car seat safety | Imamother

Nani

Thu, Jan 24 2008, 10:57 pm

Hi experienced mothers,

I am about to buy a "convertible" car seat for my 9-month-old baby. Somehow, my heart is leaning towards "Evenflo Tribute Deluxe Convertible Car Seat - Watertown ", sold at Target, BabiesRUs and some other places. What confuses me is that it is half of the price for 5-points car seats, and that it is not popular. I also read reviews on the stores' websites about it, and they seem to contradict each other.

Can you tell me your opinion, please?

Hashem_Yaazor

Fri, Jan 25 2008, 9:55 am

(I have a different version of the Tribute -- no shield -- but adjusting it is incredibly hard. One of the major safety points is not the car seat itself, as almost all are fine, but besides being installed correctly, your baby needs to be strapped in there well! And if it's hard to adjust the straps to fit over whichever clothing he's wearing on any given day, chances are he won't be buckled well sometimes. I have only used it rear-facing, but you want to be rear facing as long as possible)

The Evenflo Triumph is considerably more than the Tribute, but this is one my m-i-l (a car seat installer) recommends, as the weight limit for rear-facing is 25 lbs., it's easily installed, and the adjusting of the straps is on the side, so it won't get stuck in between the car seat and seat of the car (as the Tribute does). I have this type of adjustment on my toddler's forward facing car seat and it's a whole lot easier.
I don't have any experience with any others, but thought this might be helpful.

And I certainly echo what chavamom said. I got a lot of my recommendations when looking for a forward facing car seat for my older son from that site.