I need help with my sons carseat

It's time to buy a convertible carseat. Most of them allow for rear facing up to 30 or 35 lbs (which you should RF until your child reaches that weight limit regardless of age) and then can be switched to FF until somewhere between 50 & 65 lbs. We bought 2 Britax Boulevards for our twins, but those are very pricey ($310). All the Britax models are very highly safety rated (Boulevard, Marathon, Decathlon) and some of the other ones I know that are recommended are Sunshine Kids Radian $270ish), Evenflo Triumph Advanced ($179), Recaro Como ($249) & Signo ($289), and Compass True Fit ($179). The Cosco Scenera ($40) and Safety 1st Uptown (around $100 I think) are more economical and still pretty good seats, but won't last you as long because of a smaller shell or top harness height. I actually think the Radians have the highest harness out of all of them. The reason I know about all these seats is because I did a ton of research recently and looked into every seat before I decided on the Boulevards for my twins. I was looking very closely at getting the Triumph Advanced or the Radian though. It was a stressful week before I made the decision!

My oldest was tall and we had to switch her our of her seat sooner than I thought. We bought a car seat that was rear facing and when she was over a year old and the weight required we turned her around. We still carried her carrier with us because she was so young and when we would go to out eat we would put her in it. There are lots of great car seats out there. I really don't think you can go wrong.

KarilouMomof2 is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com living in Tempe. Her daughters are 9 and 6.

Britax Regent can take care of your child until 80 pounds. Most car seats only go to 40 pounds. It is a five point harness that my 5 year old and 42 pound boy is in. I switched him from a booster seat to the Britax Regent after watching this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ

You can buy them at Babies R Us or at http://www.kyledavidmiller.org/

arizona_mom is a stay-at-home mother of two boys, a kindergartener and a two year old. Just sharing my two cents worth. www.mops.org

Just wanted to mention (since someone asked about the Triumph in comparison to the Britax seats, that the Triumph is very safe seat. I didn't decide against the Triumph so much for safety reaasons as the extras that Britax provides. The TRiumph only goes to 50lbs in a 5 pt harness and the Boulevard goes to 65lbs so it will last them much longer. Plus the Triumph is a HUGE seat. Since I have twins, 2 Triumphs would be a bit much, even in my Suburban!

Anyway, I got a lot of my info from a car seat safety board that I freuent to get advice about car seats. There are a lot of certified car seat safety people there. Here is the info that I copied and pasted from the site in case you're interested. (I'm sorry this is going to be such a long post.)

Higher Weight Limit Convertible Seats

Britax Marathon, Decathlon, or Boulevard (MA/DC/BV) 17” top slots, RF 5-33lbs, FF up to 65lbs in 5 point harness. Awesome seats, allow for rf tethering, has lockoffs to replace locking clips, very easy installs, many bells and whistles that make them easier to use correctly every time, lasts most kids to age 5-6y/o. $220+ Check below for a description of the three.

Fisher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe (FPSVD) 17 inch top slots, RF 5-33lbs, FF up to 55lbs in a 5 point harness. Made by Britax, sold under the FP name--basically a stripped down Britax Decathlon. Great seat, awesome price $129 (regular $199), and will last most kids to age 5-6 y/o. DISCONTINUED DUE TO POOR SALES--As of right now Britax is not manufacturing. Old seats have been shipping…up to a year & a half old! Take this into consideration as the seat has a 6 year lifespan.

http://www.albeebaby.com/fiprsavodeco1.html

Evenflo Triumph Advance RF to 35lbs, FF to 50 lbs. Max harness height of 17”. The Triumph Advance has the infinite-like harness adjuster too…no rethreading the harness! Much nicer than the old Triumph! Much taller shell than the old Triumph too. We think it will be small enough for newborns! $129

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5933974

Sunshine Kids Radian 65/80 18” top slots, RF 5-33lbs, FF up to 65lbs in 5 point harness. Great seat, only second to Britax because it has some compatibility issues in some vehicles when installed with seatbelt. Really good seat otherwise, allows for RF tethering, lasts most kids to 6-7y/o. 8yr lifespan (most have a 6yr) $175+ www.skjp.com has the manual available for viewing.

Recaro Como & Signo Recaro makes seats for NASCAR and has made car seats for the European market and a few for the US market for years. RF to 35lbs, FF to 70lbs. Bottom slots of 9", so not ideal for newborns. The outside width of the seat at its widest point is approx. 19 ½” to 20”. The Como & the Signo are basically the same shell the biggest difference is that the Signo has an infinitely adjustable harness (whereas the Como has to be re-threaded) and the Signo's latch straps are on a bar--similar to Britax (on the Marathon and Boulevard)--so you don't have to re-thread the latch belt if you're going from rear facing to forward facing. Como is $249; Signo is $289 and has 17.75” top slot.

*having problems with the interior shoulder room being too narrow for children to be comfortable.

Compass True Fit Convertible Car Seat Estimated availability 1st Quarter 2008

RF 5-35 lbs, FF to 65lbs, 10” bottom slots, 18” top slots. 3 crotch positions, designed to fit smaller cars—headrest removes to allow rf seat to recline to 45°, put headrest back on after older child is 22 lbs. and adjust seat to be more upright when rf. Cover removable without unhooking the harness, lockoffs for rf & ff, harness adjusted with a knob, everything adjusts by sliding something. Covered in EPP Foam. Estimated to be $179.

And lower cost Convertibles we love...(For primary or secondary cars...they are still GREAT seats)

Cosco Scenera $40 5pt harness version. Very basic no-frills seat. Minimal padding, but it's rare for a LO to complain about it. 35lbs RF limit with a taller shell! 40lbs FF limit however most kids outgrow it in torso height at about 3-3.5yo due to the low 15” top slots. It just doesn’t offer enough torso grow room to get most kids to 40lbs. Readily available at Wal-Mart/Target/K-mart. Usually requires 1-3 chunks of pool noodle to get a good recline.

Safety 1st Uptown 35 lbs RF, 40 lbs FF, tall 16.5” top slots so this is the ONLY RF/FF 40lbs limit convertible that will likely get a kid to 40lbs. EPP foam, velvety plush cover, super cushy. Very easy to use & install. 8 yr lifespan! (Most have a 6 yr.) Around $100 at albeebaby.com, Target.com, and in store at Wal-Mart.

Here's an awesome thread comparing the Scenera & Uptown on car-seat.org. Side by side pictures.

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=10324

The Graco ComfortSport, Evenflo seats, and the Alpha Omega 3-in-1 types are very small seats that are usually outgrown the same time as the $40 Scenera. You don’t get much for your money. While they are safe there are just other options that offer more for the same cost

The Recaros are nice.