What is a good small or narrow car seat that I can take on the plane?

Question

My Britax is too big for me to lug around the country! The seat is for my 14 month old who is 25 pounds. Thanks!

Answer 1

costco brand is cheap and small.

Answer 2

If you're really set on buying another seat, you could try out a Cosco Scenera - $45 at Walmart/Target/Kmart, rear faces to 35lbs, forward to 40lbs. Should fit a 14 month old great rear facing. (Rear facing is safest until 2 years old), for a $45 seat, you can get good use out of it. Most kids will outgrow the rather short 14.5 inch top harness slots at 2-3 years old, however.  But it is lightweight and generally easy to install and if something should happen to it, not as big a loss as the $200 Marathon.

However - if it were me, I would prefer to take the seat that I already know the ins and outs of, AND that has built-in lockoffs!!  No cheap seat has those lockoffs and they are invaluable on a trip where you could potentially be installing it in several different vehicles. Those lockoffs make for an easy install no matter what vehicles, as does the base it sits on, making it fit in almost every vehicle with ease. To make it easier to travel with - get a $20 luggage cart from Walmart or Target, and strap the seat on it with bungee cords. Then, your child can actually sit IN the seat as you wheel it through the airport. You won't need to take the cart off until you get to the gate, then just remove the cart and carry the seat onto the plane to install it. (I'm hoping your son has his own seat on the plane - its the safest way to fly with any aged child.)

Then strap the seat back on the cart as you get off the plane so you can wheel it, baby and all, to your transportation.

For narrow - The Sunshine Kids Radian65 is as narrow as it comes, but at almost $200 its certainly not a cheap option. It is a great seat - rear faces to 33lbs, forward to 65lbs, 18 inch top slots will keep most kids harnessed to 6-7 years old. NArrowest seat available. However - it can be incredibly difficult, even impossible to isntall in some cars, so I wouldn't really recommend it for a travel trip where you don't know what vehicle you'll be installing it in. It works great for LATCH installs, not so great with seatbelt installs.

The old 20lbs/1 year rule is just that. OLD. It came about in the 1980's when our seats were only capable of rear facing to 20lbs and we didn't know any better. Now we definitely know better and all current convertible seats rear face to at least 30lbs, but its hard getting people to realize this.

Turning kids forward at 20lbs/1year is an outdated practice that could cost you your child's life!

1)A forward-facing child under 2 years old is 5 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash than a rear-facing child of the same age.

2)A child's vertabrae do not fully fuse until 3-6 years old, before then, she is at great risk for internal decapitation. The spinal column can stretch up to 2 inches in a crash BUT the spinal cord can only stretch up to 1/4 inch before it snaps and baby is gone.

3)Current research suggests that children under the age of two years are 75 percent less likely to die or be seriously injured when they are riding rear facing.

4)In a recent article from Injury Prevention, it was found that the odds of severe injury to forward facing children age 12-23 months old was 5.32 times higher than a rear facing child. (Car Safety Seats For Children: Rear Facing For Best Protection; Injury Prevention 2007; 13:398-402.)

It works this way: when you get in an accident and run into something, the car stop suddently, but everything and everyone in the car keeps moving in the direction the car was moving when it stopped, in most accidents, this is forward. So in an accident with a child in a forward facing seat, his head, the heaviest part of the body on babies and toddlers, flies forward very forcefully and easily snaps. If that same child is in a rear facing seat, his head tries to fly forward but is supported by the back of the rear facing seat, so there is no stress put on the child's neck and spine.

Check out this photo album exclusively of rear facing kids, many of them much older than 12 months: http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum...  There isn't a single documented case of a child breaking their legs b/c they were rear facing in an accident. There are, however, lots of cases where children have been killed and seriously injured where a rear facing seat would have protected them better. And  most kids actually prefer to be rear facing b/c they can rest their feet on the vehicle seat back. When they are forward facing, their legs don't receive enough support and will frequently fall asleep.

Answer 3

go and look for one. they will say aircraft useable or something but if they say they arent then u cant use them