Yeah a BRU rep was at our local children's museum the other day and I saw the Nautilus on display :thumbsup: (It was the only carseat there, the focus was safety in general, so the rest was cabinet locks, toilet locks etc. So they were, in a way, encouraging extended harnessing) I wandered over without DH/DS to look at it. She started talking to me about it (I quickly realized I knew more than she did though) and she said "So you're child should be a year old before you can use it." I wanted to say, "Well they should be at least two, if not more" but I lost my nerve!
It would be nice if the Nautilus at least had a 2 year minumum. Ideally, forward facing seats should only be for 30+ lbs and boosters ONLY for 40-45+ lbs instead of 30lbs! Baby steps, baby steps.
But again...what do you do with the 33 pound 20 month old?? They have now lost a customer who went and bought a convertible they CAN use and will outgrow very fast.
Honestly on a 30 pound minimum?? I am not OK with that(my kid couldn't use it then until she was 5 or 6....but anyways...thats a different vent) or a 2 year minimum. It's confusing enough to tell parents what seat to get
I am having that problem right now with "minimums" My child is small. She is 3 and 24 pounds. I have made the parental decision based on my research and knowledge to place her forward facing in my husbands car and in a few months FF in my car. We have a GN and a Frontier. She uses the GN his car, but I would prefer she use the Frontier. However, because of the "minimum" she can't, even though she is 3.
She hasn't gained weight in over a year. Do I think she will hit 25 lbs by fall? Nope...so now I am stuck having to wait longer to use the seat.
I know their thought process was in the right place.....but for some people its hard reaching any of those minimums...you have a chunky under 2 child or a skinny preschooler, you can't use those seats and are forced to go to other manufacturers. If the minimum was 30 lbs?? Seriously, my child would be in first grade. I will not buy a seat I can't even use until that time.
If you raise both the GN and the Frontier to 2/25#'s (or even 30#)you lose alot of potential customers who are forced to buy whatever seat fits their child and a whole lot of kiddos in boosters sooner. Right now the GN is my only option for a HWH seat that converts to a booster. Take that out of the equation, I am stuck with an Apex pretty much
I know "ideally" there should be those minimums, but there are the exceptions then who couldn't use those seats. I'd love to see kids RF to 2 and RF to 33 pounds but for heavy kids and skinny kids on each spectrum, those minimums may do more harm than good.
I know for people who have "average sized" kids this doesn't seem like an issue....but can you imagine not being able to forward face your child until they were 6?? Or not be able to use a seat for your 18 month old who is chunkier because they don't meet the age minimum??
Until you have a child on those extreme spectrums, its hard to understand.
