I guess I have to get the next car seat?

julieb00lie · November 2010

I really wanted to keep DD rear facing for as long as possible for safety, but she is getting so tall that her feet hit the back seat and her knees are bent. DH had to pick her up today (for the first time in a while) and he said it was even worse in his truck.

What do you think? And what are the top car seats for the next step? Just thought I'd get some opinions before I start the big research project.

starlingrose · November 2010

If she is in a convertible carseat and rear facing and you want her in the 'next step' you would just turn her carseat FF wouldnt you?

rosesandpeonies · November 2010

My daughter is already forward facing, but the fact that her knees are bent and feet hit the back isn't a problem. It is only a problem if she hit the height limit for rear facing in her carseat. No you do not have to get her a new carseat if her feet hit the back and are bent, but you do have to if she hit the weight or height limit for rear facing in her particular seat.

kelbrian · November 2010

It's not life threatening for her to be a little scrunched unless she is over the height/weight limits.

All that you would do is turn her forward facing once she exceeds the limits. You don't need a new seat at this point. Check out the height and weight limits for the seat and you'll find out how long you can keep her in it. I think ours goes up to 60 pounds for forward facing, and DD is 30 pounds away from that and not even close to hitting the top of the seat with her height.

mrsmcdonald · November 2010

You can keep her rear facing even ig her legs bend and her feet touch the back of the seat, as long as she hasn't met the upper weight limit for the car seat you have. It's safer to keep her rear facing than to turn her around. I'm not sure if there are any known reports of broken legs while rear facing. There are, however, lots of safety statistics about toddlers with broken necks/neck injuries from facing forward. Either way, I'd rather have a broken leg than a broken neck.

julieb00lie · November 2010

Thanks Ladies! Just checked online and our carseat, Graco 32, is only for rear facing. So I'm not sure I'll be able to just turn it around. But I may be able to keep her in it a bit longer since she's not at the height limit yet.

kelbrian · November 2010

julieb00lie:
Thanks Ladies! Just checked online and our carseat, Graco 32, is only for rear facing. So I'm not sure I'll be able to just turn it around. But I may be able to keep her in it a bit longer since she's not at the height limit yet.

OH, I see. I didn't realize that she was in her infant seat.

We have a Cosco Scenera for traveling (lightweight) and a Britax. We are going to purchase a Sunshine Kids Radian XT and get rid of the other two. The Radian folds up a bit and can be worn on the back, and this will be nice for us as we travel a lot (and don't own a car). It goes up to 45 pounds rear facing and 80 pounds forward facing (with a 53' height limit), so that's also a plus. It's also really narrow, so that's another bonus.

Albee Baby has a bunch of seats on sale, just an FYI

macchiatto · November 2010

Ah yeah, if it's an infant seat, I'd get a convertible seat and keep her rear-facing. This is a great time to buy a convertible since as pp mentioned, there are some great sales right now! The Sunshine Kids Radian is a great seat; we have the First Years True Fit convertible seats, which are also good. My almost-23-month-olds are still rear-facing. They just learn to bend/cross their legs but they're still a good 8 lbs and 4-5" away from the RFing limits of their seats.

JAWMIN · November 2010

If you want to stay RFing, Sunshine kids Radian XTSL is a great choice. Lots of leg room, but it doesn't matter if the legs are bent or even crossed. It's all about where the top of her head is.

Alex17 · November 2010

julieb00lie:
Thanks Ladies! Just checked online and our carseat, Graco 32, is only for rear facing. So I'm not sure I'll be able to just turn it around. But I may be able to keep her in it a bit longer since she's not at the height limit yet.

We have a Britax boulevard 70. It rear faces to 40 lbs. 49 inch height limit RF or Forward Facing. This is one of the only seats that tethers rear facing.

https://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/boulevard-70

We also have a Safety First Complete Air Protect 65. rear-facing from 5-40 pounds and 19"-40" and toddlers forward-facing from 22-65 pounds and 34"-52". This seat is less expensive than the Britax, and is in our second vehicle. We like it.

https://airprotect.safety1st.com/product-completeairtm-carseat.php

JAWMIN · November 2010

kelbrian:
julieb00lie:
Thanks Ladies! Just checked online and our carseat, Graco 32, is only for rear facing. So I'm not sure I'll be able to just turn it around. But I may be able to keep her in it a bit longer since she's not at the height limit yet.
OH, I see. I didn't realize that she was in her infant seat.
We have a Cosco Scenera for traveling (lightweight) and a Britax. We are going to purchase a Sunshine Kids Radian XT and get rid of the other two. The Radian folds up a bit and can be worn on the back, and this will be nice for us as we travel a lot (and don't own a car). It goes up to 45 pounds rear facing and 80 pounds forward facing (with a 53' height limit), so that's also a plus. It's also really narrow, so that's another bonus.
Albee Baby has a bunch of seats on sale, just an FYI

If you are going to be traveling a lot, you might want to keep one of the others. Radians are HEAVY. I don't even like moving them from one car to the next. It's steal reinforced. I have a Britax just for easy transfer from car to car and travel. The Radian is also a PITA to install. I do love my Radian though.

rosesandpeonies · November 2010

JAWMIN:
kelbrian:

julieb00lie:
Thanks Ladies! Just checked online and our carseat, Graco 32, is only for rear facing. So I'm not sure I'll be able to just turn it around. But I may be able to keep her in it a bit longer since she's not at the height limit yet.

OH, I see. I didn't realize that she was in her infant seat.

We have a Cosco Scenera for traveling (lightweight) and a Britax. We are going to purchase a Sunshine Kids Radian XT and get rid of the other two. The Radian folds up a bit and can be worn on the back, and this will be nice for us as we travel a lot (and don't own a car). It goes up to 45 pounds rear facing and 80 pounds forward facing (with a 53' height limit), so that's also a plus. It's also really narrow, so that's another bonus.

Albee Baby has a bunch of seats on sale, just an FYI

If you are going to be traveling a lot, you might want to keep one of the others. Radians are HEAVY. I don't even like moving them from one car to the next. It's steal reinforced. I have a Britax just for easy transfer from car to car and travel. The Radian is also a PITA to install. I do love my Radian though.

I agree I would never travel with my radian xt. It is incredibly heavy....I couldn't imagine carrying it on my back through an airport. We bought a evenflo elite to travel because its light...and I just put it on a go go babyz. I Love the radian but it would definitely be a major PITA to travel with. I would travel with the cosco.

kelbrian · November 2010

JAWMIN:
kelbrian:
julieb00lie:
Thanks Ladies! Just checked online and our carseat, Graco 32, is only for rear facing. So I'm not sure I'll be able to just turn it around. But I may be able to keep her in it a bit longer since she's not at the height limit yet.
OH, I see. I didn't realize that she was in her infant seat.
We have a Cosco Scenera for traveling (lightweight) and a Britax. We are going to purchase a Sunshine Kids Radian XT and get rid of the other two. The Radian folds up a bit and can be worn on the back, and this will be nice for us as we travel a lot (and don't own a car). It goes up to 45 pounds rear facing and 80 pounds forward facing (with a 53' height limit), so that's also a plus. It's also really narrow, so that's another bonus.
Albee Baby has a bunch of seats on sale, just an FYI
If you are going to be traveling a lot, you might want to keep one of the others. Radians are HEAVY. I don't even like moving them from one car to the next. It's steal reinforced. I have a Britax just for easy transfer from car to car and travel. The Radian is also a PITA to install. I do love my Radian though.

I know it's heavy. I'm prepared for that. We just flew with our Cosco again and I hated every second of it. It wouldn't stay on our suitcase even bungeed, and I tried it with a GoGo Kidz Travelmate and it SUCKED.

It also can't be any harder to install than this PITA car seat. I swear, I curse at it repeatedly when we take it places, ugh.. It's terrible to install rear facing. That's a big reason why we want to get the Radian - I want to keep her rear facing and the Cosco is hindering that.

I tried traveling with the Britax once by myself and it was also awful. It's just too wide to handle.

Guess I'll find out if I hate the Radian for traveling soon enough :P

I guess I have to get the next car seat?

Re: I guess I have to get the next car seat?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards