Need a New Carseat

Hi - Our son also outgrew his infant carrier mentally way before he outgrew it physically. I'm casting another vote for the convertible Britax seats. Because she's small, she'll need to be rear-facing for quite a while yet. The Roundabout and Marathon are great - excellent safety ratings, easy to install and use. The bigger one, the Marathon, needs a pretty deep back seat in order to fit rear-facing (it barely fit rear-facing in our Nissan Maxima, which is a larger than average sedan, and our tallest driver is only 5' 10"). The Roundabout needs a lot less room rear-facing. A great website is elitecarseats.com -- it has tons of user feedback and clear information about each seat. And yet, the best carseat is the one that fits your child, your car, and your budget, so maybe try taking your daughter to a store that carries a few models and sit her in them to see how they fit.

We just got a Recaro Como and I LOVE it! It has a lot of comfortable cushioning, is front or rear facing and is rated up there with the Britax. They normally retail for about $250 but you can find them on sale for $199 and sometimes Woot.com has them for $99 but you have to check the site everyday because they offer a different product daily.

This carseat would be perfect for a smaller baby too because of the way the padding fits. It's easy to install and my 11-month old hasn't complained about it. Good luck!

My 2 yr old is small too. He still only weighs about 24 lbs! I have two Britax seats. They can go forward or rear facing. They are so comfortable and have top safety rating. They are on the pricey side but worth it. I love them better than any seat my friends have tried. The straps don't twist either, which is really anoying and easier for them to get out of. I ordered mine online from tinyride.com. Shopped their sales. Good luck!

I think there are requirements for how tall they need to be before you can turn them around. I think it's something like atleast one year old and/or 30" tall? I'd check with your local police department- she may still be too small to turn around. Have you tried the toys that velcro/hang on the seat that they're facing? maybe a mirror and some other toys she enjoys?

We just got a Britax Marathon and I really like it. My son is 10 months old, so I don't have any opinions about using it with really small babies (we used an infant seat up until recently). It has ample padding and is very easy to adjust the straps. It is a convertible seat, so it works forward and rear facing. The only thing I don't like is that the crotch buckle is really wide and seems to poke him on the inner thighs. He doesn't seem to mind it though. Good luck finding a good seat. I know the process can be a little mind-numbing. :)

I have a Britax Marathon for my son, and I love it. It can be used rear-facing for now, and forward when your daughter gets bigger. It has great safety ratings, is easy to use and seems comfortable. If you shop around online, you can find some great deals.

My kids both hated the infant car seats. We moved my daughter to a convertible seat at 10 months and it made a HUGE difference. We got her a Britax Marathon. My son cried as much as his sis, so we moved him at 4 months. He was big anyway and too heavy to carry in the carrier seat. We got him a Britax also. They were easy to use forwards and backwards.

They are expensive, but we only have one set. My hubby's car (a Taurus) does not fit 2 car seats safely, so they never go in there and if we travel in our truck, we just move them. Most of the time when the kids are transported, they go in my suburban.

Britax seats are often on sale online though and if you can wait a few weeks to find a sale, it might be worth it.

Good luck. I got so tired of people telling me that my kids should fall asleep in the car and not cry. It was nice to hear that there were lots of kids who hate them and mine were not alone! It will pass - we travel via car all over the US and my kids do great.

I have a Britax and a Graco. The Britax is just forward facing, but really well made. The Graco is all wonderful -- my son used it from 6 months up to 40 lbs when he outgrew it -- hence the Britax that is forward facing up to 80 lbs. He passed it down to his sister when she was about 6 months and she loves it too. She was fighting me on the car seat carrier, but goes easily into the Graco. Good luck finding one for your daughter that is comfortable!

I just got the First Years "True Fit" for mt 3 month old and it is GREAT! He used ti cry a lot in the carseat and now he barely cries at all. What I love about it is that is rear faces till 35 lbs which is SO safe and then forawrd faces till 65lbs. It has the safety ratings of a Britax but is @ $100 less at least. Check it out.

Hello - just wanted to say that I also looked into getting a convertible car seat when my son was 6 months old (and 16 lbs) simply because he hated his infant car seat so much. However, everything I read and found out said that it really shouldn't be a "1 year" mark, but a weight mark which is at least 20 lbs when you can face them forward. The reason being because their muscles really aren't developed enough until that weight limit to keep their necks/heads stable enough in the event of a crash.

But of course you're her mama and know what's best, just thought I'd pass that on!!

I have loved our Britax Marathon Car Seats which go both forward and rear facing starting at 5lbs to 60. They are rated as some of the most safe, and are easy to install and clean. The only downside is that they are expensive. I found the best deals on line. On a related note, my daughter went through what we call the "car seat phase" just about the same age as your daughter... She hated being in the car seat. Lasted about a month, and then she was fine. Good luck!

My kids started to hate their infant seat when they were around 6 or 7 months. We switched them to the Britax Marathon (convertible) and they LOVE it. It doesn't come with any bells or whistles (no cup holder, etc.), but it has an extremely high safety rating and is very comfortable for the kids.

Another vote for Britax
http://www.britaxusa.com/
We have and love the Roundabout, and Regency.

I don't know about relative buckle size, but I really like the Britax Roundabout for padding and ease of use. Only wish now I'd gotten a bigger one so we won't need to buy again so soon. Not the cheapest, but it's been worth it to me. (I suppose you've heard that the current recommendation is to keep them rear facing as long as possible - at least 20 lbs, even if over 1 year, and longer if you can stand it.)

Hi, sounds like you got lots of recommendations on the seats, but part of the problem could also be that facing backwards is really boring. I'd second the recommendation for toys or other things to hang from the seat. My son likes this adjustable activity arch from Tiny Love that I bought, which fits onto almost anything, and doesn't require hanging onto a car seat handle.

Here is a link to it on Amazon, though there are other things like it.

http://www.amazon.com/Tiny-Love-Sunny-Stroll-Yellow/dp/B0...