A few questions...

[egc523]

My daughter is in a 2003 britax roundabout right now. She is 13 months old. she's 23 lbs. She is very tall for her age. Not sure of her exact height, but she's about to outgrow her roundabout. I looked at her closely this morning, and her head is about 1 1/2 inches from the top. I'm thinking I've read before that you need to quit using the seat when they are 1 inch from the top?

I'm looking at buying a new Graco Safeseat Step 2. Does anyone know if it is bigger than the roundabout? I have yet to find both in 1 store here and I'm not that good at guessing. It looks like it would fit her better, and I love the reclining feature on her roundabout, that I don't want to lose, and this carseat has it.

Also where can I get safety ratings on the Graco Safeseat Step 2?

Sorry it's soo long. I'm kinda clueless as far as car seats go.

 

[wendytthomas]

I wouldn't get the Safeseat 2 for your daughter. At 13 months and 23 pounds she's MUCH safer rearfacing, and the Safeseat 2 is only forward facing.

I'd get her a Britax Marathon, Decathalon, or Boulevard, or a Sunshine Kids Radian. They all harness rearfacing to 33 pounds (and have roughly a 17" top torso height) and harness forward facing to 65 pounds. The Safeseat 2 only harnesses to 40 pounds, which she may be before she's mature enough for a booster seat. As for which of these four seats, I couldn't recommend one over the other, it's personal choice, budget fit, fit in your car, and fit for your daughter. Specialty and boutique stores (USA Baby comes to mind) generally have the entire Britax line so you can see them, and the USA Baby by us has the Radian as well. The Radian is also generally about $10 more than I've seen for the Safeseat, so a much better economical deal for you as well.

HTH

Wendy

 

[Unregistered]

I would not get the safeseat. It's essentially the same type of seat as your roundabout.

It's made by Graco, so chances are the slots are 15" at the most and that is how tall the Roundabout slots are.

IMO the safeseat 2 is an awful design. It's a terribly expensive seat that only goes forward and only lasts for 20lbs.

Go with a Britax Marathon, Decathlon, Boulevard, Sunshine Kids Radian or the FP knock off of the Marathon, the Fisher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe.

Those seats will last you until your dd is at leat 4, if not 5 or 6. The safeseat will get you till she's 3, if you're lucky.

 

[melaniev]

thinking I've read before that you need to quit using the seat when they are 1 inch from the top?

Is this true?? It does not sound possible to me (a layperson) that she has outgrown the roundabout at that size. My daughter just outgrew hers by height (not weight) at 3yrs 9 months, 38lbs, and 43" tall. I used it (forward facing) till her shoulders were above the harness slots.

 

[wendytthomas]

Rearfacing it's true. Forward facing it's the top of the ears over the frame of the seat or shoulders above the top slot, whichever comes first.

Good point.

However, at 13 months and only 23 pounds, she should be rearfacing, and so if her head is within an inch of the top she is too tall for rearfacing in it, and should probably get a new seat anyway.

Wendy

 

[egc523]

this is actually her foward facing... maybe you can see. sorry it's the only pic i have i can take more later when i pic her up from daycare. this one was taken last week, so it's recent...

 

[egc523]

and a car seat safety tech installed her car seat ff at the hospital in town at a free check like 3 weeks ago, because i wanted to make sure it was installed right, when i got my new car, a 99 eddie bauer explorer. she said my daughter was too tall to be in that car seat rf. i think she's actually less than an 1 in from the top? i'm not really sure.

 

[scatterbunny]

Britax actually allows rear-facing until the head is EVEN with the top of the seat shell.

Forward-facing that seat is outgrown when her shoulders go over the top harness slots OR when the tips of her ears go over the top of the seat shell.

I can't tell by that picture how your dd is fitting. I can't see how much shell she has above her head or how far below the top slots her shoulders are.

I would most definitely get a CONVERTIBLE seat with a very tall seat shell to accommodate her long torso height. Good ones would be Fisher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe ($170-$180), Sunshine Kids Radian ($180-$200) and the Britax Marathon/Decathlon/Boulevard ($220-$290). These will all keep her rear-facing to 33 pounds. They all have tall top slots and tall seat shells to ensure kids don't get too tall too soon. The Fisher Price harnesses to 55 pounds, the others to 65, though the slots on the Britax seats are the same as the Fisher Price and will probably be outgrown around 50ish pounds anyway.

Children under the age of 2 are 4 times more likely to die in a crash if they are forward-facing.

Check out this great post on another board about why rear-facing as long as possible is safest (be sure to wait for the pictures to load to see the differences in a 1-year-old's spine and a 6-year-old's spine):

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=13&topic_id=44503&mesg_id=44503&page