Maine Nesties
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Convertible Car Seats
I think we are about ready to switch.
What do you have? Do you like it? Thoughts, etc..
Re: Convertible Car Seats
I'll give my usual First Years True Fit recommendation. It goes up to 65lbs forward facing with the 5 pt harness, 35 or 40 rear facing. Ben rear faced until 2 in it and was fine. It has a high back so it can fit a tall kid, which is the only way Ben will outgrow that seat since he has 30 lbs still to go. Also, the headrest is removable rear facing so it fits better in the backseat. It is reasonably priced at $120-150. We have one in each vehicle. The FYTF, Sunshine Radian Kids and Britax seats are the most recommended on the baby boards. The latter 2 are around $100 more. I would recommend getting a seat with higher weight limits for 5 pt harness since some kids aren't ready for a seat belt positioner by 40 lbs (fall asleep hunched over for example). Abe is big from what I remember so he may hit 40 before he's ready for a booster. I think the law is 4 years AND 40 lbs. Oh, and I love the latch connectors. They are just like seatbelts and unhook when you press the button. I had a really hard time with latch connectors that were hooks because you have to reach your hand way in their to get them in and out.
http://www.amazon.com/First-Years-True-Convertible-Casino/dp/B000YBILWY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311007584&sr=8-1
I have an Alpha Omega Elite....got it at Sam's Club for $70 but they have them now for $97ish.....not a bad seat for the price. It's a pain to install if you don't have latch but with the latch, it's easy.
It fit RF is my 2dr Grand Am and of course fits awesome in my van. I've heard good things about the Graco MyRide and I want a Britax. although we'll probably go with another AOE the next time around too, just because of price.
DD has a Britax Marathon (two, actually -- one in each of our cars).
Pluses:
It's nice and comfy for DD. The belly pad is especially good in the summer so she doesn't have a hot buckle against her stomach.
The Marathon has a built-in seatbelt lock-off which is handy if you need to install it without LATCH. We sometimes move one of DD's carseat into DH's truck which doesn't have LATCH and it's easy to install with a seatbelt.
High safety ratings.
FAA approved for use on airplanes.
It's one of the few car seats that allows the use of the top tether in the rear-facing position. You just anchor the tether to a fixed point in the front of the car, like under the front seat.
Minuses:
Expensive.
It doesn't have a cupholder; I thought that was a stupid feature but now that DD isn't an infant, I often let her have a straw cup of water in the car and a cupholder would be nice.
If you buy one online from most places now you get a free cupholder added to the deal.
It figures.
The stroller that we bought in 2007 that didn't come with a cup holder or snack tray now comes with both of those, too.
The Symphony is a good seat too. We got it initially and I used it for a week, but at that time, it only went up to 40 lbs with a harness so we returned it. I'm glad they have since increased the limits. It had really nice latch connectors too. I remember not liking how to connect the chest clip though. It was like a puzzle piece and I could imagine it would be difficult on days it was pouring rain and I wanted to do it quickly.
PS: clouts has the FYTF seat if you wanted to look at it before buying since it isn't sold anywhere locally unfortunately. I just wanted to add that I hate Wal-Mart, but I did buy the first one there so I could return it to the store if it didn't fit well in the car. http://www.walmart.com/ip/First-Years-True-Fit-Car/10226644 It does fit very well in the Forester in both positions. RF (with the headrest) you might have to move the front seat up a bit, but nothing like in my Impreza where I was sitting on the dashboard with the seat tilted forward and felt so unsafe.
Another vote for Britax Marathon here. Eli rear faced in it until 2 and has always seemed really comfortable. DH has a Britax Decathalon (now discontinued, I think) in his truck and we like that too.
We also have a Cosco Scenera that we picked up to use in grandparents and friends cars, etc. It was only $40 and is handy to have and great for the price. Although the install of the Britax seats with the LATCH is really easy it's nice to not have to take it out and move around.