what's everyone using for a carseat?

[momof2girls1boy]

i thought i had it all figured out and then i went to carseat.org and that sent my head spinning!! : i am on baby #4 and it doesn't get any easier! i think though i'm going to go with my infant carrier as planned and then switch Jack(that's my little man's name,i like calling him Jackomo,too. drives my dh crazy but i love it!)sorry,placenta brain! to a convertible seat, we have an alpha omega elite that michelle is not using !wow,sorry guys i got totally sidetracked there for a minute!! anywho,what is everyone else doing?

[Jilian]

A bucket seat (Combi I think it is) and then switching to a Britax Marathon when the baby is a few months old. I would go with the Britax from the beginning but I've seen some pics of newborns in those seats and they are just way too roomy for my comfort. The straps look too loose.

[Shell_Ell]

We have a Graco Snugride. We'll most likely use that until he's 4-5 months. That was the age that DS preferred sitting up a little rather than reclining, so we switched to a convertible then. We have an Evenflo Triumph for DS, and we'll probably get another one, or move DS into a booster and the baby into the Triumph.

[awallrising]

I registered for the Britax Companion. After all my research, I think it's the best. It's pretty expensive, but I think it's worth it. I've also heard from "experts" that the Graco Snug Ride & Quattro Travel systems are excellent.

[Keeping up]

This is #4 for me too ... we will start with the Peg Perego car seat (bucket) for as short a time as possible (don't like it and it is also way too hot - my Jan and Feb babies did OK with it because of the chilly weather).

Otherwise, the 'new' baby will bump to the Britax Roundabout ... then I have two Britax marathons. Not sure what will be the fourth seat - Canada has very few 48lb car seats (and I like the five point harness idea) - so we might be buying another Britax Marathon.

So confusing - the almost 5 year old is only 36lbs. so we don't even meet the minimums for a booster yet.

[Ks Mama]

We'll be using DD's old infant seat (I say old, it's only 2.5 yo) - Graco Snugride until DS outgrows it. DD was already beyond the height limit at her 4 month check up, so I'm planning on DS being similar! At that point, we'll probably move DS to DD's Evenflo Triumph 5, and move DD up to a Britax Regent.

Problem is that we have 2 cars, plus MIL who frequently cares for DD, so we'll have to buy 3 Britax's in less than 1 year... :

[GenomicsGirl]

We're going to use our old Graco Snugride until dc#3 is ready for a Britax Marathon

[Mere]

This will be #3 for us, plus we've been the lucky recipients of several nice hand-me-down carseats from the cousins. In our garage right now, we have three convertible carseats (2 Britax Roundabouts and one other whose brand I have forgotten), not to mention another Roundabout and a booster in one car, and a Sunshine Radian and another booster in the other car. Oh, and we also have three infant bucket seats sitting around.

Unfortunately, despite the plethora of seats, we're actually going to have to buy at least one more! In order to fit 3 carseats in a row, our choices are totally dictated by seat width. Thus the Sunshine Radian and the Fisher Price booster, plus the Peg Perego infant bucket that I found to go inbetween.

For the other car, ds is about to top 40 lbs, and wouldn't you know those Roundabouts only go to 40lbs. SIGH...

If anyway lives close to me and needs a Roundabout, let me know!!

[Corri]

My mom gave us money for the Graco Quattro travel system (stroller & Snugride), and it looks like it'll be really useful. Mind you, I have the feeling the stroller will get used for groceries more than baby, as I've made a couple of slings and a wrap for us as well, but the carseat is supposed to be one of the best.

I've heard a lot of great things about Britax seats for the next stage up; are they the best for toddlers?

[willoLevin]

Corri-- Standard answer to the "best" carseat? "Whatever fits YOUR vehicle, YOUR child, and you will USE PROPERLY EVERY TIME."

That said, Britax seats are the easiest to use that I have encountered, and I've used about six or eight types at home and while traveling.

Personally, if buying a Britax, I would go for one of the higher weight limit seats. Since I don't have side airbags in my old, small car, I would buy the Boulevard model which has True Side Impact Protection (TSIP.) If you have a newer car with side airbags, or if your child seat will fit in the center seating position and you can manage to get the kid in and out from there (big ifs!), then TSIP won't matter to you.

Mere-- I PM'd you about that "extra" Roundabout...

We will borrow a bucket seat for the first 4-6 months. (That's how long DS fit his SnugRide.) My SIL is handing down a Graco SnugRide, plus another friend here has offered an infant seat, but I don't know the brand. I might take both and install one in each car, just to avoid buying an extra SnugRide base (SIL only had one.)

As of now, for DS, we have a SafeGuard "Go" seat in DH's car in the center positon (of an SUV.) This is a forward-facing only seat (FF) for an older child.

In my car (and another in my MIL's car) we a Britax Wizard seat (the pre-cursor to today's Boulevard--it had side wings.)

I plan to get a Sunshine Kids Radian for a second car (and travel) seat for the baby, and I plan to buy another Britax seat (unless Mere was serious about sharing...) for my car when the new baby outgrows the bucket next fall.

I've made this comment once before, but we did find that our son fit in a Britax Wizard Rear-facing (RF) from birth. He was full-term, 20.5" long, and wearing cloth diapers. (The seat's weight limit is 5 pounds, but a newborn is frequently too short to fit properly into the straps by height.) If you use cloth diapers, your kid will be about an inch taller in the carseat! If your family has tall babies, you might also be able to start off in a Britax.

I always recommend BORROWING (from a trusted friend/family member) the infant seat because so many kids outgrow them so fast,unless you know you are having more kids within the 5-7 year likely "useful life" of a new carseat...

--willo

[minimoose]

A Maxi Cosi

Yep, I'm as confused with all the US brandnames as you are probably with this one

This one is pretty much the standard here, I think 80% of all newborns ride in one.

[boheime]

This is baby 3 for us. We started with a Graco Sungride for the first few months with ds. When he was getting too long, we switched him to an Evenflo Triumph 5 and absolutely LOVED it. Dd lasted in the Graco for half a trip; we went to go pick up the paperwork to submit to register her birth...and promptly drove to Babies r Us to pick up another Triumph 5 and installed it in the parking lot. It was SO much nicer than the Snugride. Ds has now switched to a Britax Regent, so this baby will get his old Triumph 5 for 2 years and then dd's old Triumph 5 for the two years after that when she switches to a Britax Regent (because car seats expire). Then we will swotch little octopus to a Britax Regent.

[wombatclay]

We have a generic baby bucket for the first few months...I'm forgetting the brand right now but we really loved it with dd since it doesn't have "leave in the car" base...the whole bucket attaches in and out making it easy to move between cars.

We actually need a bigger car...with the new babe we're having to make some tough choices. DD had been in the Britax Marathon but we moved her a few months ago to the Alpha Omega since that has a higher rear facing weight limit and we wanted to keep her rear facing as long as possible. But now we've realized that we can't put the baby bucket in the middle seat with ANY rear facing carseat on the side.

So dd is now forward facing (to give her a month or so to adjust before she has to share the back seat) behind the driver's seat and the bucket is in the middle. When the bucket is too small Roro will move into Laia's old Marathon for a year or two depending on how she grows. And by then Laia will be 4ish and considering the way she is growing, more than ready for a booster seat so Roro will get the Alpha/Omega. BUT I don't like having Laia forward facing and I don't like the fact that both little ones will be sitting next to the doors.

And with the two seats there is no room in the car for another person or more than a few bags of "stuff". We just don't have the money for another car right now!

Sorry to get a little off topic there...but this car thing is sort of hanging over my head and I remember it every time I get in the car!

[goodwin]

we got a graco safeseat. but i haven't unpacked it or anything yet. hope it is a good one. it looks comfy to me!

[Mere]

wombatclay, have you considered replacing your Marathon with a Sunshine Kids radian? I don't know the Marathon's measurements, but there was a huge difference in width between the Britax Roundabout we had been using and the Radian. Of course RF next to another seat, even with a Radian, still might not work, but it's probably your best chance. If nothing else it might make it possible for someone to sit inbetween the two seats.

Also, check out different infant seats. Once again, I found there to be pretty big differences in width between the brands. We lucked out and got a Peg Perego bucket seat from someone, and I was amazed that it fits - even with the base! - in between our FF Radian and dd's Fisher Price Safe Voyage booster (the skinniest booster out there). All this fits in a Subaru Outback, which is not known for it's spacious backseat!

Anyhow, replacing all your seats is not cheap, especially when the ones you had were perfectly good, but it's a lot cheaper than buying a new car!

[wombatclay]

Thanks for the ideas Mere!

We have a 2000 Kia Sportage (no LATCH system, just belts)...the backseat has belts for three but you'd either have to be VERY friendly or abnormally thin to get three adults into that seat!

We've had DD in the middle of the back, and at least it was hypothetically possible to smoosh an adult in next to her (I rode in back with her when possible till I got pregnant and no longer "smooshed"). The Alpha/Omega is a bulkier seat than the Marathon (which is hard to believe!) though....we tried getting the A/O and the M to play nice rf and the car seat tech was pretty firm that it was a "no go". In fact, she wasn't really happy with any of the possible placements, though some were "safe", and she okayed the ff A/O and the rf bucket (followed by RF or FF A/O and RF Marathon as long as they were both on the sides with space in the middle...but there's no way an adult, or even a skinny kiddo, would fit in between the two and be able to both sit and use the lap belt).

The real stinker is my mom's car...she cares for dd when I'm at work and has a very old Saturn station wagon. It actually wasn't designed to have ANY rf options once you move past the baby bucket. It gives me nightmares...

[jstar]

graco bucket seat and then a roundabout. hopefully the new babe will not need the marathon until ds1 outgrows it. ds1 outgrew the bucket seat pretty early on weight...i think 4 months. or maybe 5. then he outgrew the roundabout on height before he turned 2. i don't know if this babe will be such a biggun. but i've got a basement full of carseats ds1 has outgrown. we also bought another seat for dh's car which was used maybe 10 times. (graco convertible i can't think of the name. the straps were WAY too short though and it was a total waste of $$)

[sylvi76]

Graco SungRide and then a Marathon.

[PatchChild]

Yet another Graco SnugRide and then a Marathon.

[Nora'sMommy]

Dd's Graco Snugride and then Dd's Britax Roundabout.