Debating on infant seat or conv.

Bansheefaerie · Jul 21, 2011

I'm due Thanksgiving weekend with my 3rd baby. I can't decide on if I want to get an infant seat or just start him in a convertible like I did with my 2nd daughter.
DD1 had an infant seat first and it seemed to heavy and awkward to carry her in. DD2 went right in to a True Fit. I liked not having to carry the extra weight, but sometimes I missed how nice it was just to get DD1 out of the car in her seat while she was sleeping.
Any thoughts?
I also have no idea what infant seat to get since the last time I bought one was 9 years ago!

crunchierthanthou · Jul 21, 2011

How old is your second daughter? Do you live where it's snowy?

If you think it will be easier to wrangle a toddler with an infant in a seat vs a sling, it might be worth it (I'm assuming she isn't very old since the true fit has only been out a few years). Same for if you live in a cold climate. My ds was also due Thanksgiving weekend, and I can't imagine going through that first winter without him in a bucket. :twocents:

You can always leave the infant seat in the car when you don't want the weight, and take it out when he's sleeping or you need to keep him covered.

StillThankful · Jul 21, 2011

I liked having my winter baby (DD2) in the infant seat.

DD1 was in a convertible seat from day 1. She was born in very late summer and loved being carried in the snugli.

Bansheefaerie · Jul 21, 2011

It doesn't snow here, but DD2 will be 2 1/2 when he is born. It does sound like it will be helpful to have him in a bucket. I'm glad I didn't order a seat yet.

TXDani · Jul 21, 2011

I just had my fourth baby five months ago and I couldn't even imagine not having an infant seat for him. Sure I wear him often but there are many times when wearing him just isn't convenient or comfortable and in the cases I am so happy I went with an infant seat.

The great thing about infant seats this day in age is that they last a lot longer than they did a few short years ago. Now many of them go up to 30lbs and can last a child up to 12-18 months easily. This makes buckets not such a waste of money since you can get some good use out of them...not necessarily as a carrier but as a car seat once they become too heavy to carry in the seat.

Bansheefaerie · Jul 21, 2011

DaniCPST said:
I just had my fourth baby five months ago and I couldn't even imagine not having an infant seat for him. Sure I wear him often but there are many times when wearing him just isn't convenient or comfortable and in the cases I am so happy I went with an infant seat.

The great thing about infant seats this day in age is that they last a lot longer than they did a few short years ago. Now many of them go up to 30lbs and can last a child up to 12-18 months easily. This makes buckets not such a waste of money since you can get some good use out of them...not necessarily as a carrier but as a car seat once they become too heavy to carry in the seat.

What infant seat do you have?

canadiangie · Jul 21, 2011

I really can't stand infant seats, but I'm humbled enough to admit that, with three kids 5 and under, an infant seat is super handy. I baby wear a lot, but there are times when I just need to dash in for a minute and it's so nice to not have to disturb dd. She's an awesome little sleeper (would stay asleep if I removed her from her seat) but it's kinder (IMO) to not disturb a little baby if the in/out is mere minutes. 95% of the time I leave the seat on the base, essentially using it like a convertible seat (seat stays in vehicle), but having the option to use the seat as a carrier is nice. If you go with one of the larger infant seats (Graco Snugride 32/35 for example) you could make it to 12-18 mos.

canadiangie · Jul 21, 2011

Bansheefaerie said:
What infant seat do you have?

Dani rocks a Peg Perego 30/30.

AmbersMommy · Jul 21, 2011

DaniCPST said:
I just had my fourth baby five months ago and I couldn't even imagine not having an infant seat for him. Sure I wear him often but there are many times when wearing him just isn't convenient or comfortable and in the cases I am so happy I went with an infant seat.

The great thing about infant seats this day in age is that they last a lot longer than they did a few short years ago. Now many of them go up to 30lbs and can last a child up to 12-18 months easily. This makes buckets not such a waste of money since you can get some good use out of them...not necessarily as a carrier but as a car seat once they become too heavy to carry in the seat.

Ditto all this!!! I dont have 4 kids but its SO nice having infant seats that go up to 30+lbs now! My daughter would have been able to stay in her infant seat for almost 2yrs if we had the 30lbs and 32" seat with her! lol She was a peanut.

We have a Britax Chaperone for Garrett... Love that seat!

Bansheefaerie · Jul 21, 2011

Right now I'm debating on a Britax Chaperone or a Combi Coccoro.
With DD2 I started off wearing her a lot, but I had surgery last August so now I'm not supposed to carry more than 10 lbs. That is just insane for a mother of little ones. I still pick her up and carry her at times, but I try not to. I ended up using our stroller a lot. With the new baby I won't be able to wear him for long at all. I'm having a c-section which will make it harder I imagine.

My husband thinks he will have to carry both the new baby and our 2 1/2 yr old quite a bit and we aren't sure if an infant seat will be easier or not.
Our 2 yr old has some developmental delays. She can walk fine, but sometimes it is just easier to carry her in. Our house is on the side of a hill so we have a fairly steep path down to the house and in the winter I don't think DD2 could walk down.

monica-m · Jul 21, 2011

I would try the Chaperone in your car(s) before settling on it. It has an extremely long base and it's on the heavy side. The CCO is a great seat but it's not very big and while it will last longer than an infant seat, it will not be the last convertible seat you will need in most cases. I ended up getting an awesome deal on a Radian so I bought that knowing that the CCO would be outgrown rear facing before I was comfortable turning DS around.

Bansheefaerie · Jul 21, 2011

I suppose I should check out more seats. Our car is small and I have to make sure it will fit since we will have 3 across.

Stelvis · Jul 22, 2011

I'm going straight to a convertible because I found with DS that I never brought the infant seat inside anyway. It was just easier to carry him than to carry the seat, especially right after a c/s. For me, a sling was comfortable well before carrying the heavy infant seat was.

Also, since he never, ever, ever slept in the car anyway, it didn't matter if I disturbed him. Of course this, baby could be different, if I feel I can't live without it, I guess I can buy an infant sets at that time. But I doubt that I will.

Ladyl · Jul 22, 2011

I'm going to be the odd man out about the winter baby thing. I had a fall baby that was out of the infant seat at four months (middle of winter) and a winter baby that I rarely left in the infant seat. I would put on whatever I was wearing them in under my coat. When we stopped somewhere I would quickly take them out of the seat into sling (or Ergo). It worked really well. And the ten seconds where they were in the cold felt was outweighed by the body heat they were getting from me.:twocents:

mandynee22 · Jul 22, 2011

For a winter baby there's no way I'd go without the infant seat. My daughter lasted in her onboard 35 till 15 months and there was still a little room before we got a new one. She isn't short, either. It's just so much easier to have them strapped and covered before you get to the car or when you get out so you aren't freezing your butt off doing it, IMO.

acoro · Jul 22, 2011

I am expecting #3 nov 13th and decided on a SR35 for many reasons mentioned above, winter, other kids, higher weight limit bucket awesome sale price. I also baby wear and keep a sling or Ergo in the car but sometimes it is easier to take the bucket out. PLUS my DH will not wear the baby so for winter carrying he needs the bucket.

Oh and my kids always sleep in the car

Ladyl · Jul 22, 2011

I see everyone mentioning that having other kids was a big factor in deciding to use an infant seat. I all honestly I don't understand this :shrug-shoulders:. Carrying around an infant seat I have I have one less (and sometimes tow less; those things are really hard for me to carry) hands. When I baby where I have both hands free. Grocery shopping with an infant seat seems hard to me too. It take up so much space. When DS2 was born I'd wear him and DS1 would sit in the cart. It wasn't hard for buckling either. I'd put DS1 in while wearing the baby and then the baby would go in. And this was with a December baby and a super wild two year old.

Maybe I'm missing something.

mkmama · Jul 22, 2011

Ladyl said:
I see everyone mentioning that having other kids was a big factor in deciding to use an infant seat. I all honestly I don't understand this :shrug-shoulders:. Carrying around an infant seat I have I have one less (and sometimes tow less; those things are really hard for me to carry) hands. When I baby where I have both hands free. Grocery shopping with an infant seat seems hard to me too. It take up so much space. When DS2 was born I'd wear him and DS1 would sit in the cart. It wasn't hard for buckling either. I'd put DS1 in while wearing the baby and then the baby would go in. And this was with a December baby and a super wild two year old.

Maybe I'm missing something.

For me (I baby wear a lot too), it was sometimes impossible to get the crazy 2 year old into the car while wearing baby due to the configuations of the seats...the baby would get squished between 2 year old and me and I couldnt put baby in first because by the time I got baby in, crazy 2 year old was in the next county over

In many instances I wore the baby, but sometimes on days the 2 year old was being difficult, I had to use the carrier, so I could sit baby down and wrestle the 2 year old. However, I had my carrier from when 2 year old was a baby, so it wasnt a decision for me of which one to buy...the carrier was the one we had, so we used it, and most of the time it just stayed in the car, but there were instances where I'm glad we had it.

Immediately after my c-section is was MUCH easier for me to wear my baby vs carrying in the seat....the carrier + baby weight (10 lb baby) was almost to the limit of what I could carry from day 1, and it HURT trying to carry baby + carrier. However, baby in a ring sling high up didn't hurt at all and was most comfortable.

Bansheefaerie · Jul 22, 2011

mkmama said:
For me (I baby wear a lot too), it was sometimes impossible to get the crazy 2 year old into the car while wearing baby due to the configuations of the seats...the baby would get squished between 2 year old and me and I couldnt put baby in first because by the time I got baby in, crazy 2 year old was in the next county over In many instances I wore the baby, but sometimes on days the 2 year old was being difficult, I had to use the carrier, so I could sit baby down and wrestle the 2 year old. However, I had my carrier from when 2 year old was a baby, so it wasnt a decision for me of which one to buy...the carrier was the one we had, so we used it, and most of the time it just stayed in the car, but there were instances where I'm glad we had it.

Immediately after my c-section is was MUCH easier for me to wear my baby vs carrying in the seat....the carrier + baby weight (10 lb baby) was almost to the limit of what I could carry from day 1, and it HURT trying to carry baby + carrier. However, baby in a ring sling high up didn't hurt at all and was most comfortable.

Ugh now I'm really nervous about a c-section. I've never had one before, but I have to this time because I can't physically have another vaginal birth due to the surgery I had last August. As it is my limit for what I can carry when not pregnant is supposed to be 10 pounds. I need some magic way to have the baby float in front of me

I'll have to play around with more ways to wear a baby because every one I tried with DD2 hurt my back after a short amount of time.
I'm leaning towards an infant seat just so I have the option of taking it out or leaving it in the car.

vonfirmath · Jul 22, 2011

I like the baby seat because I am NOT a great carrier mom. I used it twice with DS, and both times he nearly fell out. Whereas the baby seat "clicked" into the stroller and I pushed it and could have both hands free when needed. I never had to pick baby seat + baby up for longer than the time it took to move from car to stroller except for when going into the house (but climbing those stairs was *ugh*)

Debating on infant seat or conv.

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