Car seat Question

[tinkerbell615]

Hello everyone. We will be traveling this summer with our family. We are excited because we bought our own minivan and don't have to rent one. Yes, we do fill it with 7 people, but that has never been a problem for us before, as we just love the ride and idea of going to the most magical place on earth.

My question is what car seat would you recommend for us? My DS and DDIL both have one in each of their cars, but we really prefer to have our own. They have the super fancy expensive ones, but we would just like something that is safe and reasonable for us to keep in our van. We have the infant rear facing seat right now, but our grandson is ready to come out of that one. We need to get the forward facing that will grow with him. We like to take our grandsons with us when we go places, so we like our own. Is there a car seat that you guys recommend that would be a nice one for a reasonable price? Just looking for your expert opinions. Thanks!!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

as a grandmother I would take parents along when you go to pick out one. ahead of that I would go and check out what is available. show them the ones you are looking at and ask them what they like. if they want a more costly seat ask them to pay difference. has worked for us, have not had to use last part as they were just happy to not have to move seat every time I took grandchild and I now have 8 grandkids,2 in seats and 2 in boosters

 

[Heidi K]

If he's outgrowing the infant seat but is still under two years old, remember that the new recommendation is that he needs to stay rear-facing until at least 2 years old (longer is better). That would mean getting a convertible--something like this one. You would switch it to forward-facing when he reaches the rear-facing weight limit. Amazon has great prices on car seats, BTW.

http://www.amazon.com/Graco-Classic...1393096410&sr=8-23&keywords=car+seats+toddler

 

[JillianLeigh]

If he's outgrowing the infant seat but is still under two years old, remember that the new recommendation is that he needs to stay rear-facing until at least 2 years old (longer is better). That would mean getting a convertible--something like this one. You would switch it to forward-facing when he reaches the rear-facing weight limit. Amazon has great prices on car seats, BTW.

http://www.amazon.com/Graco-Classic...1393096410&sr=8-23&keywords=car+seats+toddler

Agreed. Rear face until at least 2 years old, and then as long as possible after that point.

 

[RachaelA]

I'd check with your son and DIL (especially her!) and see if they want to chose the carseat since it will be their child in it.

I'm glad other people touched on the RFing information.

 

[JediBonas]

I'd check with your son and DIL (especially her!) and see if they want to chose the carseat since it will be their child in it.

I'm glad other people touched on the RFing information.

This. I did a lot of research on car seats and was very particular. I would not have been happy if my inlaws got ones for my kids without my approval.

 

[tinkerbell615]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Rear facing is fine. He is just outgrowing the small one. We are looking into the convertible ones. DS and DDIL live less than a mile from us and are with us frequently. We will definitely make sure what we pick is okay with them. They will probably be with us when we buy it. I just wanted to hear all of your opinions. We are really particular on his safety for sure. I just like hearing from others to see what they have. Thanks so much I really appreciate the opinions.

 

[RachaelA]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Rear facing is fine. He is just outgrowing the small one. We are looking into the convertible ones. DS and DDIL live less than a mile from us and are with us frequently. We will definitely make sure what we pick is okay with them. They will probably be with us when we buy it. I just wanted to hear all of your opinions. We are really particular on his safety for sure. I just like hearing from others to see what they have. Thanks so much I really appreciate the opinions.

I'd ask your DIL how long she plans to RF because that could be a big factor in what seat you get. If she wants to rear face past 2, you'll need a seat with a higher shell (like a Radian). Or if he's near the top of the weight charts, you'll need a seat with a higher weight limit.

All seats meet the "safety" standards, but certain seats have extra features that some moms want their kids to have (especially for long distance road trips!).

 

[MrsPinup]

If he's outgrowing the infant seat but is still under two years old, remember that the new recommendation is that he needs to stay rear-facing until at least 2 years old (longer is better). That would mean getting a convertible--something like this one. You would switch it to forward-facing when he reaches the rear-facing weight limit. Amazon has great prices on car seats, BTW.

http://www.amazon.com/Graco-Classic...1393096410&sr=8-23&keywords=car+seats+toddler

Thank you for posting this! I also recommend checking out seats recommended by Car Seats for the Littles. They offer a variety of excellent choices in a variety of price ranges. http://csftl.org/recommended-seats/

And yes, check with the parents!

 

[MandiC]

I love our First Years True Fit. We have had Evenflo and Graco car seats but the First Years is by far the most convenient as far as installation and adjusting straps, ect. Installing it with latch is SUPER simple, press of a button. Plus it has high weight limits and isn't ridiculously expensive.

 

[RoosMama]

I have a Britax Roundabout for DD. My parents ended up buying the same one for their car also. They are at Target, not terribly expensive, especially if you can hit a sale! DD seems to think it is comfortable.

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Rear facing is fine. He is just outgrowing the small one. We are looking into the convertible ones. DS and DDIL live less than a mile from us and are with us frequently. We will definitely make sure what we pick is okay with them. They will probably be with us when we buy it. I just wanted to hear all of your opinions. We are really particular on his safety for sure. I just like hearing from others to see what they have. Thanks so much I really appreciate the opinions.

I'm so glad you responded in that way. Will you adopt me?

My MIL asked us CONSTANTLY when DS would be totally out of a carseat altogether. From when he was, like, 6 months old.

She held her son (my husband) *in her arms* for a road trip cross country when he was a baby. And she's got the "we were fine" attitude. Of course, they *didn't get into a car accident* along the way. So of course they were fine.

It was just a constant barrage of questions about that. For no good reason, she wasn't going to be taking him anywhere (she never asked to and even if she had it wouldn't have happened). So weird.

I'm so glad that you answered that way. Yay you.

 

[rimomma66]

We had Britax Marathons in both of our cars until little man got too big- now he's in a harnessed booster. Loved them.

 

[laughinplace199]

My first two kids had Britax Roundabouts and my third had a Britax Marathon. I loved Britax seats!

 

[laura3773]

I joined today to tell you that I have Britax Marathons in both cars and that they were about $100 cheaper on Amazon.com than at any of our local baby stores. I love it because the shoulder straps are super easy to adjust - no rethreading - so if you have more than one grandkid using the seat you can adjust easily for that. It does RF until 40 lbs and FF until 70 lbs (both until 49" - though RF is only until the head is 1 inch from the top of the shell, so if your grandkids are long in torso they'll have to flip sooner than a tall in the legs kid), so I think it will last us for a long time. My daughter is very comfortable in it (still RF at 33" and 24 lbs) and was even for a week long road trip from VA - VT and back. Plus I love the Cowmooflage pattern - I think it's cute and gender neutral. It is also very easy to take the cover off to wash it and to put it back together after.

 

[AmyBWV99]

I also recommend Britax sears. We have used boulevards & now onto 2 pavilions for my youngest 2. We went with grace nautilus as secondary seats in my husbands van and we hate them, and now graco recalled 3+ million of them. The buckles stink, and the kids never slept we'll in them their heads were constantly flopping. The Britax seats offer great support ans easy use. I've ordered off Amazon and Albee baby for much less than in store by $100+ on each seat.

 

[Lisa71]

Our kids were in Britax too...and now in the Frontier by them..just went to the booster option with a belt this year. Love the seat and they last.

 

[tinkerbell615]

I'm so glad you responded in that way. Will you adopt me?

My MIL asked us CONSTANTLY when DS would be totally out of a carseat altogether. From when he was, like, 6 months old.

She held her son (my husband) *in her arms* for a road trip cross country when he was a baby. And she's got the "we were fine" attitude. Of course, they *didn't get into a car accident* along the way. So of course they were fine.

It was just a constant barrage of questions about that. For no good reason, she wasn't going to be taking him anywhere (she never asked to and even if she had it wouldn't have happened). So weird.

I'm so glad that you answered that way. Yay you.

Thank you so much for the kind words. DH and myself actually tend to be a little overprotective of both of our grandsons, and we love to take them places with us, so making sure they are safe in the car/van is really important.

Thank you all very much for the responses. They are all very helpful!

 

[RachaelA]

I joined today to tell you that I have Britax Marathons in both cars and that they were about $100 cheaper on Amazon.com than at any of our local baby stores. I love it because the shoulder straps are super easy to adjust - no rethreading - so if you have more than one grandkid using the seat you can adjust easily for that. It does RF until 40 lbs and FF until 70 lbs (both until 49" - though RF is only until the head is 1 inch from the top of the shell, so if your grandkids are long in torso they'll have to flip sooner than a tall in the legs kid), so I think it will last us for a long time. My daughter is very comfortable in it (still RF at 33" and 24 lbs) and was even for a week long road trip from VA - VT and back. Plus I love the Cowmooflage pattern - I think it's cute and gender neutral. It is also very easy to take the cover off to wash it and to put it back together after.

Britax seats are known for having shorter shell and they are outgrown height wise before many other seats out there. So if someone plans to extended rearface, then I'd avoid Britax seats.

My DD1 would have outgrown a Britax months ago (she's 28 months). She's still RFing and we specifically did not get a Britax seat for that reason.

 

[AmyBWV99]

My 37 month old is still in his Britax pavilion with plenty of room to go, he's tall and 38lbs. We've haven't had that over growing the shell an issue for the older 2 boys either when they were in Britax Blvds.