Is this a "good" reason to turn a kid FF?

Nedra

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
First the question: Would you flip a kid FF 9 months ahead of your goal in order to avoid buying another convertible?

Now the details:
So my plan was always to space my kids 3 years apart. That way, when the older one hit about 4 years old, the younger one would be ready to move out of the bucket seat and so the older could go straight to a combination and pass down the convertible. This way, as long as I was careful about expiration dates, I'd be able to get away with only one set of carseats for two kids.

Well, plans changed. We are now expecting a 2y3m age gap. So when the younger one hits about a year, the older one will be only 3y3m. Is that too early to move a kid FF just for convenience and cost reduction? I've always assumed I would RF until 4 because we buy high-capacity seats and my daughter (so far) is fairly small, so I figured it would be awhile before she outgrows her seats.

Totally aware that there are tons of variables that are unforseen at this point (second child's size, accidents or other reasons to need new seats in the interim, etc). But if it does come down to a simple matter of needing the bucket for the baby....is it worth it to avoid having to buy another convertible? We have smaller cars and so have to be very picky about RF seats, which is why I'm hoping to get as much use out of the ones we have (Britax Roundabout G4 and Chicco Nextfit) rather than buy more.

I'd love input, experiences, advice.
 
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BookMama

Senior Community Member
Why not keep the baby in the infant seat longer? If you're done with carrying it around, you could just install it in the car and leave it, taking baby in/out every time like you would with a convertible. Then do that until baby actually outgrows the infant seat or your older child turns four.
 

rachelandtyke

Well-known member
Why not keep the baby in the infant seat longer? If you're done with carrying it around, you could just install it in the car and leave it, taking baby in/out every time like you would with a convertible. Then do that until baby actually outgrows the infant seat or your older child turns four.

:yeahthat:
 

Nedra

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
Why not keep the baby in the infant seat longer? If you're done with carrying it around, you could just install it in the car and leave it, taking baby in/out every time like you would with a convertible. Then do that until baby actually outgrows the infant seat or your older child turns four.

Thanks for the response! Our infant seat (the Aton 2) has a pretty short shell height. I might be able to get the baby past a year in it, but our 25th percentile daughter outgrew it shortly after 1 year. Not knowing how big the next baby will be, I guess I'm just sort of assuming that it will be outgrown around 1 year again.

Also, we had a really hard time with ever leaving the Aton 2 in the car. It was hard to buckle her in if we had the handle up (required for that seat, unless they've made any retroactive changes to the rules) and because space was so tight in our small car we didn't have enough room to rotate the handle down every time to get it out of the way.
 

jwilliams

New member
I would buy another convertible for a child under 3.5 to keep them RF, especially with two younger siblings who might need spares. After that I would switch for cost/convenience reasons.
 

gigi

New member
I would flip to avoid buying another sear at over 3. I turned my daughter at about 3y,3m just because RFing her giant self was increasingly annoying for all members of the family. On the other hand, I don't like how giant and bulky combo seats are and I likely wouldn't buy one of those either. Wait until the infant seat is nearly outgrown and make the call about the seat then.
 

1mommy

New member
Keep in mind that it seems a lot of combo seats (harness to booster) have difficulties/incompatibilities with the booster part in a lot of cars, so buying a combination seat may not save you money in the long run. Also it can take trying out a few different dedicated boosters before you find one that fits her right.
 

henrietta

Well-known member
I would flip to avoid buying another sear at over 3. I turned my daughter at about 3y,3m just because RFing her giant self was increasingly annoying for all members of the family. On the other hand, I don't like how giant and bulky combo seats are and I likely wouldn't buy one of those either. Wait until the infant seat is nearly outgrown and make the call about the seat then.

I don't find our Evenflo Secure Kid 300 that bulky at all. It's pretty lightweight, easy to install, and fairly easy to use. :)

To the OP, I would not worry about any of this right now (not much anyways). ;) Yes, your child has a growth curve of her own, but for all we know, she'll have a giant growth spurt, all of it in the torso, right before you need to do anything..and thus, your decision will be made for you in a way.

There will be other seats out there by then, your second child may grow differently from the first, etc. And with the new convertible seats that last a long time for rear facing AND forward facing, buying another convertible to keep number 1 rearfacing to 4 isn't a huge deal...for one thing, some of them will easily get your kiddo to a safe booster age, second, you can avoid the added expense of a combo seat, and third, you don't have to worry about if the combo seat makes a good booster or not (although, really, not a huge deal cause you have another child to pass it down to). ;)

Congrats!!!
 

aeormsby

New member
Also take into account how long you have with the current convertibles before they expire. I think the newer Britax are longer than 6 years (?) but what about the Nextfit? Will they both last as long as you'd want to RF baby #2?

Personally I wouldn't buy a new convertible to keep a 3yo RF unless there was a specific need to RF. Both of my kids turned FF shortly after they turned 3 because of the RF limits at the time. The 1st 40lb RF seat came out a few months after DD turned FF but it just seemed more useful to get a combo seat at that point.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! :dance:

Anyway, yeah, just wait it out awhile and see what's out there. Usually when kids are so close, it's nicer to just leave the older one in the convertible (for sleep comfort, mainly)... and petite kids can go to a belt positioning booster after the convertible (at 5 or 6, Kindergarten is a good age for a booster, for me, personally).
 

CMeMeC

New member
I am kind of surprised that family planning was based on car seat use. That's a first for me... anyway, I would buy an inexpensive convertible (scenera) to use until my rear facing goal was met with the older child. I, however, turned mine at just over 3 because he reached the weight limit on his seat and I opted not to purchase another convertible.
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
You could just put one kid in each convertible and move them from car to car as needed. Or buy a 3 in 1 like the Graco Forever and have the abiliy to both rf and convert to a booster later on.

Really though, over the long run, carseats are actually a pretty cheap pieces of equipment. A 300 dollar carseat used for 3 years breaks down to just 8 dollars and change per month.
 

tesslouise

New member
I am kind of surprised that family planning was based on car seat use. That's a first for me... anyway, I would buy an inexpensive convertible (scenera) to use until my rear facing goal was met with the older child. I, however, turned mine at just over 3 because he reached the weight limit on his seat and I opted not to purchase another convertible.

Hey, my family planning was based on only having one in diapers at a time. ;)
 

Nedra

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
I am kind of surprised that family planning was based on car seat use. That's a first for me...

lol. Actually in the first draft of this post, I had a sentence in there about how that wasn't the ONLY reason for the 3 year gap. My sister and I were 3 years apart and I always just assumed that would be what we did with our kids. The car seat thing was more of a "oh, and since we are planning on kids 3 years apart, I can come up with an awesome car seat plan that will help me stave off baby fever until we're ready!"

Apparently, though, baby fever was not stave-off- able. ;-)
 

CMeMeC

New member
lol. Actually in the first draft of this post, I had a sentence in there about how that wasn't the ONLY reason for the 3 year gap. My sister and I were 3 years apart and I always just assumed that would be what we did with our kids. The car seat thing was more of a "oh, and since we are planning on kids 3 years apart, I can come up with an awesome car seat plan that will help me stave off baby fever until we're ready!"

Apparently, though, baby fever was not stave-off- able. ;-)

Hey, I didn't say it was a bad thing! I totally need another one, just so I can have a rear facer in my car again. My oldest turned 4 the month my third was born. I have had baby fever since he was born, but my husband hasn't caught it yet.
 

Nedra

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
Also take into account how long you have with the current convertibles before they expire. I think the newer Britax are longer than 6 years (?) but what about the Nextfit? Will they both last as long as you'd want to RF baby #2? Personally I wouldn't buy a new convertible to keep a 3yo RF unless there was a specific need to RF. Both of my kids turned FF shortly after they turned 3 because of the RF limits at the time. The 1st 40lb RF seat came out a few months after DD turned FF but it just seemed more useful to get a combo seat at that point.

Wow, well, I'm glad you brought this to my attention. The Nextfit will last until my younger child is 4, but wouldn't have lasted that long if we'd done the original 3 year age gap plan. I don't know what was wrong with my math when I originally planned it out. I guess In my math I was assuming that I'd get a seat with a manufacture date starting the month that I was planning to buy it (March) and instead we ended up buying the seat on sale in January and it had an October manufacture date. So that cut out 5 months of use. Well now I won't worry about it -- it wasn't going to work perfectly regardless. Thanks!
 

Carolinadaisy

New member
Wow, well, I'm glad you brought this to my attention. The Nextfit will last until my younger child is 4, but wouldn't have lasted that long if we'd done the original 3 year age gap plan. I don't know what was wrong with my math when I originally planned it out. I guess In my math I was assuming that I'd get a seat with a manufacture date starting the month that I was planning to buy it (March) and instead we ended up buying the seat on sale in January and it had an October manufacture date. So that cut out 5 months of use. Well now I won't worry about it -- it wasn't going to work perfectly regardless. Thanks!


The Nextfit has an 8 yr expiration.
 

Athena

Well-known member
My sister and I were 3 years apart and I always just assumed that would be what we did with our kids.

Congratulations! I know many sets of siblings with that approx. 2 year age gap, my own included, and they make for amazing friendships! Not that 3 years isn't good too, but since you're having the baby sooner ... :)

I guess I feel like it's a bit early to plan the car seats and I'd try to wait until closer to know more (not that I'd be able to be that patient either ;)).
 

CMeMeC

New member
Congratulations! I know many sets of siblings with that approx. 2 year age gap, my own included, and they make for amazing friendships! Not that 3 years isn't good too, but since you're having the baby sooner ... :)
.

There's 2 (almost 3) years between my younger two and they are so close, best friends. It amazes me that they are closer than the middle and oldest who are just 13 months apart.
 

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