Mirror, Mirror on the wall, which car seat is the best of all?

Hello everyone,
I am hoping for some insight here. I have been a big Britax fan for years. Both my girls have been in the Roundabout RF and then FF and have now moved up to the Parkway. With my second girl, I didn't even use an infant carrier, only the Roundabout. Well, a few weeks ago, I ended up having my baby boy at 31 weeks and want/need to have an infant carrier for him. He was 3 lbs 10 oz at birth and is up to 4 lbs 5 oz 2 1/2 weeks later. I have been looking at the Companion, Safeseat 1, Snugride and the Keyfit. I am wondering what anyone thinks is the best for a preemie.
When he is older, strong enough to hold up his head and not sleeping all the time, I will put him into the roundabout RF, so the increased weight/height limits on the SS1 are not a huge concern for me. I have read that they install really easy and it seems like everyone loves them. I am just worried that it might be too big for a preemie. I also read that the snugride makes babies really hot and are not as easy to install. Also, it seems like a lot of people have had problems getting the Companion to lock into the base properly or get it off the base.
So my main question is.... What would you get if you had a 4-5 lb preemie that needed great neck support? I was also looking at getting a double stroller as well. I am wondering if I was to get a Companion, does anyone know if it will attach into any stoller that is made for infant carriers to attach to, like the duoglider or the babytrend sit and stand?
Thanks in advance for your help! Tracy

If the Roundabout were reincarnated as an Infant seat, it would be the Key Fit . I think it's the nicest infant seat 'ever'... buttery smooth adjuster (with a button! like the RA!), nice infant padding, you can install it with a blindfold on and one hand tied behind your back... it's just divine. (I hear the Peg Perego is sweet, too, but it's about 80 bucks more and you have to put the handle down when driving...you can leave the handle up on the Key Fit or Gracos, so I prefer them for that reason alone).
Here's my wee one in a bunch of seats... we hated the Companion... http://picasaweb.google.com/joolstag/LeahInCarseats

I've been researching the SS1 and the Keyfit for awhile now...and from what most people have told me, a little baby that size wouldn't fit well in an SS1.

I would totally get the Keyfit... I LOVE the newborn insert on it!

Well you may actually want a good infant carrier because with a preemie they usually don't sit up and all of that on time, they're usually behind etc...

My dd was premature came home at 4lbs. in a carseat bed. Then we moved her to her Graco Snugride and she fit in there alot longer than a normal birth baby and it was extremely convienant to carry and tote her around in especially running the bank or shopping. She didn't fit in her matching Graco Stroller the straps swallowed her and she obviously didn't fit in the seat of a shopping cart. So if I didn't have that carseat I don't know what I would have done. Also they usually gain weight rather quickly. We only needed the carseat bed for like a week or two, then she was big enough for the Graco.

Bryana'sMomma said:

Well you may actually want a good infant carrier because with a preemie they usually don't sit up and all of that on time, they're usually behind etc...

My dd was premature came home at 4lbs. in a carseat bed. Then we moved her to her Graco Snugride and she fit in there alot longer than a normal birth baby and it was extremely convienant to carry and tote her around in especially running the bank or shopping. She didn't fit in her matching Graco Stroller the straps swallowed her and she obviously didn't fit in the seat of a shopping cart. So if I didn't have that carseat I don't know what I would have done. Also they usually gain weight rather quickly. We only needed the carseat bed for like a week or two, then she was big enough for the Graco.

Click to expand...

Most preemies are discharged in a regular infant carrier. Car beds are the exception and not the norm. Most strollers have at least a semi recline adjustment and a newborn or preemie will fit just fine in them.

I agree to go with the keyfit. I've heard great things about how they fit preemies. As long as your baby is big enough for the lowest harness slots, and weighs enough for the minimum weight, any of the car seats will be fine when installed at the 45 degree newborn angle though. You may need to use a receiving blanket or the like for extra support in some of them, but in terms of neck support, the 45 degree angle is what is important with a newborn/preemie.
The safeseat does have lower harness slots compared to the snugride, so if it was between the two, I'd definitely go with the safeseat. My ds was born at 33wks and fit the snugride when he came home at 5lbs 4ozs, but he also has a long torso...

Depending on the age of your girls, my advice about the double stroller would be to wait and see if you'll have use for it. I have a sit'n stand and we use it periodically - great for the bus when I need to have dd contained... but dd really prefers to walk most of the time and she's been like that since she was 2.5. I know my Joovy Caboose sit 'n stand is compatible with pretty much any infant carrier on the market, I'm thinking that you could find out what's compatible with the one you're looking at by looking at the website of the manufacturer.

Hope that helps some and that your ds is home with you soon. It's a big shock to the system having a preemie after having had prior full term babies. It sounds like your ds is growing and gaining real well though, so hopefully his stay will be brief.

I'd get the Keyfit. I just like it better than the Gracos.

But, as far as strollers go I'd get one that can recline flat or has a bassinet and put the little baby in that instead of keeping him in the carseat. It'll be so much better for his head and spine. Carseats are for cars. :twocents:

I agree that the Keyfit is a great seat! Many of the other seats you can't use until 5 pounds anyways and don't fit tiny babies very well at all.

In addition, make sure your Roundabout isn't expired, if you already have two kids who have used it and are now in boosters it's probably expired (unless it's already been replaced), they expire 6 years after date of manufacture.

Also, how old are your older children? It's odd to hear of a stroller for a child in a booster. So just wondering.

Wendy

Thanks for everyone that has shared their knowledge with me. I am leaning towards the Keyfit. I would still love to hear anyone's input though. I will worry about the stoller to put it on later. I don't think I will be going a lot of places for a while after I get my little guy home. I am a big germ-a-phobe
A few people have asked questions and it has started me thinking... My girls are 4 (almost 5) and 3. The Roundabout that my oldest was in, I just retired it a few months ago. The manufacturing date was '02. The other one is an '04 and we just barely moved my 3 year out of it into the parkway booster. The girls meet the requirements for the height and weight to be in the booster, but I am wondering if we should have done something else.
My oldest is very independent and was wanting to buckle herself in and my younger girl was wanting to be like her sister. She has had to wait for a year so that she met the requirements to be in the booster. Are these boosters safe? My girls were just ready to be done with all the straps on the carseat and so was I. I was tired of fighting with them over the buckles.
What is anyone's take on this? Are they safe in the Parkway booster? Thanks again for the input. Tracy

The Parkway is a great booster, but it's only safe if your children fit in them properly. A 5 point harness is safer than a booster, but a booster isn't unsafe for older children. IMO, 3 is way too young to sit safely in a booster. A child is not safe in a booster unless she can sit in it correctly everytime, for the entire trip.

I have a 3.5 year old and I can't imagine putting him in a booster - kids that age just aren't mature enough to sit properly.

How big are your girls (height and weight)? I personally would put at least the 3 year old back into a 5 point harness. Any reason you can't teach them to buckle their own harnesses?

JMO.

Roundabouts are good for 6 years, so your 2002 one still has a bit of life left in it (till 2008, whatever month is 6 years from date of manufacture).

Yeah, it seems 3 year olds have a much higher risk of head injury in booster seats...their heads are proportionately bigger, spines are weaker, and I'd be happy if the minimums on boosters were more like 5 years and 40 pounds, instead of 3/30 (sometimes 'marketing' has more sway on how seat gets labeled than 'optimal safety').

I still think the Parkway is a fantastically safe seat, though, and it does fit those little kiddos very well, but rushing into boosters was something I definitely did and definitely regretted (I put my kids back into harnesses at 4ish till 8ish, and wish I'd kept them that way all along, just in a hindsight is 20/20 way).

Best of luck with your newest little one!

I'd have to say I agree. The three year old has no business being in a booster, period. The 4 year old is really questionable...most 4 year olds I have encountered in checks and driving fieldtrips for daycare simply are in no way at all mature enough for a booster. Heck, I still have to remind my *6* year old VERY mature daughter to ride properly when she occasionally uses her booster. The rest of the time she is harnessed.

Every step up in carseats is a step down in safety. Just like 1 year and 20 pounds is the bare MINIMUM for turing forward facing but longer is much better, 4 years and 40 pounds is the bare MINIMUM for moving to a booster seat. And again, the longer you delay that, the safer. It's not so much a question of when CAN you move to the next step, it's more more a question of when do you absolutely have no choice but to move to the next step. There are tons of seats that are taller and harness to higher weights than the Roundabout, including many Britax.

But, good for you for asking the right questions! Now that you have a good lead on infant seats, it's probably time to go back and re-evaluate your other kids' seats. Depending on her height, weight, and maturity the Parkway may be ok for your oldest, but depending on her stats she likely could be much safer in something else. It's very difficult for a 4 year old, or even a 5 or 6 year old, to understand that they have to sit still and upright ALL the time and that they cannot be reaching for things, slouching, leaning, twisting, etc. And having two girls I understand the me too issue totally! It may go easier if they both go back to being harnessed, in addition to being safer.

Maybe you can e-Bay the Parkways to recoup some of the cost and put it towards better seats?

Piper sits in a Parkway sometimes. She's wonderfully safe about it, she locks the seatbelt over herself and she pulls it tight. She'll be five in a few weeks. And I wouldn't have it be her primary seat for another, oh, three years? If I can. She's got about one more torso inch before she's outgrown her Wizards. Her next step in my vehicle is a Regent. I'm her primary driver. The Parkway would move into my husband's car to be used when he takes her around. Which is probably 20% of the time or less. For travel she'd still be in a Radian (we have about three torso inches left in that, so quite a while). Then either as she approaches the height of the Regent, or if she's getting to be eight or nine and we're thinking and talking about it, I may move her to a booster for her primary seat.

Four years and 40 pounds is the minimum. Exceptions are certainly made for my little one who is going to maybe be 32 pounds on her fifth birthday. IMO those kids are who the Parkways are for rated from 30 pounds. For the wee ones. I wouldn't trust most kids (mine included and she's as safety conscious as they come) in a booster full time until closer to seven. They simply wiggle too much.

Fighting about buckles and harnesses is annoying, but it's their safety. Head injuries for kids too young (I've seen five years listed on a lot of references) in boosters is common. Bones don't completely ossify until about six years old, they don't reach adult strength until 12. The more support and safety we can give those bones and the spinal column and brain they protect (aiding other bones is simply a bonus) the better, IMO.

Piper rode in her booster today and she rides really well in it. She ever reached over to get something from the little girl sitting behind me (40.5 pounds and three inches over the top slots on her AOE, but don't get me started on that, oh not to mention the other day it was only installed with the tether, nothing through the belt path) and she stayed in position safely within her booster. She won't and can't lean out of it, she stays where she should. She does slouch a bit in there, though, and I remind her to sit straight up. I look back at her and freak a little and breathe a little sigh of relief that that's not the view I see normally, that she's usually snug in her five point and I won't have to see her with only three points of safety full time for a long time. Course then I look at me and my neighbor (who was driving, I can't drive yet after my surgery, which is why the booster is getting used in the first place because obviously my neighbor who has turned her kid into a crash test dummy can't be trusted with carseats, so we use a booster she can't mess up) and we're just in three point harnesses as well. And I'm pretty small, I would feel a lot safer snug in a five point. Even though I know three points have protected me safely in the past, I'd be a lot safer in a five point. I know I'd feel it.

Wendy