The time has finally come. My daughter's little toes are hanging off the end of her bucket car seat and it is becoming increasingly hard to buckle her in. We need to get a toddler car seat, or as they called it when I was a toddler, the back seat. We're behind most of our friends with babies because Sophie Bean is small and I've kind of liked being able to carry her in the bucket if I was going somewhere, like the library, that required she be under control. And under control is something she is increasingly NOT. She's crawling like the wind and has a gift for finding that one thing in a room that I don't want her to have. She also has very poor spatial perception as evidenced by the fact that she keeps getting wedged in between things in her quest to get at those forbidden things. As she spends more time standing and cruising, I just know that she is on the cusp of walking. That's what we call trouble with a capital T.
Here's the thing. There are about a thousand different car seats. You can spend anywhere from $75 to $400, and probably more but I'm not even looking at anything that goes over that amount. Knowing that they all must meet certain safety standards, how do you pick one? Or do you basically just pick an amount you want/can spend and find the best one for the money? Part of me wants to keep up with the Joneses and have a fancier one but the other part of me wonders if we really need to spend the extra $200 so Sophie can sit her tiny
tush on a memory foam seat that perfectly conforms to her contours. I also got to looking around to see what fun seat covers were out there and I ran across this beauty. Yikes. And it's $195 to boot! Which is exactly what should be done to anyone that considers putting this monstrosity in their car. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for fun kid prints and I even enjoy a good animal print from time to time, but the sides appear to be adorned with what looks like mini zebra pelts. No heads or legs. That goes into the area of creepy that I prefer to avoid.So here's where I call out to my peeps out there in blogland because I need some help. Do you have any recommendations? What seat did you use? And does a 10 month old really need two cupholders?
I use the Britax roundabout. I purchased it because I read great things about it and I was impressed with it's safety rating. It is pricey but I was able to get it on sale and with free shipping from babycenter.com. I hear they will be on sale again soon - check out babycheapskate.com she will be posting when the sale hits. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI chose for safety (reliable brand name) not looks or accessories because let's face it, it she every vomits, has a runny nose, or has a #1 or #2 accident it'll go all over that car seat!
ReplyDeleteNot my area of expertise of course, but it sounds like baby seats are like sporting equipment - when I go to buy a new bike part or climbing harness, I am overwhelmed by the amazing price range. My experience has been that the middle of the road is the one to go with - like you said, they all meet the safety requirements, but there are also some conveniences (like easy to clean ala Kelly above) that you want too. The high priced ones probably aren't really that much better - they just cater to people who do no research and assume more expensive must be better.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh - you are stinkin' funny!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, as a mother of 4 - we go cheap, all the way, in terms of carseats. Now, keep in mind, the sweet fireman-dude who helped me put our carseats into a rental while HandyMan was out of town on business staunchly encouraged me to leave Baby S backwards in the 'bucket,' as you say, as loooooong as possible. He said he'd never seen a broken toe, foot, or leg from a kiddo being in a carseat with toes hanging over, but he'd seen a fair share of something called 'broken tummy syndrome' or whatever where a baby too little to be turned slid down into their belt in a forward carseat in an accident. Just sayin.'
OK, those heelarious shoes are just about funny enough to buy. Your babymania is adorable - and that little bundle of cute love is TOO awesome swinging that door open.
FABULOUS!
So sorry I missed the tour yesterday - I was so busy getting my place ready! Glad I found you today! I'll be back!
Hee hee. Ahh, the days when I could tote Fly around! By six or seven months, he was too heavy, and we made the switch. There are a lot of good, nice seats out there. We chose the Evenflo because it was rated well and there's a handy dial to turn to loosen and tighten the straps. But taking the cover off to wash it? Fugeddaboudit!
ReplyDeleteJust stopping by to say thanks again for checking out my blog on our BATW day. That was crazy wasn't it??
ReplyDeleteAs far as the carseat...can't help you...it's been a long time. My younger sis & brother both use the Britax for their kids and say it's the best. Good luck.
My husband always researches things like that online and finds the best quality & price. Epinions.com is a good site to check other people's opinions on products. My kids are way older, so I don't have any good suggestions though! Have a good weekend!
ReplyDeleteWhen we had to buy the "big girl" seat while we were in residency (read: POOR!), we wanted the Britax Roundabout, but it was so expensive. Then we did all the research and read all the reviews. And the Britax one was the best. So we sucked it up and paid $225 for a plain, moss green-colored one. That might as well have been $2250 for us, but we did it.
ReplyDeleteCaroline now uses it in her Daddy's truck...it's still going strong after 5 years. And I have another (leopard-print...woo-woo!) in my MomVan. I love the thing. I'm sad that she's almost outgrown them. They rock, truly.
So that's my recommendation, for what it's worth. Let us know what y'all decide!
A friend of mine, who has 3 going on 4 kids, swears by Britax. I've priced a few and they are expensive but certainly not the most expensive seats out there. As far as actual reviews go, when trying to choose things for my registry, I relied on the reviews on Babiesrus.com. Hope it helps!
ReplyDeleteMy baby is 18 now so my recommendations would not be very useful but I have to laugh at the whole idea of a cupholder on a car seat!! Yep...just another place for what was probably once cheerios to turn into some type of unbelievable science experiment -- good luck cleaning that up in a cupholder! I would highly recommend you not do the cupholder one!
ReplyDeleteAnd no, you're not weird for wanting to play with those kitties on my blog! I want to do it too!!
yes britax is great... but guess what this isn't the last seat you will have to buy... because there is then the booster stage... both my boys were/are big... 11 lbs at birth and so we didn't last in the pumpkin seat too long... i did wait til 1 year to turn them around...
ReplyDeleteon baby #2 i had a britax...older model so he out grew it and then i bought teh Graco Nautilus 3 in 1... just got it at the recommendation of a close friend with twin 3 year olds sho out grew their $300 Britax...
here is a link http://www.gracobaby.com/catalog/product.aspx?modelNumber=8J00BRV
it's pretty cool because it will be the last one you need... all the way down to the booster seat only no back... yes it has cup holders and all that... but before you know it Bean will be wanting a place to put her sippy cup...
When you were that age, I was probably one of the mothers who sat you in the back seat, or the middle front seat, and buckled you the best I could. Then as I was driving down the hwy, I kept telling you to stay sitting down. Oh, the wonder of a good car seat, we have come a long way baby. However, I do not believe you need to spend a fortune on one. Meet the safety requirements and sew a cute seat cover if that is what you need. I would advise staying away form zebra though:}
ReplyDeleteI got this carseat when the car rental place gave us an INFANT carseat for my 26 lb 17 month old. Um, yeah, not cool. So I ran out to Wal-Mart with my step-mom and found this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=8054494
Peanut LOVES this seat. And it was only $50. Can't beat that.
My kids haven't been that little in a while, so I'm sure car seats have changed a lot since then. I will tell you that it seems like car seats become outdated and/or recalled so frequently that I think I would spend enough to get a decent one, but not one that is too over the top as you might have to replace it sooner than you think.
ReplyDeleteA fellow Kansas girl? You're definitely on my good list. I grew up in Wichita, where most of my family still lives. It's amazing how much your roots can affect you, you know?
ReplyDeletePlain and simple. I bought mine according to budget and the brandname I new, Evenflo. It beat out Graco in price, the other brand I know.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my little blog! Your little Sophie Bean is precious! I can remember thinking the same thing...how ridiculously expensive the carseats were. We ended up forking over the cash---I can't even remember how much now!--but went with the Britax Roundabout. It has been great and so easy! It's on it's second leg now...our littlest is 3 1/2 and he will probably be in it until next year. So, all in all....we've gotten our money's worth! Good luck! You might try ebay too! I wish My Jake was big enough for a booster and I'd just sell you min for cheap! (And no...she really doesn't probably need cupholders NOW...but she will...and they are great things ....or at least they have been for us!)
ReplyDeleteBritax Marathon. I did this same survey back when, and it seemed to determine that this is the one. You can use it until they are like 14 or something which means you don't have to buy any more car seats until you get to the booster thing. We've had ours since December and have been happy with them.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I was devastated when I had to give up the buckets. They just rocked.
go to boarders and get the book baby bargains. and or toddler bargains, they are really great, saved us time and money trying to find all of these things out.. look thru the book, don't buy it if you don't find it worth the $$ but it was interesting when I was preggo... found I read it in less than 2 nights!
ReplyDeleteI'm back--I gave you an award today. :)
ReplyDeleteGet the Britax that goes from 5 to 100 pounds. That way you only need ONE carseat. I'm kicking myself for not going that route- all the separate ones have added up!
ReplyDeleteWe have the Evenflo, I forget which model, but we are happy with it. My Bub is hard on things, and it has held up nicely. The fact that it's covered with crushed goldfish crackers, melted fruit snacks, and stray french fries only adds to its charm.
ReplyDeleteI know i'm a bit late to this party, but I want to give my two cents.......for what it's worth.
ReplyDeleteWe purchased the Britax Marathon.
It was $265 whe we bought it, but seriously worth every penny. It goes from 0-65 lbs and my nearly five year old still uses it.
Then make sure to have it installed properly by a Certified Child Safety Seat Installer (your fire dept. probably has a few that are trained). If I lived closer, I'd do it for you!!
It should be rear facing until Bean is 20 lbs AND one year AND has developed strong neck muscles, at which time the car seat should be switched around, but again have it reinstalled by a trained installer.
I am fanatical about carseat safety because I have a friend that lost her three year old in a roll-over accident. The child was in an approved booster seat, but was just to small for it to fit correctly and the seat belt failed.
After that happened, she and I took the Child Safety Seat Installation technician course together. She now installs seats as a volunteer for the hospitals and fire depts.
I just do it when i get into friends cars and see that the seats aren't installed correctly.
Good luck!