Convertible Car Seat?

We bought a Cosco from wal-Mart and it was only $40. it goes up to 40 lbs and is not big. you can also get them at K-mart but i think they are a little higher in price there.
J.

i would recommend looking into the sunshine kids radian-80
it is rear facing (the safest position!) until 35 lbs, then forward facing WITH the harness up to 80 LBS!!!! almost all the other car seats ony go up to 40 lbs withthe 5 point harness, and it is much safer to have the 5 point harness compared to a seatbelt positioned booster! it also has a steel alloy frams that has TRUE side impact protection. it also folds for easy airport travel.
you can get one on ebay for 250 with free shipping, and most online shops are similar priced with free shipping also.

We also bought the Cosco Scenera (I saw posted earlier) it has worked out wonderfully for us. My son is over 95th percentile in height and this is a great seat for taller kids.

Hi there! We have a Graco ComfortSport Convertibe Carseat in Frazier that we purchased for right around $99 from Babies R Us. They carry them in the store so you don't have to order it online but you can go to their website and read the comments on it. We love our seat and our son is really happy and comfortable in it. It's got more cushion than a lot of seats, is convertable and will last up to 40lb. The nice thing about Babies R Us is that they will take the display seat down and let you put your child in it to see how they fit and if they are comfy. It's also not enormous so it should fit in your car nicely!

Go to TinyRide.com look at the Britax brand. Yes they are a little more pricey buy will carry your child til they are 8 or so. Hope that helps!

S. - mom of 3 (1 on the way)

I have 4 children and went through the same issues with my second child... just way to big way to soon. I found a really nice 5 hardness seat at Tagret that had him facing forward, but worked very well. I also know that you can take your carseat into your doc and they will help you do any required ajustment to help with safety.

I hope that gives you some safe idea. Good luck.

You have said he is disliking his infant seat, but you didnt' say why. Has he outgrown it, either by being too long, or weighing too much? If not, I would keep in the easier to use infant seat until he is too big for that. Deal with why he is unhappy. Have you tried the safety mirror on the seat so you can see his face when you look in the rear view mirror and he can see yours? How about special toys for him to play with in the car when he is in his carseat? If it is the rear-facing he is objecting to, being in a convertible carseat won't help that since he will still be rear-facing in it.
Good luck!
R.

Is he supposed to stay in an infant seat until he is 1 year old and rear facing? Or are you searching for a seat that is an infant and then also is a booster?

1-800 kid in car ...........best resource... safe kids has free car seat information- inspections all over the state.

I skimmed through some of the other responses and some of them aren't quite answering your question. Those big expensive ones are nice (I have one!) but yes, they take up a lot of space, which you don't have! And those carriers are a pain when they are no longer a little newborn. I switched my daughter to a convertible around 6 months also and she seemed so happy!

You want to make sure your child is in a safe car seat. I never knew too much about car seats, but my co-worker was real big into that. I wanted something small and inexpensive to leave at the babysitter's. She recommended the Cosco Scenera. I believe it goes to about 50 pounds or so. I think it's $50 regular price, but I've seen it on sale all the time. I think I paid like $37 at Wal-Mart. And, I would NOT recommend getting one at a yard sale. You never know if it's been in a wreck or something (making it not safe anymore). It's not worth saving $20 or $30.

Like someone said, go to BabiesRUs and get a hands-on lesson, you can try out the different carseats and practice installing them there--and see which one you like! Tinyride.com is a website where I ordered mine from, they sell Britax $40 cheaper than retail stores and don't charge shipping--that's the seat I like best, but they also have different brands to choose from (also with no shipping charge). I had a great experience ordering from there, good luck!

You could try checking with your local hospital. The Toledo Hospital in Toledo, Ohio, has a child safety car seat program. They provide many types of brand new car seats at a considerably reduced price. You only have to go in and have them demonstrate how to have it put in. Just an idea.

Graco Safe Seat about $130. Awesome, Awesome seat! Rear facing, forward facing and up to 35lbs.

Try the Graco ComfortSport car seat. We registered for it while I still had my VW bug since the folks at BabiesRus said it was the only one that would fit... It did fit in there. We're still using it, for my 2nd baby, but it's in my minivan now, though... the bug didn't last in my family too long once we made the switch to the convertible seat. Coupes are cute but 4 doors are so convenient!

Good luck,
L.

Not sure of where you live at or your income level..however in st joseph county you can go to any police station and talk to the people who are certified in installing car seats and they have a program where they give out free convertible car seats for people in need. I would just try it out even if you think you make too much money...you just never know. We have a car seat from them and its a really good one!!

Although you initially may spend a lot of money upfront, you may wish to go with one of the Britax models. You can use it with your 6 month old as rear-facing, turn it forward at one year or later, and with some models use it until he is ready to move into a booster. That way you only have to buy one really good, really safe seat as opposed to continually buying new ones.

I have an evenflo carseat...cant remember which one...for my two year old twins and they love them. We fit both of them plus a infant carrier in my SUV before i traded it in. Also, recently,we fit both of them along wtih a Britax in the backseat of a PT Cruiser. Anyways, i searched safety and everything online before buying the seats. I found that Evenflo had the best ratings on convertable seats and Graco was best on infant carriers. That's second of course to the Britax which rates higher than most carseats - likewise in price. I am no where near able to afford a britax which is the reason i wanted to write and tell you and everyone else readin gthis that I found my Britax at Goodwill. A brand new in box - still in bag - Britax seat. I asked the lady about it and she said it was brand new and alot of the time, Target and Sams club will give the last year modles to goodwill....so i got my 160.00 britax carseat in perfect condition for only 80.00 which is what i would have spent on an evenflo carseat. Check goodwill!!!!

A. - SAHM to 3 miracles. 2 year old twins with Retinoblastoma and a 7 month old baby born with TGA. True miracle babies.

hi K.. i will be encountering the exact same problems- small back seat and tight budget. i cant recommend any specific brand but i can say that burlington coat factory has a good selection and prices aren't bad. theres always walmart, but their selection is small. good luck. P.

I don't think the Evenflo Triumph is huge and if you put it in the middle, it should fit pretty well in between the front seats. It's usually about $100.
Also, look for used car seats on Ebay. Just make sure you ask the sellers if the seat has been in an accident and when it was manufactured (it should say on the bottom of the seat).

Don't forget, it's garage sale season. You can always find great deals on car seats if you're looking for them. I got an extremely nice Eddi Bauer seat for $10. My 1 year old fits in it now and it will last her until she's 5 or 6. Can't beat that deal.

Walmart sells the Graco car seats for about $45 or $50 and you can rear and front face. We have twins so had to buy 4 (two for each car) and they work just fine. Don't know how much room you will save with any car seat... we had the same problem with a little ford focus (obviously had to get rid of - we were sitting in the dash board so the car seats would fit in the back). Good luck.

Hi K.!
I have 5 children, 3 of which they want to be in car seats. UGH! We have a mini-van, so it's no issue excapt one of the boys is 11. Not required by law, but they want me to put him in a booster seat. Let's just say, THAT isn't happening. However, I did find out that the seats I had for my 2 other kids were no longer acceptable. My infant (now 15 months old) was ready to move to a convertible seat from her infant carrier (with the base that buckles into the car) and my 5 year old needed a booster seat. yes...I know. He's 6 now and still doesn't weigh enough to be out of the booster seat!! He's a little stick! lol Anyway, while at a visit for WIC, I checked with our Healthy Start office and they actually GAVE me a brand new convertible seat for the baby and a brand new booster for my son. They show you how to put them in properly, and actually watch while you fasten them into your car so they are sure you do it properly. They also have you register the seats right there, filling out the papers and they send them in. Honestly, I've never done that before! So it worked out nicely to go there. Saved me money (which otherwise we didn't have at the time either) and they could show me where the best spot was to put the seat. I don't know if you have a Healthy Start office near you but I'm sure there would be a place somewhere that could help you figure this out. Mind you, we are on WIC due not only to the baby, but if you are unaware, you must also qualify income-wise. So you could maybe not get the help, but ehey could help you know the best seat for your car at least! Good luck with everything!!

Although I agree with everybody, who gave advice here, yet I will say the go for evenflo car seats. They have all kind of seats and you can easily get them from $15 (when it is on sale) - $20/25 or more. That's what I am using for both of my daughters. I have two daughters (3 y/o and 1 y/o). When my younger daughter turned 1 I talked with a car seat specialist before changing my daughters car seat from infant to toddler. She recommended me to get convertible for her. Acc. to her I should keep her in rear faced seat till she is 34-35lbs. Reason... Their neck is not strong enough to hold on to the strong jerks, especially if an accident happens. No matter whether child likes it or not, their neck safety is more important than everything. So my younger daughter is in convertible but still rear facing even after she is 1 year old and 20lbs.

I don't know how small is your car but I have Hundai Sonata and this convertible fits very well in it.

Now here's the money saver for you,

Check online for the group or program named "Get on board for child safety" Talk to their representative from your area. They have car seat specialists to talk to regarding your concerns. They might give you some pointers about how to handle this situation. And if they think you need one new car seat then they might provide you a free car seat, for some donations. You can donate as much money as you want, to help with this program, they will not ask you for a specific amount. If you are in Indianapolis, Indiana then write to me, I will give you their ph. no.

First to the first poster below..NO, you don't stay in an infant seat till a year old..you stay REAR FACING till AT LEAST 1 year and 20 lbs. The recommendation now is to keep rear facing till the limits of the convertible car seat. Some rear face till 30-35 lbs.
Now, on your budget I don't recommend a Britax, they are very expensive and very bulky (you also said you have a small car). If you ask any car seat tech, they will tell you that they are NOT any safer..ALL car seats have to pass the same safety standards to be put on the market. Those seats usually have more "bells and whistles" that aren't necessary for safety. One of the most highly recommended low cost convertibles is the Cosco Scenera, it runs between $30-$40 at Walmart or Target. It rear faces till 33-35 lbs (I can't remember off hand) and is a great seat! Once you get that, you can save up and once he is big enough to be forward facing (30+lbs and closer to 2 yrs old), you can get the Graco Nautilus. It harnesses to 65lbs!!! Then it becomes a high back booster and then a no back booster. I got one for my almost 3 yr old and it is an amazing seat!! It runs around $150 at BRU, Walmart and Baby Depot (inside Burlington Coat Factory). I got mine on sale at Walmart.com with free shipping with site to store for $127. The Nautilus also has a 6 yr life span with the harness or in high back booster mode..but you get another 3 yrs making it last 9 yrs (after date of manufacture) if you use the no back booster mode.
I hope I was of some help to you. I've been studying to be a tech and becoming quite the car seat geek, LOL!
Any other questions, please ask.

The best advise I can give you is: Go to BabiesRUs and check out their car seats. They will actually allow you to install them in your car. My friend drives a Civic Coupe and bought one of the Britax models which she loves. Since you said your budget is tight, you can also check out the Alpha Omega Elite carseats which I have and love it. Although it is a bit bulky. If there is any way for you to find extra money, I would recommend one of the Radian carseats made by Sunshine Kids. They have one of the highest ratings in the market and you could actually fit 3 of them into your back seat b/c they are made a little narrower. But they are very expensive (you can look them up on-line). In the end, you'll have to do a lot of research and decide what seat will work best for your family and for your car. Here is a website that will help you in your research: www.carseatdata.org

We switched all of our kids by 6 months to the convertible seats just because the infant seat was too heavy for me to carry anyway. We used the Alpha Omega by Cosco for all 3. They go from 5lbs to 80lbs. My older girls used them until they started kindergarten. They are a little more expensive, but they are big enough to take them all the way through, so you never have to buy another car seat again. We asked our parents to give the babies the car seats for Christmas. They were too young to really use a lot of toys anyway. Of course now is not really the time for that, but it worked great for us. Try out the seats to find out which you like, don't just by the cheapest one out there. As others have mentioned, Babies R'Us is great for this, they will have someone get them down for you and let you play with them, even try to put it in your car. It's really worth it to get the best car seat for you, even if it costs a few extra bucks, than to save a $$ and hate the seat!

We have the Safety 1st All in One convertable & we love it!! It goes up to 100 pounds & can be used rear facing, front facing & as a booster seat. I think it's only available at Walmart, at least that's the only place I've found it. And they are under $150, & that's not on sale! Good luck!