Since many of our readers have children and appreciate my kid related tips and tricks, today I thought I would share with you my car seat recommendations. Let me preface this by saying, I am not a car seat expert, but I do care greatly about the safety of my child while driving.
As you may know, my family was in a car accident when The Mini was only 7 weeks old. Long story short, someone ran a red light, t-boned our car and the car rolled a full 360 degrees all the way back up to the wheels. It was terrible. I still have nightmares. Luckily The Mini was held safely into her car seat by a 5 point harness, and she was totally fine.
Anyway, the point of telling you this story is to give you some history as to why I am a bit neurotic when it comes to car seat safety. The Mini currently rides in the Britax Marathon G4.1 Convertible seat. In hind sight I might have gone with the Boulevard of the Advocate given they have more side protection, but overall we have been happy with this one.
She can remain in this seat until she reaches 49 inches and/or 65 lbs. Most parents are anxious to get kids out of convertible car seats and into boosters, and while I totally understand the rushed feeling, I've had to "slow" myself down and remember what we went through and refocus on safety.
The Mini is going to be in a 5 point harness as long as possible. Given how tall she is (98% for her age), height limits for seats are the deciding factor for us in choosing a new seat. After lots of research, I've decided to stick with Britax, and our next seat will be the Pinnacle since it has one of the highest height limits of any of the 5 point booster seats.
Of course, the Mini Fashionista likes the pink flowers and can't wait until we make the switch. At the rate she is growing, it will easily be within the year!
Safe driving!
So glad your family was ok after the accident!
ReplyDeleteMy kids are now tweens but I'm a basically a Britax evangelist and continue to spread the gospel :)
I also urge people (but not strangers, as for some reason it embarrasses kids lol) to take advantage of free program many fire stations/precincts have to make sure seats are installed properly.
we went to a hospital to have her original seat installed, and I am glad we did. The new britax click system is mean to eliminate some of the danger that comes from poor installation.
DeleteNice, Thanks for posting
ReplyDeleteBest Convertible Car Seats