extended rear facing ladies come in- questions

.completely.amazing.love.

I've been looking at convertible car seats. We have a used (but in good condition) Cosco Scenera that I got from my Aunt. Is this a good seat for extended rear facing? I want to keep the munchkin rear facing til 2ish & I think this seat goes to 30 lbs if I'm remembering right. (I wasn't sure what the average 2 year old weighs. M weighs about 14 lbs at 6 months.)

How long are you keeping your babe rear facing?

What seat do you have?

What is a good (& cheapest) extended rear facing seat?

 

MrsTeague

Since the seat is used, you may want to check the expiration date (a lot of people don't realize that car seats expire). Many people will tell you not to buy a used car seat because you don't know if it's been in a wreck, etc., but since you bought it from your aunt who I assume you trust it shouldn't be an issue.

I will keep DD rear facing until 40lbs (my seat's RF limit) no matter how old she is.

I have the Radian65SL - It RF to 40lbs and FF to 65lbs. It was around $190.

 

emiliemadison

You *might* be able to use it RF until age 2+, but most kids outgrow it by height before weight. Even if you can use it to age 2 for RF, your child will almost certainly outgrow it for height FF before they're ready for a booster so you'll have to buy another seat anyway. How old is the Scerera you got from your aunt? Even seats in good condition have expiration dates - usually good for 5 years; it's stamped into the plastic on the bottom of the seat.

Personally, I'd buy a convertible seat that would allow you to ERF *and* use it as a 5 pt harnessed seat until they're ready for a booster (around age 6). The seats that will allow most kids to do that are the First Years TrueFit, Sunshine Kids Radian, or Graco MyRide. Those seats will allow for ERF (well past age 2 for most kids) and will also allow most kids to stay in that seat until boosters.

If price is an issue, remember that buying one slightly more expensive seat instead of a two (or even three) seats, will be worth it. The TrueFit is probably your best bet for value (less than $200) and will last a long time.

BeeLove

I don't advise using a used carseat. They wear out and they may not be up to the newest safety regulations.

i did a couple of months research and landed on the Radian Sunshine carseat.  It allows for more leg room, takes up less space (it's much more narrow than most) in my car, was easy to install and we have been really happy with it.  Max seems to be soooo comfy.  he always falls asleep, it seats him high enough he can see out the window and I really enjoy the seat.

We will have him RF until he doesn't fit, which means possibly up to three...I don't know.  The Radian also allows up to 45 lbs.  Big plus IMO. 

Mrs.Teddy

We went with the Graco My Ride 65 for this reason. We want to ERF up to the 40lb limit (or the height limit whichever comes first). And then FF up to 65lbs with the 5 pt harness. We debated between the First Years True fit and that one, we may get the true fit for DHs car, for now we are still using the infant carrier there because L is still within the limits of that.

penguingrrl

As long as you're 100% sure the used seat has not been in an accident, there's nothing wrong with a hand-me-down seat.  The reason people say not to use used seats is that you can't verify a seat's history, but IMO passing a seat around family, with whom you can verify that it's had no accidents, is the same as the fact that my younger daughter uses my older daughter's old seat.

One thing I have discovered is that since my older daughter is tall I ended up wasting quite a bit of money before finding out that she would outgrow height limits long before weight limits with seats, so if you have a tall child that's a consideration.  I bought my older daughter a graco comfortsport when she outgrew her infant seat, thinking that she would RF until 35 lbs and we would get a cheaper harness/booster combo once she hit 40 lbs.  She outgrew the harness straps to RF at 14 months and outgrew the seat entirely at 17 months and 24 lbs.

At that point we had trouble finding a seat that allowed a tall child to stay in a harness for a long time that also fit in our car (VW Beetle)  and finally settled on the radian 65.  We chose that over the 80 since generally kids outgrow a seat for height before weight and the two seats have the same height limit.  Now we have her in a newer radian and the younger one in her old one because the new one (actually purchased for DD2) added headwings so we decided that the FF child should have the headwings.

We plan to keep DD2 RF until 2 or 35 lbs (whichever comes first) in the radian and I know without a doubt she won't be too tall to stay RF in that seat as long as possible, which is a really nice feeling.  

My suggestion is to go to stores and see what fits best in your car as well.  We were originally going to get a graco nautilus, but it was far too big to install!  And while saving money sounds great, you may find you wasted money on a seat they outgrew far before they were  ready!