Looking for some advice about car seats?

Question

Can someone help me unravel this mystery? From what I understand I need to buy three car seats as my daughter grows up, an infant seat, 2nd stage seat, then a booster seat. Is that right? Or could I have just bought the convertible seat in the first place? I already have the infant seat and my daughter has outgrown it, so now I'm ready for the next one which I believe is the convertible. And how does this one work as far as bases go, do you buy an extra base so you can switch from car to car or does the convertible not work that way? Do you take your kid out of the convertible seat every time or do you take the seat out and carry your kid in it like you do the infant seat?

So confused??!! Thanks so much for any advice!!

Answer 1

Car seats are a bit of a mystery aren't they?!  I think I've finally got it figured out!

I learned the infant seats are handy but not necessary.  A convertible car seat will to the trick.  Anyway, once your child outgrows the infant seat you most likely will need a convertible seat since he/she will likely still need to be rear facing.  Convertible seats are all one piece and do not have a base.  You need to leave it in the car and carry him/her (I know for me this was tough to get used to!).  If you have more than one vehicle, you need to move the whole thing.

Once your child reaches 1 year old AND 20lbs you can face the seat forward (you should leave it rear facing as long as the child is comfortable, as it is safer this way).  I have found most convertible seats are good up to 40 lbs.  Then you switch to a booster with a back (I would look for one with a removable back so you don't have to make yet another purchase!!!).

I love this convertible seat  http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.d...

I felt a little guilty at first since it's so inexpensive.  I had good size budget to spend on a carseat, but I did a ton of research and this one got the best reviews.  When I brought it to the fire station for them to install they told me it's a very good car seat and it's actually the one they recommend and sell.  It's also very easy to install and adjust the straps.

Good luck! Hope this info. helps.

Answer 2

in the UK you can use a baby car seat up to 9 months old and you can now buy some car seats that range from 9 months to 11 years so this would only mean you buying 2.

Answer 3

If she still faces backwards, then yes, you have to get a convertable seat.  These don't have bases.  You will need one for every car and it stays in the car.  Depending on the size of your car, you can get them for up to 65 lbs.  My car is small, so I could only fit a convertible seat up to 40 lbs.  After they outgrow the convertible seat, then you need a booster seat until they are 80 lbs and 4'9".  The booster seats also stay in the cars, although they just sit in the seat so they are a whole lot easier to transfer from car to car.  I recommend the Britax brand.  Safe, easy to install and confortable for the child.

Answer 4

OK -- this is my experience, but I am not 100% sure...

Yes, you need THREE seats.  

The second stage seat will not come with bases.  It stays in the car all the time; therefore, if you use two cars, you need two seats (expensive, yes).   By this point, your child should be over 20 pounds, so there is no way that you want to carry the seat and the child at the same time anyway.

The second seat lasts for a few years -- you don't switch to a booster until your child is (I think) about 40 pounds, which for a lot of kids, is around 4 or 5 years old.  Then they stay in the booster until they are 8 years old, by the law in my particular state, unless they are so big that the seatbelt in the back seat fits them perfectly.

Hope this helps.  I'll be interested to see what other parents say as well.

Answer 5

once my child was out of the infant seat the car seats available didn't have bases... yea you certainly should be able to find convertible ones that will see your child through the booster seat phase. if your child is often in 2 different cars you may want to invest in 2 seats, we have one in my car and one in his grandmother's car and if we go someone with him we just take a 'car seat' car

Answer 6

You could have just bought the convertible seat to begin with.  Ours goes from 5lbs - 60lbs.  It can be either rear-facing or forward facing.  Convertible seats don't have a base, you just take the whole car seat out when you want to put it in a different vehicle.  And you have the take the child out of it every time get out of the car.  It's not like an infant seat where it comes out and you can carry it around.  Later on, when we need it, we'll buy a booster seat.  

Answer 7

An infant under one needs to be in a rear facing car seat.  This can either be an infant carrier car seat (the kind that rear faces only, and removes from the base for easy transport) or a convertible car seat (which faces the rear and then converts to face forward).

At one year of age AND 20 pounds (minimum), your child will start facing forward.  If you were using an infant carrier prior to that, then yes-you will need to purchase a new car seat.  If you had a convertible, then just change it to the front facing set up and you are good to go.  If you were not using a convertible seat, there is no need to buy one now.

Instead, you can buy a forward facing seat only, or a forward facing seat that converts to a booster.  It is your choice.  There ARE forward facing seats that will accomodate a child up to 8 years of age, without the need for a booster-I recently saw one when I went to Babies R Us looking for a new seat for my duaghter.  We did not get that one, though-mainly because I would rather buy another seat later than purchase one that is not going to offer the most comfort (and it ws so much bigger than her, it would not have been comfortable).

Check your state's Department of Public Safety website for the laws-check even if you think you know, because a lot of people are misinformed and then go to Babies R Us and compare all of the different seats.  You can then make a choice based on safety, comfort, price and the law.

Answer 8

after your child is out of the infant seat, you can purchase the 3 in 1. these can be rear facing, and farward facing so if your daughter isn not at weight yet for forward facing, you dont have to worry. the 3 in ones will last untill she is 3 or 4 years old, depending on her weight before you have to purchase the booster seat. booster are not that expensive...

For the 3 in 1, it is buckled in your car permanantly, you just remove the child from it to go in and out of stores or whatever. You can easily remove the seat to transfer vehicles, but other then that, it stays in the car

Answer 9

Here's a guide to buying infant car seats: http://www.viewpoints.com/Car-Seats/guid...

And here are some reviews about the best car seats for different purposes:

http://www.viewpoints.com/Car-Seats

Answer 10

You could've bought just one seat and saved yourself a lot of hassle. The best next option for you is to either get a True Fit Compass, Sunshine Kids Radian, or Britax Marathon. All of them are rear facing to either 33 or 35 lbs (the safest position for people in a car is rear facing). They are all then forward facing in a 5 pt harness to 65 of 80 lbs. After that, you can use a booster which range in price from 15 dollars to 300 dollars. You want a really good convertible seat with a high weight limit with the 5 pt harness. My theory is this: If you can keep your kids safer for longer, why not? Even if it's 200 or 300 dollars, if there was an accident, you'd want your child protected. I'd want to avoid that guilt of knowing I could've kept a child safer for longer in a 5 pt harness, but didn't because I didn't want to spend the money. So, I'd spend the money and get a really good seat. The seat stays in one car, you'd need to get two if you have two cars. The child comes out of the seat each time you leave the car, but the seat stays in and buckled.

EDIT: Cosco seats are c**p. They're plastic shells which won't save your child in a crash. They're crash tested at 25 mph (industry minimum), and at just 30, they shatter on impact, leaving your child sitting in the harness without anything protecting his body outside of the car. The Sunshine Kids and Britax seats are minimally crash tested at 45 mph. They also have a steel frame with a plastic and foam coating. Translation: a much safer seat that will actually hold up in a crash.

Answer 11

A infant seat goes to 20 lbs. A convertible, depending on what you want to spend, will hold up to 80, but the reasonable price range ends at 40 lbs. A  child should be rear facing until a year old, that's where convertible ones come in handy, and yes, they stay in the car and you take the child in and out. After that is a booster, which there are two types of, highback and noback. A highback booster is a suitable replacement for a convertible as long as your child meets the height/weight requirements and has a five point harness for safety. A lowback booster is for use after your child has reached 40 lbs and 4 years of age. But after the infant seat, they all stay in the car and you usually need a different one for each car unless you want to spend your life lugging it back and forth and threading the seat belt through it.

My daughter outgrew her infant seat at 9 months, and her convertible carseat is outgrown now at 20 months. We're a low income family, so we can't afford a billion dollar britax, so we're going with a highback booster with a five point harness, with pediatrician approval, even though she's technically too young. But she's almost 37 inches tall and 32 lbs, so she's too tall, but not too heavy. That's the way it goes. Good luck!