I should probably come up with a schedule, and I will.. but for now let's start with car seats. Discuss car seats here (types, accessories one might need for a car seat, fitting multiple car seats in cars, etc)
I plan to use my sons previous seats as they are not expired yet, so for the moment we wont be buying a new seat.
The infant seat is a Chicco Keyfit 30. I loved it. I also got the travel system and base, and I love how it locked into everything. We only got 6 months use out of it because my son was so long.
We've also got a Britax Marathon convertible for when she outgrows the Keyfit. I love this seat as well.
My 3.5 yo is in a Diono Radian and I'm a big fan. If we need to buy a new seat for the new baby at some point, I'll buy another one of these. It goes from rear facing to booster and it's a sold steel frame. Also its skinny and I've heard they are great if you need to fit 3 across, but I don't have experience with that.
I have a Britax infant seat, can't remember the actual name of the seat, that we'll likely use again for a few months. We will ultimately need two new car seats then when the baby is a little older, we'll probably get the Graco 4ever again, which is what we have for DS. MH will definitely want another Graco - I'll probably shop around a little.
For the Britax I also had a BOB jogger with adaptor so it snapped in. This was nice for taking walks and stuff, but with this baby being born in November I'm not sure how much use it will really get this time around.
@angieeeeee my concern is that they may not recline far enough for newborns. So the risk is positional asphyxiation. I had a larger infant seat that was meant to extend their use of it and when DD1 was a newborn I couldn't drive with her without someone sitting in the backseat to make sure her head wasn't slumped over too far. The seat was in the car right too. I had it checked.
We have an chicco keyfit we will reuse and my toddler is in chicco nextfit. The nextfit we moved her in to at 4 months because I hated the infant seat. It was a PITA and I usually took her out of it and wore her places. But that might change when I have two. My toddler also HATED car seats and being in the car so we were hoping going to the convertible would help. It didnt. She just didnt like being restrained and being backwards (it was a rough two years). That said, I dont know that I would go with the nextfit again. It is easy to install but heavy as hell and the sides are super high. We still have our chicco travel system and BOB stroller with adapter. So we will just see what works for this baby but to start we will go with the infant seat.
@purplefan1 babywearing is even more practical when you have more than 1. I still wear my 21 month old. She loves it and runs to get in my carrier everytime I strap it on.
I’m going to use the same infant seat we had for my son since it’s not expired and I love it. We have the Uppa Baby Mesa seat which fits on our stroller. My favorite aspect is that it can be installed without a base and just a seatbelt if need be. We don’t travel much, but I know people like this if they’re ubering or going in a taxi. I just found it easier for when someone was babysitting him, I wouldn’t need to transfer the base from car to car every time.
He’s currently in the Graco 4Ever seat, which I think goes up to 120lbs or something so he’ll be in that for the next few years. I’ll probably get two more (we do one in each car) when the time comes or when they go on sale. I like the seat, it’s easy to install, and I like that it lasts for the duration of the need for a booster. The only problem I had with this seat is that it did not fit well in my old Honda Pilot unless the passenger seat was straight up and far foward, but my 4Runner has plenty of room!
My my favorite “accessory” for the infant seat is a nursing cover, like covered goods ones to go over it to shelter them from weather, but more so, nosy people in public! This will be helpful especially since we’ll be in the middle of flu season with November babies. I remember how annoying it was with my son when strangers would literally lean into his seat if we were at a store 🙅🏼♀️🙅🏼♀️🙅🏼♀️ Once I started using the cover, I’d just get the question “is there a baby in there?”
We used the Graco Click Connect 35 for both our older kiddos and my niece used it too. It expires next month so we had to buy another one. We really like Graco so we got their upgraded version which is the Graco Snugride Snuglock 35 LX. My older kiddos use the Graco 4ever now but I really like having the infant seat to make car transfers easy.
I'm so grateful for this thread - thank you all for sharing! I go to Babies R Us and think my eyes just glaze over with all of the choices! My SIL has offered to give us her used Graco stroller (can't remember the model). We live in a cold climate and want an infant seat, so I guess we're looking at Graco seats - but so far the ones I've looked at aren't doing much for me.
Is there any sort of 'cross compatibility' for car seats/strollers from different brands? I like the Nuna, Peg Perego, or Maxi-Cosi seats, but I can't turn down a free stroller!
@alaluap I am pretty sure that there are connectors that make the stroller compatible with other infant car seats! Not sure if it is all or just some so you may want to get the model of the stroller and start from there.
I’m really petite so weight of the car seat is super important to me. I ended up going with the Nuna Pipa and it’ll go with the Uppababy Cruz with an adapter. There’s an even lighter Nuna Pipa Lite but doesn’t yet have an adapter for Uppababy. I tried to lift the Uppababy Mesa with a bag of flour and it was a no-go for me.
I’ll get something less pricey once he grows out of it since I won’t be lifting it in and out of the car with him in it
Interesting article, but I don't think it helps right now. I ordered my first chair online and got a little off size. So I bought the second chair more carefully, read all the reviews here https://top-mom.com/best-booster-car-seats/. I like the ones that are adjustable depending on the age of the child.
Re: Product Spotlight: Car Seats
The infant seat is a Chicco Keyfit 30. I loved it. I also got the travel system and base, and I love how it locked into everything. We only got 6 months use out of it because my son was so long.
We've also got a Britax Marathon convertible for when she outgrows the Keyfit. I love this seat as well.
My 3.5 yo is in a Diono Radian and I'm a big fan. If we need to buy a new seat for the new baby at some point, I'll buy another one of these. It goes from rear facing to booster and it's a sold steel frame. Also its skinny and I've heard they are great if you need to fit 3 across, but I don't have experience with that.
For the Britax I also had a BOB jogger with adaptor so it snapped in. This was nice for taking walks and stuff, but with this baby being born in November I'm not sure how much use it will really get this time around.
He’s currently in the Graco 4Ever seat, which I think goes up to 120lbs or something so he’ll be in that for the next few years. I’ll probably get two more (we do one in each car) when the time comes or when they go on sale. I like the seat, it’s easy to install, and I like that it lasts for the duration of the need for a booster. The only problem I had with this seat is that it did not fit well in my old Honda Pilot unless the passenger seat was straight up and far foward, but my 4Runner has plenty of room!
My my favorite “accessory” for the infant seat is a nursing cover, like covered goods ones to go over it to shelter them from weather, but more so, nosy people in public! This will be helpful especially since we’ll be in the middle of flu season with November babies. I remember how annoying it was with my son when strangers would literally lean into his seat if we were at a store 🙅🏼♀️🙅🏼♀️🙅🏼♀️ Once I started using the cover, I’d just get the question “is there a baby in there?”
Is there any sort of 'cross compatibility' for car seats/strollers from different brands? I like the Nuna, Peg Perego, or Maxi-Cosi seats, but I can't turn down a free stroller!
I’ll get something less pricey once he grows out of it since I won’t be lifting it in and out of the car with him in it