible instead of bucket seat this time. Ds was too heavy in the carseat for me to carry anywhere once he hit like 2 months, and we felt like he'd outgrown it's 'comfortableness by 6 months although we kept him in it until we could switch him to a toddler one? No idea what those are called...not convertibles because they don't recline, but also not those little booster seats?

I totally understand how nice it is to leave them undisturbed though! DS used to nap for HOURS in his carseat in the beginning!

[esma2175]

We recently (finally) made our carseat choice as well!  DS1 was an October baby as well so this is a road we have been down before, although a very long time ago.  We opted for the baby carrier, for some of the same reasons as you spring, moving a new baby from anywhere warm to a freezing car just makes me cringe (I hate the cold). 

Pro's:

~Found one that fits in the back of my Mustang with high saftey ratings (Chicco keyfit 30)

~Keeps baby warm all the time

~Easy to put baby in (we put a convertible in the back seat and there is no way I could put a newborn into the carseat safley, not until they get some muscle control in their neck)

~Easier to transport a sleeping baby into anywhere while they stay asleep.

Cons:

~ DS out grew his at about 4 months old (I grow them tall and skinny!) So not used for long

~expensive for the amount of time it will be used (no more babies being made here!)

~bulky

~less baby wearing

[springmum]

Pregnova - that's a pain about the old carseat. I keep hearing of being just buying a convertible from the beginning, but I've never seen a newborn in one, do they fit well in them? They seem so much more practical as far as cost & use, but they seem so huge for a wee babe, it must depend on the make.

Esma - that's a pretty good breakdown of what I thought as well. Who knows how fast this one will outgrow it. DS never made it to the his old seats max weight & height, b/c he just seemed too big for it at one point anyway. I'm just sooo dreading the cold weather transfers, which is why I'm so pro bucket right now. I figure we may actually be babywearing about the same though, I'll like to keep baby tucked away on me during cold & flu season anyway and any outdoor activities I take DS to, I'll need baby wrapped and warm on me. I just like the bringing in the carseat especially overnight to have a nice warm seat for the morning drives to DS's school. 

You're so right about cost too - ugh!

[Angelorum]

Oy.  I don't know what I'm going to do for a carseat this time.  DS is still in the only carseat we've ever bought, a Truefit convertible.  As far as newborns in convertibles, you just have to be careful to find one that has a reputation for fitting newborns well, the shoulder straps in some convertibles don't come down low enough to be safe.  You also have to be sure that the seat is installed at the proper angle, so the baby is really laying back, and their head isn't prone to falling forward.  The Truefit was great though, ds was 6 1/2 lbs at birth, and he fit perfectly.  The seat came with lots of newborn padding as well, so I didn't have to fuss with rolled up receiving blankets and the like.  The problem is, it's a really wide seat, and ds is still rear facing, and the head rest of his seat only fits between the headrests of the front seats of my little car, so he has to be in the middle.  But the middle is usually where you want to put the smallest child since it's the safest spot. He has about 4 or 5 lbs to go until we have to turn him around.  It's possible he could have a growth spurt and have to forward face by the time baby comes, but it doesn't seem all that likely. 

So, I could turn him around early, (not what I want to do) so I could put him on one side of the car and try and find another seat that's skinny enough to fit beside him in the middle.  If I can't find a seat that's skinny enough, I guess I'll have to have both seats on the sides, which would still mean turning ds around.  Or I could keep ds in the middle and put a skinny seat on one of the sides, which also doesn't seem ideal.  I might be able to fit him rearfacing behind one of the front seats, if I put the seat back all the way upright.   The problem with that is, I'm really short, and so the head rest of the seat ends up curving forward right into the back of my head (I'm guessing it hits average people on their necks?) so if I can't lean the seat back, I end up driving with my head jutted forward which gives me a massive headache.  This problem is probably compounded by the frequency in which I wear my hair in a ponytail. 

Add to all that, my car is kind of on it's last legs.  We've actually been expecting it to break down for years, and it just keeps ticking.  Which is good, because we don't want to spend the money on a new car right now, but what if I go to all this trouble to figure out how to fit another carseat in my car and then it just dies.  That would be annoying. 

I should really head over to the safety forum and start doing some research, but I'm kind of delaying, hoping that ds will gain some weight and have to be turned around, solving some of the problems.

Oh, and FWIW, I didn't have any trouble transferring ds out of his carseat when he was asleep.  Probably just a lucky aspect of his temperament, and the fact that it was summer when he was born, but if he was asleep when we got somewhere, I usually just popped him into my moby wrap and if he woke up in the process, he'd fall asleep again in a few seconds in the wrap.  If he fell asleep on the way home, I'd just carry him inside and lay him in his bouncy seat and bounce him for a minute if he was stirring. 

[gozal]

What's the deal with expiring carseats? That doesn't seem to make any sense. How could it be safe to use for four months and then unsafe? I would research that, personally...how frustrating!

From my research the first time around, the infant seats do not have a great variance in safety due to the way they work (cocooning the baby in the seat, against the backrest of the car's rear seats). It's the toddler seats (convertible? not sure what they are called) that have totally different actions in, G-d forbid, a car accident. (Yeah, I watched crash test videos with baby dummies, and cried - but I feel that our toddler/preschooler seat is very safe.) Does anyone have any other info? If this is still the case, and I do need to look into it, I will buy the most inexpensive one that will fit into our car. Well, I noticed some have these ergonomic triangle handles and are pretty affordable, so maybe I'd go for one of those.

Just wanted to say that I completely agree that infant seats (as opposed to convertibles) can be used in a way that's entirely compatible with babywearing. It's up to the parent! No way would my kid have agreed to stay in one anyway, so long as he was awake. And since he was a horrific sleeper, if I had had to take him out when he FINALLY feel asleep in the car...yeah, it would have sucked.

[LibbyLou]

Originally Posted by gozal 

What's the deal with expiring carseats? That doesn't seem to make any sense. How could it be safe to use for four months and then unsafe? I would research that, personally...how frustrating!

It's because the material, especially the plastic pieces and fabric straps, wear out overtime.  They get constant use and are exposed to cold and hot temperatures while sitting in the car, so you want to retire them before any of those parts fail.

[gozal]

So I've been reading more about this car seat expiration issue - wow, it is kind of scandalous! I cannot believe that car seat manufacturers are allowed to make disposable products. If the plastic is weak enough to accumulate hairline fractures over a period of 5-6 years, how can a government allow them to pass safety tests at all? And all this in a world where most children don't even remotely have access to car seats of any kind. I think they should at least offer some kind of test for used car seats rather than a blanket expiry. Our infant car seat has not been in constant use - we didn't even use it for one year IIRC. And it has been safely stored away in a closet in our home without wild temp fluctuations. I bet it has way more life in it. Too bad. And what a bummer that our $$$ Britax Boulevard which we saved up to buy will only last for one kid. I mean, I won't use it past the date, but the system sucks. /vent ;)

[OkiMom]

I have an Onboard 35.. Goes to 33 inches and 35 lbs. My 16 mo old still fits in it. Im playing musical carseats though since my middle has outgrown her car seat.

Right now my oldest is in a Radian she has had since she was 1 (so 4 1/2 years, they expire after 8). She is rather attached to the car seat and I don't want her in a booster right now so she will keep her seat.

The middle is in a Scenra, she has pretty much outgrown it by height and weight (depending on what she wears) so Im going to be getting her a Frontier.

DS is in the Onboard right now but close to outgrowing it by height (hes only 21 lbs so tons but hes 31 inches with a huge torso) so hes getting his sisters Scenra. In a year or so when my oldest has outgrown her Radian it will be passed to DS.

The baby will get the Onboard.

This way I only have to buy 1 car seat and it was the 1 that needed to be bought anyway.