The Convertible Maze

I came. I saw. I researched. I conquered.

Whoa- I did not realize the huge maze of information that convertible car seats entailed. Convertible car seats was one area that I spent zero time thinking about pre-babies. I thought that I had enough decisions to make that were more pressing, and that I would figure it out many months from then when we would actually need to switch from infant seats to convertible seats. We're not quite there yet because I am pretty sure that Sam and Anna can make it to at least their first birthday hanging out in their bucket seats. I am in no hurry to transition them over, because winter in Wisconsin sucks and who wants to buckle and unbuckle two babies and bundle them up every time they go in and out a vehicle when they can't wear winter coats while riding? Too much of a pain. I will deal with the weight of lugging two infant seats carrying babies because the handles have got to be a million times more convenient than the alternative.

So I starting dipping my toe into the sea of information and options a few weeks ago, and promptly got very overwhelmed. Compounding my head spinning was that we needed 3 sets of convertible seats for three very different situations. I wish convertible seats had a base-option like infant seats! When I realized we would need a set of convertible seats for our Pilot (the most used vehicle) a set for our car (for daily daycare drop off only) AND a set of convertible seats for daycare (because she likes to take them to the Children's Museum weekly and other random outings), I didn't know where to start. I had been leaning towards Britax Marathons, mostly because Baby Bargains said to get them, and because I've seen a lot of bloggers have them. But whoa- I couldn't imagine 6 seats at over $200 a pop! Cost is definitely a factor, but of course we want our babies to be as safe as possible and comfortable!

The Car Seat Questions group on babycenter.com steered me in the right direction for our individual needs. (I have to say I am so thankful for the day I stumbled upon Babycenter's ovulation calculator so many years ago. I never imagined how finding that site and discovering their boards would influence my life.) So I am happy to say that I confidently know now which seats we will be getting for Sam and Anna's next stage in car travel.

First, Sam and Anna are skinny-minnies, so that is a factor. As long as they are in car seats, their weight to height ratio will probably stay low. For the Pilot, we wanted seats that would be comfortable for long drives, since we take many of those a year to visit our family out of state. The people on the car seat group said, "...for "nice" convertibles, the Britax seats are nice, but they're not the longest lasting and they're more $$ than similarly featured seats" and that they are better for higher weight to height ratio kids. After reading their thoughts and researching their suggestions, I decided to go with First Years True Fit seats, especially since I think we will extended-rear-face for a while.

For our car convertible seats, we are either going with two more First Years True Fit seats (after we try them out in the car and see if the driver can still be comfortable), or Evenflo Triumph 65s. For the daycare seats, the Car Seat Questions group helped me feel comfortable spending very little on Cosco Sceneras.

So now I feel a little better that we're not sacrificing safety by not dropping so much money on 6 Britax convertible seats, and I feel like we will get the best seats for our kids, our individual situation, and our vehicles!