Confused: Infant vs Regular Carseat

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amother

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 6:17 am

Do I need to buy an infant carseat, and then another carseat when the baby gets older/bigger and switches to forward-facing? Or are there carseats that are convertable and can be used for both sizes/directions? It seems like such a waste of money to have to buy an infant carseat now and then a toddler seat in a year.

btMOMtoFFBs

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 7:06 am

There are convertible car seats that do exactly as you describe. The box will give you the weight range and there will be instructions on how to use it.

There are several benefits of the infant carseat, however. They are portable and so you won't have to wake up a sleeping baby to take him in and out of the car. Also, they often fit into a stroller, so again its easy to transfer a sleeping (or even awake and content) to the stroller to run errands. I really think they are totally worth the money for those reasons of convenience.

Either way, your child will be safe in the car and that's the most impt. thing!

Raisin

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 8:54 am

Also the toddler carseat can be used for several years, and if you are hoping to have more children iy'h, you will need more than one carseat anyway.

greenfire

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 9:05 am

yup although you have the infant ones - you also have the convertable ... the plus with some infant ones is that they convert into carriers - go shopping and look around - see what you feel good with - there are too many things out there to make it a simple answer ...

chocolate moose

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 9:09 am

maybe you can borrow one.

greenfire

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 9:11 am

how can you borrow/loan one long term ... and then you'd have to be nervous about wear and tear upon return ...

chocolate moose

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 9:20 am

it's common to borrow an infant car set because it's not used much or often.

greenfire

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 9:25 am

the ones that are used as infantseats/baby rockers are used all the time ... and the more modern carriages have them as inserts to go from house to car to carriage ... so ...

ruthanne

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 12:42 pm

chocolate moose wrote:

it's common to borrow an infant car set because it's not used much or often.

Infant car seats are from 5-22lbs and mine is the graco safe-seat which goes until 30lbs. So I would say that its used a lot and over at least a year!
(My 10 month old weighs 20lbs - just to give you an idea.)

greeneyes

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 1:13 pm

OP, I was also very confused about this. In fact, your post sounds exactly the way I was feeling 1 week ago! I consulted two of my "experienced" friends, and both of them DID recommend buying the infant car seat. They each found it to be very convenient, telling me pretty much what a previous poster explained:

Quote:

There are several benefits of the infant carseat, however. They are portable and so you won't have to wake up a sleeping baby to take him in and out of the car. Also, they often fit into a stroller, so again its easy to transfer a sleeping (or even awake and content) to the stroller to run errands. I really think they are totally worth the money for those reasons of convenience.

We ended up buying an infant car seat last week (the cheapest model seemed to be about $60), and so far we are happy with it.

greeneyes

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 1:21 pm

I just wanted to add one more point...

If you decide that the conveniences of the infant car seat aren't that important to you and you'd rather save the $$, the convertible car seats seem to be fine (I did a certain amount of research and read a lot of car seat reviews). They will definitely do the job and they should last a long time.

Good luck!!

chocolate moose

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 1:24 pm

[quote="ruthanne"]

chocolate moose wrote:

Infant car seats are from 5-22lbs and mine is the graco safe-seat which goes until 30lbs. So I would say that its used a lot and over at least a year! My 10 month old weighs 20lbs - just to give you an idea.)

but that's YOU and YOUR child. Not all babies are that big . . not all women go out with the baby in the car that much.

ruthanne

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 6:29 pm

[quote="chocolate moose"]

ruthanne wrote:

chocolate moose wrote:

but that's YOU and YOUR child. Not all babies are that big . . not all women go out with the baby in the car that much.

Obviously the OP has a car otherwise why would she be asking about buying a car seat...this is what the discussion is about!

Also my baby isn't THAT big. She's just under the 50% for weight and height.

The reason why I bought the bigger seat that can be used until 30lbs is b/c my previous child was much bigger.

chocolate moose

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 6:36 pm

DH and I don't drive but we had a car seat. We occasionally called taxis.

ChavieK

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 9:30 pm

An infant carseat that can be buckled without a base is much more convenient especially with taxis. It is much more difficult to properly instal a convertable carseat than an infant one. It is virtualy imposible to instal a convertable carseat with the baby in it.

Mommy3.5

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 9:37 pm

OK. I have an infant carseat and a convertible. to put it into perspective, I have 4 kids and My convertible seat was used non stop from the time my oldest was about 16 months (he is currently 6 1/2) In that time there was almost always 2 children who weight wise fit into the convertible seat (5-40 lbs) I would have needed either 2 convertible seats or one infant and one convertible in any case.

having an infant seat is VERY convenient.

It comes out of the car
It attaches to a snap and go
It can double as an infant seat
Very easy to get baby in and out of.
You can buy a bundle me instead of a snowsuit and then its fantastic for the winter too.

cons of the infant seat.
Most only go up to 22 lbs, and babies need to be rear facing till 1 Year and 20 lbs, Meaning if you have a big baby you nay need to buy the convertible in a few months either way.

Pros of the convertible

Will last most children 3 years
Can face forward or rear
Keeps children up to 30 lbs rear facing insuring that they will be rear facing till One year.

Cons.
do not come out of car
Harder to get baby in and out of because the sides are usually higher then an infant seat and the angle is different too,
Hard in the winter when the baby has to have a snowsuit
You need to make sure that you get a convertible that has a recline feature. if you plan on using it for a newborn

Some good convertible brands.

Britax--rated #1 but pricey 220.00 and up
Graco comfortsport (gracobaby.com) under 115.00

Infant seats
Graco snugride (under 120.00 and some patterns significantly less)
Graco safeseat (30 lbs) 159.00 and up
there is also combi and peg perego, but the graco's seem to be the most common ones around
Britax makes an infant seat too but it does not have a base system .

Mirabelle

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 10:13 pm

Ruthanne,
My 10 month old is 23 pounds and about 30 inches long.... we switched to the convertible carseat at about 7 months. She just wasnt comfortable in the infant seat anymore.

Mimisinger

Sun, Aug 12 2007, 10:44 pm

I recommend that you get both the infant car seat and then we went into the reg. carseat at 6 mths. It is really worth the convenience if you can afford it.

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