What Car Seat to Use for the Next Stage

My son is pretty big for his size. So by the time it came to switch him to a forward facing I went with the Eddie Bauer seat that converts to high back booster, then to a backless booster seat as well. The weight is up to 80lbs I think. It was around $90 at Target. They have another one similar that's in the $100 range as well. They rated great for safety. My son's loved his since we got it over a year ago. You can go to the Target website and do a search for Eddie Bauer car seats and results will pop up. Best of luck.

This question is hard to answer, everyone can give you their opinion in their car with their child, but the best seat is the one that fits your childs needs, fits in your car and one you will use correctly everytime!! I am a Child Passenger Safety Instructor and this is what we tell everyone. You should take your child with you when you are looking and put her in the seats. Then mess with all the seats functions, will it be easy or a pain for you or anyone else to do?? Is this a seat that will be moved from car to car?? When you decide on a seat, find a technician to actually help you put it in. You have a fitting station in your area, at a fire station or police station, call and find out, but make sure they are current on their car seat license. The one thing to make sure to look for is a seat that will go rearfacing longer, she should be rear facing to 30 or 35 pounds now, that is around 2 to 3 years old! It is no longer 20 pounds and 1 year old. This is new and not alot of people know this yet. You can check out videos on you tube about rearfacing seats. Good luck in your search and i would be happy to answer any questions you have! Thanks for keeping your little one safe!!

My 3 year old has a Britax and we LOVE it. Yes, it's expensive, but worth every penny. It is the EASIEST car seat to install and gets great safety ratings. We call it the Laz-e-boy because it's comfortable to sleep in. His head never falls forward. Plus, it's weight rated to 65 or so pounds. Our other son will be 1 next month and we're heading out to buy another one.

Good morning, S.! We have an 11 month old son and we have been doing some shopping, too. We also have a 3 y/o daughter and for her we chose the Britax Marathon. After looking around for a while, I think we have chosen to go with the same style for our son. It has a wide weight/height range and allows the use of the harness for a longer period of time than some others. The cost is around $279.00; you can find it a bit cheaper if you shop around on-line a bit. Of course, I made the mistake of letting DH see there was a limited edition Mossy Oak cover available and although it costs more, he is SOLD!!! I guess some of the cover patterns have been around longer than others and those seem to be a bit cheaper than the newer ones; doesn't make a difference to me, but I guess it could to some. Of course, you can find these seats at/on Target (.com) and Babies R Us (.com). But, I found some good prices on TravelingTikes.com Enter Britax Marathon on google and it will bring up a ton of sites for you!!

Good luck finding something that works for you and your little girl!!!

L.

We bought the cosco seat at Walmart after going to the National Highway Patrol's website and seeing that they gave it an "a" for saftey.

I second the opinion about keeping rearfacing for as long as possible. This information about the safety of rear facing vs forward facing has been out there for a while. I chose the Britax roundabout when my 6 year old was transitioning to a convertible seat at about 10 months. The nice thing about the Britax is that they are designed to be tethered rear facing or forward facing adding extra safety. Most car seats are not. They also have a higher rear facing weight limit.

When I needed another seat I moved him up to a Britax Wizard (I think it might be Boulevard now) for the same reason. Also, kids can be harnessed until 65 pounds. I recently bought the Nautilus for my now almost 5 year old daughter. I was deciding between the Nautilus and the Britax Frontier. They both convert to a booster and both have high harness weights and heights.

I like the Nautilas but I would never use if for a toddler because it can not rear face. Rear facing is the safest way to have your toddlers. As others have said always try out the car seat to make sure you can get it in your car.

If you don't want to pay the $279 for a Britax Marathon buy a Britax Roundabout. It is $100 cheaper. It all depends on the size of your kids. However, my daughter at 4 1/2 is just now outgrowing the weight and height limit on the Roundabout. She is about average size.

Also, there are expiration dates on car seats. The Marathon or the Nautilus might look like a great deal as a long term car seat but in reality if your children are about average weight and height, the car seat is going to hit its expiration date before your child hits the top weight and height limits.

Another carseat vent that doesn't really concern you at this time - All parents are not aware that the vehicle LATCH system is not rated to use with higher pound kids. This is a car limitation and it is usually 48 pounds. I had this disagreement recently with a BABYS R US employee so it is fresh in my mind. Forgive me for including this info.

Here is a website to check out.
www.car-safety.org

Good luck
J.

What ever you end up getting - Look at one that will grow with your child the longest and is within your state's guidelines. Otherwise when you hit the seat limit, but not the state laws, you end up spending more money on another seat.

We currently have the Evenflo Triumph & I LOVE IT! But my kiddo is getting ready to out grow it, as the one I have only goes to 40#'s, and he is 38#'s, they have them now up to 50#.

So, I am personally getting ready to purchase the Graco Nautilus, it has three levels (full carseat, high back booster and backless booster. & my main reason for this seat is that you can keep the kiddo in a 5 point harness longer than most of the other seats.

I also found that out that the local Babies R Us store, has a bench vehicle seat in the carseat isle and that you can pull the car seats off of the shelf and buckle them in and also test your child in it. I found this VERY helpful, because it eliminated several seats that I first liked by looking and reading about. My son also put his two cents in and actually eliminated a seat or two also!

If safety is your primary concern, the exact seat and how expensive it is is less important than the fact that you keep your child rear facing until 3 years of age. It is not the law, but it is much safer. If you watch videos of car crashes on you tube with child dummies in car seats, you might be convinced it is better and important enough. If you don't switch them to front facing, they'll never know the difference.

At the very least, buy a seat like the Radian 80 or Britax (only goes to 65 pounds, I think). That way they can stay in a 5 point harness until they are out of car seats entirely. Boosters used with the regular, adult sized seat belt are not as safe as a five point harness for a floppy little toddler.

The best car seat that we have found is the Graco Nautilus 3 in 1 car seat. It is about $150 at Wal-mart & about $160 at Target. It is for kids that are forward facing only. The 5 point harness goes up to 65 lbs. & converts to a belt positioning booster & a backless booster for up to 100 lbs.

In the name of safety your daughter is safer being rear facing for as long as possible.

God bless!

Britax is the best seat on the market, made in the USA and has the highet ratings. Although the price does reflect this - they are a little expensive but worth the price - I would rather pay more for something made in the US and knowing it is the best seat for my sons safty. When I went to the fire dept to have it installed they could not say more about it - they go through 40 hours of training a year to install seats and they said it is the best seat for safty. YOu can get them at Babies R Us and I got mine at Target - I watched for it to go on sale. They also have very cute patterns - but I got the black incase we have another child.

We have a Britax Marathon for each vehicle. Like others have said, it's a little more expensive... but can you put a price on the safety of your child?