carseats, spinoff from the gear thread

[MellyMel]

I'm finding myself really torn about carseats. Yes, the infant (snap in and out) carseats seem easy and such, but I just don't know that I can justify buying one, regardless of the cost, when we'll use it for less than 6 months. Does anyone have any experience with this? Would I really curse myself for buying a big convertable one, and having to take my son out and put him in all the time?

My SIL has a 2 month old right now who is 16 lbs, so I KNOW that he will be grown out of his by the time I"m due, so i *might* be able to get hers from her, but if not I don't plan on buying one or asking for one. I notice that she lets him spend a lot of time sleeping in there when they're out, where as I am a bit more AP minded, and think I will hold mine/ have him in the sling. Anyone have any ideas/suggestions?? Thanks

[Queen of Cups]

Its super convienient to have the infant seat. Most of my friends who didn't buy one for their first baby end up buying one for their second because they regret it so much - even the AP ones. Some of the infant seats go up to 22 lbs, which even for a big baby will last most of the first year. (The Eddie Bauer infant seat goes to 29 inches and 22 lbs, the biggest I've found.) I found it convienient for the grocery store because it can snap onto the cart and sometimes the sling is difficult when you're doing big time shopping and pushing a cart. Most of the time, though, I took him out of the carseat when we were out. But it was great to carry him into the house if he's fallen asleep in the car!

[brandybehr]

Is it cold where you are?

I think that was the biggest factor for us, we are in northern Canada and December will see temperatures near -40 F and January will be colder. In the infant seat the baby is kept much warmer than in a rear facing convertible.

Also, if you have more children then you can reuse it with him/her.

[MellyMel]

compared to the rest of Canada, where we live (close to Vanouver) it is not that cold here, so I'm not *really* worried about that, but yes somtimes it does get chilly, and whith the moisture in the air, it seems colder. I will have to give this some sreious thought. thanks. Mel

[MrsMoe]

They fit the baby very nicely too. Teh big car seats dont' fit baby right. Trust me, you will be working so so hard, every little thing to make life easier is SOOOO WORTH IT!

Infant seats generally fit baby up to 20 pounds. My Emma didn't hit 20 pounds until she was about a year old...

[BensMom]

I'm in the same boat. My son was very tall so he outgrew the seat by 4 months or so. I was so worried about going to the convertable, that I would never get to benefit from car-induced naps again (and his naps were few and far between!). But he went fine from carseat to sling while still sleeping.

I am hoping to borrow one from a friend since I only plan to use it for a couple of months. But I also tend to have high standards for carseats so I have this bad feeling that I will only want a 5 pt harness with latch seat. Most of my friends are using old seats from first kids, etc. So I may end up buying it anyway.

Also, one other way those seats are handy is for eating out. When the baby is too small for a highchair, but you want to eat without someone on your lap. Even after DS outgrew his bucket, we kept it in the trunk and used it for restaurants.

[mamaharsh]

We used ours a LOT when N was little. He was born in October and didn't outgrow it until April. When it was rainy or cold, it was nice to get him all bundled up and just pop him in the car. You can't put really heavy jackets on kiddos in carseats, so it was nice to have the seat nice and warm and put a blanket over him and then the flannel lined waterproof thing over that.

Also, N was average sized and even in the "bucket" he looked so small coming home from the hospital. I couldn't imagine starting him in our Britax seat.

And, despite wearing N quite a bit when he was a baby, there were still times when it was convenient to have some place to put him when we were out and about.

I'm pretty sure I'd buy one if I didn't have one to borrow this time.

[cjbeach]

I used mine a lot. With #1 we used it all of the time... going in and out of houses, restaurants, etc. Same with #2 (who loved her sling but in some situations loved to be able to just look around). With my first the car seat came with my travel system (shower gift). DS was SUCH a refluxer that under our Pedi GI doc's advisement he actually SLEPT in it (in a bassinet beside our beside) because it was enough of an incline to both sleep in comfortably AND prevent at least some of the reflux. We used it to constantly until 5 mos.
With my DD I bought 2 almost-new infants seats in our local consignment shope for each of our cars.
Funny you should mention this because I was thinking of getting a convertible car seat that goes from 5lbs up but I think I'm going to look for another consignment shop to get a used infant carseat from for the portability factor. And in case we have another severe refluxer...

[Queen of Cups]

I hate to sound argumentative, but you should only buy carseats if you know their entire history. If a carseat is in even a minor accident or impact (like being dropped of a deck or something) it should be destroyed. A lot of people don't realize how dangerous it is to keep using carseats after any impact to them - the impact can cause microfractures in the seat that weaken its integrity, so it won't be nearly as effective in a crash. Here's a link to a Used Carseat Safety Checklist, if you are planning to buy any used car seat.

Also, one final point about carseats (can you tell car safety is a big issue for me?!) - it is SO MUCH SAFER to keep your child rear facing for as long as possible. Everyone things that at one year (and at least 20 lbs) you turn them around. Most convertable car seats can be kept rear facing to anywere from 30-40 lbs! Here's a link to a website that has video of what happens to a child's body in a car crash when they're rear facing and when they're forward facing. Rear Facing - Unmatched Safety Watching it once convinced me that DS will not be turned forward for a very long time!

[zjande]

Oops, & here I was going to just suggest you find a super cheapy infant seat off of Craigslist or something. : That's been my plan since there are a ZILLION used infant seats out there since people don't use them long & they don't get dirty. QoC has some very good points though.

I will get an infant seat again this time because it was so convenient. Although I am very AP minded, when the baby is sound asleep (which we know is very common after car trips!), it makes me feel good to be able to just just click the seat off it's base & carry the sleepyhead into wherever we were going, *especially* to restaurants. I personally never liked actually carrying the huge bulky thing around though so I'd only bring it in someplace that I knew I could set it down. Otherwise, I'd transer him to his front carrier. I always picked him up out of the seat as soon as he woke up. I detest seeing wide awake or crying babies being rocked in their car seats on the floor or something when the parent could easily just pick up their baby! Arg, sorry, personal rant.

[*Amy*]

Thanks for those links QoC!!! I bought a used carseat from a friend-of-a-friend and she assured me it wasn't in any accidents or anything. It was actually the seat they left in the grandmother's car, so it was hardly used at all. But I am going to contact Graco for a copy of the user manual (what a good idea!) and we'll use that as a secondary seat, probably in DH's car, and buy a new one for my car.

[Gunter]

This thread was great to read, very informative. Our neighbors gave us an infant carseat (there son is barely a year old) so I didn't even really think about what my options are. It hasn't been in any accidents, yay. I just am so thankful for not having to buy one!

My DH wants to use slings so much though...he spots them in public and says, "Ask her/him if they like that one." So, I am guessing we'll use the sling most of the time when the babe is not in the car.

And, his boss offered us another carseat that is for larger babes. It goes up to 80 lbs. if I remember correctly (though that sounds odd).

[Awaken]

I basically posted this already on the baby gear thread, but we never got an infant seat and have never missed it. With all the tons of stuff we were buying, we couldn't see buying a seat for only a few months and then a new one. Plus they are so bulky and heavy I knew I'd never be able to carry it around without killing my back and shoulders.

Our ds was only 5.5# at birth and has used the Britax Roundabout from day one and it hasn't been an issue. He is still only 20# at 2 1/2 yrs old so we are getting lots of money's worth out of the Britax! When they are so tiny, the basically sleep anywhere so getting him out of the car into a carrier wasn't a problem.

Most grocery, baby, and department stores have infant seats on the carts for little babies to sleep in. Also, a friend gave us a super cheapo infant seat which we kept in the car to use as a seat in restaurants- as someone pointed out, it's good to have a place for the babe to sit before they can sit up in a highchair.

And thanks QoC for pointing out the safety issues- car seat safety is a biggie for me, too- I don't know if I could use a used seat even if I knew the people- the thought of being in an accident with my son is so terrifying- I have nightmares about it.

anyway, just wanted to post an alternative view and say what ended up working for us! We'll see how it goes this time around!

[Awaken]

Oops, I forgot to ask my main question-

On the Consumer Reports site, they actually don't rate Britax as their highest seat- their best picks were the Evenflo Triumph or Titan 5, which also happen to cost less than 1/2 of what a Britax does! I'd sure like to buy a cheaper seat if it's just as safe and easy to use!

So does anyone have experience with those seats re: ease of use, comfort, etc?

Thanks!

[snugglebutter]

Mary, I don't know about the Titan but I know the Triumph is a pretty popular seat. It's been highly rated for a few years.


We have a "bucket" (a Britax) as that is what we felt was the right choice for us, for various reasons. I'm not sure what we will use after that. Britax has recently revamped their line of convertibles and I'm waiting to hear how some of the new models rate. The auto accident rate is terrible where we live and I would prefer something with extra side-impact protection.

The babies in our families have been all over the map size-wise/growth-wise, so I have no clue how much use we will get out of the infant carseat. But that wasn't really why we purchased it.

[flapjack]

With the CR sites, I'd check to see if there's any commercial bias. Over here, Maxi-cosi are the market and test leaders, followed by Britax- one of the nice things about the britax buckets, also the M&P ones, is that they have a long leg space which should (touch wood) give you a few extra months. We're going for a travel system this time, but Britax were one of the ones I looked at.
I don't like the look of the clunk-clip base units though- they're new in the last 7 years (heck, travel systems weren't around when I started kitting out babies last time) and they don't look very safe to me. It takes 2-3 minutes to buckle a seat in, and at least you can check it's in properly, each and every time.

[sarahcecile]

DH and I registered for a Evenflo Triumph after reading Consumer Report's article on car seats. It was rated in the top 5, I can't remember which place. I know that I would use an infant car seat, and probably keep the babe in it quite a bit. I know myself and if I were tired I don't think I would make the effort to put the baby in the sling if I could just take out the seat. So - intentionally, we are not getting one. Flat Head Syndrome is so prevalent right now not only because of the Back to Sleep campaign, but also because of "bucket babies" or babies that take lots of naps, etc. in the car seat. My very good friend's son has it, and I would really like to avoid it.

So that's where we are at.

- Sarah