Before Eliza was born we went back and forth as to what was the best car seat to start off with. Should we start with an infant car seat that is easily removable from the car or a convertible car seat right away? Well, the convertible option definitely has it's benefits in that you aren't paying for 2 car seats, however, when a second baby comes along, we would be buying another one anyways. Plus the added convenience of being able to bundle her up in the car seat in the house and then taking her to the car (esp with a January baby) just made more sense than traipsing her through the snow :P
(the baby on the right is Kendall who I took care of for just a few weeks after Eliza was born :)
So we began with a Graco Snugride 35. It is made to fit a baby up to 32 inches or 35 pounds whichever comes first. If you think about it though, a 32 inch 35 pound baby would be one fat baby! It was so perfect for her for these first few months! I honestly thought we would keep her in it until she was around 1. However, at her 6 month appointment she measured in at 28 inches and we realized we may be outgrowing the infant car seat sooner than we thought.
The one we wanted went on a really nice sale and instead of holding out until another sale came along we decided to go for it. It was worth the savings to fork the money over a little sooner than wait until we absolutely needed it and have to pay full price.
We ended up getting the Britax Boulevard 70-g3. After looking around at the different options for convertible car seats there was basically no question in my mind as to which one to get. It was different than picking out an infant seat since there seems to be a lot of comparable options when it comes to the carriers v. convertible car seats. The main difference I found with the carriers were just options of convenience. When it came to the convertibles, I absolutely wanted Britax. I found that other brands of car seats had a much smaller growth window. Many of them only went up to 40 or 50 pounds before you would have to buy a new harness to booster seat. The other aspect was safety and the material and technology behind the car seat. Britax tends to be one of the more expensive brands of car seat, but with good reason!
With all of the major purchases we've made when it came to baby gear I wanted to make sure we were getting what was the best option for us not just the first thing I spotted and the option that would serve us best in the long run.
The Boulevard is compatible with a 5lb newborn all the way up to a 49 inch 70lb child. We could have skipped the carrier completely, but like I said earlier, we wanted the convenience of the carrier when she was so small.
Anyways, because this car seat has been built to grow with her until she is 49 inches, we will not be needing to buy another seat for quite awhile. In fact, if my thinking is correct, we will probably end up needing to buy another seat more because we will have another child that needs it before she has outgrown it!
We ended up getting the Britax Boulevard 70-g3. After looking around at the different options for convertible car seats there was basically no question in my mind as to which one to get. It was different than picking out an infant seat since there seems to be a lot of comparable options when it comes to the carriers v. convertible car seats. The main difference I found with the carriers were just options of convenience. When it came to the convertibles, I absolutely wanted Britax. I found that other brands of car seats had a much smaller growth window. Many of them only went up to 40 or 50 pounds before you would have to buy a new harness to booster seat. The other aspect was safety and the material and technology behind the car seat. Britax tends to be one of the more expensive brands of car seat, but with good reason!
With all of the major purchases we've made when it came to baby gear I wanted to make sure we were getting what was the best option for us not just the first thing I spotted and the option that would serve us best in the long run.
The Boulevard is compatible with a 5lb newborn all the way up to a 49 inch 70lb child. We could have skipped the carrier completely, but like I said earlier, we wanted the convenience of the carrier when she was so small.
Anyways, because this car seat has been built to grow with her until she is 49 inches, we will not be needing to buy another seat for quite awhile. In fact, if my thinking is correct, we will probably end up needing to buy another seat more because we will have another child that needs it before she has outgrown it!
It came last week and we installed it Sunday. She seems to like it just fine, however it's not quite as laid back as the old one and so it's a little harder for her to sleep in. Ah well though, such is life kid!
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