Another Carseat question

Maebb

This has probably been asked, so if anyone could please link me to a post or website, I would really appreciate it. The Google results are overwhelming, and I prefer hearing from "real" parents.

Is there any carseat that will take DS from his Snugride 35 and then be the only carseat he'll need? Obviously, I want something that is safe, but I don't know how many car seats we need to buy throughout his life.

If it matters, I have a midsize sedan type car, but we might be getting a mid to large SUV in the next year.

Tigger & pooh

We went right from the infant carry to britax marathon and now booster. I believe you can easily find a carseat to do what you would like.

msdrdg

Safety 1st Alpha Omega Elite.  We have 2.  It does RF, FF, High Back Booster.  I think it converts to a regular booster too, but don't quote me on that.

nanabanana06

I think regardless of what you buy you will need to buy a booster later. Boosters aren't that much and if you get a good convertible they will last you a long long time. I like the Diono Radian for longevity. It has a low profile, narrow base, long RF limits, and great FF limits. It's also the thinnest seat we've ever had, fits in my SO's Dart RF nicely. You will still need to buy a booster down the road.

EMOmamma

It depends.  We were recently trying to figure out the same kind of thing on how to minimize our car seat purchases for our 2 kids and here's what I found:

I didn't find anything with good reviews that goes from RF-FF-High Back booster-backless booster.  There are convertible seats that do RF-FF that go for a very high weight/height then you could skip the high back booster and go to a backless booster (that won't be until around age 6, I think, depending on kid size and your state's laws).  

There are other seats that will go FF (5point harness) to high back booster using the seatbelt to backless booster.  But they don't do RF, so you would have to use your snugride until you're ready to FF (and you will likely reach the height limit before the 35lb weight limit).  Again, this depends on your kid's size and when you switch to FF.  My DD outgrew her snugride at 13months but I wasn't ready to FF so she's now in DS's convertible RF and he's in a 5pt FF b/c he's too tall to RF in the seats we have.  

Basically you're going to need at least 2 more seats, here are your options:  Good convertible that your kid can ride in until they are ready for a high back or backless booster (or one that converts between the two like a Maxi-Cosi Rodi XR).

Or skip the convertible and stay in your infant seat until you're ready to FF then get something like a Graco Nautilus (cannot be installed RF)

lrn327

If you plan well, you can probably find a good seat that will last you through till you need to just get a booster (which are not nearly that expensive). By planning well, I mean that if your LO is tall or even avg, you need to make sure you get a seat with high enough RFing limits that you can keep them there for a while. (The recommendation for the Radian is a great one.  Unfortunately the Alpha Omega has some drawbacks that it's not as favored but it certainly works for some situations.)   It's strongly recommended till at least 2 years and preferred as closed to 4 years as you can get.  I highly recommend the FB group Car Seats for the Littles.  If you give your kid's stats and your price range, they'll recommend good seat options for you.  It's admined by car seat techs.  (Incidentally, we bought a Britax Blvd thinking it would get us a long way RFing but unfortunately they have short shells (I didn't know this!) and I'm faced with buying him a new seat now to keep him RFing.)

Maebb

DS is 9.5 months, and he's 30.5 inches (95th percentile) tall and 21.5 lbs. (75th percentile). So if he continues like this, he'll be tall and likely outgrow his infant seat before he turns one.

I would like to keep him rear-facing for as long as it is safe to do so. I will check out those carseats and also the FB group.

Did y'all buy additional seats for other family vehicles, or are they easy to install and uninstall?

MrsT0514

We just recently switched DS over to the Britax Marathon 70-G3 and I love it. It goes RFing up to 40lbs, FFing up to 70lbs. It's got great safety ratings too. So it should definitely last a while.

lrn327

Unfortunately they're not easy to install/uninstall, not like an infant seat at least.  It would drive you nuts to have to move it more than very occasionally.  My DS is in both cars equally so we bought two of the same seats, but if you use one more, you can always buy a less expensive seat for the second car.  We have a super inexpensive Cosco Scenera for air travel and emergencies. 

My DS is 2.75 years (and still happily RFing), but he's 90% for height so is outgrowing the Britax already.  (Apparently those are generally recommended only for kids at the 30% and lower IF you want to do to extended RFing.  This I didn't know until it became an apparent problem!)  And as long as your child is in an appropriate seat, it is always safer to RF though at age 4, they're bodies are more developed to handle the forces of a crash FFing.  Adults would be safer RFing too but that would be harder to drive!)