School me in car seats.

Erinm278 · January 2014

My child is large. She's getting really heavy to lug around in the plastic bucket. She has excellent core body strength and sits up on her own well. I'm thinking she's ready to move in to the next step up in car seats and I'm ready to not lug around the plastic bucket!

Can you recommend a type or brand? We would be looking at middle if the road price wise bc we need to get 2 seats.

is there an option that will grow with her safely and will last a while?

I'm pretty lost with this and I apologize if this had been talked about recently.

[Deleted User] · January 2014

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jackson290721 · January 2014

Okay I'm not even trying to be snarky I'm just so confused. A few people have mentioned how they want to move up because the bucket is heavy. Why not just leave the bucket in the car? I really don't get it. I feel like I'm missing something. I have to be since multiple people have said they need to move up because it is heavy.

We are getting the diono radian which is kinda pricey. But it goes up to 120 lbs and has a higher rear facing weight limit than most.

Erinm278 · January 2014

Jackson- I'm just ready to move up as long as it's safe to do so. She has her 6 month check up in Monday and I'll bring it up with the ped. I figure if we are headed that way anyway and it's going to make our lives easier then we might as well switch now.

[Deleted User] · January 2014

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Erinm278 · January 2014

mermomo5 said:
Yes , I just leave the bucket in the car as Jackson said, forgot to add that. I have 3 kids in car seats so it's just easier. I generally wait till they grow out of bucket, weight &length before I switch. It might buy you more time to find a seat you like.

Yes that's a good point. It looks like it will be $500-600 to get both the seats and that's quite a bit of money to us. I guess we will keep with the bucket for now. I still appreciate the recommendations though!

arlingirl · January 2014

The weight limit on a lot of the buckets is 22 lbs, so I can imagine some of our babes are getting close to that.

Plus, for me Oliver is really long and he looks scrunched in there. And it's harder to get them in and out of the bucket vs the convertible.

I've been looking at the britax and the max cosi brands. Not sure yet, though.

Erinm278 · January 2014

@arlingirl yes ellie is 21 pounds now!

jackson290721 · January 2014

Erinm278 said:
@arlingirl yes ellie is 21 pounds now!

I can't believe how fast they are growing. Stop babies! Stop! They were ten pounds and under just yesterday!

blairwitch · January 2014

I have been eyeing the evenflo triumph...I think that's the name might be tribute...friends have it and love it. You don't have to adjust the strap level...and to tighten there's a knob on the side instead of pulling a strap.

Erinm278 · January 2014

jackson290721 said:

Erinm278 said:
@arlingirl yes ellie is 21 pounds now!
I can't believe how fast they are growing. Stop babies! Stop! They were ten pounds and under just yesterday!

Yeah no shit! El is 6 months today and I had a little cry about her having half a year on the outside!

jegoffin · January 2014

I personally would stay away from the britax if you have tall kids. We didn't have any trouble with the rf limits but my 3yo is outgrowing the harness height in most seats and we are now stuck buying her seats again. She has an incredibly long torso. We are also having this problem with her evenflo and her Cosco.

saphires · January 2014

jackson290721 said:

Okay I'm not even trying to be snarky I'm just so confused. A few people have mentioned how they want to move up because the bucket is heavy. Why not just leave the bucket in the car? I really don't get it. I feel like I'm missing something. I have to be since multiple people have said they need to move up because it is heavy. We are getting the diono radian which is kinda pricey. But it goes up to 120 lbs and has a higher rear facing weight limit than most.

We switched Brody because he outgrew it in height.

To answer your question - we have the Graco Headwise, I recommend it. The straps can be a bitch to tighten sometimes but it is supposed to allow him to rear face for quite a while.

new2011mommy · January 2014

DS has the britex marathon and I love it. The straps are so easy to adjust. DD looks scrunched in her infant seat so I am going to move her to the marathon. Instead of buying a second one, I just bought DS the frontier since he forward faces and DD will get his marathon. Check amazon for prices. I bought both britex seats on their site.

Melissa0926432 · January 2014

We moved LO out of the bucket a month ago - she is tall and had outgrown the seat (she was also really heavy). Convertible seats are totally safe (rear facing of course) and are just as safe as the infant buckets (so that shouldn't be a concern). Side note my kid used to cry in her bucket a lot but hardly ever cries in the new car seat. We have a tall kid so our concern was making sure she could stay rear facing as long as possible - we decided to go with the Chicco Nextfit and so far really like it.

There is a facebook group called Car Seats for the Littles that has a lot of good info. If you are concerned about height the car seats I always see recommended by techs on that site are the following (with their RF height limits - because I am totally copying and pasting this info) : Graco Headwise series (1" from top of the headrest fully extended), Chicco NextFit (same rule, but you have about an inch less), Clek Foonf is 44", Radian is 43".

KikiCohen · January 2014

We bought the Chicco Nextfit b/c we got an amazing deal on two brand new ones at our local consignment place. We haven't installed them yet b/c P is around 17lbs and haven't felt the need to switch yet.

Dubs1978 · January 2014

We switched out of the bucket because the angle of the bucket made LOs reflux so much worse. We got the Diono Radian which I love the narrow profile and long term use but it is tough fit In our car(the back is really high so the passenger seat is pulled fwd quite a bit)

redhead610 · January 2014

jegoffin said:
I personally would stay away from the britax if you have tall kids. We didn't have any trouble with the rf limits but my 3yo is outgrowing the harness height in most seats and we are now stuck buying her seats again. She has an incredibly long torso. We are also having this problem with her evenflo and her Cosco.

Agreed. Britax is popular, but if you have a taller kid, it would not be the best seat to get since they will not be able to use it as long as some other, equally good seats.

aehamilton13 · January 2014

redhead610 said:

jegoffin said:
I personally would stay away from the britax if you have tall kids. We didn't have any trouble with the rf limits but my 3yo is outgrowing the harness height in most seats and we are now stuck buying her seats again. She has an incredibly long torso. We are also having this problem with her evenflo and her Cosco.
Agreed. Britax is popular, but if you have a taller kid, it would not be the best seat to get since they will not be able to use it as long as some other, equally good seats.

Any recommendations for tall babies? DS is tall, not close to the limit on his Britax Be Safe bucket, but I feel like we are cramming him in the straps already!

michnfrankstake2 · January 2014

Doesn't sound like there isn't much to love about car seats. I think if you stick to the big brands you're good to go. It is confusing as fluck to go to the store and buy one....wait until bru has their great trade in event..30% off!

valstulas · January 2014

I just use a Graco convertible in a rear-facing position. They are usually priced under $150.

jegoffin · January 2014

mainerocks said:

jegoffin said:

I personally would stay away from the britax if you have tall kids. We didn't have any trouble with the rf limits but my 3yo is outgrowing the harness height in most seats and we are now stuck buying her seats again. She has an incredibly long torso. We are also having this problem with her evenflo and her Cosco.

Weird, my 3 y/o is very tall but not yet growing out of the Britax Advocate. What model do you have?

We have the boulevard. She isn't abnormally tall but very very tall from hip to shoulder. Her harness is all the way raised and she has outgrown the evenflo and the Cosco.

geoffandjen728 · January 2014

valstulas said:
I just use a Graco convertible in a rear-facing position. They are usually priced under $150.

This. Ours fit perfect rear facing since day one. I think the lowest weight it's approved for was 4lbs and I can't remember the top weight, but it's at least 75. Sometimes I regret the choice in skipping the bucket but most of the time I'm very happy we chose the convertible seat from the get go.

heatherbrownm · January 2014

theblairwitch01 said:

I have been eyeing the evenflo triumph...I think that's the name might be tribute...friends have it and love it. You don't have to adjust the strap level...and to tighten there's a knob on the side instead of pulling a strap.

We have this and I love it. It's so easy to tighten and she's so snug and safe.

She's been in this since day one.

mrshudson618 · January 2014

Ugh. I am dreading this because of the cost. With the bucket, we have one and two bases, but when we move on it will really only make sense to buy two seats. We have a snugride 30, so I thought we would be able to stay in it a little longer, but DS is very tall, we will be over the height requirement well before 30lbs.

Any BTDT moms swing this with a seat in only one car?

NKF312 · January 2014

I've been researching too and looks like we are going with chicco next fit . It was between that and britax boulevard, but we have the key fit now and are happy with it so sticking with chicco

Lelo2006 · January 2014

lizabethann06 said:
We have the Britax Boulevard for Jack https://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/boulevard
and will get one for Brynne too.

I agree with @mermomo5, there are great ones out there so reading reviews helps a lot.

We have this one, too. I bought it because I thought it might help with the car seat screaming. We haven't tried it yet, but I have a sneaking suspicion that he will scream unless he's just woken up from a nap, has a full belly, and has been in the car for a few minutes. Oh, and it's daytime. If all of those needs are met, we are good

bobcee · January 2014

We currently have the Britax boulevard for DD. we've been very happy with it. We bought a Cosco for travel and to use in our third vehicle that we don't use often but DH hated it so much that we ended up buying a third Boulevard anyways.

We will now take that seat out of the third vehicle and put it in one of ours when we switch DS and then just buy another. We'll probably just go with the same type since we are used to it and pleased with it.

Liz4444 · January 2014

@mrshudson618, we have the Orbit which we love and rear facing is on a base. If you have 2 bases, it is very easy to move it between cars. The spinning feature is amazing, it makes putting them in and taking them out so much easier.

We are leaving the Orbit rear facing for mo and I got the Clek Foonf to go forward facing for li when we switch Morgan over.

Dtams13 · January 2014

My husband has the convertible seat in his car that we got at my shower. It is the maxi cosi pria 70 that LO loves. I do like the tinyfit system that comes with it.

Dtams13 · January 2014

@liz4444 so glad you posted about the orbit. I have their infant seat and stroller so I was planning on getting their toddler seat but haven't heard anything about it.

kmd78 · January 2014

There's a great review on lucieslist.com all about convertibles! I'm mobile so no clicky but definitely check it out!!!

MyLittleSweetPea · January 2014

https://www.amazon.com/Evenflo-Symphony-Convertible-Graffic-Black/dp/B00DDK0V5S/ref=sr_1_4?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1389579847&sr=1-4&keywords=Evenflo+Symphony

We've had different versions of the Symphony for DS#1. LOVE the latch adjustments and the fact that the straps never need to be threaded. There is a less-frills version of this seat without the cool latch connection so watch out for that.

mrshudson618 · January 2014

mainerocks said:

mrshudson618 said:

Ugh. I am dreading this because of the cost. With the bucket, we have one and two bases, but when we move on it will really only make sense to buy two seats. We have a snugride 30, so I thought we would be able to stay in it a little longer, but DS is very tall, we will be over the height requirement well before 30lbs.
Any BTDT moms swing this with a seat in only one car?

We thought about this because the kids are almost never in MH's car... but all it takes is one emergency and then you're stuck. We ended up buying a high end seat for my car, and a cheaper one for MH's car. The cheaper one was still well rated for safety, but we saved some money not getting two Britax seats.

This is what I am thinking, maybe even a used one for DH's car.

mrshudson618 · January 2014

Liz4444 said:

@mrshudson618, we have the Orbit which we love and rear facing is on a base. If you have 2 bases, it is very easy to move it between cars. The spinning feature is amazing, it makes putting them in and taking them out so much easier. We are leaving the Orbit rear facing for mo and I got the Clek Foonf to go forward facing for li when we switch Morgan over.

That spinning feature does look amazing, but man that is pricey.

DenverBride2005 · January 2014

We also have the Evenflo Symphony for DS1 and we bought one forDS2 as well (we plan to leave the bucket in DH's car for awhile and then buy a fourth convertible!). We won't move him to the convertible until he can sit up a little better in the cart.

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