What Car Seats Do You Have Your Children In?

My 7.5YOs are in boosters (Britax Parkway and Graco Air Booster) but if I were in your situation, I'd consider either a Britax Frontier or Graco Nautilus for your 4.5YO - both are forward facing seats that can be used with harness to 65 lbs (Graco)/80 lbs (Britax) or about 18-19" torso height (a little bit taller than the top harness slots of the Marathon if I remember correctly), then it can be used without the harness as a booster when the child outgrows the harness by height or weight. The Britax Regent that the previous poster mentioned is another forward facing seat with a high harness height/weight limit but it does *not* convert to a booster seat like the Frontier and Nautilus do, so you'd have to buy a booster later on after your child outgrows it.
For more details on either of these seats, I'd suggest checking the forums at http://www.car-seat.org

PS: as for 'actual requirements' - most child-passenger safety techs recommend keeping a child in a 5-pt. harness beyond the 4 years and 40 lbs. minimum recommendation for moving to a booster - many 4YO's are still too squirrely to reliably sit properly in a booster.

Edited to add: what is the date of manufacture of your Marathon? Britax convertible seats have a 6 year-from-date-of-manufacture expiry. So one advantage of moving your older child to a harnessed seat like a Nautilus or Frontier is that when the Marathon expires, you can move your younger child to the Nautilus/Frontier and your older child to a belt-positioning booster.

My 22 month-old is in a Sunchine Kids Radian 80. I just moved her at 17 months because she didn't outgrow/hit the weight requirement until then. I do like it very much. It's received very high safety ratings and is very user friendly. As the other mom noted, it folds for travel and is narrow for easily fitting more than one in most cars. I also like that my daughter will be in it until she no longer needs to be in a booster since it will accomodate a child up to 80 lbs. (There are also height limits which some children reach well before the reach the weight limit, but as my daughter is tiny, I don't think this will be an issue at all.) My new baby will arrive shortly and though my husband has stated that he wants to get him a Radian also, I prefer to use a traditional baby carrier for him so I can take him in and out of the car while still in it. Also the rear-facing feature on the radian seems to take up more space. Once he outgrows the carrier, he'll definitely go in a Radian. The ONE negative for me is that front-facing the seat sits flush against the car's seat back with no recline and when my baby falls asleep, her head droops even with the head support. I have heard of others who had the same problem but were able to find other cushions, etc to solve the problem. (Even with this drawback, I still do love this seat.) I have already washed the cover 3 times and one of those times my 14 year-old step-daughter did it and was able to put it all back with ease. The first 2 times just because of spills from her sippy cup, etc. This last time she had an accident where her diper exploded, so I am very happy at how easy it is to remove, clean, and re-attach.

Anyway there is my plug. Good luck to you regardless of which product you choose. There are many great ones, so I completely get what a hard decision it is. BTW I chose this one out of the 3 recommended/mentioned by the Kyle Miller family/foundation?? Here is a link to the sad info regarding this family. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ

We have our daughter (12 months 17.5lbs, 28.5inches) in a Sunshine Radian 65 in one car and a Recaro Como in the other. Love both seats. I like the narrowness of the Radian and the padding in the Recaro. Recaro were I believe the first to do side impact protection. They are from Europe and make seats for race cars. They also make great boosters.

I moved my older kid (at 2) to the Britax Frontier for the new kid to have access to our older Marathon. Love the Frontier (have to be at least 2yr old, 25 lbs and 3o inches. If you decide on a Britax, Diapers.com has $50 off Britax right now which is the best Britax ever goes on sale. I took advantage of the same sale 2 mths ago at amazon but usually a Britax sale is a 2 times a year thing. I moved my daughter up earlier because my little on is a heavy Baby and I plan to change him soon.

This is the CHP website about the laws and regs in California. http://www.chp.ca.gov/community/safeseat.html

I think Britax are the best. I believe there is one size up from the Marathon, called the Decatholon. It's been a while since I shopped carseats, but I had all three, the roundabout, marathon and decatholon before going to a booster. The Decatholon was cool because it was taller so big kids ok, but also had an insert and you could put infant in it better than a marathon. After that I'd go to a full booster that has back and arm rests.... some go straight to the "seat only " booster, but the full back one fit my child better, more comfortable. Try Goores they have everything, great displays. L.

contact your local/county health dept - ours has a specific safety person that "does" carseats, sells them discounted, helps install them along with all other bike or home safety, home visits, etc concerns with kids.

Hi,
We just tranferred our daughters to the Britax Frontier. We love Britax and the safety record. The car seat inspection lady said it's one she likes the most. I think she has the Decathalon or one of the other large britax car seats for her sons and said she wished this was available when she made her purchase. The car seat harness function will work until 80 pounds and the booster/seat belt function works up to 100 pounds. So it will last your son a long time and may also work for your other child later on. It has a expiration date of 9 years from manufacture. We installed them last week and love them. Very sturdy like Britax is known for. If you do decide to get the frontier, the only thing is read the manual before you install it. It's easy to install if you do, but difficult if you don't because it's slightly different than the roundabout & marathon. Hope that helps!

T., here is a Web Site that shows you all carseat guidelines. Hope this was helpful.

http://www.aap.org/family/Carseatguide.htm

It sounds like you could transfer your older one to a booster, but since you already are familiar with the Britax brand, I would recommend the larger Britax seat, the Husky (it used to be called can't remember what it's called now) My kids both sit in them, my daughter is 6 and my son is 3. I call them their "race car seatbelts" when folks give me looks, or my daughters friends try to make her feel like a baby. I have no problems keeping them as safe as I can for as long as I can.... boosters work too, but I see people moving kids as young as 2 and 3 because they don't want to invest the few extra bucks for a larger seat with a 5-point harness.
GOod luck with your decision!

~K.

I also have a Britax Marathon in one car. In the other car I have a Sunshine Kids Radian 65 (65 pound limit), which I like more than the Britax. It folds flat for air travel, should you need that, it's narrower so fits more than one across a seat more comfortably. It has a tall back and is nicely cushioned. There is also a Radian 80 (80 pound limit).

my 3 1/2 year old just graduated to a sunshine kids XT -- xtra head support b/c of lots of car naps and bumpy country roads, my 9 mo old getting hand-me down britax blvd. love them both for just where they are at.

Hi T.,
I love britax seats too. Their website has a carseat fit guide that will show you all of your options based on your childs height weight and age.
I am in a similar situation and opted to buy another marathon for the baby about to outgrow his infant seat. When my older son outgrows his current Marathon, I will buy the Britax Regent. Check it out online....

Here is the web site for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Child passenger safety page:

http://www.nhtsa.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/template.MAXIMIZE/...

(that is kinda long - you can just go to www.nhtsa.gov and click on child safety)

This is what I use for my guidelines and I think it is too bad more parents are unaware of these guidelines! Vehicular accidents are the leading cause of death and serious injury in children - many because of improperly used seats.

My family calls me the car seat nazi, but I just follow the rules, select the safest seat, learn how to properly install it, and expect them to use the same standards with my child....she is the only one I have!

I use the Britax Marathon in one car and now that my daughter is big enough we put a Britax frontier in my husbands car because she is safe in it now and it will last through her car seat/booster seat days. I love both seats and feel confident that I am keeping her as safe as I can.

Good luck!

D.