Question When to switch to Convertible and which one?

Our daughter is almost 13 months and weighs 22 pounds and is 29" tall. She is currently in a Britax Chaperone infant seat (Britax's newest model) with a 30# and 32" height limit. Is it safer for her to stay in the infant seat until she reaches the limits or to switch to a convertible (both rear-facing, of course)? I'm wondering if the convertibles have more safety features or is the reclined position of an infant see safer regardless?

The convertibles I am comparing are Britax Advocate 70, Recaro ProRide and Sunshine Kids Radian XTSL. I know there are a lot of recommendations here for the Radians, but they look like they have very little depth or side protection, where as the Advocate and ProRide look nice and deep. I'm not concerned if my daughter can see out the window or not, I would rather have more side protection. I also know that the Radian has the highest rear facing weight of 45#, but I am more concerned about right now and getting the most safety. I am guessing that by the time she is 35-40#, there will be more mfrs that offer seats with higher weight limits (and more side protection), and we'll cross that bridge when we get there. We have a Chevy Tahoe with a second row bench seat.

Any advice on whether (and why) we should switch to a convertible or to stay in the infant seat and which convertible is recommended would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

One seat isn't safer than the other. Keeping her rear facing is the best thing you can do for safety, which it sounds like you already know While the new Britax seats have higher rear-facing limits than the older versions, there are still lots of seats that are taller, and a few (radians) that rear face to a higher weight limit than the Britax's. If you're going for the longest time rear facing I would look for something with a tall shell and a high rear facing weight limit. As far as the side impact protection on the Radian's, there are no standards for side impact testing... so one seat saying that it has "side impact protection" is really no better than a cardboard box saying that The Radians do give kids a lot more leg room rear-facing than the Britax seats, which has helped in our case because my 2.5 year old hated not being able to stretch her legs out which she can now do over the sides of her radian.

The best seat for you is one that fits your car, child, and you (ease of use) best. All of them have passed the same safety standards, so one isn't "safer" than the other if used properly.

Big deciding factors are usually: child's weight (will they reach the weight limit rf before they are ready to be turned) and height (again, reaching it before they're ready to be turned). The radian is tall and has the highest (45lb on the 80SL and XTSL) weight limit for rear facing... but if your daughter is on the shorter/smaller side a Britax or something else may very easily get her to a safe forward facing age.

If you tell us the vehicles you're using the seat in and what you're looking for in a seat we can probably help you out making a decision between those seats

Thanks so much Andre149! I appreciate your taking the time to give me some feedback. I did post that our vehicle is a Chevy Tahoe with a second row bench. Did you have any thoughts on the infant verses convertible decision? Is there any safety advantages to an infant car seat over a convertible? Should she stay in the infant car seat as long as possible?

Thanks : )

There are no safety advantages one way or the other as far as I've ever seen. There are advantages to both, but more of convenience - such as the portability of the bucket, and the fact that convertibles sit up higher and older babies often prefer that.

What makes a seat safer is using it properly. Either one is fine so long as it is installed and used correctly every time. If your daughter is happy in her current seat and still fits it, and you are comfortable with the install, there's no reason not to keep using it. And if you'd rather get a convertible, so long as you get one that fits your daughter and your car, there's no reason not to.

My almost eight-month-old is the same size as your daughter, and I'm getting her a convertible this week. For what it's worth, most babies outgrow their infant seats way before 13 months, anyway.

I missed the vehicle part, sorry I'm not familiar with how seats fit in the Tahoe but I'm sure someone is. Like the pp said, they are equally as safe. At 13 months a convertible seat could be more upright than your infant seat (newborns need a 45 degree angle which is what the infant seats are designed to be, most convertibles can go up to 30 degrees)... But this has nothing to do with safety, some babies just like to be more upright. Do you have a babies r us or anything like that in your area? A lot of times the best thing to do is go and try a bunch of seats in your car to see which one works best.

I thought I read that it was in fact safer to be more upright when rf? The 45 degrees is for infants to ensure proper air flow, but as soon as they have good head control, the 45 degrees in unnecessary, and being more upright is recommended?

carolyn_mtl said:

I thought I read that it was in fact safer to be more upright when rf? The 45 degrees is for infants to ensure proper air flow, but as soon as they have good head control, the 45 degrees in unnecessary, and being more upright is recommended?

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You're absolutely right. The 45 degrees is a concession to newborns. The more upright, the less the spine needs to collapse down on itself like a spring springing back. It moves as one unit forward and back if the child is more upright.

However, I don't know if we know the numbers (ie, it's 45% safer to be more upright after age X), so we can't say how much safer, when it's safer, and rear facing is SO safe, I wouldn't worry about a three year old at a 45 degree angle.

Wendy

wendytthomas said:

You're absolutely right. The 45 degrees is a concession to newborns. The more upright, the less the spine needs to collapse down on itself like a spring springing back. It moves as one unit forward and back if the child is more upright.

However, I don't know if we know the numbers (ie, it's 45% safer to be more upright after age X), so we can't say how much safer, when it's safer, and rear facing is SO safe, I wouldn't worry about a three year old at a 45 degree angle.

Wendy

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Being the parent of a child who sustained minor whiplash-type injury in her midback as a result of being @ 45*, I would disagree. The problem with 45* isn't the spine springing back on itself but rather the weight of the un-restrained head stretching the spine (and muscles & spinal cord) in a crash or even a sudden stop with no impact. When a seat is more upright, the direction of force is closer to perpendicular to the spine, with the head being supported against the seat. Similar to how it is much easier to push something up a ramp with a low incline angle, it is that much easier to injure the spine when @ 45* in a car seat, and less likely to injure with a more upright angle.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that a convertible is necessarily safer in this regard, but I would highly recommend that you install your seat as upright as a) the seat allows and b) the child can tolerate without flopping forward when asleep. Some bucket seats have different angle zones marked on them, some you just need to adjust to the 'edge' of the acceptable zone. I don't know if any/most convertible seats have angle indicators, but I know that the Radian doesn't.

So the decision on whether to move to a convertible now or waiting until closer to the limits is entirely up to you (in your situation, I would continue using the bucket since it has a long life), but do try to adjust the angle to more upright if at all possible.

Melissa
PS: since replacing our seat in our crash we now install it more upright, having learned the hard way.

Wow, you ALL are awesome here : ) Just the info I was looking for!!! The infant seat is installed in the most upright position, and the Chaperone seems a lot more upright than what our older daughter's infant seat was almost 8 years ago. Now knowing that the greater angle is less safe, I will get a convertible picked out. Many thanks again to all : )

We ordered the Britax Advocate 70; should be here Thursday! Side protection was important, so we opted for the Advocate over the Radian and we wanted the extra five pounds rear-facing that the Advocate (40#) gave over the Recaro ProRide (35#). Hopefully when our daughter gets to 40# (about 3 1/2 years based on our older daughter's growth), there will be a convertible that offers a higher rear-facing weight AND substantial side protection. Truly I wish SafeGuard (IMMI) would get back into child safety seats and make a convertible. We love our 8 year old daughter's SafeGuard Child Seat (the full seat, not the "Go" that was handed off to another company). It is an awesome seat with a 57" height max and 65# max, 5-point! It is our second one; we were rear-ended a couple of years ago and the seat was replaced free of charge by SafeGuard! They wanted it back to look it over since it had been in an accident. We did not have any injuries, but the EMT wanted to look over our daughter anyway and he referred to the seat as "a tank". Thanks again!