Car Seats?

My LO's are starting to out grow their infant carriers, and I am not sure which car seat I should buy! Which one did you buy when your LO's out grew theirs and when did you switch them from their infant carrier to the big kid car seat? (sorry haha do not know what to call it)

I am looking for one that eventually converts or can hold a lot of weight so I do not have to buy anymore and this can be my last car seat of purchase!

TIA. I just feel like alot of them get good reviews, but just want to find the most safe and best car seat out there with out breaking my pocket since we need 2 (and eventually 4, two for my car and two for daddys)

 

We have a Britax Marathon from when my older son was younger but it is expiring this year. We also have a Evenflo Triumph Deluxe which is nice but a little bulky. We will probably be getting Radians for the girls because they are so slim and rear face for a long time.

 

We have the Graco MyRide 65. It is rear-facing to 40 lbs, forward facing to 65 lbs. I found them online for about $110 each. We went ahead and switched both of them when Michael hit the weight limit on the infant seat, which for him was around 8 months old. I chose the MyRide because I talked to a carseat tech, who said that next to the Britax seats (which were out of our price range), this is one of the safest seats out there. They should last us until they are in boosters.

 

There're couple posts about carseats last months, many good ones were mentioned. I'm going with marathon as well lol (changed my mind hehe).

 

I just got a set of the Radian XTSLs, I like that they are slim, and have the steel frame for safety etc. they also are able to be tethered rear facing and the safey check tech mentioned that this is a great feature.

we will be rear facing until after 4 yrs - we hope, and this seat will last well beyond that and will be forward facing with the full harness.

make sure that you look to see how tall the seat is/how tall the kids can get, don't always look at the weights as your measuring tool...

good luck! carseats were driving me crazy, glad I've got mine purchased.

 

After much deliberation between the Graco MyRide and the Evenflo Triumph Deluxe (also called Advance) we went with Evenflo. We have been very happy...they are both pretty sizable seats but oh so cushy. It was a matter of going to the store and sitting them in both and the Evenflo just seemed better with their specific body types. I am sure either would be a good pick. And I am sure Britax's would also be a great pick of course. Because I have small girls I am hoping we will use them until we switch to just a booster seat. Time will tell.

 

we went from infant seats to Evenflo Triumph's (they didn't have the Advance model at the time)...then got Graco Nautilus's, and just took the straps off recently to make them a booster - in the other car we have Evenflo Big Kid Booster seats...

 

Did/Do you rear face your kids until they were/are 40lbs?how is that possible? I want to rear face my twins as long as possible. But if they weight 40lbs, I would say they must be at least 3 yrs old. How is that possible to rear face them? Where do we put their legs? My kids are only 25% of weight but 95% of height even for their actual age (we dont even adjust their age anymore). I have this question because I see graco and radians have car seats with rear face up to 40lbs. I want 2 marathon 70, and it rear face up to 35lbs.

Sorry for my off topic question

 

You can rear face up to 40lbs but honestly I think most kids will start fighting the carseat long before then. We wanted to keep the boys RF until closer to 2 and at 16 months it was like trying to put a greased up octopus in the carseat, so we turned them and have no issues at all now...they even climb in themselves

As for carseats...we have the Evenflo Tribute 5 (for all 3 kids) in my DH truck bc of size issue. They are small and the kids have never complained. My only complaint is they are not all that cushy. We also have those for the boys in my van and we bought Hannah a Saftey First Alpha Omega Elite for the van....that will take her all the way until she is outgrown of carseat/boosters---didn't do my homework the first time with the boys so the Evenflo will have to be replaced at 40lb.

 

Mine rest their feet up on the back of the seat. So they are quite comfy rear facing. Some seats have more legroom for rearfacing than others. My Boulevards are great seats, but they don't have as much legroom as my Scenera 40s, which are also great seats. I am glad we got the Boulevards as our main seats, but the Sceneras are fantastic for travel and I think would make good daily seats too--or put them in your less often used vehicle. I have heard good things about My Rides and Radians too.

 

their legs just fold in front of them, cross legged style or they put them on the back of the seat... doesn't matter, ours are 2 yrs 9mo. and they don't care at all. I hope to RF until 4 yrs... and then forward face in the carseat harness after that. Most manufacturers now say that you should RF until the upper limits of the carseat, it's safer for their spines/bones etc.

here's a quick link, I didn't read every word, but this site has a lot of great info.

car-safety.org

here's a link that talks about the bones not ossifying until much later than 1 yr!
about bones

anyway good luck figuring it all out. there are also tons of youtube videos on RF vf FF... here's a good animated video that shows the differences:RF vs FF video

 

We just bought Evenflo Symphony 65, and they RF to 40 lbs. plus they're boosters. With coupons, we got both seats for around $350 from BrU.

We just bought Evenflo Symphony 65, and they RF to 40 lbs. plus they're boosters. With coupons, we got both seats for around $350 from BrU.

 

I am worried about when I SWITCH to the big boy girl car seats how will I get my girls in the car? Right now I just carry them in their infant seats out to the car, but how do you put them in the car when you ahve to carry both of them and they dont walk yet?! And doctor visits etc.

 

Your concerns are mine as well. I really don't have the best solution. But right now I use jeep compact side by side stroller.I plan on wear one and carry 1 when we go to doc visit.gl! Its headache isn't it?

 

Yes it is!!! What about when u walk from house to car??

I feel like I always worry about things and contemplate them and then a month done the road i wonder about why I worried about that certain thing bc it always turns out fine, ya know what I mean?? Always stress and then later it seems such a little thing to stress about!!

 

This is what I actually plan on doing. park the car on drive way,Start the car, put all the stuffs (diaper bags, toys, stroller) in first. Get the twins ready, sit them next to the front door. Use 1 good sofa throw blanket good thick one, bifold it. Cover 1 twin. take her to the car, come back cover another and take the second out to the car and drive away lol. I would take the active mover first because if you wont, when you come back she might crawl back to the kitchen or somewhere else. I have been doing this method with their carseats. It works well for us. I take them out very fast. it might take less then 2 mins. I am always worried that if i take too long when I come out my twin gone lol. You just have to figure out which way you wanna do and practice

oh and in this winter, I always dress them bodysuit underneath, sweaters and 2 layer pants, socks, hats, shoes lol. It helps keeping them warm when we take them outside even though we just use a blanket to cover them.

I totally understand why you worry too much. me 2. My dh always if I could be relax a bit, everybody would be happier. Sometimes, I just cant stop I always worry about something not even happen yet lol. However, as theyre getting older, im getting better. Good luck and try to relax abit lol!