himeda@dataio.UUCP (Mark Himeda) (01/10/85)
I'm looking for recommendations on a "good" car seat for newborns
and/or toddlers. I'm an expectant father (my first) and am only
now realizing the financial side-affects of raising a family. I'm
in a panic on trying to find out as much as I can, as soon as
possible on items in the infant consumer market. HELP!!! Also,
will appreciate any suggestions on other necessary items.
Thanks... (he/she is due April 2nd).
Mark Himeda
UUCP Data I/O Corp.
uw-beaver!teltone!dataio!himeda Redmond, Washingtonmark@cbosgd.UUCP (Mark Horton) (01/13/85)
The most important thing is to get one that is convenient to use. If it's a pain, you won't bother and none of the safety it provides will do you or your child any good. Some car seats have a bar that hangs loose somewhere, and after the baby climbs in, you have to run the seat belt across. Others have two or more fasteners to snap shut, or loops the seat belt must go through. The ideal car seat will be one you can fasten or open with ONE HAND. It will have a single point that is fastened, and no floppy parts to hold up while you fasten it. This ideal car seat isn't available, as far as I know. We bought the Kantwet One-Step. It has a padded bar which swings up to let the baby out, or down in front of the baby. There is a single seat-belt-like fastener which holds the bar down and also serves as a crotch strap. It's been two years since, but I would still buy this one again. The major disadvantage is that it's a bit hard to fasten, especially with one hand. You must hold the bar down with one hand (eventually you can teach your baby to hold it down, but by this time the child will have outgrown it) and pick up the seat belt with the other hand. The metal gizmo that you clip the seat belt to isn't solidly fastened to the bar (there's a half inch of seat belt fabric loosely holding it on) so it requires either a third hand or a bit of contortion to make it hold still while you clip it on. The difficulty of the fastener close makes this a bit harder. However, if you take some 3-in-1 oil you can loosen the fastener up, and you do learn how to clip it on after a short time. Another important advantage to the One-Step is that the fastener is behind the bar, between the baby's legs, where s/he cannot see it, and cannot see you open or close it. Babies are not stupid, and will figure out how to get out of this thing after a while. In fact, even if your child knew how to unfasten the One-Step, their arms cannot reach it because the bar is in the way. Your child will spend time sleeping in the car seat, especially if you drive anywhere more than half an hour. It's nice if the child can sleep comfortably. A padded bar to lay his/her head on helps, although this twists their neck at a weird angle and they wake up with a stiff neck. An assortment of straps doesn't help the child nap. There are various cloth covers available (most car seats are made with a plastic surface, which can get hot in the summer.) We got one for the One-Step. It only fastens at the top, and the baby usually moves the bottom off-center in the process of getting in. As long as the child is wearing long pants, this doesn't seem to matter. It's a big plus if your car has four doors. This makes it much easier to get the child into and out of the seat. Bear in mind that you'll probably put the car seat in many different cars over the lifetime of the seat. Your second car, the grandparents car, a friends car, and so on. (Especially if you own a small car, sometimes you want to go somewhere and there isn't room in your car for everybody.) It's a plus if the seat is easy to move to another car. If the seat requires that a hold be drilled in the rear dash for a rear mounting strap, you'll never be able to move the seat. The One-Step is reasonably easy to move, although it's bulky enough that you can't get it out of the rear seat of our 2-door Accord without moving the seat up a bit. Here's an obscure property that new parents should be aware of. You will get lots of pressure to have a car seat in your car immediately, so that even for the trip home from the hospital, the baby is safe. However, there's a logistical problem. When you bring your baby out from the hospital (especially in winter), s/he may be wrapped up in receiving blankets and won't have separate legs. When you go to put the child in the car seat, it will probably not work unless you can put the crotch strap between the child's legs. The moral is that when you bring the child out, be sure to dress it in something with legs. A problem we haven't solved is the toddler booster-seat. These are intended for children 2-4 years old. They provide some elevation, and strap the child in, but have no back, so larger children can fit in them. We got the Co-Pilot, and there is a serious logistical problem. It has a bottom that the child sits on, and a bar. These two pieces are connected only by a crotch strap. You run the car's seat belt over it, holding the bar down on the bottom. The problem is that when you unfasten the seat belt, there is no place to put the bar while the child climbs in or out of the car. His/her legs get tangled up trying to get them past the strap and bar. We've gone back to the One-Step, since Matt still fits in it. Mark
dave@lsuc.UUCP (David Sherman) (01/13/85)
From birth we used the Dyn-O-Mite infant seat. It's great as both a
car-seat and seat to keep the baby in while out of the car - when
you go places, etc. Ariela outgrew it a couple of months ago (she's
now 9 months), and after trying several larger seats we settled on the
Safe&Sound II, the easiest to get her in and out of, and the one with
the most flexibility for holding a kid who gets very large in her
snowsuit.
We still use the Dyn-O-Mite when she's not in her
snowsuit and not in the car (e.g., we used it last
night at a synagogue dinner we took her to).
David & Simone Sherman
Toronto
--
{utzoo pesnta nrcaero utcs}!lsuc!dave
{allegra decvax ihnp4 linus}!utcsrgv!lsuc!daveheneghan@ihu1m.UUCP (Joe Heneghan) (01/14/85)
First of all, you'll probably need one for the infant size and one for the toddler. Vinyl is a good way to go with a cloth cover that can be cleaned. Expect everything that can come out of a baby to end up on that seat. The baby should be able to see forward and the seat should be readily secured and disconnected. If at all possible secure the car seat in the back seat.
dba@cmu-cs-k.ARPA (David Anderson) (01/14/85)
Based on the recommendations of several friends we tried out and bought the Century 200 car seat, and 18 months later we are still convinced that it is wonderful. This car seat is simple enough that you can almost operate it with one hand. There is a padded piece attached to shoulder straps that you pull down over the child's head and click into place in the child's crotch. There are no straps to feed anywhere, nothing to hold out of the way. The car seat installs very easily (using only the seat belt), and we are often switching it from one car to another. This is also one of very few car seats with FAA approval (marked right on the seat), which means that you can use it with your child on an airline flight (provided that you pay for a seat for the child, which you'll have to do if he/she is over 2). We also have a Dyn-O-Mite infant seat, which is nice, but kids outgrow it at about 8 months, so I don't recommend getting anything so small. Another suggestion: go to a discount house that carries many car seats and try putting a child into them all. You'll find that many of these "one step" car seats are not as simple to operate as they look.
geoff@desint.UUCP (Geoff Kuenning) (01/17/85)
In article <698@cbosgd.UUCP> mark@cbosgd.UUCP (Mark Horton) writes: >A problem we haven't solved is the toddler booster-seat. These are >intended for children 2-4 years old... >...We got the Co-Pilot, and there is a serious logistical >problem...there is no place to put >the bar while the child climbs in or out of the car. His/her legs >get tangled up trying to get them past the strap and bar. We've gone >back to the One-Step, since Matt still fits in it. I'm in love with the Strolee. It's light enough and small enough to throw around with one hand, and requires a special in-car clamp only when you use it in the back seat. It is also completely open, so that getting in and out is trivial. -- Geoff Kuenning ...!ihnp4!trwrb!desint!geoff
markr@tekig1.UUCP (Mark Rust) (01/17/85)
In article <698@cbosgd.UUCP> mark@cbosgd.UUCP (Mark Horton) writes: >The most important thing is to get one that is convenient to use. >If it's a pain, you won't bother and none of the safety it provides >will do you or your child any good. > . . . > >A problem we haven't solved is the toddler booster-seat. These are >intended for children 2-4 years old. They provide some elevation, >and strap the child in, but have no back, so larger children can >fit in them. We got the Co-Pilot, and there is a serious logistical >problem. It has a bottom that the child sits on, and a bar. These >two pieces are connected only by a crotch strap. You run the car's >seat belt over it, holding the bar down on the bottom. The problem >is that when you unfasten the seat belt, there is no place to put >the bar while the child climbs in or out of the car. His/her legs >get tangled up trying to get them past the strap and bar. We've gone >back to the One-Step, since Matt still fits in it. > > Mark We just bought a toddler seat called "Wings", made by Bobby-Mac (a division of Questor, who makes nearly all the baby furniture on the market, including One Step infant seats.) It seems like a great design. Instead of the restraining pad flopping down, This one is split in the center and the two halves flop out. When they are closed, the seat belt goes over them to hold everything in place. The price is a bit higher than some (we got ours for ~$25 on sale), but it's the best that we've seen. Mark Rust Tektronix, Inc { allegra ucbvax decvax ihnp4 uw-beaver }!tektronix!tekig!tekig1!markr ps. We are still using our One Step, but Samantha will be moving to Wings before early June when her little {broth|sist}er will be along to take over the One Step (and a lot of other things :-) ).