Infant Car Seat Dilemma

The Cosco Seneca is working fine for me. It is bare bones. I got it for $49 at Sears and bought two, one for my car, no latch, and one for my Husband's truck. I had trouble installing it but my Husband was able to get it in tight. I also saw a seat at Target the other night that was only $19 and it looked nicer than the Seneca. Anyway...I am happy with it. He sleeps in it a lot and although his head tips forward sometimes, he is able to sleep fine. I live in Albuquerque and the seat was at the Rio Rancho Target. Good luck!

I'm a big fan of the Britax Marathon. Used those for all of my kids. They are expensive but I think well worth the money! Good luck

We also wanted to continue using a traditional rear-facing carseat for as long as possible. The convenience of being able to leave the baby in the seat so he could take naps while in restaurants, etc, was a BIG plus. Also, there's truly no SAFER way for kids to travel than rear-facing...even after the one year mark. Like my pediatrician said, we'd ALL be safer if we could somehow ride facing backwards.

We ended up purchasing the Graco SafeSeat, which is like an infant carrier, but it holds babies up to 30 pounds. And depending on how big your little guy is now, that might buy you quite a bit of time.

The nice thing about the Safeseat is that it can also be used for newborns. Which means that the next baby you have can go directly into that and you can use your current carseat as an extra for other cars.

I wish I could remember if safeseat fit into standard bases, but I'm not sure. I don't think we ever tried. And I can't seem to find an answer online, either. Maybe you could contact Graco directly to find out?

Anyway, here's the link:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=284462...

I do know that anchor systems are not required for child safety seats simply because there are many cars out there that don't have them. A lapbelt or shoulder belt can ALWAYS be used to secure the base or the seat itself.

Good luck to you!

-S.

My girls are older so I'm not sure which seats are the safest now but I wanted to give you a few tips to remember.
1. Car seats are only good for 5 years from the time they were manufactured. They all have a date (month & year) printed on them, usually the bottom. After that date, they need to be destroyed because they are no longer considered safe.
2. The AZ heat and sun are hard on everything and will make the plastics brittle, if you are looking at used check the integrity of the plastic as well as the date.
3. You can contact your local fire department and ask to have your car seat(s) inspected for proper installation. Statistically, 80% of car seats are installed wrong!
4. If you sons legs are touching the back of the seat when then he needs to be front facing. If the legs can touch the seat, he is at risk of breaking them in an accident.
And last, thank you for being a concerned and loving parent and using a car seat.

That infant car seat base was very helpful for myself, but they don't do that for the convertibles, so you will either buy a lot of seats, or just take the one seat to the different cars.

Which ever seat you buy, be sure to research it through. I bought a really nice convertible seat for the my last, after a few months the chest clip broke. No problem I thought, I'll just get another one and replace it. After I got the clip, I took apart the car seat to discover that I couldn't replace that simple little part because it was factory installed. So for a simple little $5 chest clip, my $300 car seat was useless. And the company didn't do anything to help at all.

I ended up with a much cheaper, no less safe but fully replacable parts. Which I need, because my last son is so much smaller than his older brothers so he will be in this seat much longer. So find out what all you can about the seat you are buying.

Hi L.!

I have never had a problem with carseats! What we did for our girls is bought the "sit-n-stroll" it's good from infant up to 40 lbs! My first daughter sat in it until she was 5! it's extremely easy. There is no base and it converts into a stroller. So it's really easy to move from one car to the next. And the company is really great to work with you. We had one that while on vacation a handle broke...which is so unlike the product and they rushed us out a new one to our hotel. They are FAA approved, and get high ratings. I hope this helps!

Good Luck
C.

Well, it looks like you have a lot of responses. I'll just quickly say that sometimes it helps to just have every relative buy their own carseat. Garage sales and Craigslist are great - just ask to make sure it hasn't been in an accident (probably not as important as with an infant carseat and the base locking mechanism, though). Clean it up, wash it, whatever, and you can have a carseat for $20 or under. That has been a real blessing for us. We like our Graco Comfort Sport for our main carseat (bought like new off of Craigslist for $25 from a Grandma), and I think my brother-in-law has the Alpha Omega (brand?). Anyway, that one is quite easy to put in the car, as I have done it with my nephew a couple times already; it has a little flap that lifts up so you can see where the seat belt is as you are threading it through the back of the carseat.

Hope that may help a bit. Blessings!

Hi there, Get a Britax they are the BEST!! And ours holds untill 65 pds. its the safest on the market!!! Also it does require the latch which all you need to do is contact your car dealership from where ya bought the car and let them know you need the latch ordered and installed FREE of charge! Thats what I did a few months ago!! let me know if ya need anything eles xo

We had the same problem, with my mom and mother-in-law frequently taking my daughter in their cars. After a month or so of moving one "big girl" car seat back and forth, we finally decided that it would be well worth the money to buy one for each vehicle. If you make sure that you get one that will last up to 80 pounds or so, then you can use them for several years. That makes them a really good investment. My daughter is now turning two and will be able to use the car seats we bought for at least another two years. If you have a Big Lots or Sam's store, they often have really good deals on the seats ($40 to $80) compared to other places. Good Luck!

Ah, the carseats! We have four kids who have all been in carseats at the same time. From infant to toddler to booster size.

We have the same issues with transferring seats between my husband and my cars, grandparents, sitters, etc.

For safety purposes, the 5-point harness with a convertible system (birth - 50/80 pounds) are best - and will only cost you a one-time purchase.

I have found a technique that makes it easier with the (convertible seats):

Tilt the seat way back (in a recline position). Set carseat on the seat. Pull the seatbelt all the way out (as far as it will come out). With one hand, ensure that the belt does not ratchet back, and with the other, feed the belt through the carseat's belt holes. Snap the seatbelt into the lock. Let go of the excess belt, and let it ratchet down (into the seatbelt system). Pull to tighten - feeding as much as possible that will ratchet down. Don't worry about it being tight or secure (yet). This is where the reclining seat comes in! Now, raise the seat into the upright position. As it raises, it will begin to automatically TIGHTEN the carseat down. This saves you from pulling/tugging/re-adjusting. VIOLA!

This is great for the mini-van's back seats - you can just open the trunk - recline the seats, and feed the seatbelt through - all from behind the seat. When you get to the point of raising the seat upright, it will tightten down without you having to crawl in/out of the van.

Best,
C.

I have both the Sunshine Kids Radian 80 and the Britax Marathon. Both are good car seats but I find the Radian much easier to install than the Britax (not using latch) even though it is heavier due to it's steel frame. It is a narrower car seat, so if others need to sit in the back seat, it provides more room.

An option if money is no object is the new Orbit car seat which you can buy multiple bases and 1 car seat, but the bases are $220 and the car seat is $360, so very pricey. Check out at http://www.orbitbaby.com

Yeah... you'll need to get multiple car seats... unless you want to keep taking out and putting in the carseat in each car effectively. (And I'm a bit jealous that your child is 11 months old and still able to use the infant car seat... all 3 of my children outgrew the infant seat no later than 4 months old!)

I use the Cosco Alpha Omega and have been very happy with them (My younger 2 children are still sitting in them)

There was one thing that a friend of mine (a firefighter) told me that helped greatly when we were looking for carseats to put in each vehicle- all of the carseats that we see in the stores have all passed the government safety standard.

I recommend the Britax...it's more expensive, but top-rated in the safety department. That's an important consideration. It's also nice, good-looking, and comfy. It's big and heavy, but I figure that's a good thing when we're talking the safety of our most precious little people!

Also, another nice advantage is the seatbelt locking mechanism. It easily grips the seatbelt at the shoulder point, making it even safer. It's not bad to transfer...I would think most of them are relatively the same here as long as there's no fatal flaw about the design. One nice thing is that it's got a no-brainer seatbelt slot. With some of them you have to purposely go in front of the seatbelt to be safe and it's a pain to feed the seatbelt through.

If your car doesn't have a mechanism on the seatbelt where you pull it all the way out and it locks itself in place as you feed it back in, you'll have to check whether the lock on the Britax is enough to hold it in place in an accident. Since it's holding the seatbelt at the shoulder, which holds it at the base too, I would think it would be secure. When you start getting into trouble is when you have to transfer those impossible little locking clips every time. In that case, I would just buy three "good enough" car seats. Those things are impossible.

Good luck!

I would just like to comment on Pat's response and advice. You *do not* have to turn your child's car seat to front facing once their feet touch. This is not true. There is a movement called "Extended Rear Facing" (ERF) and the child can (and depending on who you talk to) should be left in the RF position for as long as they can (see the car seat manuf. booklet that came with the carseat for height and weight maxs for RF)

Here are some links to support this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2DVfqFhseo

http://www.thecarseatlady.com/car_seats/rear-facing_seats...

http://cpsafety.com/PDFfiles/RearFacingBrochure.pdf

http://rbranch-cpst.com/rf.aspx

Pics of kids rf some age 4:

http://www.freewebs.com/sacredjourneys/apps/photos/album....

My only concern with transfering a seat from vehicle to vehicle would be the safety of doing a full install each time it is moved. Especially of you are not the only one doing it.
Each time a carseat is installed there is a window for error. If a carseat is installed once, checked by professionals, and then left alone, it is that much safer.

Hi L., bigger car seats are a little less convinient. As far as types, I'm not too sure.

The only idea I have is to get a mighty tight by sunshine kids (babies r us). I just bought two for my daughters seats. They turn the seat belt into a rachet strap and make it very tight and safe. Even though I do have the latch system, I prefer these because it makes transferring the seat much easier. The mighty tight goes on and off VERY easily.

Good luck and hopefully you find something that works for you.

There is no easy solution! My kids are shuttled around by many as well. What we have done is my husband and I use the Britax roundabout (we have one we move into whatever vehicle we are using) and my mom has a less expensive model Graco seat. If my mom is going anywhere far, I will move the Britax into her car. It is just a bit more of a solid fit. The seat moving is cumbersome, but the Britax holds up well and is easy to install. If you want to use the whole tether system then you will need to have a seat for each car. Good luck!

I have not seen any of the bigger convertible seats with bases. My former car did not have the LATCH system, my husband's does but we had the Britax Marathon for our son in both cars. It was really not that difficult to install without the LATCH system. It's a BIG seat though so if you went that route, you would want to make sure that the back seats of the cars involved could accommodate that car seat. It fit great in my husband's Honda Civic, not as well in my Toyota Rav-4, and great in my new Dodge Caravan. The Britax seats are pricey. Friends who have multiple car seats have Graco and Evenflo seats that they are happy with. I don't know which models through.

We have used the Cosco Alpha Omega Seats for both of our children. I really do like these seats and you can find them in a wide variety of styles.

We liked it because it is really easy to adjust the straps and it reclines. It is fairly padded and is easy to move from car to car. Whenever our in-laws needed to take our kids somewhere, we just unbuckled the seat and transferred it with ease. Not the most convenient, but definitely easier than some. We do not use the latch system either.

The only complaint(and my kid's complaint) about the carseat is that when they both reached a certain height, the buckle between their legs began to dig into their legs(they aren't chubby, just long in the torso) so we are currently looking for a new carseat for my daughter since she complains daily about this. Other than that, we have loved our seat and it is not very heavy to move to other vehicles.

They have one at Costco right now for under $90!

Hi L.,
Welcome to the world of huge, combersome carseats! This stage really is the most frustrating. My advise is to select a car seat that fits well in your car. All cars are different and so are the car seats. Most places like babies are us will allow you to take the floor model out to try it in your car. We do not have the latch system and found the Britax seats worked very well with or with out the latch. They are a little on the expensive side but if I remember correctly mine goes to 65 pounds and was well worth the investment. Another suggestion is to make an appointment with your local fire department for a car seat check so that they can show you how to properly install the seat. I learned a lot of tips from this. I have also used the Mighty Tight and while it is convienient (and I loved it) I was told by my fire fighter who did my seat inspection that they do not recommend them as they are another mechanism that can fail. Good luck with your search!

Sorry to have to tell you, but car seats are a pain, they're expensive and there is no way around it to make it a simple process! There are really no "easy" carseats once they get out of the infant seats. One important thing to remember is that safety needs to come first, not your convenience. If you have to get three car seats, then so be it. Isn't the money worth getting three seats that are safe than to move one seat around and possibly not be securing it properly because you're in a hurry? It takes a lot of manpower to tighten those seats, especially when you're securing them with seat belts. Have your mother and mother-in-law buy their own seats if they're transporting your son regularly, so that you don't take up the entire expense. Just keep the importance of safety first above all the rest. You don't want to regret it later. Good luck.

I'm sorry to say there is no way around the multiple car seats. I believe it has something to do with the poundage, since the base is what is strapped into the car rather than the entire carseat. Anymore than 20 lbs. could make it unsafe in an accident. There are some good inexpensive seats & you can even check places like Big Lots or Resell stores (just make sure the seat is not expired - even tho I think it is illegal to sell expired seats. Google Carseats. There's a website (don't know what it is right now) that deals solely in carseats & their features & ratings. Good Luck!