Another car seat question

cas110688

Is it better to go with a convertible car seat after the infant seat or a booster car seat? All these options has a FTM confused!

elbou

Convertible comes next. The booster seat is the last stage of car seats. It just boosts them up so that the seat belts in the car are positioned properly. Our babies are no-where near ready for that yet!

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arschm02

There are convertible car seats that also convert in to a booster. If you're referring to that, then it's a perfectly safe option. They just won't use that booster part until their probably over the age of 4. Until then they will use the 5 point harness and be rear facing until a minimum age of 1 or maybe 2 in some states. Then when you switch them forward, they'll still be in the 5 point harness until they reach the weight limit of the harness and it's safe to use the car's seatbeltwith the seat or booster. Hope that helps.

JordynLeighx3

Convertible. Once you flip them forward and they are ready to not be harnessed, the seat will likely be expired before you ever get to access the booster mode. Also, even many 6 year olds aren't ready for a booster seat with just the seat belt as the belt fit is pretty bad and they probably don't sit right 100% of the time (like while sleeping)

kelsea1031

JordynLeighx3 said:

Convertible. Once you flip them forward and they are ready to not be harnessed, the seat will likely be expired before you ever get to access the booster mode. Also, even many 6 year olds aren't ready for a booster seat with just the seat belt as the belt fit is pretty bad and they probably don't sit right 100% of the time (like while sleeping)

All of this!

skidderdo

So along the car seat line... I hung out with my SIL this weekend and we took the babies out to dinner... I took this picture, then realized she has him in a forward facing car seat already. He JUST turned 1 year old, but he weighs a million pounds. Correct me if I'm wrong but is this WAY too early to be forward facing?!?

arschm02

Technically, no. Well I guess it depends what state you're in, but MN state law you need to be at least 1 year old and a minimum of 20 pounds. Although, I think I read their changing the minimum age to 2 in 2014?

JordynLeighx3

So so so not okay. Even if its legal it in no way makes it safe. Weight and height have little to do with it being okay.

For people who generally argue that statement too, I like to compare it to smoking. Smoking is legal...but we all no it's not safe, or recommended.

Angela814

Technically it's legal to ff at 1 year, but it's so much safer to keep them rfing. DH switched DD2 (almost 3.5 yrs) to ffing in his car, and I am not very happy about it. She still has 1-2" left to grow before she hits the limit.

I'd stay away from any rfing to booster combo seat. I can't think of any that get great reviews. You're better off with a good high limit convertible seat (rfing and ffing harness) that will last until booster age. Then get a good high back booster (seatbelt only).

Angela814

cece2682 said:

Angela814 said:

Technically it's legal to ff at 1 year, but it's so much safer to keep them rfing. DH switched DD2 (almost 3.5 yrs) to ffing in his car, and I am not very happy about it. She still has 1-2" left to grow before she hits the limit.

I'd stay away from any rfing to booster combo seat. I can't think of any that get great reviews. You're better off with a good high limit convertible seat (rfing and ffing harness) that will last until booster age. Then get a good high back booster (seatbelt only).

What about the Diono radian?

I forget that the Radian now has a booster mode. We have the older SK version that is a convertible seat only.

The Radian is a great rfing and ffing harnessed seat. The new Radian doesn't allow you to use booster mode until your child reaches 50 lbs. Because the height of the seat isn't adjustable, it's outgrown in booster mode at the same time it's outgrown in harness mode. DD1 didn't hit 50 lbs until she turned 6. She outgrew the Radian by height around 5.5 years, so for us, the booster mode would have been completely wasted.

pinottoparenthood

arschm02 said:

There are convertible car seats that also convert in to a booster. If you're referring to that, then it's a perfectly safe option. They just won't use that booster part until their probably over the age of 4. Until then they will use the 5 point harness and be rear facing until a minimum age of 1 or maybe 2 in some states. Then when you switch them forward, they'll still be in the 5 point harness until they reach the weight limit of the harness and it's safe to use the car's seatbeltwith the seat or booster. Hope that helps.

They are supposed to rear face until they are AT LEAST two now. Many parents choose to RF as long as possible even beyond 2 years.