Next Car seat

We are starting to look at purchasing the next car seats – my bigger guy can hardly stand his infant one although is fine as far as the weight limit goes. They are also getting too heavy to carry in the infant seats – uhg. I just noticed that there is some new recommendations to keep them rear facing till they are 2 years old.

What do you guys think of this?

I was looking forward to being able to turn around and talk to them but not if it is not safe. Also I think this may play into which car seat we purchase next so that it has the ability to be both forward and rear facing. From what I hear from other moms the Britax ones are some of the best – but holy cow they can be expensive. Looking for feedback here as well.
Thanks ladies!

 

QUOTE(Shelly @ Jun 25 2009, 12:34 PM) [snapback]1368381[/snapback]
We are starting to look at purchasing the next car seats – my bigger guy can hardly stand his infant one although is fine as far as the weight limit goes. They are also getting too heavy to carry in the infant seats – uhg. I just noticed that there is some new recommendations to keep them rear facing till they are 2 years old.

What do you guys think of this?

I was looking forward to being able to turn around and talk to them but not if it is not safe. Also I think this may play into which car seat we purchase next so that it has the ability to be both forward and rear facing. From what I hear from other moms the Britax ones are some of the best – but holy cow they can be expensive. Looking for feedback here as well.
Thanks ladies!


We turned ours around 14/15 months - right before the new recommendations (although admittedly with knowledge that rear facing is best). I'm not planning to turn them back, but I would recommend you leave yours rear facing as long as you can. I can give you some feedback on Britax carseats - we have Boulevards - yes, crazy expensive, and we have 4 total. I love the seats, but they are a PITA rear-facing. They have a side impact protection thing (the Marathons don't have this) that completely blocked the babies from view/assistance/etc. when rear facing. We also installed them using LATCH, which meant that there are straps coming from the back of the carseat either over the seat it's in and down to the floor or to the ceiling in the back of the car depending upon the design. So you have to lift the babies over or under the straps and around the side impact protection. Not easy! So, if you are doing rear facing a long time, I'd recommend doing the Marathons or another seat without the side things and you may want to consider installing without LATCH, although I don't know the safety issues. I think LATCH is just an easier way to get it right? Either way, just get it looked at by a professional.

 

My twins are 18 months and we were pondering turning them forward facing and then the new recommendations came out, so we figured we'd wait until they were 2. However, we have the Evenflo Triumph Advance (I think that's what ours are called, I know one pattern we have is called Sophie and the other is Liberty) and they were the ones we used after the infant seats. We got them on sale BRU and used the 15% off coupon on top of it. They were easy for my DH to install and are pretty easy (for me) to get the kids in rear facing. I don't have experience with the Britax but I know a lot of people on TS really like them. Good luck on your decision!

 

Whether you turn them around or not is a personal decision. As far as the seat goes we have Evenflo Triumph Advances and we are satisfied with them. The Britax were out of our price range.

 

I was in a car accident last week and had to buy new car seats. In a way, I'm happy I had to, since I prefer my new ones much more. We had little time and selection since we had to buy them a.s.a.p. so we ended up with the First Years True Fit. Our babies love them much more than our previous seats. They fit in well rear facing (headrests on the car seats come off) in our rental Chrysler minivan, and, in Canada, are the safest carseats tested. Plus, they are reasonably priced and are very easy to install. So, all in all, I would recommend these seats.

 

we keep a consumer reports account just for this kind of thing. britax did rate very well but the best ranking seat was the Evenflo Triumph Advance Premier. consumer reports gave it a 70 out of 100 which was their best score. the Evenflo Triumph Advance LX/DLX also got a 70/100. their third best ranking convertible seat was a britax diplomat at 68/100 and their fourth best ranking went to Cosco Scenera which got a 64/100 and is only $60.

we went with the evenflo triumph advance premier because it has a greater than 40 lb forward facing capacity and had the best overall combination of ratings of safety, ease of use, and car fit.

interestingly the only convertible car seat that got their best "excellent" rating for crash protection was the $60 cosco seat.

 

We have Evenflo seats, I'm not sure of the model, but we have been very happy with them. They seem comfortable & are relatively easy to use. As for rear or forward facing, the new recommendation is 2 years. Rear facing is definitely safer but the decision is a personal one. You might check to see what the laws are in your state, I know they vary from state to state.

 

We have the Evenflo Triumph Advance LX and LOVE it. My boys are in the 75% for height and are still rear facing. The weight limit for rear facing is 30lbs and I think I'm going to keep them rear facing until then. Right now (at 21 months) they are only 22/24lbs so I think they will be looking into their mirrors for a long time to come. I saw a video of the crash tests and they scared the begezus out of me. Anyway, my favorite thing about our car seats is the adjustable straps. I need to adjust them almost daily based on what they are wearing so I feel like they are extra safe and it's so easy to do.

My biggest car seat advice is to take the seats at BRU out to your car and make sure they fit! We did this with 2 different seats and one didn't fit at all!

 

I agree with megan about going to a babiesrus and trying them out.

Because of space issues with my oldest daughter, the britax marathon was the narrowest seat we could find (we had a 5 person vehicle, my 7 yr old has a booster seat, and we wanted room to fit an infant carrier in the middle seat). Well, since we had twins instead of a singleton, we ended up needing a bigger vehicle anyways. But since we have one britax marathon hand-me-down from our dd, we were going to purchase a second one for the second baby. I am very blessed to have a best friend who has an extra marathon that she doesn't need, that's only 2 yrs old, so she's bringing it to me this august when she comes to visit.

If we hadn't bought this one, we had a graco comfortsport that was great, but my very big girl (90+% for height) was about to outgrow the highest slot for the straps at 2 yrs old (she's completely outgrown it by 2.5). So I also was looking for one with a high slot, and the marathon had another 3 inches of growth before she would be even with the slot.

Really, all the seats are tested to high standards and you can't go wrong, it just depends on what you are looking for as to the price range. I needed high slots, and a narrow base, and unfortunately had to pay the nearly $300 for it.