Car Seats fro 1 year olds

I know the recommendation for rear facing car seats as long as possible but my twins are going to be one soon and we are looking for convertible car seats. My husband and I both drive the boys around a lot and we have used the car seats and four bases. My question: do you guys buy two or four convertible car seats? Do you move them from car to car or try to just use one car? And any suggestions on type/brand of car seat?

 

We bought four. We had Britax Boulevards, and we recently replaced two of them with a newer model that's a step up from the Boulevards. I can't remember what it was called. We've been really happy with them. We used them rear facing at first and now forward facing (at 4 and a half). I would recommend buying four. Taking the seats in and out is a PITA.

 

If you can afford it, buy four. Moving convertible car seats is not easy. We liked thenEvenflo Triumph Advance seats, both rear facing and forward.

 

We have two- Evenflow Symphony 65- and keep them primarily in my car, but move them if we need to for whatever reason. And you can rear face them if you choose. With the LATCH it's so easy to move carseats that it doesn't seem worth an extra set. I figured another $500 or 10 minutes switching them now and then. But I suppose that depends on your schedules and how you do things if it would work for you. My husband rarely drives the kids anywhere without me, but if he needed to, we would just switch cars for the day.

 

Why not buy 2 and then decide later if you really need another set. I honestly don't mind switching them out. This past week alone they've been in our jeep, my moms car, and my car. We never even bought a second set of bases- just moved them. It doesn't take that long to switch. Maybe that's just me though- popular opinion seems to be it's too much trouble! I just didn't like doing it in the winter. But if it's a daily need, that's different. I wouldn't want to do it every day. I have the kids during the day while my husband works, then he comes home and I go to work. I could take his car if he needed the seats, but usually I leave him without seats because he doesn't need to go anywhere and if there was an emergency he'd be calling 911 anyway (and if a non-emergency, I'd just leave work and come home). It really, I think, just depends on how you use them.

 

We have three kids in seats now & just leave them all in the van. We wouldn't be able to fit them all in DH's car. The odd time it's needed, we just switch vehicles for the day.

We have Radians - I like them because they have high weight & height limits for both rear & forward facing and are super easy & smooth to adjust.

 

We only have two seats. We pretty much always take the kids in the van, and have only had to switch them out a few times. We have the Graco MyRide 65 and they are easy to move, too.

 

I'm thinking the Britax Boulevard 70 CS. Any thoughts?

 

We have older model Boulevards, and they are great seats. Still fit my kids fabulously at four. Our Boulevards don't have the CS feature, but our Advocates do. That particular feature isn't really helpful. It clicks way before the straps are really tight enough. So I ignore the click, but the tightening/loosening is smoother in general with the CS. I don't even know if they make them without anymore. The side impact wing things are kind of ugly, but feel extremely safe. Britax is a great seat.

ETA. Okay. Ignore me on the wings. Those are on the Advocate, not the Boulevard.

 

We have Gracos, so I don't know what to recommend on particular seats.

We only have two, though. Our larger suv is the family car and they stay in it. When we need to change who drives the girls we just swap cars. This fall our nanny will need to take the girls to preschool, so we may buy a second set for her.

I would recommend buying a seat that you're comfortable having rear-facing until age two. Some seat/car combos can make this difficult (in a more compact car it might affect how far back the driver can sit, for example). That was our first consideration when shopping for seats- that my 6'3" husband could drive safely with the girls facing rear. We did turn the seats at two years.

 

We have the Britax Advocate carseats and we love them, we only have 2 that stay in the minivan, the kids always ride in it, we just swap cars if needed.