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Austin Babies
Keribells
member
car seats...convertible vs others
Keribells
member
Meaning...did you go with a convertible car seat or go with one for each stage? Just looking over them right now and wondering what the pros and cons are.
The one that comes to mind right off is that with an infant car seat it is also a carrier for when you go to HEB, Wal-Mart, etc....
***yes, yes, I know- making a mental note to go pick up Baby Bargains. DOH!
ETA: or maybe I'm an idiot and it is necessary to start with the type that is usually sold with travel systems? Oh gosh...I'm really not this stoopid I swear...
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Re: car seats...convertible vs others
My thoughts are along the lines of this...I helped my sister alot when her kiddos were younger and while heavy as crap, it was so easy to snap that infant car seat in and out of its base as opposed to taking the baby out of a car seat.
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Forgot to add... we didn't do the travel systems. We just didn't like them. We knew we wanted a BOB stroller cause she will have that to use until she is no longer in a stroller. The infant adapter isn't expensive to attach the infant car seat into.
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You can buy just an infant car seat and base. You don't have to also buy the stroller.
You can also start right with a convertible seat. There are seats on the market that will fit newborns, but that can be tricky as some seats that say they fit newborns are a little too big for a newborn.
Everybody always talks about the baby sleeping in the car and how convenient it is carry the baby around in the infant carrier...That didn't work for DD because she hated the infant car seat with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. She fell asleep in the car maybe three times while riding in the infant seat, and that's probably an overestimate.
She screamed if we tried to carry her around in the car seat. She wanted to be held or carried in a sling. I used a Moby-type carrier when she was small and moved on to an Ergo as soon as she would fit.
We actually moved her into a Marathon as soon as she would fit--which I think was around two months old since her torso had to grow a bit to fit the lowest strap slot on the Marathon. (When rear-facing, the baby's shoulders are supposed to be at or above the strap slot.) DD was much, much happier in the convertible seat since she seemed to prefer being in a more upright position in the car.
There are convertibles which have lower strap slots and will fit a newborn if you don't want to have to buy both an infant seat and later on a convertible. The Marathon supposedly will fit a newborn, but DD was a bit too short for it. We used a Roundabout while visiting out of town, and it's lowest slot seemed to be lower than the lowest slot on the Marathon.
I could've written this, word-for-word. We have a Graco Sungride 35 and a Britax Marathon. She has to be extremly tired to fall asleep in the Graco. We didn't get the Britax until about two weeks ago - since then, we've driven to Houston and back (she slept an hour on the way there and the entire way home) and I've taken her out of the house a LOT more because it's so much easier to, knowing I won't have a giant fed screaming baby once I reach my destination.
That said, I haven't tried to go grocery shopping or anything like that with her. It's kind of a pain to have to hold her all the time, and adding in a diaper bag only ups the difficulty level. I have three carriers (a sling, a moby and a beco gemini) and she tolerates the moby and beco right now, but I think she'll like them a lot better once she's just a little bigger an has slightly better head control. She's almost there...but not quite.
We're still on the fence about toughing it out with the graco (which is still installed in DH's car) or going full-time with the britax. If I had it to do over, I'd have the infant seat purchased by the time baby got here, and already know which convertible I wanted and watch for sales, just in case my LO hated the infant seat again.
As for travel systems, we skipped them. Instead, we have a snap-n-go for the infant carrier, a baby jogger city elite that we use daily in the neighborhood, and we'll probaby add an umbrella stroller in another few months for the car to replace the snap-n-go...especially if we stick with using the convertible car seat.
One other bit of advice: I was all adamant about getting a snugride 35 for the extra weight limit...but the way DD is growing, she'll outgrow that sucker in height LONG before she'll weight 35 pounds. I wish I had paid more attention to the height limits than weight limits, and I bet the infant carrier would've been a little lighter for me to carry and a little smaller to fit in the car more easily.
**the nestie formerly known as karen2508**
This!! I guess it really all depends on your baby. My DS always fell asleep in his car seat so it definitely worked out for us to be able to click the car seat in and out.
My MIL bought us the Chicco travel system for DS (infant seat, stroller, and base). He got really big fast, and was in a convertible car seat at 10 months. We purchased an Evenflo Triumph Advance that he's still in today (we have two. One for each car.)
We still use the infant seat with DD. She's far more petite than DS and I expect she'll be in it for awhile. I love its portability and as someone else mentioned, it's great when she falls asleep in it (which is often.)
If I had to do it again, though, I would buy an infant seat w/ base, an extra base, and a Snap 'n Go. I bought a SNG when DD was about 2 months and I LOVE IT! It's super lightweight and very easy to take in and out of the car. The Chicco stroller is kind of a beast.
Keep in mind that you're best wearing your baby when you go grocery shopping. While the Graco seats do fit in the seat portion of the grocery cart, it is not recommended (by either Graco or the grocery cart maker) to do so. It's unstable, unsafe, and there's not way to secure the carrier to the cart.