Monday, January 30, 2012

Calling all Moms

I need some opinions if you please....  I am scheduled to be induced 3 weeks from tomorrow if he doesn't decide to make his appearance sooner.  I bet you can all guess which one I am voting for!  Our infant carrier has expired and I am looking for a new one.  Since this is most likely our last baby, I am not wanting to spend a grundle of money but I also want style and safety.  So here is where I need your input, please.  Which style handle was your favorite??  I am open to suggestions.

For the other kids we used a Baby Trend car seat because we liked this handle.


These are a few of the other options out there.  Tell me what you liked and didn't like and why.  Thanks


14 comments:

Cindi said...

The one on the bottom( the pink one) is the one I got for Amanda. Ours had also expired by the time Amanda was born. I really liked the handle on it but my sister has the straight handled one and it was fine too. So I guess that doesn't help too much... I guess I liked the one we had for Amanda because of the handle- it was easier to grab and carry for me. Good luck. I say go to the store and try picking up a few of them and see what you think. I als didn't want a really heavy car seat- some of them were like lugging a ton of bricks around- we went with the medium weight one so that it wasn't breaking my arm to carry Amanda around in.

Homemaker is not a "dirty" word said...

I hadn't thought about weight. Originally when we picked our first one it was all about the handle. I liked the triangle because I could hold it from different angles. I will consider that...

Tiffany said...

We have always used a graco because it fits in our
strollers so I am not much help on the different types of handles. I am sure you have already heard but children now have to stay rear facing till they are 2. So you will have to buy a convertable carseat at some point. I don't know how you feel about used but we bought our second carseat off of ksl. Kid2kid also has lots of good ones. Hope you little one makes his debut soon.

Elizabeth said...

My sisters and sister-in-law who just had babies all got the Chicco car seats that fit up to 30lbs since they are now suggesting that our babies stay rear facing for longer. I had a Graco with my first three kids and it worked just fine and went with my travel system (stroller). This time around I have a Britax B-Safe car seat (simply becuase I work with Britax on my blog and they sent it to me). I think there are so many good options out there you can't really go wrong.

Anonymous said...

The no-rethread harness on the Baby Trend is nice. I wasn't a fan of the handle on the Baby Trend though since I find it easier to carry the seat with my arm (up by my elbow). I would avoid the bottom seat. One feature to look for is the harness adjuster in the front. You want to make sure your baby is snug in the seat and ones without the adjuster in the front were always difficult for me to use.

Anonymous said...

we had gotten a graco travel system for our baby shower and i was so excited and we bought a evenflo for a backup. both of which he outgrew by 7 months! so i vote to get a convertable one instead! it'll last a few years instead of months. we got a graco and evenflo of that too and graco was way cheaper and fits in our car way better but evenflo looks more "safe" more padding and stuff. but out of the infant seats i did like the graco way better then the infant seat evenflo. i wish i could think of the brand my friend uses its real deep and looks very safe and can hold bigger babies safer. Best Wishes!

Anonymous said...

i'm sorry our travel system was a baby trend. but the other ones were evenflos and gracos

Mrs. Hornsby said...

We also have the Baby Trend (Expedition Flex Loc) and love the handle and front strap adjuster, but I do HATE the buckle on it, so that is another thing to check when you test them out at the store!

Hobbit Mom said...

I'm a Child Passenger Safety Technician and I would not get any of the seats you have pictured there. I am not sure what the 3rd seat is, but it appears to be a 3-point seat with no chest clip, which probably means it's a European seat.

I don't like the Baby Trend, Maxi-Cosi, or Evenflo infant seats because all of them require the handle to be in the down position in the car. Even if you're lucky enough to have a car where the seat still fits (the Evenflo also requires 1.5" of clearance between the handle and the vehicle's front seats), it's one more thing to have to remember. When my oldest kids were babies, all car seats required the handle to be down, and it's something I found I forgot often. Most of the newer infant seats don't require the handles to be down.

Also, with the Baby Trend, we see a LOT of these seats at car seat check-up events and we also see a lot of incompatibilities with vehicles. If it installs well, great, but often it's difficult to get the base in tightly enough so it moves less than 1" (especially if you don't have LATCH). The narrow belt path just doesn't seem to work well with a lot of vehicle seats.

I would suggestthat you look into: (in several different price ranges)

Safety 1st Comfy Carry Elite or Elite Plus (most economical)
Safety 1st Onboard Air
Chicco Keyfit
Graco Snugride 30 or 35

Of course all the car seats on the market are safe when used correctly. But the above seats are generally easier to use correctly and have fewer incompatibilities with vehicles compared to the ones you have pictured.

"The safest car seat is the one that fits your car, fits your budget, and you will use correctly 100% of the time."

When you make your final selection, I would encourage you to read the manual thoroughly. Also read your vehicle manual again. Bonus points if you visit a Safe Kids car seat check-up event or visit with a certified child passenger safety technician to make sure you didn't overlook anything.

Sandy R said...

I'm not quite sure where you are located (kinda stumbled in here) but while most people are going to say ditch the infant seat and go for the convertable if you're somewhere that has a good cold winter I'd go for the infant carrier. My first was a Dec. baby and we got a Graco Safeseat. My husband termed it a "roll cage" for the baby if we slipped while carrying her. It's heavy, don't get me wrong, but we are happily using it with our second, and he's MUCH heavier then his sister was. At 4 months he had her beat at 6 months, but we haven't switched to the convertable we have for him. The carrier goes to 30 lbs and 32 inches, so until he hits those limits he's staying in the carrier.
I tend to carry the seat with my elbow, or propped up on my hip so I don't know how the triangle handle would work, or one of the "swoopy" looking ones.

Ally said...

I actually loved my BabyTrend flex-loc. Even though I have an older car w/out the LATCH system I was able to install it quite easily. My favorite thing about it was the handle. Good luck with your search!

harperberard said...

Another tech here and I have to agree with Hobbit Mom on this.

The 2 middle seats are European...

I also see you are a Mormon. :)

Anonymous said...

Baby Trend makes some of the better infant car seats. Their seat has been put through a serious car crash and the baby was completely unharmed! I understand that the baby was so snug in his chair that he slept through the whole ordeal!! They have the picture on their site to prove it.

Hobbit Mom said...

Nobody said Baby Trend car seats were unsafe. They're just difficult to use and have more compatibility issues than other infant seats. Obviously, they can still be used correctly, do fit some vehicles, and will protect children when used correctly. Just like all the other car seats on the market. Car crashes are frighteningly common and every single car seat has been involved in serious crashes and has protected children from serious injury or death. I've seen some really scary pictures of crashes where the children came away unharmed (or with significantly less harm than you'd expect) with babies in Safety 1st, Sunshine Kids, Britax, Cosco, and any number of brands of car seats.

If you like your Baby Trend car seat and it fits well in your vehicle and you can remember to put the handle down every time, that's great. I'm not on some mission to bash Baby Trend car seats. But you can't base your decision entirely on a picture of an accident where a child survived because it's no different from all the other car accidents where children survived in other car seats. And a staunch Baby Trend brand loyalty could be really dangerous because right now they don't sell ANY seats that will keep toddlers rear-facing. If you stick with only Baby Trend seats your only option is to go straight from the infant carrier to a forward-facing seat. For maximum safety, all children under age four should be riding rear-facing if they still fit properly in their rear-facing convertible seat (per NHTSA's guidelines).