May 2019 Moms

Car Seat Advice

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Re: Car Seat Advice

  • @DressageDarling we love love love the clek fllo although it does take up a ton of space when rear facing.  This may not be an issue depending on how you space your kid(s)—if you only have one convertible rear facing at a time I guess you can just put it in the middle seat.  It isn’t wide, its just long so you have to put the seat in front of it up really far and have no leg room.  We have twins so they’re both rear facing and it’s annoying for us in the front seat.  

    i haven’t tried other seats so I can’t compare — maybe this is a problem with all convertible seats until you can turn them around?  But we didn’t compare on this factor before buying so you might want to. 


  • From the class I took when i was pregnant with DD, I was told I couldn't do three across in a CRV because the middle seat is higher up and not as wide.  But it sounds like it might just be for my state.  Either way,  we have to get a bigger car regardless because of MIL and FIL when he visits.  


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  • @mcewen3 Thanks! I wanted to find someplace to try it out in our car beforehand, but the closest retailer is over 2 hours away. We may just need to take a trip to visit my dad and check out car seats 😂

    @anonellis Yeah, I’m starting to think they may all just be huge regardless of brand. DS is on the smaller side, so I’m really hoping to do extended RFing. But he’ll be almost 4 when the new baby will need to switch to a convertible in theory. Obviously, I think about this wayyyyyy too much 😂
  • chloe97chloe97 member
    edited November 2018
    DDs convertible only fits rear-facing in the middle seat in DHs Mazda 3, but the bucket seat should fit next to her ok for this LO. The plan is to buy a new car for him in December 2020 when my car payment is through, but unless this baby is tiny, I’m assuming we will need 2 rear-facing convertible seats by April of 2020-since I’m sure DD will not be 40lbs yet.  Plus I literally try to pass car seat laws for a living, so I cannot in good consciousness turn her before the absolute latest I can. I do worry things won’t go well in the back seat with them sitting so close together though. 

    ETA Any moms of 2 LOs 2 years apart place their kids next to each other in the backseat? Does it go ok?
  • @DressageDarling I'm pretty sure they are all huge no matter what.  I'm looking for the RF wedge for the Clek before I compare to make sure I have the measurements right, but I found these pictures of DD1 at 3yo in both seats.  It gives a pretty good indication of how a bigger kid fits in each seat RF, not so much for the size difference, although I would say that it is likely I installed them this way (Britax behind driver's, Clek behind passenger) because the Clek took up more room.  I don't like to compromise on how I adjust my seat as the driver because I feel that's important to my ability to drive safely.  
    As you can tell in the pics, DD has a lot more leg room in the Clek but she's perfectly comfortable in both.  I actually find the Britax a bit more plush and the kids have always slept better in that one 🤷‍♀️
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  • @chloe97 my girls are three years apart, but did well next to each other right until #2 was big enough to reach over and pinch, pull hair, etc.
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  • @mcewen3 Thank you for the comparison photos! I think we’ll end up going with the Britax. I had their infant car seat and we had zero issues with it. My DH is pretty excited about that idea too since it’s significantly less money, especially with Black Friday sales coming up. I just need to stop obsessing over the decision and just get one now 😂
  • @DressageDarling The Britax is a really wonderful seat.  We are full-fledged Britax lovers now.  The Clek is great and I do plan to use it with this new babe, but had the ClickTight come out before I needed a convertible (I mentioned earlier it was literally 2-3 months from the release but I had to buy a new seat that day since DD had outgrown the infant bucket) I would have gone with the Britax from the start.  Like you said, its a fair bit cheaper, the install is super easy.  Clek does have the rigid latch in FF mode, but to be honest, using LATCH for my own toddlers/preschoolers stresses me out a bit because I don't want to always be checking their weight to make sure we are still within the safe range to use LATCH.  The ClickTight only comes with the really old style LATCH connectors and I've never even pulled them out of their compartment.  Exclusively a seatbelt install for us and I never have to think twice about weight limits.
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  • We have the Nuna Pipa for an infant seat and the Nuna Rava for a convertible, and I definitely recommend both.

    The biggest selling point for the Pipa is the load leg (similar concept to an anti-rebound bar). If you YouTube the seat, you can find a video with and without the leg and it's amazing how much force it absorbs, keeping baby safer.

    The Rava is a solid seat with a higher weight limit for rear facing, which is really important to me. It's also super easy to install, basically the same as the Britax Click Tights (which I debated getting, but decided that the Nuna felt nicer and fit DD and our cars better). 

    I echo the advice above to test whatever seats you want in your car before you buy, if you can. Box stores are hit and miss about this, but boutique stores will usually let you, in my experience. Also googling your year/model of car and the seat is another way to go. And the blog/fb page Carseats for the Littles is a good resource.

    ALSO get it installed by a CPST. As mentioned above, some police or fire stations have them, one of our local hospitals does them once a month, etc. Where I live you can find free events on the dmv website, but you can also Google or use the Safe Kids website to find one. Worst case, the running rate in my area is $30/seat to have a cpst install if you can't find a free event, and I consider that totally worth it for the safety and peace of mind. 


  • @chloe97 We briefly had our two girls side by side. They're almost exactly 2 years apart. It was a squeeze, but we had to pick someone up at the airport and figured the way to get the most space for the passenger was to put the open seat on the outside. DD1 loved being in the middle, so we kept it that way for a while. They did really well. There was occasional fighting, but nothing major and it was actually helpful because I could hand things to DD1 to give to DD2. They'll be side by side again once this baby is born. Hopefully there is no growing sibling rivalry by then. My parents bought a van in large part to separate me and my siblings.  :#

    DD1: June 2014 - VBM4lyfe
    DD2: October 2016
    DC3: coming May 2019





  • Just chiming in with nothing but love for the ClickTight. Will definitely be purchasing another (or something that attaches similarly) when it's convertible time. Besides the ease of installation, it's just such a much more *secure* install than I was ever able to achieve with anything that required me to push down on the seat and ratchet tighter. I simply never had the body weight and leverage to be able to attach it so it wasn't wiggly. When you click that ClickTight in, that sucker does. not. budge. 
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  • @expandcontract hmm that's good to know, I'll need to look into that. I haven't heard it but still something to consider. We're planning on spreading our hopeful third baby farther from the second so we won't have to worry about a new vehicle for a while. Hopefully.

  • Thank you all for your advice and opinions!!! I ordered a Britax ClickTight last night and it’ll be here Wednesday!
  • I feel like there are so many to tag since I'm so late to the game here.

    DH will need a new car to be able to drive this LO. We are torn on when to buy it. I think we can wait a year since he won't need to pick up both kids until they are in daycare 5-6 months after this LO is born. He doesn't want to go car shopping with an infant. We shall see. Anyone go car shopping with a new baby? I don't feel like it'd be that bad. DH sold cars for a summer in college so he's great at car shopping. Maybe he thinks we'd lose negotiating power? He is super particular about car brands and features (no GMC/chevy for some reason but prefers to buy US for maintenance reasons which I totally get as we tend to keep cars until they die). I'm proposing the Ford Explorer but I already have an Escape so it's kind of weird to be in such a congested/trafficy area with 2 SUVs, but we'll be moving eventually.

    He currently has a mustang he bought almost 10 years ago right after graduating college which is a 2 door and the passenger seat is slid all the way forward for DD's convertible car seat to fit. 

    @mcewen3 @SpaceBurger @DressageDarling I researched the Diono Radian and the Clek Floo for 3 across and decided on the Floo. I wanted it in my car but it didn't fit rear facing with a passenger in the passenger seat, so it had to go in DHs car with the passenger seat slid all the way forward (aka no one else can ride in it which was already basically the case with the bucket).

    The Graco Extend2Fit is in my car which is fine but definitely wouldn't fit 3 across in my small SUV. Unfortunately, I think this means the bucket for this LO will need to be in the passenger seat but we'll see when we take it to get checked.

    ***PSA to everyone to get your carseats checked when you install the infant seat before you have to go to the hospital to deliver and also anytime you're changing to a new seat (we went back with our convertibles). I've never heard of anyone going and not having them make some sort of change you can't easily figure out from reading the manual themselves. I live in a highly educated area so these are not people who are not intelligent or don't care. It's so complicated and easy to miss something that's super obvious to the technician.***

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  • @kvh22 That was our problem with the Foonf too.  It wasn't a big issue for us with only 1 kid, I always installed the car seat behind the passenger seat of my vehicle (at the time I drove an older style Nissan Pathfinder, I've heard the newer ones with the more crossover-feel are better for car seat installation).  When we travelled anywhere as a family we took DH's truck just because it was more comfortable for all the adult travellers.  

    My Pathfinder issue is kind of a PSA in itself.  Do not assume that just because a vehicle is on the larger size that car seats will automatically fit.  Just as you shouldn't assume that small vehicles won't fit a car seat.  We have rented many cars, installed in grandparents, siblings, friends vehicles.  I have had many surprises along the way. Always test out your car seat in any vehicle you are planning to purchase, because it sucks to assume and then be stuck with a car seat configuration that you aren't happy with.  
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