carseat wwyd

rosesandpetals

DD is really big for her age. We currently have 2 carseats, the Combi Coccoro and the Cosco Scenera. They both have a rear-facing height limit of 36 inches. DD is 31 - 32 inches right now. I think there is a good chance that she will outgrow her carseat before she is 2. Target is having a carseat sale right now. Would you buy a new one while it's on sale or just plan to flip her once she gets tall enough (she just turned 1)? I am concerned about flipping her too early but I also really don't want to buy another carseat. She is only ever in my car anyway and it seems crazy to have 3 car seats for one kid. But... if it will keep her safe... Her pedi said since she is so big, he doesn't think she will make it to 2 and he's okay with flipping her early (not now, but earlier than 2). I'm really torn. What would SAHMs do?

jillyjill1026sr

Some kids really slow down with their growth after they hit one. I would definitely not forward-face her before 2 (hopefully even 3 or 4). Babies R Us has their trade-in event twice a year, and there are always sales on car seats. Personally, I would wait a bit longer to see if a new seat is necessary. We bought a Radian when DD was 7 months old as to avoid this possibility (DH is 6'6 and I am 6'- we knew we'd have a tall baby!).

rosesandpetals

jillyjill1026sr said:

Some kids really slow down with their growth after they hit one. I would definitely not forward-face her before 2 (hopefully even 3 or 4). Babies R Us has their trade-in event twice a year, and there are always sales on car seats. Personally, I would wait a bit longer to see if a new seat is necessary. We bought a Radian when DD was 7 months old as to avoid this possibility (DH is 6'6 and I am 6'- we knew we'd have a tall baby!).

I wouldn't flip her right now, I'd wait until she hit 36 inches. But yeah, I am not sure about flipping her before 2. I am only 5'5 so I didn't expect such a tall baby!

jf198400

I would wait to buy a car seat, you can always find sales somewhere or use a BRU 20% off coupon. It does stink to buy a new carseat But if she outgrows it RF before 2 it is also likely she will outgrow it FF before she is ready for a booster. My dd is 3.5 and the car seat we have in my moms car is smaller/shorter (my mom has a tiny car). She is almost outgrown it FF b/c shoulder slots don't go any higher. There is no way she will be ready for a booster seat even at 4yrs old so she will need another seat.

rosesandpetals

LalaMama81 said:

Dd2 is 90+ % for height and I think she would have just made or to 2 in our scenera. But that's our back up seat and right now she's still rf at 2.5 in a nextfit. I plan to keep her that way until at least 3. She can easily ff in it for years, probably until she's ready for a high back booster. So it doesn't exactly have a short shelf life, you know? And honestly I dont take car seat advice from my pedi, they usually don't know much.

https://www.target.com/p/eddie-bauer-xrs-65-convertible-car-seat-reagan/-/A-14573718#prodSlot=medium_1_11
That is the one we were thinking about getting. But it looks like the nextfit goes to 50", which sounds great because I am tired of buying carseats and just want something that will last. We don't use the scenera very much because it is really big and the combi fits in our car better. How big is the nextfit?

rosesandpetals

No, I'm not. Thanks for the info, I'll check it out!

penguingrrl

I would get another seat, but not the eddie bauer one. The seats you have have short shells and short top harness slots and as tall as she seems to be she will likely outgrow them looong before she's ready for a booster anyway, meaning you'll need a new seat then.

For tall kids I would stay away from britax, recaro and eddie bauer as they'll be outgrown too early. I would look at the diono radian, chicco nextfit, graco mysize/size4mr/headwise) same shell and top harness slots), or the evenflo sureride as they are currently the best convertibles on the market for taller kids, not only due to shell height but also because of the amount of RF leg room they provide.

Also, just an FYI about RF seats being outgrown. For the most part the overall height limits are irrelevant (one or two manufacturers are strict, most aren't. A rear facing carseat is outgrown for height when there is less than 1" of hard shell above their head. A forward facing carseat is outgrown for height when either the tops of the ears are even with the top of the shell or their shoulders go above the top harness slots, whichever happens first. It all depends on where that individual child carries their height (so a tall, leggy child may fit in a seat years after an identically tall child with a long torso and short legs outgrew it).

And an FYI on the radian, my 4.5 year old outgrew it for FF height last summer (shoulders were even with the top harness slots), but sat in it her brother's RF and just made it to have an inch over her head or last week and had comfy leg room.

Spin313

(Puts on my flame suit...)

I'd use the seats you have until she reaches the RF limit and then just turn her FF.

rosesandpetals

DD carries most of her height in her torso, she has stumpy little legs like DH :P But thank you for all the recommendations. We are going to try the graco my size, nextfit, and diono radian. My only concern about the radian is that it won't fit well in my car if it has a really big shell. I think BBB lets you try them in the car so we'll just go and see how it works.

penguingrrl

roses&65335678 said:

DD carries most of her height in her torso, she has stumpy little legs like DH :P But thank you for all the recommendations. We are going to try the graco my size, nextfit, and diono radian. My only concern about the radian is that it won't fit well in my car if it has a really big shell. I think BBB lets you try them in the car so we'll just go and see how it works.

You can get an angle adjuster for the radian, which will allow you to install it far more upright so it fits in smaller cars . At her age you definitely don't need the 45* newborn angle for RF!

ToastieSimons

I would buy a new one if my kid was close to the RF limits.  We didn't turn DS1 until 3.

ToastieSimons

roses&65335678 said:

DD carries most of her height in her torso, she has stumpy little legs like DH :P But thank you for all the recommendations. We are going to try the graco my size, nextfit, and diono radian. My only concern about the radian is that it won't fit well in my car if it has a really big shell. I think BBB lets you try them in the car so we'll just go and see how it works.

we have the headwise70 (targets version of the my size).  I got it for $129 when on sale, so pretty affordable.  It's a no rethread harness, so I can easily see which slot DS2 needs, and if it has to be adjusted you just slide the head rest.  It fits well in the back of my focus.  DS2 has been a bigger baby until about a year, now he's average and he fits well in it. 

LatteLady5

roses&65335678 said:

DD carries most of her height in her torso, she has stumpy little legs like DH :P But thank you for all the recommendations. We are going to try the graco my size, nextfit, and diono radian. My only concern about the radian is that it won't fit well in my car if it has a really big shell. I think BBB lets you try them in the car so we'll just go and see how it works.

The group that lala mentioned  (Carseats for the littles) can recommend a seat that will fit well in your vehicle if you post your vehicle, DD's stats and your budget

FWIW, I'd but a new seat but maybe hold off until she's closer to the limits.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/CarSeatsForTheLittles/

honkytonk_kid

I would definitely wait until she gets closer to hitting the limit before buying a new seat, she may slow down and fit longer than you expect.

We bought a Radian for the same reason (outgrew the Scenera). I love it. Definitely get the angle adjuster, it makes SUCH a difference. One of the amazon reviews said, "buy it or you might as well get a new car." lol

myatala

We have the Graco MySize 70. We had limited choices because our car is tiny but we love the seat. I like that it has good height/weight limits for RF because we want to RF as long as possible -- RF is 5x safer than FF.

rosesandpetals

What angle does it need to be to be safe? I think we will get the angle adjuster with the radiant when she outgrows the combi. Eta never mind, I found the adjuster.

rosesandpetals

Does anyone have thoughts on car seat bracing? I am reading about it and all I can see is that Toyota (the make of car I drive) doesn't recommend it because it will make the advanced airbags think the person in the front seat is heavier than s/he is and could set off the airbags on a child. I never have kids in my car(other than Dd) so I'm not worried about that. Can I brace the car seat? Some aces say it is safer others say it doesn't matter. Any thoughts? @penguingrrl @lalamama81

penguingrrl

roses&65335678 said:

What angle does it need to be to be safe? I think we will get the angle adjuster with the radiant when she outgrows the combi. Eta never mind, I found the adjuster.

Diono has never stated a minimum angle and has said as upright as you can get is fine. Other manufacturers have different rules. DH has said that more upright is better based on how various forces will hit the shell (he described it in far more technical physics rules that I don't recall).

penguingrrl

roses&65335678 said:

Does anyone have thoughts on car seat bracing? I am reading about it and all I can see is that Toyota (the make of car I drive) doesn't recommend it because it will make the advanced airbags think the person in the front seat is heavier than s/he is and could set off the airbags on a child. I never have kids in my car(other than Dd) so I'm not worried about that. Can I brace the car seat? Some aces say it is safer others say it doesn't matter. Any thoughts? @penguingrrl @lalamama81

If your car doesn't allow bracing definitely don't do it. You never want to prioritize small details for a RF child at the expense of another passenger since a RF child is the safest person in the vehicle regardless. We can do it behind the passenger seat on the beetle but not the driver seat because just the drivers seat on that car has advanced airbags. We can do it in both seats in our pilot because it's an older model without advanced airbags anywhere. Drew is behind the driver because that's the most convenient place for him and when I'm driving he's nowhere near bracing, when DH is driving he's very much bracing (we're a full foot different in height).

rosesandpetals

penguingrrl said:

roses&65335678 said:

Does anyone have thoughts on car seat bracing? I am reading about it and all I can see is that Toyota (the make of car I drive) doesn't recommend it because it will make the advanced airbags think the person in the front seat is heavier than s/he is and could set off the airbags on a child. I never have kids in my car(other than Dd) so I'm not worried about that. Can I brace the car seat? Some aces say it is safer others say it doesn't matter. Any thoughts? @penguingrrl @lalamama81

If your car doesn't allow bracing definitely don't do it. You never want to prioritize small details for a RF child at the expense of another passenger since a RF child is the safest person in the vehicle regardless. We can do it behind the passenger seat on the beetle but not the driver seat because just the drivers seat on that car has advanced airbags. We can do it in both seats in our pilot because it's an older model without advanced airbags anywhere. Drew is behind the driver because that's the most convenient place for him and when I'm driving he's nowhere near bracing, when DH is driving he's very much bracing (we're a full foot different in height).

But the advanced airbags would go off anyway if the passenger is an adult, wouldn't they? Maybe I don't understand what they are. If they'd go off anyway then it isn't compromising their safety. Im usually the only one in the car anyway since I am taking her out all day so this is kind of a moot point but I am curious.

penguingrrl

roses&65335678 said:

penguingrrl said:

roses&65335678 said:

Does anyone have thoughts on car seat bracing? I am reading about it and all I can see is that Toyota (the make of car I drive) doesn't recommend it because it will make the advanced airbags think the person in the front seat is heavier than s/he is and could set off the airbags on a child. I never have kids in my car(other than Dd) so I'm not worried about that. Can I brace the car seat? Some aces say it is safer others say it doesn't matter. Any thoughts? @penguingrrl @lalamama81

If your car doesn't allow bracing definitely don't do it. You never want to prioritize small details for a RF child at the expense of another passenger since a RF child is the safest person in the vehicle regardless. We can do it behind the passenger seat on the beetle but not the driver seat because just the drivers seat on that car has advanced airbags. We can do it in both seats in our pilot because it's an older model without advanced airbags anywhere. Drew is behind the driver because that's the most convenient place for him and when I'm driving he's nowhere near bracing, when DH is driving he's very much bracing (we're a full foot different in height).

But the advanced airbags would go off anyway if the passenger is an adult, wouldn't they? Maybe I don't understand what they are. If they'd go off anyway then it isn't compromising their safety. Im usually the only one in the car anyway since I am taking her out all day so this is kind of a moot point but I am curious.

I believe I read (and I could be wrong on this) that advanced airbags aren't just on/off but if they go off the pressure and amount they inflate varies by the weight of the person sitting in the seat. So if the carseat is adding extra weight it will throw off how much force is applied to the airbag and risk seriously injuring the person in the passenger or driver seat.

rosesandpetals

That makes sense. Thanks for the info. I'm glad the r e are people around here who know their stuff, makes car seat stuff much easier.

penguingrrl

You're welcome! Always glad to help. I only got really interested and learned a lot when we were dealing with tall kids in a beetle because many of the popular seats (especially 5-6 years ago when we were first looking) did not fit in our car so we had to dig deeper to find seats that would accommodate tall kids in a beetle. Now there are so many good options!

Mommy2CB

I'd keep her RFing until she actually hits that 36 inches! And yes wait til at least 2!