Saturday, April 28, 2007
Car Seat troubles
My daughter is just a few pounds away from needing the next size car seat, and I was wondering if anyone has any advice or tips on finding a great car seat? Do you have one that you love? I'm particularly interested in safety ratings. Car seats are something I'm pretty picky about. I had our infant seat checked by a car seat specialist to make sure it was installed right, and then I had it rechecked when we got a new vehicle because I couldn't get it tight enough! So anyway, I'm mostly interested in safety reviews, but I'm not finding a ton on the internet. The consumer reports website listed like the top 3. I'm finding that the best ones are either really expensive and/or they only go to 40 lb. (I was hoping to get one that goes up to at least 60 lb, so we don't have to get yet another one.) It looks like the Britax ones are really popular, but YIKES expensive! And what age are kids usually when they hit 40 lb anyway? Maybe I'll have another child by then that needs that carseat anyway??? Ok, enough rambling, but I'd love to hear what you did or are doing about this!
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9 comments:
I went crazy trying to research car seat ratings, and I felt very unsatisfied. Finally, we went into Babies R Us, and the associate said, "Britax are #1, but the Evenflo Triumph is next best, and a lot less expensive." We tested it out, and although it's a pain to install rear facing (the slot for the seatbelt to run through is very small and hard for me to get my hand in, let alone my husband), we like it. I read a lot of consumer reviews on Amazon, and a lot of people complained about the harness adjustment (you can easily loosen and tighten it, which we do, but some people hated that). By the way, my three year old is thirty pounds, but she's tall and skinny. Good luck!
I think that the brand we have is a Eddie Bauer. Not 100% sure though. I guess I am bad, because I really don't look at the safety ratings. However, I don't buy carseats that are brands that I have never heard of. I like the one we have. This is our second after infant carseat. The one my two older boys used just plain got overused and so I have to get rid of it. Anyway, the one I have now goes from like 5-80 or 100 pounds. Although I have never needed to use my convertible carseat that long because I always seem to have another baby who needs it. But I like the option that I can use this seat that long if I need too. Britax are too ridiculously expensive, I don't care how good their rating is.
My son is 19 months and he is 30ish pounds. But, he is a pretty big boy. My other boys did not weigh this much at this age. My 3 year old is only like 35 pounds.
We found the same thing with looking for reviews/research. We love the Evenflo Triumph. We even have to transfer cars a lot and it's worked out fine. One thing that I learned from working on a carseat coalition in college is that every carseat out there is safe-they wouldn't be on the market otherwise. The key is finding the one that fits your child AND your car and is therefore the safest because it's also the best fit. Britax are wonderful but we couldn't afford it and feel very secure with our Evenflo. One of the new buzzwords is that energy-absorbing foam and every thing I read DID recommend that as being new technology that is just better-but most of them had it so it was a no-brainer! Good luck, we just did this a few months ago ourselves!
We have the Graco ComfortSport and we've been very happy with it. I'm sorry to say that I didn't research anything before we bought it, we just went to Target and picked one from the selection they had.
This one only goes up to 40 lbs, but our gut is 19 months and only 26 lbs, so I doubt it's going to be much of a problem.
It's soooo easy to get in and out of the car and adjusts really easily. Like I said, we've been very happy with this one so I think liz&meg is right, you just have to find one that's right for you and your vehicle!
One thing we did discover is that Babies R Us will let you take the carseat out and see if it will fit in your car and experiment with buckling it and your kid in-we were impressed with that!
Great post. Caden, our little one is about 6 months and approaching 20 lbs. He is shortly going to need a new seat. I am interested in this very much, since our eyes are out for a new seat.
Thanks guys! The research I did read rated the Evenflo Triumph really high, so I think we might go with that one. However, I appreciated the comment that all carseats out there are safe, or they wouldn't be out there. I probably go overboard with the worrying sometimes! After reading your comments, I don't feel like I necessarily need one that goes to 100 lbs. I love that Babies R Us lets you try it in your vehicle. Thanks for all your input!
Hey all of us moms can totally understand the stress of trying to find something afforable and safe. When we purchased our second car seat our daughter was only 6 months so finding a car seat the can be front facing and rear facing was hard. We finally went with the Cosco Alpha Omega Elite and are glad we did. 6 months later we were rear-ended by a surburban that didn't notice the twenty cars in front of her stoped at a red light. Our Nissan Altima didn't survive. She hit so hard that our stroller went through the back seat and pushed against our daughter. The car seat not only survived, my daughter was completely unharmed and didn't even wake up from her nap. Needless to say we went the next day and bought the same exact model. I believe it can be used from 7 lbs to 100 pounds. It is really easy to install, even backwards facing.
Wow Chantel, thanks for that thought. I can't think of anything more reassuring than knowing these carseats can survive bad crashes, and our little ones can be ok! I appreciate that!
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