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September 2022 Moms
kboydbowman
member
Product Spotlight: Car Seats
kboydbowman
member
STM+ what do you recommend/not recommend?
Current pregnancy -
First BFP on 1/4/22. Due date 9/13/22.
First BFP on 1/4/22. Due date 9/13/22.
Four prior losses, no living children - 1 first trimester miscarriage, 1 blighted ovum, 1 chemical, and one extreme premature live birth daughter who died at 15 days old.
Re: Product Spotlight: Car Seats
We switched to the Britax Marathon Clicktight around a year and we also really liked that as well. The clicktight option made it really easy to install. I will say too it was pretty easy to clean, from unfortunate personal experience. I was able to take the whole thing out, hose things off, spot clean the fabric and straps, then easily get it back together when dry. We used that up until recently when we switched to a booster for our 5 almost 6 year old.
For what it's worth, every single car seat is required to go through the same safety tests, so while one may have added additional safety features, even the cheapest (new) seat will be safe enough to protect your little one. The biggest difference you'll see between the cheaper options and the more expensive options is the level of comfort for the child. For example, a seat under $100 usually has less padding than one over $150 (I'm sure exceptions exist, of course).
Right around 10 months or so, we moved to a Graco Slim Fit. At 28 months, we still have her rear-facing and she doesn't mind it at all. The height cut off is 40" for rear-facing, so even though she looks squished, I know she's actually comfortable. This seat is cheap enough that we were easily able to afford one for both our cars and my in-laws got one for their car as well (she's with them usually for a few hours most Sundays).
To offer some unsolicited advice, never ever let your littles wear a coat or plush jacket in the car. What works beautifully for us is to keep a big throw blanket (think 50"×60") in the back of each car for her. That way she can cover up or not, and she loves how cozy it is. An added bonus is that it can help keep the seat clean from snacks by being over her lap, and it's super easy to wash. 🙌🏻
Our second, 99th percentile all around, got to heavy to carry around 9 months in it. Instead of leaving it in the car and just picking her up out of it, as it's higher up than our convertible we just switched her to the convertible. I don't think she maxed out the height or weight on it, but it was just too much to carry in and out. We likely could have kept her in it for awhile longer, but she was over 30lbs at her 1 year appointment and I think over 30" tall.
What I look for in a carseat is easy latch attachments. My sister, years ago, had latch attachments that were clips and they were terrible to have to undo and I hated them. All of our carseats (britax and graco) have attachments that are like seat buckles. You push them in to attach and then push the release button to unattach. I also like the carseats that have the pull top adjusters for height and you don't have to rethread the buckles to change the height like I have to for the infant seat, not sure if they make infant seats like that though.
We have a britax allegiance for our first, she's almost 4 and still rear facing. The carseat definitely has some wear and tear being used for almost 3 years now. We will be switching hers out to either a forward facing 5 point harness type carseat or booster when this one comes along, most likely this summer to get her used to buckling that. Our second is in a graco slim fit our first is jealous that it has cup holders and hers doesn't. We will likely get another slimfit for baby #3 once we need a convertible. We're hoping to fit 3 across the back of our Nissan Titan Crew Cab truck so we will need narrow ones. There is no way I could fit 3 in my car, so my car will have the old convertible, and then we can move another into mine and/or keep the base for the infant seat in there and I can take 1 or 2 kids in my car, and the truck can take 3 kids so who drives what will depend on who has what for kids. Eventually I will end up buying a new vehicle and have to decide my priorities, my husband wants a SUV with a third row so we can take other people, I'm of the thoughts he told me we're done with 3 kids, I don't want to take other people with us they can drive themselves. (other people is likely his mother).
As for convertible, my 4 year old is still in the Graco 4 Ever and we have loved it. I'm not comfortable with her using the car buckle quite yet, so we will probably switch her to a true harness-less high back booster when she turns 5 and and baby will get the convertible carseat.
All this to say that it's a personal decision, but just know that some travel systems are far more bulky. How do you plan to use your stroller? Daily on the streets for walks, occasionally through parks, or rarely for zoo (or similar) outings?
@whitta1015 those Doona sets seem so great and practical! I don't even think that's too expensive considering you are getting the base, the seat, and a stroller!
My thought process is, if I’m alone grocery shopping, I don’t want to have to carry a big car seat (I’m a pretty petite human so I don’t want to carry the car seat all the time. I want to be able to whip the stroller/car seat out of the SUV, put baby into it quickly, grab my groceries and get baby back in the car with minimal disruption to baby.)
That said, it really is easier to just plop the infant seat in a cart or baby wear, but honestly, that's not the best method for everyone. For us, I would usually park next to a cart return so I could grab one and put the seat in pretty easily, and then return the cart just as easily at the end of the trip.
@runsonanxiety It really does! I watched a review on YouTube and the base seems really easy to secure as well.