Carseat for 1 yr old?

[PLUTO2]

I was at BRU today and am amazed at how many carseat choices there are? Can anyone make any recommendations?
Thank You!!!!!

 

[annabelle]

I recommend a Britax Marathon... it's a great - SOLID - well made car seat that can keep your little one rear facing past a year old (which is actually safer for toddlers to ride as long as you don't go past the seat's weight limits. So don't be in a hurry to turn that little one around! They're safer rear facing!)

The Marathon can also keep you're child in a 5 point harness until they're 65 lbs. A lot of parents use this feature to keep their toddlers harnessed until they're at least mature enough to sit in a booster apropriately. A lot of convertible seats only keep children harnessed until they're 40 lbs... which (IMO) leaves a gap of children who are not yet ready to graduate to booster seats. So, the Marathon helps bridge that gap. Parents end up having to either move their toddlers to booster seats prematurely or buy some sort of harnessed seat that has higher weight limits until they ARE ready for that booster seat. Sorry if that was too much information!

If you're on a Budget, the Graco Comfort Sport or Touriva are great choices too.

Here's a great message board dedicated to just car seats. There are even car seat technicians on there who can answer all your technical questions too. Good luck!

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=13&page=

 

[lemondog]

I have 3 Britax Roundabouts and LOVE them! The difference between these and the Marathons are that the Roundabouts only go up to 40lbs, the Marathons go to 65 so could be used as boosters as well. The Marathons are a LOT bigger than the Roundabouts, though, so if you have a smaller car I would go with the Roundabout.

If you want them much cheaper than you can get them at BRU, try www.albeebaby.com. I saved over $160 on my carseats via this website, and shipping is free, with no tax.

Angela

 

[CinderellasMama]

I was at BRU today and am amazed at how many carseat choices there are? Can anyone make any recommendations?
Thank You!!!!!

Can I ask what you are using now?

I would suggest the one we used but it is out of date now. I loved it because it could be leaned back when in the rear facing position and set up or lay back when it was front facing. When my daughter was out of a carrier (around 6 months) we moved to this one and loved it. Now she is in a booster.

There is a great carseat board at Parents Place dot com. I got tons of info there.

Brenda

 

[alloyd1170]

Stay away from Cosco's Alpha Omega. It looked like a good thing, but I didnt care for it. I do like Graco's products, and went back to them for the Turbo Booster (had Snug Ride before). If you can afford Britax, Id look into it as well. Be sure to test it out in your car to see if it fits right and is easy to access the adjustment straps, etc before driving off with it (I dont know BRU return policy). Heres a link to a site that people reply to about how different car seats work in different cars: http://www.carseatdata.org/default.html

Click on database or compatibility database, and then on the next screen scroll down to Enter the database.

alison

 

[MCK588]

I agree with the above posts.

Get a Britax if you can afford it. It's the best quality and safest.

Check out the sites at windsorpeak and parentsplace, they are very informative.

I have a Roundabout and now have #2 using it. The Marathon was not available when I bought the Roundabout, but I wish it was. When I needed a seat for #1 when I gave #2 the Roundabout I bought a Graco Platinum CarGo instead of the Marathon and am now going back to buy the Marathon. The Platinum CarGo gets good grades but it's nothing like a Britax. As with so many things when you try to save money, this is now costing me more than having bought the Marathon in the first place.

 

[all4fun]

I recommend a....well made car seat that can keep your little one rear facing past a year old (which is actually safer for toddlers to ride as long as you don't go past the seat's weight limits. So don't be in a hurry to turn that little one around! They're safer rear facing!)

ITA with this statement. Here is a site the explains why this is true: cpsafety.com
They also have shopping guides which may help.

Most convertible car seats have a rf weight limit of 30-35lbs. We bought the Cosco Alpha Omega which is a decent car seat but my one complaint is the straps do tend to get twisted which is very annoying. Other than that, we have it rear-facing and ds (21 mos) seems to be quite comfortable in it. I wish I had looked at buying a Britax though since they are so highly rated. I have also heard really good things about the Evenflo Triumph. We use the Cosco Touriva for a backup/travel car seat and it works fine as well.

The most important thing of course is that whatever carseat you buy fits in your car properly and your dc is comfortable in it.

hth,
Cheryl

 

[laughinplace199]

Another vote for Britax. We had Roundabouts for both of our kids. DD5 is now in a Britax booster. DS3 is still in the Roundabout and will be for quite some time (He's nowhere near 40 lbs - we're lucky if he's 30 lbs. right now!).

The Britax seats are very safe, not to mention easy to install. We had a Century car seat as an extra when DD was a baby. It was so hard to install that once we got it into our second car, it never came out.

 

[Bird-Mom]

Britax Marathon here! My dd1 who is almost 3 and 35 pounds is in one and I love it! My dd2 at 7 months 19 pounds is in a Britax Roundabout and we will be buying her a Marathon also at some point before the 40 pound Roundabout limit.

 

[jimmysmommy]

I have to tell you to go with the Graco Comfort Sport....My brother is a police officer and certified Car Seat installer, and this is the model they reccomend. They are many different models within the Comfort Sport, and they vary on price, but this is mainly due to the different "bells and whistles". The 79.99 model is great, with plenty of padding to keep the little one safe and comfortable. There is also a version that has a way to remove the padding for washing without having to re-thread the straps (to me this is huge, so I would probably splurge!!) I am shopping tonight actually for a new seat for my very big for his age 9 month old.

 

[Brina]

-I have 3 kids in Britax Marathons - 1 two-year-old and 2 five-year-olds. I love this seat.

 

[herprettiness]

I want to recommend an evenflo triumph 5 car seat. I was actually at Babies R Us today (shopping for strollers - see other thread) and recommended this to someone else.

We have two car seats. The triumph and One of the Eddie Bauer Cosco seats.

I dont like the Cosco seat at all, which is why it's in my husbands car. The straps are a pain, especially the adjusting. If you have both cold and warm weather and make adjustments for with coat and without coat, the straps on the cosco are a pain.

The triumpth has a roller adjuster that does not get twisted or tangled. Plus you get a good fit everytime.

I have taken apart and cleaned both seat covers and the evenflo was again the winner. Just comes right off. The Cosco requires that you remove a lot of the hardware including straps.

AND the evenflo is about $60.00 cheaper.

Oh Yeah, almost forgot. My son, 1 at the time, broke the plastic chest restraint piece on the cosco model. I don't remember the mechanics of how he did this, but I called Cosco and apparently they had several problems with this, because they sent me a replacement part for free and it was much beefier. I'm sure they have corrected this problem by now. I hope.

 

[Kermit]

I also love the Evenflo Triumph 5. The thing that I love about it is how easy it is to tighten and loosen the straps. There's a knob that you turn. It's so easy. All carseats are safety tested. The safest carseat is the one that's installed and used correctly. I think that a lot of people who have the carseats with the strap coming out the front that you tug on to tighten the straps don't loosen and retighten the straps every time they put the baby in, and that simply isn't as safe. If you get one that works like that, you just have to make sure it's tight enough each time you use it.

Having said that, my huge 2 year old has almost outgrown his Triumph, and I'm going to have to buy a Britax Husky. If you have a tall child, especially one who's tall through the torso, you may want to get that one.

 

[PLUTO2]

We are using an infant carseat from Evenflo right now. BRU has a sale right now so I thought I would check out carseats. The one thing I am concerned about right now is how his feet are already pushing against the seat and he still has a couple months to go in the rear facing position. He is long for his age. Anyone else have this problem?

 

[all4fun]

We are using an infant carseat from Evenflo right now. BRU has a sale right now so I thought I would check out carseats. The one thing I am concerned about right now is how his feet are already pushing against the seat and he still has a couple months to go in the rear facing position. He is long for his age. Anyone else have this problem?

Actually you can continue using the infant seat up to the weight limit if your babies head is an inch or more from the top of the plastic shell. If the legs dangle off the bottom, that isn't an issue. You can actually keep your dc rear facing well into the 2nd year or even longer (in a convertible seat), depending on your child's weight.

Check out this site http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/StayRearFacing.aspx and you will see that just because a childs feet are touching the back of the seat, that doesn't pose a risk to your child at all. According to this site:

there is not a single documented case of children's legs, hips, etc. breaking in a crash due to longer rear-facing. Even if a leg were broken, it can easily be fixed. A damaged spinal cord (from forward-facing too soon) cannot be repaired and subjects the child to lifelong disability or death.

My ds is still rear-facing at 21 months and his feet touch the back of the seat. He doesn't seem uncomfortable at all so as long as he's comfy that way and he's within the r/fing weight limit I plan on keeping him that way.

hth,
Cheryl

 

[swilphil]

I also recommend the Britax car seats. Along with being very solid, the straps don't get twisted like they do with the Century and Cosco seats that we have in my husband's car.

 

[PLUTO2]

Check out this site http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/StayRearFacing.aspx and you will see that just because a childs feet are touching the back of the seat, that doesn't pose a risk to your child at all.

Thank you I feel much better knowing that!

 

[Lesley]

We have a Britax Marathon that we bought for our soon to be 5yo earlier last year when she outgrew both her other 5 point harness seats in height but was not yet 40 lbs. We had to switch her out of it soon after she got to 40lbs even though its supposed to work up to 65lbs. because of height issues once again. The seat is not long enough to support her legs up to the knees and she became very uncomfortable (in what is possibly considered the most comfortable seat on the market). She is now in a belt positioning seat (actually her old cosco which was both a 5 point harness seat and a belt positioner...she was just too tall for the 5 point harness before hitting 40lbs).

I am glad to have the Marathon for when my almost 11mo baby outgrows her baby seat...she's still within the weight limit for her snap in seat and even though its heavy, its convenient when she falls asleep in the car. Once she hits 22lbs we'll switch to the Marathon and keep her rear facing until 30 lbs (or whatever the rear facing limit is...) or as long as she's comfortable that way.

 

[CinderellasMama]

We are using an infant carseat from Evenflo right now.

When you say this you mean like a regular carseat right? Not a carrier(these should only be used up to 20lbs/aprox 6 months old)?

You should check the books that came with it or the labels that are on it. Most infant seats can be used up to 30lbs. I agree with the posters that say you can use it rear facing until baby is over a year. We used our infant seat until my daughter was almost 3 and then we moved to a 5 point harness booster. We turned the infant seat forward facing after she turned one.

Brenda

 

[justhat]

We are using an infant carseat from Evenflo right now.

When you say this you mean like a regular carseat right? Not a carrier(these should only be used up to 20lbs/aprox 6 months old)?

You should check the books that came with it or the labels that are on it. Most infant seats can be used up to 30lbs. I agree with the posters that say you can use it rear facing until baby is over a year. We used our infant seat until my daughter was almost 3 and then we moved to a 5 point harness booster. We turned the infant seat forward facing after she turned one.

Brenda

When you say your turned your infant seat forward facing, you mean a convertible carseat? Infant only seats can't go forward facing so I'm a little confused.

Carriers can be used well past 6 months if the child is within the weight limit and their head is less than an inch away from the top of the seat. At 6 months my daughter was 16 lbs so there was no need to move her out of her carrier/carseat. We switched her to a Roundabout (which I love!!!) in my husband's car at almost 10 months (she was 18 lbs.), but she stayed in her Snugride in my car for about another month until we put in her Marathon. At 11.5 months, she's almost 19 lbs., and our infant seat goes to 20 pounds, so we could still use it for her, but it was really heavy to carry her in it and she always hated the seat anyway, so we switched her and she loves her Britax seats. This baby cried every time she was in the car from 2 weeks old till she was over 7 months and since she's been in the Britax seats I rarely hear from her and she even falls asleep now! We have used the Snugride on vacation and visiting my mom (we are storing the infant seats there till baby #2 comes along one day), as she's still under the weight limit and her head is still over an inch away from the top of the seat.

Oh, and her legs were dangling over the infant seat since she was about 6 months old. She's not that tall, but she's all leg! It was one of the reasons we switched to the Roundabout in my husband's car because she was kicking the back of the seat and trying to move her carseat (she was unsuccessful, but I figured with repeated pushing/kicking it might get loose). She still dangles off the Roundabout, but the way it's in there she can't really push the seatback as well. She'll be less than 20 lbs. at a year so she'll stay rearfacing for that, but as long as possible after that anyway. Our car seat tech said everyday we keep her rearfacing is one day she's safer in the car, which is true so risk the leg injuries to prevent more serious injuries by turning her forward facing.

For Marathon owners, I have a question. Everytime I get her in the seat and tighten the strap on the bottom to get them tight (and yes, I do loosen and tighten them everytime we get in the car, much easier to get her in/out) I'll pull it a little, then it stops, then I have to pull again, then it stops, and I have to do this several times till it's tight enough. My Roundabout doesn't do this though, you just pull and keep pulling till it's tight, much easier, so I was wondering if I'm doing it wrong, if something's wrong with the seat, or if it's just the way the Marathon is? I put in that replacement adjuster strap after the recall, but not sure if it did that before because we hadn't used the seat yet. We're getting the installation inspected on Tuesday so I'll ask then, but if any of you know it would be great.

And to the OP (and anyone else getting a carseat), definitely check online before you buy it at BRU. We got ours at www.bestbuybaby.com for much less, no tax, and free shipping.