Let's talk car seats!

Parents of older toddlers/preschoolers, what car seat is your child in? Or what car seat are you thinking of getting when your child outgrows the one s/he is in at the moment? Tell me about the pros and cons, please!

Ari is, and has been for the past three years, in the Britax Roundabout 40. We love all about it. It has excellent safety ratings. It is easy to buckle and unbuckle, which is not always the case. The Evenflo I got for Abuela’s car often gets stuck, for example. The seat is not bulky. We drive a Corolla, so these things matter a bit! Lastly, Ari finds her car seat comfortable. She never complains about it.

My one and only complaint about the Britax Roundabout is the price tag, but what are you going to do?! We have been using it for three years and putting her in and out of it every day is always a breeze. That is worth something!

Oh, one more thing I would change about the Britax Roundabout 40… It would be nice if I did not need to uninstall the seat to adjust the shoulder straps when Ari grows a few inches. We’re pretty picky about car seat installation around here, so every time the car seat is uninstalled, it is reinstalled by a professional. In other words, schedule an appointment, wait a few days, a half an hour drive, wait and watch for about another half an hour, etc., etc. Not complaining at all, by the way. I am beyond grateful that local hospitals and police departments do this free of charge.

All in all, I am very happy with my choice way back when she was about 11 months old.

Anyways, I noticed today that when she sits down her head is taller than the car seat. Time to look at the booklet attached to the car seat to see what the maximum height is. 40 inches. Want to guess what my child’s height is? Yup, 40 inches!

It turns out that the guidelines are that either the child is up to 40 inches tall or the top of the child’s ears cannot be taller than the seat. There is a bit of head sticking out, but not the ears! Yay!

Technically, I have a few months. But I opted to begin my research sooner rather than later. This way I do not make a rushed decision and I can take my time bargain hunting. Some of the seats with the best safety ratings are close to $300, so you better believe I will be bargain hunting!

So far, after about 20 minutes of research, I am looking at Britax and Sunshine seats. Don’t know which seats, specifically, yet.