Convertible Car Seat Advice & Toy Recommendations

Hello. Britax are the absolute best. They have never been recalled AND they are tested at 75mph whereas all other car seats are tested at 35mph. The downfall is that they are so expensive. My husband and I coughed up the $$ for the Britax and have been nothing but pleased. They do not budge and my son and daughter fit comfortly in them.

My almost 10 month son loves his Britax Roundabout. It definitely looks comfortable and it is easy to get him in and out of it. I bought that seat after the recommendation of my sister who also has one. Her 3 year old daughter used it and her 9 month old is now using it! She has a Highlander and it fits in easily. I have a Honda Odyssey and it's easy to put in there too...

For toys, he loves his Leap Frog table... He is standing and walking now but before he would love to hit the buttons if we held him to standing in front of it.

Being a first time Mom myself I wanted to get the best convertible seat out there, but when I talked to a Safe Kids worker she reminded me that all seats have to pass the same guidelines. I then looked more at the practicality of the seat, we settled with the Evenflo Triumph b/c it has a knob on the side that allows me to tighten and loosen the straps from the side and not in between his legs, I was finding it was hard to tighten the straps in his infant seat with the adjuster between his legs in his infant seat, then with the weather getting colder my hands were cold and not able to get it as tight as I wanted with his winter jacket on. We really like the seat after using it for 2 months now. There are so many options out there. We just looked for what suited us based on measurements and our child's size.

i use Britax car seat for my son since he was 12 mos old and now is 2 yrs. Britax is the best but $$$ ekk.

I prefer cloth toys, wooden toys.. as for plastic.. i am not crazy about plastic toys because of PVC in it and plastic toys are not natural too.

oopma.com is good website for colorful and creative wooden toys
magiccabin.com
novanatural.com
kidbean.com
you can find lot of good natural toys :o)

happy search!

I would recommend a Britax seat. They are the best. Right now we have the roundabout and absolutely love it. My son turned 2 in December and he weighs about 30lbs. He is very comfortable in his seat. We are looking into getting a Marathon next because it goes up to 65lbs. Super easy to install, easy to clean and use. They have velcro on the sides to hold the straps and the straps never ever get tangled. I can say enough about it! Go check them out. =)

Like everyone else, I have to reccomend the Britax seats! I have had the roundabout, the Husky (now the Regent), and the booster and they are the best seats I have had! They fit great in all of our cars (except the Husky is a little iffy in some cars becuase of it's size) and the are so easy to adjust and the straps never twist! The Britax's are also great for head support when your child falls asleep. Nothing is worse than seeing your childs head slumped forward when they fall asleep in the car seat or stroller- it looks so painful and unsafe!
I have also had an Evenflo Triumph and 2 Evenflo Vanguards and those were both SUCH A PAIN! I despised the truiumph! The straps twisted so bad that it literally took me and my husband a good 1/2 hour to untwist down in the back! I don't know how it happened b/c it was being used with an infant for only a few months?! My sister gave it to me because she hated it and she went and bought a Britax Marathon and I used it as a spare but I ended up getting rid of it myself too. I am not a fan of the Evenflo covers either; they pull up and wear out quickly.
Anyway, I completely reccomend the Britax and right now you can find them on sale online since the new models are going to be coming out soon. Eventhough the Evenflo may have been cheaper the Britax was worth it in the long run because they hold up much better!!

As Child Passenger Safety Technician, I would like to correct a misconception. I hear a lot of "Britax is best" and that is simply not true. Every seat on the market has passed minimal federal testing. Beyond that we have no way to know how the seats rate as there is no independent third agency that does legitimate testing on them (Consumer Reports should NEVER be trusted for car seat recommendations.)

The "Best" seat is the one that fits your child, fits your car, fits your budget and that you will use correctly each and every time you use it.

(I own several Britax car seats; don't get me wrong, they are wonderful seats. But there are other great brands out there too.)

Hi L.,
Britax is a great seat. I have 2 Boulevard for my 1 & 3 year old. They are expensive around $300. But I feel like you can save on somethings but not safety.
Good luck with your decision.

As many other Moms have said we went with the Evenflo Triumph. I had looked up many safety ratings and the triumph had the same rating as the britix (sp?) but at a much cheaper price. We paid 150 for ours at Target and the other ones are usually around 300. It is a very comfortable seat that has the latch system and belt spot-it also adjusts easily which is nice for the winter when you have your child all bundled up in a coat-you can adjust it without having to take it out! This car seat can be used from 5lbs to 50lbs so technically you could use it from birth! It even fit in our Honda Fit-which is amazing because the infant seat was a tight squeeze!

As for toys my eight month old son LOVES anything that makes noise and flashs lights! He really loves the sing along toy from fisher-price (normally pretty expensive but I got it on sale) and banging blocks together! He has recently taken in interest in driving toy cars around while he crawls next to them! I would say anything loud and obnoxious your child will prob love! haha Good Luck :)

Hi L., My son is also 8 months old and we switched to a convertable car seat about a month ago, and I have to say that the ones we bought were a decent price and we LOVE them. For both my car (Jeep) and my husband's truck we bought the Evenflo Triumph and teh Triumph Advance...basically the same thing just a few little differences. They are available at Target, Babies R Us and Walmart and are about 120 bucks. Great seat, super comfortable for my son who was so happy to get out of his baby seat, and very easy to use for us! It it much easier to get him in and out of this seat and has some great features, including a release and tighten gear that you can do quickly and easily with the baby already seated in the car! This makes is super easy to adjust no matter what clothes he is wearing. The seat is good rear facing up to 30 lbs and forward facing up to 40. It is not a booster, but should last us a few years and will be well worth the money, plus it is pretty highly rated in comparison to the Britax, which is way to expensive for our budget! Good luck!
By the way, I am also first time mom with very few mom friends, if you are in my area and would like to arrange a play date please let me know! My son only sees older kids at daycare and I'm sure he would love to play with someone his own age!

Britax are the safest car seats out there.
http://www.britaxusa.com/

as far as toys for an 8 month old - I would suggest Baby Einstein and Leap Frog toys.

When my daughter was an infant she loved the Peek-a-Blocks Shape Sorter (and she's almost three and still plays with it) by Fisher Price.

We have been very happy with our Graco Alpha Omega Elite convertible carseats for both of our children (nearly 4, and 19 months old now). We bought them each for about $130. The kids find them comfortable, and they're safe. The only nuisance we've found is that lately it can be difficult to tighten the harness if you don't pull the tightening strap at exactly the right angle.

Again... like most others have already said, Britax. I had a roundabout for my daughter when she was a baby and now I have a marathon for my son. I have a neon, smaller car, and the marathon as big as it is, fits well. My daughter was a tall/heavy as a toddler so I just assumed my son would be too which is why I bought the marathon for him. I was wrong. Anyhow, I have tried several other seats as a 2nd car seat to have on hand in case we travel in anyone else car and ended up returning them to the store I disliked them so much. Britax is easy to use, easy to adjust the harness, the harness very rarely gets twisted like most other seats do.

Hello! I have to admit that when my son (who is 20 months) turned 6 months old he out grew the infant car seat and I struggled with what type of car seat to buy. I received so much advice -- but this is what I found. My mom has a Honda Pilot and she baby-sits my son a lot so she found it easier to buy a car seat for her truck. She bought the Brittax Roundabout (she ordered it online - found it cheaper than Babies r Us). I installed it for her and I found it to be really easy to install in her truck and its really easy to put my son in and out. I highly recommend the Brittax (I also have a Brittax in my car). I hope this helps!

I love my Britex. it is 5 star rated. The straps do not get all twisted like the other ones do. I recamend you go to Babie -R- Us and have them help you try out the car seat in your car. Some car seats may not fit rear facing. That is what happen to me with the one I got as a baby shower gift, so I hd to buy another one and Britex was the one the fit rear facing. I hoe this helps. Good luck

Hey I thoguht I would respond to your request because I was asking the same thing when my daughter was 10 months. We also have a pilot and my daughter and I love the eddie bauer 3 in 1 car seat.My daughter is high enough to be able to see out the windows and still be comfortable and safe. It has a range from I think 15-100 pounds and can be used has a booster seat, front face or rear facing car seat. We had to figure out how to work everything to adjust it but it was easy after figuring out what to do. I definately would recommend it and it had high safety ratings as well.

Hi L.,

I have a Britax, they are the safest ones out there. In Europe (where Britax are tested) they test car seats at higher speeds than they do here in the US.

I recently borrowed a Honda Pilot, and it was very easy to install (front facing). I don't think you would have a problem with rear facing, there was plenty of room, even with my very tall husband driving with the seat all the way back.

Good luck!
M.

Hi L.- I have the Evenflo Triumph and absolutely love it. It is 5 pt harness, LATCH and cozy for my little one. My son was sitting in it rear facing at 7 months. I agree with the safety tech, there are a lot of good seats out there. I felt pressure to go out and buy the most expensive one but after talking to friends and family we settled on the Evenflo. I have had it for 2.5 years. Another nice thing is the outside cover is replaceable. Believe me, after milk spills and crumbs, it can get a little gross! Good luck.

L.,

If you can wait until he can face forward and skip the convertible seat, you can save some money. Forward facing booster seats go up to 100 lbs instead of 80 lbs for most convertible seats.

Whether or not you need a convertible seat will depend on how comfortable your son is in the infant seat and how big he is by 12 months.

I got the Evenflo Triumph 5 ($120 new) which was much cheaper than the Britax Roundabout ($220 new). The evenflo is rated second after the Britax roundabout in overall ratings but the evenflo is actually rated higher in crash protection than the Britax. The reason the evenflo is rated 2 points lower than the Britax is that the straps get some getting used to.

If you can go directly to a regular booster seat, the top rated one by consumer reports is the Graco Turbo Booster seat.
models numbers:
Graco TurboBooster 8493 $50
TurboBooster SafeSeat (Step 3) 8496 $50,
TurboBooster SafeSeat (Step 3) 8497 $50,
TurboBooster SafeSeat (Step 3) 8498 $50,
TurboBooster SafeSeat (Step 3) 8673 $60,
TurboBooster SafeSeat (Step 3) 8674 $70.

If you decide to get a convertible seat, get one that goes up to 80 lbs (4 years old aprox.) and at that point you can get the Graco Backless TurboBooster for $20 (highest rating for backless booster seats).

I hope this helps,
A.

I would call Safekids New London County. They're AWESOME! Their phone number is: ###-###-####. I also know that Babies "R" Us will let you, accompanied by an employee, take car seats to your car to see how they fit in your vehicle.