Hello?
“tap tap tap”
Is this thing on?
Is this the first eaten OP since the board came back uo?
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Bloody hell. I had this really great post typed up, asking for info, and its gone.
I thought we’d gotten new hamsters? Or at least had the old ones cured?
Anyway, the short version of my post is:
- I need a car seat
- its for a newborn
- if I could get one which can be used for a few years, I’d be very happy
- most car seats need a three-point seatbelt in order to anchor them to the chair
- we only have one car, a ten year old Toyota Hiace
- all the rear seats only have two-point seatbelts
Can you recommend a carseat?
And what’s with this new-fangled thingy which anchors a carseat by using a pole which extends to the car floor? Would that work in our car?
Thanks.
Without sounding like a total cop-out, check either the website of, or the library for, Consumer Reports. (Yeah, I know, big help.)
Something to consider, (not that you haven’t, but…) what are the local laws concerning child-seats?
We made out pretty well with an EvenFlo (couldn’t tell you the make or model right offhand, but if you’re seriously interested, drop me a line, and I’ll find the paper-work) AFAIK, most carseats are equally usable with a 2 or 3 point seatbelt, and have separate instructions for using each. Our vehicle’s just got the 2 point belts in back, as well, and we never had a problem.
Strictly from personal experience (IOW I’ve got no cites to point you to as to the veracity o’ this and I may well be off base) 2 point belts are more secure for the purposes of holding a car seat steady anyway. Every 3 point belt I’ve run across depends on the vehicle’s braking system (or monitoring thereof) to ‘lock’ the belt in place, for comfort’s sake. 2 point lap belts are generally equipped with a friction lock of some kind on the belt itself, and are as tight as you set 'em, independant of how the vehicle’s being driven.
As fer the bolted-to-the-frame bit, I’m mystified. I heard something on the evening news a while back (from the other room) about securing a carseat to the floor of the vehicle, but it’s not required by law 'round here, to my knowledge. YMMV, naturally.
During my carseat research, I discovered that it is nigh unto impossible to purchase a new carseat that is not rated safe by Consumer Reports. They’re pretty much all as safe as the next, except for the ones that have the lap bar that comes down over the top. Avoid those.
What you’re going to be interested in primarily is: 1) Does this carseat fit in the back of my car? Most places that sell carseats will let you take the floor model out and see if it fits in your back seat before you buy it.
- How much of a pain in the ass is the restraint system to use? You’re going to be taking the baby in and out of the carseat a lot, and it helps if you don’t have to force the kid’s limbs through bizarre contortionist gyrations in order to do so.
It’s safer, generally speaking, to get the infant carseat, and then a few months later when the infant has outgrown the infant carseat, get a convertible carseat. “Convertible” because it can be either rear- or front-facing. That one should do you until the kid is a toddler and then you get a booster seat. You can use the convertible seat from day one, but I found that the infant seat gave the baby better neck support when he was just a floppy newborn.
I wouldn’t worry about the two-point restraints in the rear. I’ve fastened our carseat into a car with two-point restraints (our car) and a car with three-point restraints (mom’s car) and the three-point restraints were actually a lot more difficult to get right, and seemed less stable.
I think the new-fangled thingy you speak of is the LATCH system, or something to that effect. All new cars must have it installed by law. I think it works by having clamps in the rear seat that are attached to the frame, or something, and all new carseats have thingies that clamp onto them. I don’t know, because our car is way too old to have this technology, and it sounds like yours is too.
Good luck with the carseat and with the new infant!
Graco Snug Ride. It’s a beautiful thing. It will not hold a larger child, but most safety experts agree that an infant seat is best for newborns, because it offers more support. The Snug Ride has a 5-point restraint. It fit fine in our 1988 Acura Legend.
You can get a convertible car seat when the baby is older (it is rear facing when the baby is smaller and then forward facing up to about 45 pounds, usually). Some will hold newborns, but as I said, infant car seats are considered safer for newborns.
You should check your local police and see if they do car seat safety inspections. 80% of all car seats are installed incorrectly. My husband brought the seat to our local police inspection area and they actually installed it for him. (The safety inspector actually recommended the Snug Ride.) We did the same with the convertible car seat we needed when our baby hit 20 pounds.
You can buy a “locking clip” which will make a seatbelt secure and safe, even if it’s not one of the three-point jobbies. If you can’t find one in Japan, I’ll get one here in the States and mail it to you. it’s no biggie, they are really small. Hell, we probably have a few extras lying around our house, because most of my carseats came with one and we’ve never needed to use it. But you can look amongst the carseat accessories where they often sold separately. Despite the name, they aren’t a clip at all, just a piece of metal that you thread the seat belt through.
I highly recommend you check out the Britax Line of car seats. We own the Britax Advantage. It is a convertable that covers infants to 40lbs (infant to 4yrs). It is rear facing for infants (1yr AND 20 lbs). Turn it around as you child gets older and larger. They tend to be a bit more expensive than the EvenFlo and Graco, but in the case of your child…
Britax seats with LATCH are now available if you have a new car with the LATCH system installed.
By the way, Britax is a leading manufacturer of seats used in the Airline industry, they have a great deal of experience with saving peoples rearends.
Sorry if I sound like a commercial, but we did serious research into our car seats before we decided on this brand.
Well, we had to buy a new car seat because most seats are rated at only 20 pounds for rear facing. Our son hit that mark and just over six months. Since we have to keep him rear facing for a year, we had to buy another seat that had higher ratings on rear facing. Our choices were severely limited, but it is what we probably should have bought to begin with. At least now we have an infant seat for when we have our second and our son may or may not still be in his car seat. Just something to keep in mind if they say you’re going to have a big baby.
I agree with MsWhatsit: it is easier to first get an infant seat that allows ease of transport for you the parent, then get a larger, convertible seat that will be good for up to 40 lbs or so.
We had good service with the Evenflow infant seat, but most of the others are similar. I highly recommend Britax convertible seats. The Roundabout has served both our young 'uns well; the build quality is excellent as is the design. No need for locking clips either. We purchased a Cosco Alpha-Omega toddler/booster seat for the older child. In a side-by-side comparison with the Britax, the Cosco seems inferior.
We also have used Britax, which I believe are the safest car seats around.
We used a Graco rear-facing-only (0-20 lbs) infant seat for the new baby, though, because the Britax seemed to “scrunch him up” when he was really little. The Graco seems to let him lay back more. But for a forward-facing seat (20 lbs or heavier), you can’t beat Britax. Not cheap though- about $200.