Suggestion for a tiny 20lb, 18 mth old

My tiny peanut of a DS is currently rear-facing (and will for a LONG time) in a Safety 1st Complete Air in a 2005 Toyota Corolla and an Alpha Omega in a 2003 Suzuki Aerio. My sister, who lives with us often takes our son for rides and this has worked out fine as she's been using his Graco SafeSeat. He's about to outgrow the height limit on it though, so I'm looking for another convertible seat. With the great deals going on at BRU this week, I was wondering if you pros might offer some advice on a seat for our Corolla or Aerio. I plan to give my sister the Alpha Omega as it isn't my favourite. I find the straps are a pain to untangle and it doesn't seem as well constructed as his Complete Air.

I really like the look of the TrueFit and at 119.97, the price can't be beat. Would this be a good fit for a little peanut? From what I've read, it sounds like the straps are hard to tighten while RF and I imagine he'll be in this position for at least a few more years. I don't mind paying more for a seat that might suit him better if that one won't work. Advice?

TIA!

Kris

Either the TrueFit or the Graco MyRide ($131 at toys r us right now) would be great choices.

Will your sister take the time to deal with the annoyingly tangled straps?

safeinthecar said:

Will your sister take the time to deal with the annoyingly tangled straps?

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She definitely will! She takes him out maybe once a week and she's been with us since the beginning so she's well equipped to deal with the straps.

I agree with Angie that the True Fit and MyRide are great choices, and you are right that the prices right now are fantastic! I own both of these seats and while I like them both, if I had to choose one it would be the MyRide. The TrueFit has a continuous harness, which is not my favourite, and I find annoying to deal with on a daily basis. But that is a personal preference. Also, the TrueFit is quite wide through the seating area and if you're guy is really tiny you might not love that about it.

However, I believe the TrueFit's harness height is a little higher (someone can correct me if I'm wrong here) so if your guy is way above average for height, or has a giant torso, you might want that feature. My 3.5yo DD, who was always off the charts for height, and recently came back on at about 80%, but is very leggy, still fits rear facing in the MyRide....so it's height isn't too shabby either. For comparison she would have outgrown the TrueFit RF about 6mos ago as she would have hit the 35lb rf limit on it. (the MR is 40lbs).

Are you close to a Babies R Us? The best thing you can do is go and try them out, play around with them a bit and see which one YOU like best! They are both good choices!

Not gonna lie....the cup holders on the MyRide are pretty awesome too!

My guy is under the 5th percentile in both height and weight. He's just at 20 lbs now and about 31.5 inches. He'll be 19 mths in just over a week so I'm not really worried about him outgrowing the height limits of a convertible seat. There is a Toys R Us about a half hour south of here so we'll go for a drive this weekend and see what we like best. Are all of the fabric choices for the MyRide the same? I really loved that the material in our bucket seat was easily washable and we could wipe down a mess. I'm not finding the same thing with our current seats!

All of the MR's I've come into contact with have a plush sort of fabric on them.

I actually prefer plush fabrics though cuz I'm in a cold climate a good chunk of the year, and I find that stuff still wipes off decently easily.

I have a MR in DH's car and I quite like it. Very cozy for DD and while the fabric is plush the cover is super easy to take off.

The TF is a loved seat around here and I really wanted to like it. But I don't like how the harness sits on Emi's shoulders. It looks like it's about to fall off. And she is by no means small.

You'll for sure want to try him out in different seats to see what fits him best and what you like best. I hummed and hawed and tested DD in convertible seats for months before I bought one!

Thanks for all of the advice mamas! I definitely plan on taking DS to TRU and trying him out in some different seats. I saw a TrueFit at Zellers a couple days ago and it looked HUGE! As I mentioned previously, we have a a Complete Air and it seems to me that seat is a lot smaller than the TF. Is that right or am I nuts?

I have a 2 year old (just turned) peanut dd and a 6 year old who is also a peanut. I like to use her as an example of an older peanut to look at seats. My 2 yo is currently riding in a true fit. She's been in the radian, the complete air, and a classic marathon. She fits well in all of them, but she prefers the radian. (Maybe because it is currently her brother's seat?) She has the most leg room in the true fit and radian.

My 6 year old fits in any of those seats. She particularly likes the marathon because she sits way up high. (Makes her feel big.) The others are comfy and well liked as well.

My goddaughter is also a peanut. She just turned 3 at the end of May and is only about 37" tall and 27-28 lbs. She rides in a TFP in her mom's car as well as mine. She has fit in it just fine since I first got it about a year ago. She has tons of room to grow in that seat! She rides RF in my car and FF in her mom's. I haven't found the straps difficult to tighten, but I have the True Fit Premiere. Not sure which model you are looking at. The original TF has a problem with the harness adjuster being difficult to access RF.

Chila88 said:

However, I believe the TrueFit's harness height is a little higher (someone can correct me if I'm wrong here) so if your guy is way above average for height, or has a giant torso, you might want that feature. My 3.5yo DD, who was always off the charts for height, and recently came back on at about 80%, but is very leggy, still fits rear facing in the MyRide....so it's height isn't too shabby either. For comparison she would have outgrown the TrueFit RF about 6mos ago as she would have hit the 35lb rf limit on it. (the MR is 40lbs).

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The My Ride is shorter by quite a bit in comparison to the True Fit, but it will get most kids to age 3 easily rf'ing. My ds outgrew the My Ride by height ff'ing before he was 3.5yrs old. He still fits the TF with about an inch of growing room and he's 4.5 yrs now. For reference, he uses the top slots on the Nautilus, so he does have a very tall torso despite not weighing 40lbs yet, lol. But in terms of actual use, the TF will last about 1.5" longer torso-wise in actual use.

I never had a hard time with the straps on the True Fit, and I loved the leg room - I found it easier to load and unload my son when he used it.

I absolutely love the buckle on the My Ride - but that's going to be a personal thing - I just love the "feel" of it. lol.

For a kid who is petite and small-built, it's possible the My Ride will fit him/her better. Honestly, with your kiddo being such a peanut, I'd be ok going with an Evenflo Triumph as well - they only have a 30lb rf'ing limit, but if age 3 is your goal, you should make it to age 3 in the Triumph. It also has loads of leg room rf'ing and plenty of height ff'ing, and is one of the only seats I've owned that has remained in close-to continual use since the day it was purchased. I don't suggest it very often anymore because of the 30lb rf'ing limit, but for a lightweight kid that wouldn't be an issue.

My Ride fan here. I don't have any True Fit experience. DD1 has consistently been in the 50-75 percentile and she comfortably rear faced in her My Ride until 4 years 2 months. DD2 is smaller she's in the 5-10 percentile and I love how the My Ride fits her. She's been in it since she outgrew her SS1 bucket. I can't imagine this seat not taking her to 4 as well. I've also not had a bad install with the MyRide. Good luck searching.