Question New seat for 8 month old or 4 year old

Wildintheory · Apr 2, 2011

Currently, my 20 lb 8 month old daughter is in a infant seat (Graco Snuggride 32) that I'm itching to get rid of. It's become too heavy, spring is on the way, and she wakes up the second the car door opens so the only advantage of a infant seat is lost. Anyway, I was thinking of getting her a Grace MyRide or a Radian Premier.

My 4 year old (44 lbs and 42") is in a Radian (65 I think, it was bought in the spring of 2008). I was just going to keep him in this seat for now since he's happy in it and it fits him well. But maybe I should be getting him something like the Nautilus and put the baby in his Radian (RF, of course.)

We drive a 2004 Ford Escape. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

featherhead · Apr 3, 2011

Either way would work really. How long are you planning to rear-face? If your goal is past age two (which I would highly recommend) then I think I would probably leave the 4-year-old in the Radian and get a different seat for baby. Your Radian will only have a 30 lb rear-facing limit, and since your daughter is 20 lbs at 8 months, my guess is she'd be around 30ish at 2 years. Does your daughter have a long torso? How much shell is above her head in the SR32? If she is fairly average then the MyRide65 would be a great choice. If she has a longer torso then I would lean more towards a new Radian. Have you ever had your Radian rear-facing in your car? It would be a good idea to make sure it fits before you order another one.

mommycat · Apr 5, 2011

An alternative for a taller seat with a 40lb RF limit, if the Radian does not install well, would be the Safety 1st Complete Air. It has a very tall shell as well, but installs more upright much more easily, and doesn't have the same types of install issues as the Radian potentially does.

If DD is not tall (at least in the torso) then I agree that the MyRide makes a lovely RF seat. If you find it doesn't install well for you once it needs to go FF, you can pass down the Radian at that time and DS may be booster ready by then.

Is your DD crawling/walking yet? If not, then her weight growth may slow down once she gets moving, but it is not guaranteed so passing down the Radian now is a bit of a guessing game.