Help me come up with a good car seat

[lgenne]

A relative is having her first baby, and doesn't really know anything about car seats. I suspect that the ones she has won't work at least for a newborn, although I'm still trying to get details on them. She drives a 2000 Daewoo Nubira. Best guess is that the baby will be on the small side.

I'm planning to just send her a car seat, assuming the ones she has are problematic in some way.

My guess is that she has a bucket seat that's probably fine for larger infants, less great for small newborns. She'll probably want to use that next winter at least. She can't return her existing seat, because she bought it on clearance, so I'm leaning toward a convertible that will fit early, and then again later after the bucket is outgrown.

The Sureride is tempting, but it looks like it would take up a lot of space RF, right? A CCO would certainly fit the car and a newborn, but is outgrown fairly early. Then again, if the baby is small, which we expect, a CCO could be a good car seat for a good long time.

Any other thoughts?

 

[ketchupqueen]

The SureRide actually doesn't take up that much space even in compact cars, though I haven't put it in that specific one. It takes up the same amount of space as the Scenera or the original Titan- they dropped the seat rather than making the shell taller, so even though it lasts a long time it doesn't take up as much room as similarly tall seats.

The Coccoro does do well in small cars.

Another to consider might be the Maxi-Cosi Pria with TinyFit- it takes up very little room but fits newborns great because of its unique insert that changes the angle for smaller babies.

 

[Nedra]

A relative is having her first baby, and doesn't really know anything about car seats. I suspect that the ones she has won't work at least for a newborn, although I'm still trying to get details on them. She drives a 2000 Daewoo Nubira. Best guess is that the baby will be on the small side.

I'm planning to just send her a car seat, assuming the ones she has are problematic in some way.

My guess is that she has a bucket seat that's probably fine for larger infants, less great for small newborns. She'll probably want to use that next winter at least. She can't return her existing seat, because she bought it on clearance, so I'm leaning toward a convertible that will fit early, and then again later after the bucket is outgrown.

The Sureride is tempting, but it looks like it would take up a lot of space RF, right? A CCO would certainly fit the car and a newborn, but is outgrown fairly early. Then again, if the baby is small, which we expect, a CCO could be a good car seat for a good long time.

Any other thoughts?

I have a few clarifying questions...

What details do you have on the car seat (car seats?) that she has? You mention that you are assuming that it is problematic for small newborns, but why is that? Just because she doesn't know much about car seats doesn't mean the one she got is bad for small newborns. Some popular ones are great for newborns, so even if she didn't know it, she may have gotten lucky.

How much communication have you had with her about her seat preferences? I ask because I would be very hesitant to buy a convertible for a first-time parent with a newborn unless I knew that that's what they wanted. Personally, I found my infant seat to be an essential that I would not give up -- long before winter came around, I was already extremely grateful that I hadn't gotten a convertible. Most parents that like infant seats like them especially for the newborn stage. If I were your relative, I would be VERY tempted to tuck your convertible gift away for later and quietly ignore any poor fit problems in order to use my infant seat right away.

All this is to say, be sure you're communicating with her about her current seat and asking for her input on her new seat. Personally, if I were her, I'd want you to buy me a Keyfit 30 and I would donate the clearance seat and wait on a convertible until I needed it.

 

[lgenne]

I had some spotty, conflicting details, but now I have a definitive answer. It's the original Evenflo Embrace with the Z handle that only goes to 22 pounds. That one probably won't work in her car at all, right? I'm having trouble finding a good review of it.

 

[lgenne]

Oh, and I'm definitely planning to discuss options with her.

Assuming that the Embrace won't work, are there infant seats out there that will work with the travel system it comes with? She's pretty excited about that part.

 

[ketchupqueen]

It will fit small babies but almost definitely won't fit in her car, because the handle has to be down and the seat needs 1.5" between it and the seat in front of it.

It may also be a rear-adjust, which are a pain.

I don't know what will fit that stroller but those strollers are pretty awful, tend to break easily and are difficult to push.

 

[lgenne]

Ok, so talk to me about infant bucket seats. I'm hoping for:

-front adjust
-easy install
-fits small newborns
-fits small cars
-easy on the budget
-lock offs (optional, but really nice, given the lack of lower anchors)

A Keyfit 30 was more than I was hoping to spend, especially since they'll need an extra base. But I'm not sure anything else actually works here.

 

[Keeanh]

Ok, so talk to me about infant bucket seats. I'm hoping for:

-front adjust
-easy install
-fits small newborns
-fits small cars
-easy on the budget
-lock offs (optional, but really nice, given the lack of lower anchors)

A Keyfit 30 was more than I was hoping to spend, especially since they'll need an extra base. But I'm not sure anything else actually works here.

How much are you planning to spend? What about a Comfy Carry Elite? Or an Onboard 35? Or a Snugride Classic Connect 30 or 35? All of those are around $100 or less.

In my opinion, they'd only really care about lockoffs if they were reinstalling in pre-1997 vehicles every week, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

 

[Keeanh]

Here's a comparison of infant seats' front-to-back space: http://csftl.org/battle-of-the-infant-seats/

 

[lgenne]

The CCEP looks pretty good in terms of features and price. The onBoard looks like it might take up too much front to back space, and the buckles on the Graco seats concern me.

ETA: oh, link. I'll keep the onBoard on the list.

 

[lgenne]

Final plan on this: she's going to install the Evenflo in the middle of the back seat if possible, otherwise behind the drivers seat. She has checked, and it fits, but the driver seat has to be pulled forward a click more than she would really like. Baby will ride exclusively in the Evenflo, and everyone who drives her anywhere will know the proper way to get the baby in the car seat in the car and how other seats need to be adjusted. Behind the passenger seat is not an option because that seat belt is broken. This is a temporary solution until...

...the baby grows into the SR22 her mom got. I have an extra SR22 base in my basement that's only about 2 years old, never in an accident. I'm going to ship it to her. It's a fine car seat as long as it fits the baby and the car, so as long as she's not planning to use it from birth, I'm good with that.

 

[Nedra]

Final plan on this: she's going to install the Evenflo in the middle of the back seat if possible, otherwise behind the drivers seat. She has checked, and it fits, but the driver seat has to be pulled forward a click more than she would really like. Baby will ride exclusively in the Evenflo, and everyone who drives her anywhere will know the proper way to get the baby in the car seat in the car and how other seats need to be adjusted. Behind the passenger seat is not an option because that seat belt is broken. This is a temporary solution until...

...the baby grows into the SR22 her mom got. I have an extra SR22 base in my basement that's only about 2 years old, never in an accident. I'm going to ship it to her. It's a fine car seat as long as it fits the baby and the car, so as long as she's not planning to use it from birth, I'm good with that.

I'm so glad it all worked out!

 

[Keeanh]

Glad you have a plan!

And the Snugride 22 really isn't as bad as people make it out to be. It might very well fit from birth. No, it won't fit a 5lb baby properly, but a 7lb baby can fit safely. Here's my daughter at 1 week, still less than 7lbs.

 

[lgenne]

It fit my DS1 fine, but he was huge and all torso. DS2 was more proportional and 8 pounds, and didn't really fit until he was a couple weeks old. The seat itself is expiring in less than a year, but we got a new base before DS2 was born. We're expecting this baby to be significantly smaller.

 

[lgenne]

Oh, and the evenflo is at least front adjust, so that's good.