Peter recently outgrew his infant car seat that we got secondhand and I spent a while researching our options for a “convertible” seat (works for rear-facing infants and forward-facing children usually up to 65 or 70 pounds). It’s very important for babies to remain rear-facing at least up to 12 months old so we needed a car seat that allows rear facing for heavier/longer babies!
Healthystuff.org scores car seats based on the chemicals found on the seat, clip and base. Testing includes bromine (flame retardants), chlorine, lead, antimony, arsenic, chromium, cobalt, copper, mercury, nickel and tin. The only convertible car seat that scored NONE was the Sunshine Kids Radian 65 Convertible Car Seat
We got this car seat about a month ago and have used it for short trips a few times. We also drove 500 miles around the Thanksgiving holiday and our son was very happy in this seat (a blessing since he always hated the infant seat). The seat is raised with a straighter back so he can look out of the windows. The only down side is that because it’s so roomy and vertical he kind of slumped to one side when he was sleeping. I used a small pillow or blanket to straighten him out.
I love that this car seat folds up into a backpack too because we sometimes travel by train and then use a car seat to get from the train station to our destination. The seat is fairly heavy but I think it would be doable. If you’re wondering about the seat’s ability to stand up to a crash, there is a shocking article with photos showing that the car seat can withstand a building collapsing on it!
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Wow! A Building! I actually attended a car seat safety course this past year and the instructor said that they are trying to get the law passed to children being rear facing until the reach the maximum weight of their car seat for rear facing, instead of the standard 12 months. Our kids’ seat have all been 25 pounds rear facing (Yes, we have 3 convertible seats right now). Jonathan didn’t reach 25 pound until he was over 2 so that’s when we turned him around. Eliya (21 months) is still facing backward but will probably turn around in the next month or so.
Also, I think it’s awesome that the car seat can be carried as a backpack. And now I feel a little bad that I never even thought to look into toxicity of their car seats. Live and learn.
That sounds like a great law. Did the instructor mention anywhere to send letters supporting it or anything like that?
I don’t know if many people realize the reason for rear-facing. I didn’t until recently when I read this article on babycenter.com that said the bones of the spine stretch more than the spinal column in babies so the spine could snap if the baby is forward facing in an accident.
The article also recommended rear-facing until age two or the limit of the seat. We’re going to keep Peter rear facing as long as possible. This seat goes up to 33 pounds rear facing. He was already 23 pounds at 7 months!