Good convertibles for newborns

What are some good convertibles for newborns. I was thinking EFTA, true fit and the radian 65 any others and are these ones good for infants.

Also any Britax car seats that are good for new borns. I have a mom that does not want an infant seat.

no on britax. They revised their stance and you cannot use their convertibles until the child's shoulders are at the lowest slot. At 10", that rules out almost all newborns.

Dorel convertibles actually fit newborns nicely, provided you can get an acceptable recline.

kmcenery said:

Also any Britax car seats that are good for new borns. I have a mom that does not want an infant seat.

Click to expand...

Britax recently changed their manuals to read that the lowest harness slots must be at or below the baby's shoulders. Most babies don't fit well until at least a month or two old. The Decathalon has infant padding, but I'm hesitant to recommend it because of the issues.

I think the True Fit would be a great choice.

I looked carefully at the ETA in the store the other day and I was seriously impressed by how low the slots are! Lower than I had previously thought, lower than the Scenera! I am getting an ETA for my next baby to come home in. That, or a TrueFit... This past baby came home in a Radian (with padding), although she actually had a 10 inch torso at birth and she could have used a Britax convertible from birth-- one of the few babies I've EVER seen with a torso that long at birth!

I honestly don't know why people suggest the RN for newborns. Maybe with the infant padding, but still ... I had a RN65 to play with when DD was 5 months old. At her 4 month checkup she was 24" 12#15oz so bigger than any newborn. I put DD in the seat, tightened the straps, but couldn't quiiiite get it as tight as I like. After tugging here and there, I took DD out and turned the seat over (in my living room) to see if maybe the harness was getting caught up somewhere. Nope, it was all the way tight. IIRC DD's shoulders were right at or just a tidge above the lowest slots. So based on my personal experience I can't recommend the RN for a newborn.:twocents: But I have seen many others say that it is good for newborns.

BTW DD seems to have a long torso, she is wearing 6 month size onesies because of torso length, but 3 month size pants are still way too long.

The true fit fits most newborns very well :thumbsup: Britax and Recaro seats do not.

I've been confused as to why so many people recommend the R65/80 for newborns but are against the MA. The lowest harness slot is only an inch lower in the RNs.

Sometimes it only takes an inch to make a difference. Plus the Radian has infant pads, that helps too.

I often find that an infant will fit in the DC and the BLVD before they will fit in the MA. The infant pads really do help.

My son came home in a BLVD but he was huge. The straps were at his shoulders. In a Radian the straps would have easily been below his shoulders.

In my experience, the Cosco Scenera, Evenflo Triumph Advance and Sunshine Kids Radian fit newborns well. Not all the Dorel (Safety 1st, Eddie Bauer, Cosco) seats have low bottom slots, though--the Eddie Bauer 3-in-1's bottom slots seem lower than the Cosco Alpha Omega Elite's bottom slots, but the AOE's top slots are slightly higher than the EB 3-in-1, so it will last longer harnessed, heightwise. I don't like to recommend those 3-in-1s, anyway, unless it's the newest version that has a 50# harnessed weight limit (because it has a higher top harness height position than the others that only harness to 40#).

I tried my friend's tiny 7mo (about 13 pounds at the time, if I remember correctly; he'll be a year next month and is only about 27 inches long and 16 pounds) in the True Fit and Radian, and honestly, as much as I love the True Fit, it would NOT have worked well for him as a newborn; I do think the Radian and EFTA would have worked fine from birth. At 13 pounds and 24-25 inches (IIRC), the Radian's bottom slots were a solid inch below his shoulders, with no infant padding in the seat at all. At the same time, the True Fit's lowest slots were even with/still a smidge above his shoulders (again, without the infant padding). The Britax Marathon's lowest slots were still a good inch above his shoulders. The EFTA's lowest slots seem crazy-low, and Evenflo is known for having pretty low bottom slots on pretty much all their seats, so while I didn't try this tiny baby in the EFTA, I feel confident that it would fit little ones well. His mom uses a Scenera, though, and it fit him very well.

Oh I forgot about the Maxi Cosi Priori. $200 but SUPER low bottom slots and nice padding. Not sure it would take you very far past 2 years old Rear Facing and I'm sure many wouldn't even make it to 2 rear facing. But still a nice seat for a new born.

Thank you I gave her the info.

What about crotch strap depth in a this situation? I haven't personally put any newborns in any convertible car seat.

cookie123 said:

What about crotch strap depth in a this situation? I haven't personally put any newborns in any convertible car seat.

Click to expand...

With the little guy I tried in the Radian and True Fit, the closest crotch strap setting was just fine. It's also acceptable to place a rolled washcloth between baby and the crotch strap, if absolutely necessary to keep baby from slumping down in the seat, if the crotch strap is too far away (the only time it's allowed to place any kind of padding between baby and the harness is at the crotch strap).

Yeah, I actually had to move the crotch strap out to the second setting at only about 5 or 6 weeks on the Radian because it was in so far. They really are designed to fit small babies well (using the padding.)