We had the KeyFit and love it, it's only 2 years old so we will reuse. Unfortunately DD weighed 20lbs at 6 months, so carrying her around in it ended pretty fast. She outgrew it on length by 9 months. Hopefully this kid uses it longer!
DD rejects strollers out of hand now so we're not bothering with a double unless we find that we need one for some reason. We may get her a riding board for the one we already have...or a leash, really what she needs is a leash, she is nuts haha.
FTM here, but DH did a ton of research and we decided on the Chicco Keyfit 30. It was rated as a really good one for premies, and with us adopting, we weren't sure how big/small the baby would be, or if we'd be matched with a premie, etc. I put the stroller that clicks into it on our registry, but we haven't bought it or anything. Our cats seem to love the carseat though...so you'll have that.
@graceriesz Another idea for the used seat: I believe BRU is holding their buy-back program right now. Take in the used seat and receive 25% off a new one! They may even let you trade the seat for the discount on the base you want for your Mom's car...
We traded our expired infant seat in for the discount off a new one
@BellaO21, I bought a travel system when DD was born, and loved it. I loved being able to pull baby out of the car without waking her up every time, and we have the Graco click connect 35, so she was able to use it for quite a while. As I understand it, you could skip using the infant carrier, but not the convertible seat. I believe it is called a convertible because it can be use either rear facing or forward facing. Our convertible seat is good for 5-45lbs, and that is what DD is using now.
We had the Maxi Cosi Mico for DD and loved it. We used it with a Baby Jogger City Mini. It fit well in our Honda Civic and SUV. It's light, which was helpful while on the go. DD is still rear facing at 3 in a Maxi Cosi Pria.
I had the graco click connect last time and the straps would always get twisted. It was annoying as hell. I think I'm going to get a chicco keyfit this time.
Not infant seat related, but I just checked the expiration on my mom's car seat (which was actually my favorite car seat of all the ones we have), and it expires in November. And they have stopped making it so we can't even replace with the same one. It got the most secure install of all the car seats I used, and was a solid seat. Thanks a lot, The First Years, for discontinuing the best seat ever. (They actually stopped making car seats altogether).
We had the Maxi Cosi Mico for DD and loved it. We used it with a Baby Jogger City Mini. It fit well in our Honda Civic and SUV. It's light, which was helpful while on the go. DD is still rear facing at 3 in a Maxi Cosi Pria.
The Maxi Cosi Pria is our convertible, good to hear you can still rear face with your DD at 3, I would really like to extend rear facing as well. DD is only 19 months now and 26 lbs and the seat says it can rear face to 40lbs, forward face to something crazy like 70lbs.
We used the Chicco key fit 30 for dd and really liked it. She grew out of it at 9 months (too tall). We then discovered carseatsforthelittles.com (also a Facebook group that will help you decide which seat is best for your family, based on car, height and weight of your kid, how many kids you have and which seats they use) and learned so much about car seats. Now I'm a total car seat nerd! Lol we ended up getting dd the clek foonf and love it! It is heavy so not ideal to move, but we only have one car with a backseat so it's pretty rare we move it. It's easy instal and way more comfy than it looks. She still fits with lots of room to grow at 3.5, she is still rf too. We are going straight to the foonf for this little guy. You can now use the foonf from 5 lbs and up if you buy the infant thingy, which we got on sale on Black Friday. We're going to use our tax refund for the actual seat. Car seats are the one thing we spend real money on, everything else is pretty much used, clearance, or just do without. I also recommend going to get your seat checked, but make sure when you do that they show you their cpst card, this proves they are certified and are updated on all new car seat info.
I had a baby trend when I nannied too. I loved the triangle handle. One thing though is that it's not recommended for newborns because the straps are too tall for almost all newborns and it has to come from below the shoulders to safely secure them. I really wish they would fix that because I loved that seat. Mine had a little boot on it too which was great for the winter time! @alm52386
We love Britax and BOB - we have Britax convertible car seats for all three kids. However, we had the Britax B-Safe infant car seat for our third and it was SO heavy. It's 11lbs without baby in it which makes it one of the heaviest infant car seats on the market.
We went with a Graco Click Connect this time (only 7lbs without baby inside) and just bought the adapter so it'll fit into our double BOB stroller.
We're mostly a Graco household (click connect and the MySize seats). DH has had the misfortune of getting into a car accident while driving DS to daycare about 2 years ago. Our area had a terrible storm throughout the night prior and the roads were in horrible condition. DH and DS were in a bad accident, but DS was fine and smiling as DH was in full on panic mode trying to get to him. That Graco was quite literally a lifesaver!
We have the Chicco Keyfit 30. Love everything about it! It's super easy to use, and I loved that the base took 2 seconds to install. We actually only used 1 base with DD and would move it from car to car since it was that simple to install. My BFF let me borrow her Baby Trend infant seat when we flew out to visit her. I did not care for it. The triangle handle seems like it would be helpful, but it was actually more awkward for me. The straps though. They were pain! Would quickly and easily twist and the clip would slide down after being undone so you had to readjust every time. I realized how spoiled we were with the Chicco quality.
For convertible seats, we have a Britax Marathon Clicktight and a Chicco Nextfit zip. Both are pretty easy to install, but the Britax clightight is the easiest for me. The Chicco is probably my favorite though. It doesn't take up as much room, the straps are good quality, and I love that I can zip out the padding to wash it. Especially now that she's older and milk/snacks are part of our every day commute.
TTC 1.0 17 months TTC and 1miscarriage, 1 chemical pregnancy, rainbow baby born 2/16/15 TTC 2.0 16 months TTC, 2 chemical pregnancies, EDD 6/3/17
We love Britax and BOB - we have Britax convertible car seats for all three kids. However, we had the Britax B-Safe infant car seat for our third and it was SO heavy. It's 11lbs without baby in it which makes it one of the heaviest infant car seats on the market.
We went with a Graco Click Connect this time (only 7lbs without baby inside) and just bought the adapter so it'll fit into our double BOB stroller.
Re: Car Seats
DD rejects strollers out of hand now so we're not bothering with a double unless we find that we need one for some reason. We may get her a riding board for the one we already have...or a leash, really what she needs is a leash, she is nuts haha.
We traded our expired infant seat in for the discount off a new one
This is time around we will start with a new snug ride and I have the Graco 4ever for the next steps.
~Declare it..Claim it..It will be!!~
5/9/09
Here We Go Again!!
BFP #1 9/1999. DD Born 6/7/2000
BFP #2 10/2011. EDD 7/11/12. MMC discovered 11/2/11. D&C 11/4/11.
DX PCOS 10/2012.
BFP#3 1/11/13. DS Born 9/17/2013
BFP#4 9/30/17. Grow baby grow!
~Everyone Welcome~
I also recommend going to get your seat checked, but make sure when you do that they show you their cpst card, this proves they are certified and are updated on all new car seat info.
I had a baby trend when I nannied too. I loved the triangle handle. One thing though is that it's not recommended for newborns because the straps are too tall for almost all newborns and it has to come from below the shoulders to safely secure them. I really wish they would fix that because I loved that seat. Mine had a little boot on it too which was great for the winter time! @alm52386
We went with a Graco Click Connect this time (only 7lbs without baby inside) and just bought the adapter so it'll fit into our double BOB stroller.
My BFF let me borrow her Baby Trend infant seat when we flew out to visit her. I did not care for it. The triangle handle seems like it would be helpful, but it was actually more awkward for me. The straps though. They were pain! Would quickly and easily twist and the clip would slide down after being undone so you had to readjust every time. I realized how spoiled we were with the Chicco quality.
For convertible seats, we have a Britax Marathon Clicktight and a Chicco Nextfit zip. Both are pretty easy to install, but the Britax clightight is the easiest for me. The Chicco is probably my favorite though. It doesn't take up as much room, the straps are good quality, and I love that I can zip out the padding to wash it. Especially now that she's older and milk/snacks are part of our every day commute.
17 months TTC and 1miscarriage, 1 chemical pregnancy, rainbow baby born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0
16 months TTC, 2 chemical pregnancies, EDD 6/3/17