DD is outgrowing her infant seat - need suggestions

[Rainfall]

DD is 6 months old and at yesterday's appointment weighed 13.8 lbs. I want to keep her RF (of course) and need a good carseat that will last us a good long while.

I set aside $225 for a new carseat, so that's what I've got max right now to spend. She's still good for the one she's in for another couple of pounds and inches, so we're not desperate to upgrade right now, although I'd like to. But if the one we need is more than $225, I have a little while to save more.

Sooo...what carseat is right for this age/weight that will last us a while? I see all of the chatter about regents and britax seats...can you buy those at like Target/BRU? Is that what we should get? My BFF got a Graco just recently for her little boy...are those good?


eta - This carseat will also be passed down to future LOs (until it expires of course) - if that matters in the decision process!

[wobitnobby]

I am also looking for advice. I found the carseat sticky at the top of this forum to be wonderful, but more comments from other mamas are always appreciated!

My 4.5 month girl is already 17 lbs and 28" long (yes that's huge) so I would love to hear from other mamas of mini-amazons about which carseats do well with tall kids. From what I read in the sticky, it seems the big difference is in the shoulder strap slots, and I should find one that has 18" or higher up slots?

Tall babies come from tall parents, and we are greenies so we drive smaller cars. I don't think there's any way around this but if there happens to be a carseat that magically fits tall babies without forcing us to cramp our knees up front, I would put fresh flowers on a shrine for that genie daily.

[bama]

Originally Posted by Rainfall DD is 6 months old and at yesterday's appointment weighed 13.8 lbs. I want to keep her RF (of course) and need a good carseat that will last us a good long while. I set aside $225 for a new carseat, so that's what I've got max right now to spend. She's still good for the one she's in for another couple of pounds and inches, so we're not desperate to upgrade right now, although I'd like to. But if the one we need is more than $225, I have a little while to save more. Sooo...what carseat is right for this age/weight that will last us a while? I see all of the chatter about regents and britax seats...can you buy those at like Target/BRU? Is that what we should get? My BFF got a Graco just recently for her little boy...are those good? eta - This carseat will also be passed down to future LOs (until it expires of course) - if that matters in the decision process!

You have plenty of time!!! Your lo will probably be in that seat past 1 year old, unless you just want to move her. Britax are the best, I really liked the Boulevard with SIP, but if you drive a small car, it can interfere with your sight while rear-facing. I have a 20# 28in 5 month old, and I still have 2lbs 2 inches before I have to buy a new one, but we are looking at Britax.

[breelovel]

You can't go wrong with Britax. Especially if you're hoping to pass the seat down- they hold up really well. That being said, they are a little bigger and more expensive. The two that are considered best for compact cars are the Roundabout- tried and true, I have one and love it!, and the Diplomat- has some new features likes side imapct wings and no-thread strap adjustment. You can order these online from Target and Babies R Us- their selections in store tend to vary. Roundabouts run around $220.00 so that would fit into your budget. These seats should last you till aprox. 2 1/2 or 3 years old. Another great thing is that you can rear face till either 30 or 35 pounds, I'd have to look to double check. Anyway, Britax also makes a couple of seats that would last you even longer (Marathon, Boulevard), but they are very big and pricey. The Reagent is front-facing only (1 year plus) but last untill around age 8!!! It's is a great seat, but may be phased out by the Frontier- atleast that was their intention, but the Frontier is proving difficult to install - a first for Britax- so don't worry! Get a Roundabout or Diplomat, you won't be sorry!!! HTH!!!

[Maddie&Jake'sMom]

Oy, I could NEVER imagine having left Maddie in her bucket infant seat past 1 year old!

Once your LO can sit up unassisted, they will start to hate being in that seat. We moved Maddie at 8 months into her Marathon and car rides became a DREAM because she was so much more upright.

She was within the height limits for the infant seat until she was 18 months old....she is STILL within the limits of the weight of her infant seat and she's almost 2.

[brooklynn]

She should be good for another several pounds and inches in her infant seat, but of course, that does depend on how quickly she grows (or how long you want to lug her around that way, lol).

Since she'll still need to be RF for a good long while, I'd consider a Britax Marathon or Boulevard, Sunshine Kids Radian 65 or 80, Compass TrueFit, or Fisher-Price Save Voyage (same as a Marathon), or Evenflo Triumph Advance.

[Shanna]

We upgraded our kiddos from Graco and Evenflo to Britax w/ last year tax return and I'm soooo happy we did! This year we upgraded the 4yo to a Regent (fits up to 85lbs), our petite 3yo will be in her Marathon (fits up to 65lbs) for a long time, and our amazon baby (4mo. 20lb) inheritied his big brothers Marathon at just a few weeks old.

I love that
1- you can top tether even when rear facing
2- they are soooooo easy to put in correctly
3- they have a latch that secures the shoulder part of the seatbelt, so you don't get the leaning cockeyed issues from a tight shoulder belt.
4- they are very VERY solid seats.

While most of our friends have their children in booster at my sons age/weight (almost 5, almost 50lbs) I fully intend to keep him (and our other children) in a five point seat as long as possible. I bookmarked this quite sometime ago, and that's when I made the decision to upgrade! Be careful, it will make you cry

The Britax are big seats though, especially the Regent. I wouldn't be able to fit all three seats side by side for sure.

I bought all of our seats for under $200 each on sale at babycatalog.com w/ free shipping. You can find good prices on amazon too, I think. For families that can afford a little more, Hip Monkey donates proceeds to the Kyle Miller Foundation which supplys larger seats to family who otherwise could not afford them.

[Rainfall]

WOW! You mamas are AWESOME!! Thanks for all of the great info!!

Yeah, I just looked and I was wrong about the limits on her infant seat. For some reason I thought it was 15 lbs. But she's already trying to sit up in it and I can't imagine keeping her in it for very long.

[jackyl08]

Originally Posted by wobitnobby I am also looking for advice. I found the carseat sticky at the top of this forum to be wonderful, but more comments from other mamas are always appreciated! My 4.5 month girl is already 17 lbs and 28" long (yes that's huge) so I would love to hear from other mamas of mini-amazons about which carseats do well with tall kids. From what I read in the sticky, it seems the big difference is in the shoulder strap slots, and I should find one that has 18" or higher up slots? Tall babies come from tall parents, and we are greenies so we drive smaller cars. I don't think there's any way around this but if there happens to be a carseat that magically fits tall babies without forcing us to cramp our knees up front, I would put fresh flowers on a shrine for that genie daily.

You do want one with tall top slots, but you won't find a convertible with true 18" top slots. About the best you can do is 17ish. The Sunshine Kids Radian has 17" slots, but they say the child can be up to 1" over the top slots.

The way to avoid cramped legs, is to put the seat more upright. At four months, baby does not need to be at 45 degrees anymore. More like 35 degrees for her age would be good and when older, as upright as 30 degrees. In your case, I would avoid the Sunshine Kids Radian and the The First Years True Fit. Both are very reclined, the Radian because it has a big rearfacing foot thing and the True Fit because 45 degrees is required by the manufacturer when rearfacing. Any Britax convertible and the Evenflo Triumph Advance should work for you. If you will have other LO's to pass the seat onto, you might think about the Roundabout. It's smaller than the MA, but is wonderful. Babylove.com has some for $140, which is fabulous.

[calebsmommy1]

Ditto on all the Britax comments-my sister has had her LO in a Roundabout since he was 8mos old (RF of course-He quickly grew out of his infant seat)...anyway, I don't really think you can go wrong with a Britax IMO. Here's one thing you should think about doing before you actually purchase a new seat: If it's feasible, try and find stores in your area that carry the seats you're interested, go there and try out the display models. That way you can see what fits your LO best and maybe even what fits in your vehicle the best. (Someone suggested this to me)

A funny side note-my 10mo old is over 21lb and 28in. and he is STILL in his RF infant seat. We have a Graco SafeSeat 1 which RF to 30lbs. I'm glad we got that instead of the Snugride since the weight limit is so much higher. I LOVE his infant seat since he falls asleep in it almost every car ride and he stays reclined. Plus I don't have to move him when we get out of the car. I just pop the seat on his stroller and voila. It works for us, although I know some people can't wait to switch to a convertible *giggle*. Personal preference I guess