frontier for a toddler?

U

Unregistered

Guest
Hi

We are expecting our second child in late Sept. My 2 year old son is currently rear-facing in his britax decathlon. I was just going to buy another decathlon for the new babe, but now wondering if I should upgrade my son to a frontier when the new one arrives, and let the new one use the decathlon.

In Sept, he will be almost 2.5. Currently, he is 36 inches tall, and 29 pounds.

feedback would be appreciated.
thanks,
k
 
ADS

fyrfightermomma

New member
At his age and weight, rear facing really turns into a parental decision. Obviously, the longer you can rear face him the better, but you also have to look at the long term. Are you going to get as much use out of another DC as if you got a forward facing only seat? Or would you end up having to buy another seat down the road. If that doesn't bother you, then I'd say another RFing DC. If you really don't want to buy another seat than a forward facing only seat like the Frontier may be a better option. With a 9 year expiration your child will got alot of use out of it and it woudl still have time to be passed down to baby #2.

You did great rear facing him this long. After this point its really a very carefully thought out decision. Also by the end of Sept. he'll probably have gained a few pounds and would probably be closer to the 33 lb limit anyways. He also seems tall so you'll have to take that into consideration as the Frontier has higher slots than the 65 lb Britax's

I am facing this decision as well. I have a daughter who will be 3 in August. My intent was to rear face her as long as possible, but now I am looking at the big picture. One of her MA's is set to expire soon and I was going to replace it with another one. However she is tall, and I just don't think the $250ish is worth spending on a seat she could outgrow in another two years. So I decided to get the Frontier for about the same price that will last both girls a good chunk of time. I still have the other MA and she will remain RFing there in our main car, but I've made the choice then to FF her in our other car she occasionally rides in.

Good luck with your choice!
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
How about an infant seat or a Scenera ($45) for the new baby, since Britaxes are not known for fitting newborns well. Then when the baby is outgrowing the infant seat, or when your son is outgrowing the DC you move that one down and then purchase a new seat for your older son?

Wendy
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
How about an infant seat or a Scenera ($45) for the new baby, since Britaxes are not known for fitting newborns well. Then when the baby is outgrowing the infant seat, or when your son is outgrowing the DC you move that one down and then purchase a new seat for your older son?

Wendy

hmmm... interesting thought. I do plan on keeping DS rear-facing until the new one arrives. I am not a fan of the infant car seats, I prefer to wear my kids -- so, I don't see the benefit to an infant carseat. Plus, DS was 8.5 lbs at birth and 23 lbs by six months, and also off the charts for height -- he slowed down after that, and I know that my second kid won't neccessarily follow that growth curve, but could.

it is a good thing that I have several more months to decide.

thanks,
K
 

VLsMom

New member
I just ordered a Frontier for my 2.5 yr old. She's 30 lbs and has outgrown the Scenera RFing. We'll see how she fits when it arrives!
 

emandbri

Well-known member
do you have an infant seat you can borrow from a friend for a few weeks? Try to find one that isn't older then 5 years and has a 5-point. I wouldn't put a newborn in a britax convertible. Here is my dd at a week old, she was around 7 lbs 15 oz.

summer%2006%20041.jpg
 

aisraeltax

New member
hmmm... interesting thought. I do plan on keeping DS rear-facing until the new one arrives. I am not a fan of the infant car seats, I prefer to wear my kids -- so, I don't see the benefit to an infant carseat. Plus, DS was 8.5 lbs at birth and 23 lbs by six months, and also off the charts for height -- he slowed down after that, and I know that my second kid won't neccessarily follow that growth curve, but could.

it is a good thing that I have several more months to decide.

thanks,
K

I completely agree with you. i am due in October. I was originally going to purchase another BV for the new baby (my kids fit PERFECTLY in the MA and BV's). I also dont see the benefit of an infant seat b/c I dont use it for anything else..i never put my kid in an infant seat and i dont use it for in the house, store etc. etc. (I think they are unsafe outside of a car). However, after seeing the Frontier, I started thinking about the economic value of carseats. I want my son to go into a Frontier when he outgrows his 35 lb. RF'ing BV. So....a friend of mine has an infant seat that has very good ratings (my 28 month old is 25 lbs. right now and so has another 10 lbs. to go..though he will likely gain alot of weight after my milk comes in..he has dropped 5 lbs. since Jan. due to my lack of supply...so I do expect a large weight gain for him..which is a factor in my decision making).

I am going to use the friend's seat for a little while. Its safe and it will get us over the hump of having the BV RF for my 2 yo until he turns 35 lbs. At that point (well, near that point) I will buy the Frontier, put him in it when he is 35 lbs. (more than likely around Jan or Feb. of '09 (he will be 3) and give the baby to BV. I may be wrong about my estimates of his weight....and if so Ill end up buying another BV and that will be life..Ill wait another year before buying the Frontier and Ill sell the newer BV (prob. get more money bc it will have a longer shelf life)...and the "best made plans", etc. etc. But for now, thats the plan.

Just thought I would share that I am in "almost" the same predictament about carseats.
 

amyg530

Active member
at his age and stats, i would get the frontier over another convertable seat. while lots of kids dont fit the britax seats as newborns, there are also many that do, and if your first fit then they're no reason to not use one. i agree that theres no reason to get an infant seat if you plan on wearing the baby.
 

tweetykl

New member
I am a fan of the infant seat because they have a snugger fit on the baby. My daughter is 24 inches and 12 lbs. (which is all a guess) and she just turned a month old. We got her the Safeseat 1 because it goes to 32 inches. That gave us time to see if the Frontier would be a good fit with our 2.5 year old son.
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
do you have an infant seat you can borrow from a friend for a few weeks? Try to find one that isn't older then 5 years and has a 5-point. I wouldn't put a newborn in a britax convertible. Here is my dd at a week old, she was around 7 lbs 15 oz.

Just wondering about your picture -- Jack had inserts (not sure if that is the correct term) around him when he was a newborn, thus creating a snug fit.

I should have mentioned that I live in the city, and don't need to use my car on a daily basis -- can walk to the grocery store, have lots of public transportation options, which is another reason I don't want an infant car seat.

But, I do want to keep Jack RF as long as possible, so I am going to ask my aunt if I can borrow her granddaughter's infant car seat, (need to find out what it is), and then hopefully by 3, Jack will be close to 35 lbs and I can move him to a frontier, and the new one to the decathlon.

I have also heard that the Frontier is new and has some kinks to still be worked out... any thoughts on this?

I do appreciate all the feedback -- very helpful. thanks!
k
 

aisraeltax

New member
k, most of the complaints aroudn teh Frontier seem to be installation and Britax was really quick in addressing that issue.
 

emandbri

Well-known member
Just wondering about your picture -- Jack had inserts (not sure if that is the correct term) around him when he was a newborn, thus creating a snug fit.

Inserts aren't recommended until they come with the seat because they haven't been tested with the seat and can mess up the strap placement. An insert also wouldn't help that she is 2 inches from the harness slots, rear-facing he straps need to be at or below the shoulders.

If you want to use a convertible from birth I would choose a non britax seat that has lower harness slots.

here is a chart that has some seats on it
http://www.carseatdata.org/cnt/resources/car-seat-measurements

the cosco Scenera is cheap and would be good. You would then have a light seat if you wanted ot travel by plane. I think the new evenflo triumpth advance had low bottom slots and it has a tall back and goes to 35 rear-facing and 50 lbs forward facing. The radian has low bottom slots not sure exactly what they are. There are seats that aren't on the chart (chart is a little old) not sure about their slots.
 

aisraeltax

New member
i know there are some pix here of newborns in MA and/or BV's that fit great. i dont think i took a pix of ours directly though (showing straps, etc. etc.) but i know our straps were at or below the shoulders so it certainly does fit some nb's.
 

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