Question Convertible car seat recommendations for my large babe!!

Unregistered · Sep 5, 2013

Hi there

I am trying to decide what carseat to get my DS. He is 6 months old, almost 27 lbs and 29 inches long! He's been in the Peg Perego infant seat but will soon outgrow it in height. My DD was/is also big and tall, and we were happy with a True Fit for her, but I think my DS will surpass her in weight!! And RF limit of 35lbs probably won't get us to 2 yrs, I would guess.

I want something that will take him rear-facing for as long as possible. Looking at the Radian and Complete Air. I think the Radian would be my preference as it goes up to 45lbs RF. But it has a high price tag, and I don't know if it will fit RF in our 2006 Toyota Matrix (my husband is 6'3", I am 5'8").

Any advice? Or recommendations for other seats?

Thank you for any help!!

Key lime pie · Sep 5, 2013

I love the Radian's low profile which makes loading and unloading the child so much easier (comparing to a MyRide65, we had and a Foonf we tried out in our car at BBB) and easier for toddlers to climb in and out of themselves at an earlier age.

I was worried about it fitting, front to back, in smaller cars but it really wasn't a huge deal and it is so narrow that in many cars it fit between the two front seats without touching them! Once your son has good head control and can sit unassisted, it is safe to use the angle adjuster, which makes a huge difference in the space from the back of the Radian to the back of the front seats. My husband is 6' and my son's Radian can be installed behind the driver seat in our civic with room to spare.

Here is a picture that kinda shows the angle adjuster (dark grey/black foam wedge right under the carseat):

I just got a second Radian RXT on Amazon with a 20% off coupon (BABY0913) for $233 with tax & free shipping. (Retail is $339+ tax) Amazon lets you return carseats for free, too!

Keeanh · Sep 6, 2013

If the Radian takes up too much room right now at the infant recline, could you put your son in your daughter's True Fit for a while? What is she in now? Is she RF or FF? If she's still using the True Fit, you could get the Radian for her to either use FF, or RF with the angle adjuster. Then when your son is a bit older and has good head control, you could put him in the Radian with angle adjuster. Yes, it has a high price tag, but with a baby that big I think it's that or the Foonf

.

If your daughter is not using the True Fit, you could put your son in it and see how long it lasts him. It will at least buy you some more time to shop around and try out seats. And maybe get a better idea of how fast he's going to grow. My youngest was gaining 1/2 lb per week for the few months. At 5 months she was already 17lbs (big for my babies LOL). She's 11mo now and possibly 19lbs (was 18 last I checked). So her weight gain really slowed once she was mobile.