rear face car seat

Can I find a rear face car seat in the US up to 39-40 lbs?

Nope...35 pounds is the highest RF limit here in the states.

Susan

No.

I wish!

Hm... in Norway they recoment rf to 4 years old But my european car seat is not allowed to use in the us

moving to fl said:

Hm... in Norway they recoment rf to 4 years old But my european car seat is not allowed to use in the us

Click to expand...

Yup, that's a point of sadness for many of us. We're hoping to see carseats soon that rearface to 40 lbs, but they aren't on the market yet.

Is then britax diplomat the best choice?

Yes, here in the US the recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics and most well-educated Child Passenger Safety Technicians is to rear-face to the limits of the seat. This recommendation has been in place for at least five years, but the problem is, it's slow to catch on. Ten years ago in the US, almost no seats rear-faced beyond 20 or 22 pounds. That meant a child was lucky to fit rear-facing to a year old. Therefore, the old recommendation (and one that's still stuck in the minds of many doctors, CPSTs and parents and grandparents) was to rear-face to 12 months OR 20 pounds. Later it was changed to 12 months AND 20 pounds.

That is still the "bare minimum" to turn forward-facing in the US, unfortunately. A few carseat manufacturers have upped the FF minimums for particular seats, to 12 months and 22 pounds, sometimes with a minimum height restriction of 34 inches, as well.

However, while convertible carseats in the US do generally have FF minimums of 1 year old/20 pounds, they all have rear-facing maximums of 30, 33 or 35 pounds, depending on manufacturer, and as I stated before, the AAP and most CPSTs will encourage rear-facing to the maximum limits of the seat for optimum protection.

Unfortunately 30-35 pounds is only enough to get many children to 1-2 years old, certainly not ideal by any means. The "lucky" petite kids do get to rear-face to 3-5 years old, if parents are informed of the benefits.

moving to fl, how old is your child? How tall and heavy? What vehicle (year, make and model) will the carseat go in? Perhaps we can offer some suggestions.

She is 22 months, we moving to florida when she is 2 years and 4 months. So we have not a car yet.. She is 26 lbs, and not a tall girl

In six months she'll probably not gain more than 2ish pounds, I'd guess? So at 2 years, 4 months she shouldn't be over 28ish pounds.

The issue with most 40 pound (overall) weight limit carseats (like the Diplomat) is that, in the US, the head must be fully contained when rear-facing. I know in some other countries the head can poke over the top of the seat shell when rear-facing, but in the US no carseat manufacturer allows that. The seats with 40 pound overall weight limits tend to have shorter seat shells than the seats with higher harnessed weight limits.

Of course, if your child is shorter than average or has a shorter-than-average torso, the other seats may be just fine.

Britax seats in general are highly thought of, but we try to steer folks toward the Marathon, Decathlon or Boulevard because of the taller seat shell and higher harnessed weight limit overall. I know in Norway kids generally are not harnessed forward-facing; it's rear-facing as long as possible and then into a booster. But here, because of the low rear-facing limits, we tend to harness our children forward-facing for a few years, because most children are not old enough and mature enough to sit properly in a booster with three-point seatbelt when they reach 30-35 pounds.

Thank you for good information.

This is my norwegain seat

http://www.hts.no/english/frameset_english.htm

That link brought up the main page; I'm assuming that your seat is either the Kid or the Combi, because those are the ones that look to hold a rear-facing child your daughter's age and size?

yes, I have combi really godd car seat, but not allowed in us:thumbsdown:

Yes, it looks fabulous! I think it's fine to use it on the plane and for the first little bit while you're here, provided it installs okay, while you try out new seats. I'd just hate for you to miss the try-before-you-buy opportunity.