I have seen a lot of info about car seats in general, and for that I thank you all. But I have a specific issue, being that I live in New York City. I do not have my own car, so would need to move the seat from taxis to friends' cars and so need something that installs easily. I would also like to use it as a portable seat, for long church service and doctors' appts, so I would like one that fairly light and stands alone well.
My daughter is now 9 months and around 19 pounds, so she has outgrown the rear facing infant seat.
safety and comfort are important, of course!
Thanks
S.
Britax Advocate Click & Safe Convertible Car Seat - Opus Gray. Expensive but worth every penny. It is the easiest car seat to take out and put in. We own 3 different types and I am so sorry that they are not all this one. Very comfortable and safe.
hi-
i applaud you to think about the importance of car seat use. unfortunately every car is different when installing a car seat. it depends on the make and model of the car. i believe that the cars that are 2004 and older are required to have a tether system while earlier cars are not.
I have a couple of thoughts:
1) 4 out of 5 car seats are improperly installed. I would strongly encourage you to go to a local fire station (call first) to learn how to install the car seat (it's free). maybe you can use a friends car?
2) find out the typical make/model of the taxi cabs if you friend has a similar car that would be best.
3) you can buy a car seat carrier - it is a frame that the car seat snaps into to make it like a stroller - for example http://www.amazon.com/Snap-Go-Infant-Seat-Carrier/dp/B000...
4) for additional info on car seat safety see http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/health/info/safety/veh...
hope that helps. GOOD LUCK!
Graco has a infant "bucket" seat that you can use up to 30 lbs!
I used to live in NYC and found it so hard to deal with car seats and cabs. When our daughter was little, we used the Graco Snug Ride infant carrier and that was great in cabs (as you know) b/c you could take the baby in the carrier and just put the whole car seat onto the snap n go and be on your way. I thought the infant carriers now go up to about 23 pounds (the Graco Saferide does, at least). Although not worth buying at this point if she's already 19 pounds.
As everyone else has said, you MUST keep her rear facing in cars. But I can't imagine you want to lug around a huge car seat like the Britax marathon b/c when she gets out of the cab, you can't push her around in it so you have her, the humongous (and heavy) car seat, and a stroller. Have you looked into the sit n stroll? The nice thing about something like that is that it is a car seat for the taxi, but then you can take her out of the taxi and the car seat becomes a stroller (with a bit of manuevering and getting the wheels to click out of the bottom). Only issue is I can't remember whether the sit n stroll installs rear facing....
Or you can just do what I did.... I moved out of the city when my duaghter was 10 months old so I never really had to deal with the taxi problem!!
I used a Graco Safeseat when my son was an infant & it was very easy to install (with or without the base) in other vehicles. However your daughter is way too young to be forward facing. She should be rear-facing as long as possible. I work for a car insurance company & rear-facing is so much safer!
You need something portable, so I would suggest, at her age, the Safeseat30. Its an infant seat, so it would work for other area's, it rear faces to 30lbs, and most kids can easily use this seat to age 2. Its a bucket type seat that has abase, but can be used without the base.
At her age she NEEDS to remain rear facing, so a portable seat like the ridesafe Vest would NOT work for her, she's way too young. If you want somthin to carry her around in, a higher harness infant seat like the SafeSeat 30 or a Chicco Keyfit 30 is your only option.
Once she outgrows that, it would be acceptible to use a vest type car seat for her.
Whatever you decide, she needs to remain rear facing!!!! There is so much evidence and research that proves that a rear facing child is significantly safer than a forward facing one.
