Moving from Infant Carrier to Convertible Car Seat

I really like the Graco comfort sport convertable car seat. It has lasted through 2 children now and they seem very comfortable. It costs less than $100 each. It does only go up to 40# though. Good Luck

We just bought a new car seat last month. My son is getting close to the 40 pound limit that allows you to use the 5 point harness in his car seat. Otherwise he can go to 80 pounds as a booster seat using the seat belt. He's only 2 1/2! I'm not comfortable using a seat belt just yet, and after visiting the Kyle Miller Foundation website now I am positive. We went ahead and bought the Britax Regent, as it can be used with a 5 point harness to 85 pounds. It's expensive at $269 dollarss, but when you watch the tribute to Kyle you'll realize that is pennies to your child's life.

This is our son's 4th car seat and it by far the BEST! The straps do not twist and he is really comfortable in there.

The Regent is only forward facing, however I've heard great things about the other Britax. After saving money on the other car seats, if I could redo I would have gone from the infant seat, to the Britax that can rear face and go to 65 pounds or so, and then see if my child was big enough to need the Britax Regent down the road. I so wish someone had told me this before we wasted our money on less expensive (but still rated well) car seats.

Also, just so you know, they have always said to keep your child rear facing as long as you can...or at least until 1 year. They are now trying to push this to 2 years. We kept my son rear facing until 18 months, and even though he was large his legs were just fine! We turned him around when we went on a 12 hour car trip...and then there is no turning back.

Hope this helps!

With any car seat, being able to use it correctly every time is what will make your child the safest. I have found that the Britax seats are easiest for me to install and also easiest to adjust while the child is in it, to get the straps tight enough. In some convertible seats the button for adjusting the straps is actually concealed by the back of the car's seat when the set is installed in the rear-facing position. (Who designed this?!? :))

When you go shopping for a seat, try all the buckles and strap adjusters. See if the straps are likely to get twisted and tangled in the different buckles. Imagine adjusting everything with a squirmy kid inside, or from an odd angle - both rear-facing and front-facing. Can you buckle it with 1.5 hands or will you need to have both hands squarely in front of the buckle to get it to work? How are the LATCH connectors? How easy is it to tighten that belt?

If you feel really good about the seat you're buying, the price doesn't matter as much - whether it's a little or a lot. Some of the more expensive seats don't seem to be so great, and there are some inexpensive seats that really seem to be well-designed and durable.

Like I mentioned above, we use Britax. My son outgrew his carrier when he was around 4 months old and I didn't want to be buying a lot of seats, so we got a Britax Marathon. He'll be 5 next month and he's still using it - it's suitable up to 60 pounds. It has held up extremely well - we'll run into its expiration date long before it wears out.

My advice is to find a seat with a higher harness weight. The Britax seats (Marathon, Decathlon, and Boulevard) will harness to 33lbs rear facing and they will forward face to 65lbs. These seats will fit most 6 year olds, my oldest still fits in our Marathon, and he is 45lbs, 48'' tall, and 5 1/2 years old (his carseat is aBritax REgent). My 2 year old sits in the Marathon right now, and he just went forward facing in it last month. I LOVE this seat, its very well constructed, Britax continually tests thier seats for safety and funtionality. Plus the higher weight harness means you can keep your child in the five point harness longer, which everyone knows is safer than just a booster. The Britax Seats range from $260-$300, but are worth every penny, you will get the full 6 years out of the seat, your child WILL be able to use this seat until he/she is at least 5 or 6.

Some other options for higher weight seats are...

FIsher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe, will rear face to 33lbs, and forward face to 55lbs. This seat has the same shell as the Britax Marathon so it will fit most 5-6 year olds. Again my 5 1/2 year old fits this seat perfectly. You can find this online at www.albeebaby.com, and is $130 there with free shipping. GREAT seat for the money!

Evenflo Triumph ADVANCE will rear face to 30lbs and forward face to 50lbs. This seat will fit most 5 year olds, but my son was too tall for it. BUT its a GREAT seat for $130 with a higher weight harness.

Graco is supposed to be coming out with a new seat this year that will rival the Britax Marathon, harness rear facing to 35lbs and ff'ing to 65lbs. will be named the Tritan or Sprout, but supposedly going ot be a great seat, not sure on the price, but supposed tobe out early this next year.

The 3-in-1 seats like the Cosco Alpha Omega, or the Eddie Bauer seats, are NOT a good deal at all. THey have a short top harness and most kids outgrow the seat by age 3 in height long before they outgrow it in weight, and long before they are ready for a booster. The harness is only good to 40lbs on those seats as well, after 40lbs they HAVE to be used as a belted booster. Plus they make terrible boosters because they hold the seatbelt too far awya from teh body. A child should remain in a five point harness as long as possible, or AT LEAST age 4, and AT LEAST 40lbs. Children have rounded hips, so the seatbelt alone will not be effective in a crash, the hips will nt hold the belt down in the correct place, htat is why children should remain in a five point harness until they are at leat 4 and 40lbs, preferrably until they are 6.

Also, children should remain rear facing as long as possible. the AAP recommends children remain rear facing to 33lbs! SOme people think that turning your child around is a milestone, but it can be a deadly choice. Every step up in carseats (rear to forward facing, harness to booster, booster to seatbelt) is a step DOWN in safety. A childs spine does not fuse with thier skull until they are closer to age 3, so the longer you keep your child rear facing, the better he/she will fare in a car accident.... forward facing too soon, and even a minor crash could strethc your childs spine too far, or your child could be internally decapitated and killed.

ANYWAY, look for seats that have a higher harness weight, the Britax Marathon, Boulevard, or Decathlon(all 33lbs rear facing, 65lbs forward facing), FIsher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe(33lbs rear facing, 55lbs forward facing, Evenflo Triumph ADVANCE(30lbs rear facing, 50lbs forward facing). They will harness your child longer, keep him/her safer in the harness for as long as possible. And remember to keep your baby rear facing for as long as possible!

If cost is an issue, I would recommend you purchase two FIsher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe seats, or two of the Evenflo Triumph Advance seats, or purchase a Britax for the car your child rides in most, and one of the other seats for the car less ridden in. You will ge tthe full life out of all these seats as well, since carseats expire after 6 years. When your child outgrows any of the seats I recommended, she will be at least 6 years old and can safely move into a high back booster seat.

L., I would definitely spend the money on a Britax. You will find their car seats are the safest on the market. As well as the most user friendly! (Straps and covers can be removed for easy cleaning or even replaced.) Also, if you reasearch the different styles, you will find one that will fit your daughter until she is ready for a booster. If you break the cost down over the next 4 years, it makes the price seem a lot more reasonable.

We had to buy a convertible car seat as well for our large son. (He's sooooo different from our daughter.) We found the Britax ones far too expensive for our budget and as far as safety goes, not any better. We ended up buying an Evenflo Triumph Advance from Target for right around $130. We love it. I also watch a seven month old in the afternoons. They just bought two Triumphs for their vehicles as well and really like them.

I just bought 2 cosco alpha omega seats at Babies R Us. I used a 15% off coupon and got them for $117.00 each. The crotch strap is a little short but if you call the company they will send you out a longer one for free in just a few days.
My daughter is 5 and 47"/45 lbs and fits in it just fine. My 4 year old fits fine too. The seat goes up to 65 lbs.
The only negative so far is that they can't unbuckle themselves because the button is hard to push for them.
Hope this helps,
J.

We use the Evenflo Triumph and I love it! It is pretty large, though, so make sure you have room in your auto.

My little girl moved into the bigger car seat at about 10 months as well, because of her height. We also needed to get two seats so we could have one in each car. We chose to get the Britax Boulevard, which is the next step up from the Marathon and bought an Eddie Bauer one from Target for our second one. The Britax is in my Lexus rx330 because we usually take that when we go out together and for road trips. I like the piece of mind having the high quality car seat provides, especially for longer drives, because it has more padding and is more comfortable. You should try to fit whatever carseat you like into your vehicle before you buy because I've heard the Britax can be a difficult fit in some smaller vehicles. It works great in my car. The Eddie Bauer one is great for the quick daycare runs my husband makes, the plaid pattern looks nice and it wasn't expensive.

Hi,

We are in the same boat... We just bought one carseat for our car that we don't use as our main vehicle. It was a Cosco Scenera ($39.99 at Target), I liked this better than the Graco one they had sitting right next to it for $79.99. I have been doing alot of research on a good one that my daughter will be able to be in for a long time. I found this site and though it would helpful.

http://www.kyledavidmiller.org/pages/3002/About_Kyle.htm

It opened my eyes about car safety. I will be buying the Radian80 for my daughter through that site as it is cheaper there than at Target.com! They also recommend the Britax Regent on that site as well. Please think SAFETY and not price when looking for a carseat. We now do after viewing that site and others that I have seen. With one of those seats, you won't need to buy another one when your daughter is 40lbs like most. Good Luck!!!

Hi L., Sorry to hear you are losing the convenience of "the bucket" in the middle of winter! When we came to that point with our now 2 1/2 year old son, we bought a Cosco convertible seat at Target. It is rear facing to 35 lbs which is great since now the recommendation is that toddlers face backwards as long as possible (we turned our son around just last month),at 35 lbs it converts to a forward facing seat and later to a belt positioning booster seat. Buy two of these and you won't need another seat again! Good Luck!

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