Car seat post-infant style?

[nannuflay]

Any recommendations? We’re currently 9 mos and in the uppababy mesa. She still fits but i think a rear-facing but more upright one would make her happier—she likes to look out the window and can’t really as is.

I’m interested in the rotating ones but they’re so expensive. I’m also interested in the cosco. We travel by plane a lot these days and it looks so portable—bonus for being cheap and having a small footprint. But is it annoying or less safe in some way I’m missing? We’re probably going to need two (dad drops her off at daycare and I pick her up at least half the time when he doesn’t get off in time to make pick up. We currently just leave the car seat at school).

 

[paparazi257]

@nannuflay We have the cosco scenera next only for travel. It's not any less safe but there's definitely no bells and whistles. For an everyday car seat, I don't think my son would like it much.

 

[curiouschristian101]

@paparazi257 What sort of bells and whistles should a kid’s car seat have or need?

 

[paparazi257]

@curiouschristian101 Well that's more a personal preference. My son loves the cupholders on his graco seat on both sides, and it just seems roomier than the cosco one. It's also an easier install IMO and has different recline levels and the straps can be adjusted with the headrest which is much easier than the threading involved with the cosco seat.

There's nothing WRONG with the seat, but for us it just wouldn't work for everyday use. We do LOVE the lightweight aspect for travel though.

 

[nannuflay]

@paparazi257 What do you use for every day?

 

[paparazi257]

@nannuflay We use the graco 4ever DLX. So far I have not had any issues with it. Just for travel it weighs A TON so we got the cosco since it's so light weight and cheap.

 

[verasoldmine]

@paparazi257 Agreed - we have it for travel but wouldn’t use it for everyday. It has practically no padding.

 

[lilyosa]

@nannuflay They’re all equally safe as long as installed correctly and work with your car and child’s height/weight! So don’t worry about safety on that front!

 

[crownfair]

@lilyosa That’s actually not true. They all have to meet really high safety standards in order to be sold in the US. However, car seats can still have above and beyond safety features that make them even safer than the standards. Things like extra shock absorption, rebound bars, leveling guides, and a bunch of other features have been shown to be safer.

Op: I would choose a rear facing seat that has a high rear facing weight limit since rear facing is the safest. Most go up to 40lbs, but some go even higher up to 50lbs. Keep in mind a rotating car seat also has to have extra room behind the drivers/passenger seat to rotate. I’ve heard people also say their child grew out of the Scenera seat really quickly in other threads looking for airline seats. (We check ours and use a CARES harness)

We have a graco extend2fit and dlx, I like both of them, the extend2fit goes up 10 extra pounds for rear facing. We got the dlx one at Costco for around $200.

 

[lilyosa]

@crownfair Ya got me there! Lol

 

[beameup]

@nannuflay We have the 360 you have pictured and LOVE it. We are a year into using it and still love it! One thing to consider that you mentioned, most rotating ones can’t be used on an airplane. So we actually have 2, the 360 that stays in our car and a cheaper Graco we got on clearance that’s our airplane/travel car seat.

 

[nannuflay]

@beameup Oh hadn’t thought of that! Thanks