Now that Owen's hit the 3month mark, we're starting to look at things around the house and consider all of the things that we're going to need relatively soon. And by soon, I mean practically now! First on the list, an infant/child carseat!
He's a big kiddo....14lbs+ at this point, and 26" as of last week. The restrictions on our carseat are 22lbs and 29"...He's going to be out of that by Christmas!
So right now, we're looking at the next phase in carseats. I'm really not sure even where to begin. I'd like an infant/child carseat so that once we hit the rear-facing maximum, we can turn it around to the forward facing seat.
These are the ones that I'm considering...
The First Years True Fit Convertible Carseat - Urban Life $149
Cheap and cheerful, and the safety ratings are great. Thankfully in Canada, all carseats have to meet a certain Transport Canada standard to even be in the stores. The reviews are also really great...It's also apparently good for smaller cars, which is awesome for our Elantra. The only con, really, is that it's on backorder right now so I'm not even sure when it would be instock.
Rear facing to 30lbs, forward facing to 65lbs.
The First Years True Fit Rebound Carseat - Retro Geo $249
Again, a great carseat with great reviews. The price is a little much to swallow, if you ask me, and it's definitely bigger in size so I'm not even sure that it would fit in our car. I do like that it has an attachable headrest and kickboard, which certainly would come in handy with our little drummer boy!
Rear facing to 35lbs., forward to 65lbs.
Britax marathon Convertible Carseat - Onyx $299
I have heard nothing but amazing reviews for everything that Britax makes. It's super pricey though, so I'm not sure it's the route that we'll go...but I thought I'd throw it in there for comparison.
Rear facing to 30lbs., forward to 65lbs.
What are you using as your next carseat? Given the options above, which would you choose? Or...would you choose something different all together?
6 comments:
We just bought the Graco My Ride 65 in the Printus pattern. It is rear facing to 40 pounds, and forward facing to 65 pounds. It is a little big, but not really any bigger than other convertible car seats. We tested it out last night & Ethan fell asleep within about 2 minutes! I think if I were going to chose one from your list I would go with the first one. I think the 2nd one would be too big, and the Britax, while nice, is very expensive. Good luck in your search!
We have an Eddie Bauer convertible car seat. It actually is good until they are 80 lbs which is the end weight for car seats. I would look at one that would take Owen through until the end. It's a big expense but well worth the money. I think we paid just over 300$ for ours but it was worth every penny. As for your carrier, you might want to check with the car seat clinics. Autumn was 26" at four months and we were concerned about putting her in a larger car seat given she only weighed 10 lbs...yes she was as tall and scrawny as she is now. They suggested we keep her in the carrier until her head reached the top of the seat. She was really long but it was all leg and we managed to keep her in it until she was almost 6 months. The carrier does have its advantages especially in the winter;)
I have the Britax infant carrier car seat (Chaperone) and I love it. I am thinking of going to go with a Britax for the next car seat, but I do like the idea of having the next one be the last one too. I am going to look into those Eddie Bauer ones. I don't mind paying more for it as long as it keeps my LO safe, and I don't have to buy another one for her.
I have a Honda Civic, which is also pretty small, and we got the Britax Roundabout for our convertible carseat. I've heard that they are good for small cars. Also, I've heard that the AAP put out a recommendation that its best for kiddos to be rear-facing until 2 yrs old. Jack is kind of like Owen, growing like a weed, and I suspect that we will be in the convertible by January...and then when he outgrows the weight limit for that, we'll probably get a booster. Our Roundabout goes to 50 lbs.
Thankfully I don't have to worry about a new carseat for quite a while. Ours is good to 32 pounds and though Matthew is getting big (15 lbs to date), we're still good for a while. So thanks for doing the research for me. You'll have to let me know which one you end up with, so I can ask you how it fit in your car. LOL. My car is pretty tiny too and all the poor passengers in my car have to learn to sit scrunched up because Matthew's seat is so big already! Ha ha ha.
So much to consider!! I think we're going to spend a full day out and about doing research and finding the perfect carseat!
Shan - thanks for the small car recommendation! I appreciate that!!
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