convertible carseats?

nursemorgan2015 · February 2015

Okay everyone is telling me I should just a convertible infant car seat.... but you can't take those in and out of the car like you would the regular infant carrier... so my question is, (and maybe it's a dumb question) but if you go to the store, what do you do with your child if they're only in the convertible seat? Carry him/her?

kem0140 · February 2015

I got an infant carrier for my first at the beginning. It was much easier to be able to carry them around. We got a convertible a little later when she was too wavy to be carried around and she could sit up on her own in high chairs/grocery carts.

satori15 · February 2015

Don't do the convertible car seat. The infant carrier is so much easier when they're tiny and while the convertible says it can hold a tiny baby they are so much bigger than the infant seat! The other great thing about infant seats is you can buy more than one base to install in multiple cars and just switch the seat from your car to another with no problems.

LJM0521 · February 2015

People who skip the infant carrier car seat usually wear their babies when out and about. But one thing to consider is that our babies will still be tiny during the winter and it's not safe for babies to wear coats in car seats. Do you really want to be getting baby in and out of a convertible car seat when it's freezing outside? I have an almost 2 year old and I hate getting her into the car, it would be even worse if she were a newborn. With the infant seat, you can strap baby into the car seat in the warm building, cover with a blanket, and easily get baby into the car without worrying about how cold he/she will be.

cooldown726 · February 2015

The infant seats are great, since they can just detach and go along with you anywhere. If they are sleeping or when its cold or when they are too tiny to sit up in a shopping cart at a store or high chair at a restaurant, the baby seat is pretty convenient. With my daughter we switched to the convertible in my car once she could sit up well on her own. We kept the infant seat in my husbands car until she grew too tall for it, but we rarely removed it from the base because it would have been super heavy to carry around.

sweet+cheeks · February 2015

The infant seat has a bunch of benefits especially when they are really little, but once they get bigger it can be a pain to lug them around. Our infant carrier clicked into our stroller, which was nice but to be honest it was a ton of stuff to haul around with you everywhere.

To you original question, a lot of mamas I know really love baby wearing. I wore DD1 in an Ergo carrier and it was pretty convenient. Hands free and who doesn't love baby cuddles? Looking forward to trying other types of baby wearing with this LO.

MamaOwl15 · February 2015

There are pros and cons to convertible seats.

Pro: you can buy a seat that will work from 5 lbs till they outgrow car seats altogether and that means, unless you're involved in a crash, you're only buying one seat per child. Great if you babywear

Con: you can't just pick up the whole car seat with baby inside and put it on the stroller; you have to get them out of the seat, put them in the Ergo/wrap/etc . . . Possibly waking up a sleeping infant. And what if you also have a toddler?

I have a carrier car seat and base from my son, one of those JJ Cole car seat covers for winter, and I plan to get a double stroller that will fit the carrier. I've thought about this since I'll have two in car seats for a while so buying another convertible seat at some point is inevitable. But for the beginning, I'm glad to have a carrier.

One thing though, if you're on a tight budget, it may be more cost-effective to buy an Ergo or other similar carrier and go ahead with a convertible seat. The carriers only last about 6 months before baby outgrows them. If you're planning on having multiple kids, you can reuse the carrier/travel system, though.

breisinger · February 2015

I am very petite, and as much as I would have liked the ease of an infant seat for my first DS, I knew I'd never be able to lug that thing around. Overall, baby wearing worked very well for me. Both options are equally safe, so it's just about your preference. I also run a car seat program at the nonprofit where I work and we only give out convertible seats because they last so much longer. My son is 2.5 and his convertible seat is still going strong!

AnnikaD20 · February 2015

What worked well for me was the infant carseat and a super lightweight stroller frame to snap it into (not the big bulky travel system style). I had lots of hope and dreams of babywearing, and I really hope it works out with this one. But between throwing out my back at 8mo pregnant and then some medical complications during the birth, I was too weak and didn't have the endurance to manage a carrier for more than about 5 min. I could get the 10lb stroller out of the trunk, position it by the car door, and then I could get the carseat snapped in with only a few seconds of having to lift it.

This is not the cheapest way to do things, and most women have much better recoveries than I did, so there may be better options depending on your situation.

https://www.amazon.com/Chicco-Keyfit-Caddy-Stroller-Frame/dp/B005JDOYF0/ref=sr_1_4?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1424446955&sr=1-4&keywords=chicco+keyfit+30

Want a personalized experience?

convertible carseats?

Re: convertible carseats?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards