Calling all mommies (another car seat ?)

[Pooh_Friend#1]

My sister just found out that she is having twins.

She was wondering what is the best brand for car seats that she should look into, and if anyone has a loyalty to a certain brand, if so why?

She was also wondering what was better an infant car seat or an infant/toddler car seat? She is worried that the twins will outgrow the infant seat too soon and financially she was wondering if it was better to get the infant/toddler car seat for them to grow into to save money. More than likely she thinks she is just going to go with the infant car seat and suck it up if they grow out of it quickly, but we would be interested in your opinions.

I do not have any children so I am not much help I don't have a clue about car seats, and she has not discovered the DIS board like me.

 

[monkeyboy]

I find this thread sexist

 

[rentingspace]

I have 2 young guys. I bought both evenflo and graco.They both rate high in the comsumer reports on safety and convience. Twins are usually small so she probably would be safer with the child seat. Have her put it on the baby shower list. Babies r us is the best. ANyother questions just give a shout.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Okay Monkeyboy you are right.........and Daddy's too!!!

 

[cgcw]

Congratulations on becoming an aunt.

Personally, I could not put an infant into a convertable car seat. Infants are so tiny and those car seats are huge. When my DS10 was born, he was swallowed up by the infant carrier at 4# - I can't imagine if we had tried to put him into a bigger one.

Some car seats fit better in some vehicles than others. A great resource I have found are the sales people in Babies R Us. They sell lots of carseats.

BAbies R Us also offered a multiples discount when I bought new carseats for my daycare kids. I believe it was 10% at the time and was offered to families who bought multiples of the same items. Maybe your sister wants to see if it's still available.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

We have a Graco infant seat that also attaches to the stroller. When she grew out of that we got a Britax Roundabout.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I like the infant carriers. You will have to buy a 2nd car seat anyway once the seat faces forward. For that seat---you can just budget so that if for size, it is needed earlier, then the money is available. Just make sure that the seat can be used forward and rear facing and is good for up to 40 pounds. That will help save money until it is booster seat time. More pounds allowed, means that in case the babies are fast growers--you won't have to worry about replacing that 2nd seat at the age of 2.

We did evenflow at first, but I do like the Graco line better. I like their strollers better as well.

I would start with the infant carriers, especially with twins--when babies fall asleep (as newborns are apt to do)--it makes it harder to transfer them. With an infant carrier/car seat combo--you can increase the liklihood that the baby will still be sleeping after transferred from car to stroller or car to house. Make sure the stroller can accomodate to infant seats and that the seats will in fact lock to the stroller.

Size wise--once the belts have been maxed out--baby is ready to upgrade to a larger seat when their shoulders are have passed the highest harness slits [see below for RadioNates comment 4 posts down as he has an expert opinion that differs from mine]....or their legs or head are passing the edges of the car seat (there are more specific limitations that you can read in the manual of the seat). And obviously when they weigh too much.

If they are ready to upgrade the seat before a year--remember it is rear facing until 12 months AND 20 pounds....so that upgrade has to be able to be rear facing as well.

 

[RadioNate]

I'm a former car seat tech meaning that my certification is not current, I think there are a few here with current certification.

Most people go with the infant seat for convience. They also fit small babies better. While there is nothing wrong with going with a convertable seat from the beggining (as long as the babies meet the weight, usually 5lbs) I think with twins the convience of the infant seat will be very valuable. I can't imagine carrying two sleeping infants to the car and getting them in and out of rear facing convertable seats.

Infant car seats are outgrown at 20lbs or when the top of the head reaches the top of the seat. Some kids are 4 months when this happens and some last until 10 months or a year.

Once the infant seat is outgrown she'll need a convertable seat that rearfaces (usually until 22-30lbs) and then front faces (usually 40lbs, some as high as 65lbs). Rear facing is a must until the child is 1 year old but it is generally recommended for as long as the child fits the seat rearfacing (again until the weight limit is reached and the head reaches the top of the shell)

Most people will need 4 different stages of child restraint devices until their child is ready for an adult seat belt:
infant seat
convertable seat
combo seat
booster seat

I think I posted some links in both the car seat rant and the NY booster threads that your sister might be interested in looking at.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Very helpful for the new mom-to be and me, thanks. Does anyone know if their is a double stroller/car seat combo for two?

 

[lulugirl]

We have a Graco infant seat that also attaches to the stroller. When she grew out of that we got a Britax Roundabout.

Us too! I love Britax product's and have several of their seats. That said, I would not spend the extra money on a Britax infant seat because you use it for such a short period of time, the Graco Snugride worked great for us!
Britax seats are expensive but if it's affordable for your friend I think she'l be happy w/ them.

 

[RadioNate]

Size wise--once the belts have been maxed out--baby is ready to upgrade to a larger seat when their shoulders are have passed the highest harness slits....or their legs or head are passing the edges of the car seat (there are more specific limitations that you can read in the manual of the seat). And obviously when they weigh too much.

I just want to clarify this.

The harness slot info above is acutally for front facing seats. When rear facing you can should use the harness slots that are BELOW the shoulders. This prevents "ramping up." So it's ok to use a rear facing seat if the child shoulders are above the harness slots as long as the child is under the weigh and their head is not above the top of the seat.

The harness info is correct for front facing seats. They are outgrown when the child's shoulders are above the highest harness slots.

Also new testing has concluded that leg legnth isn't a huge safety concern. In the CPS community there is actually a huge push for extended rear facing. There are a lot of tall 3+ year olds out there rear facing who are not experiencing any leg injury.

But as always read the directions and do with the manufacture recommends. They have done the most involved tests and know what's best for their seats.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Very helpful for the new mom-to be and me, thanks. Does anyone know if their is a double stroller/car seat combo for two?

Some car seats and strollers are interchangeable between brands....you can sit at Babies R Us and play around and see what fits into what.

oh, and a sales person can help you with that as well...but when shopping, it is sooo much more fun to play

 

[RadioNate]

Very helpful for the new mom-to be and me, thanks. Does anyone know if their is a double stroller/car seat combo for two?

I think Graco makes one. Their infant seat (the SnugRide) is also highly thought of.

While I don't generally throw out brands I will say if you can afford Britax seats, you are getting a true top of the line product.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I just want to clarify this.

The harness slot info above is acutally for front facing seats. When rear facing you can should use the harness slots that are BELOW the shoulders. This prevents "ramping up." So it's ok to use a rear facing seat if the child shoulders are above the harness slots as long as the child is under the weigh and their head is not above the top of the seat.
.

I could have sworn my evenflo had different directions. It is long gone so I am unable to check.

I will edit my post to see your post--so that people do not take my post as THE rule.

Thanks.

 

[Denine]

Heidi,
We had an infant car seat with the base that stayed in the car. It was so nice. You could get her all bundled up in it in the house and just snap it in and go. I think it was Graco.

The seat we have now is Evenflo. It is supposed to be convertable, but I don't know how. We had so much trouble with it at first.

 

[RadioNate]

I could have sworn my evenflo had different directions. It is long gone so I am unable to check.

I will edit my post to see your post--so that people do not take my post as THE rule.

Thanks.

Evenflo very well could have - they are known for having the most conservative recommendations.

Child passenger safety recommendations are changing rapidly so it really is best to check all manuals. The manufacture's direction will be the definative answer no matter what the "general" guidelines we post say.

 

[skuttle]

I would definitely go with the infant carrier at first so that you can bring the babies places and not wake them. They are worth it, IMO. And since she's having twins, the babies will probably be on the small side so she should get many months of use out of the carriers. We had a graco snugride that came with our stroller. Once DS was ready for a carseat, we went with a Britax Marathon...pricey, but a great seat and DS loves it!

 

[becka]

I would go with the infant seats at first. I thought about about not getting an infant seat to save money but friends convinced me otherwise and I don't know what I would have done without it! We have an Evenflo infant seat. It is nice but the darn thing jams up sometimes when we try to get it out of the base. We know the trick to get it to release but it was a pain at first when we didn't know what we were doing. My understanding is that the Graco infant seats are better.

Once they are ready for the convertible seats I highly recommend the Britax seats. We bought the Britax Marathon and I love it! It goes up to 65 pounds and I think it will carry us until DS is ready for a booster.

 

[Kermit]

I also think that infant seats are wonderful, and especially for twins. Those convertible seats say they're okay for babies over 5 pounds, but small babies are so much more comfortable in the infant seats. And her babies will probably start out extra small. I had a Graco infant seat, but it's not the one I'd get if I could do it over. I'd get the brand that has the handle that's easier to hold. I think it's Evenflo that has it.

Regarding the stroller, there are double strollers that will carry 2 infant carseats, but I wouldn't get one for a few reasons. For one, I never ended up putting my babies in the stroller while they were in the carseat. I've read too much about how the carseat position isn't that great for their spinal devleopment. Also, the strollers that can accomodate the seats are HUGE. She probably won't find one that will fit in her trunk unless she has a minivan. I have a double stroller, and it's a side-by-side Peg Perego Twin Aria. It's expensive but worth every dime. I love it. Since money is a concern, she should have everyone in her family start looking for a used one. I know that some people like the double strollers with the seats in front of each other, but I can't imagine using one. They're just so big and heavy.

 

[bengalbelle]

We have a Graco infant seat that also attaches to the stroller. When she grew out of that we got a Britax Roundabout.

Same here. We loved both of them.
For the Graco we bought an extra base and kept a base in each car and just transferred the infant seat between the two.
We bought a Cosco Alpha Omega before the Britax and hated it. Ended up giving it to my mom and we bought 2 Britax Roundabouts - one for each car.