car seat question

[Flynn]

I have a question about getting another carseat for our son who is almost 6 months and pretty big. Our daughter who is now two and a half needed the bigger car seat at 9 months so I'm just thinking ahead.

We currently have a Marathon Britax for our two and a half year old daughter. The seat maximum weight is 65 lbs.

So my question:

Do I give that carseat to my son (rear facing of course) when he's ready and buy the next step for my daughter?

What is the next step and/or does anyone have a good website I can check?

I don't have the website, but there is a site through the federal gov't (Dept of Transportation?) that reviews car seat options based on a child's age, height, and weight. It was fairly easy to find by searching. Sorry that I can't remember it!

Our older son grew out of his convertable carseat at around age 3. We bought him a booster seat with back support, which he is still using at almost 5.

I think your best bet would be to get a new seat for the baby, and leave your daughter in hers, since it has such a high weight capacity.

[Phoebe]

We moved our daughters out of their infant carriers around 7 months because of their height. We bought one convertible seat which was passed on to our second child when she was big enough and we bought our older daughter a convertible/booster combo seat. Avery was excited to get a new seat and Ella didn't know any better.

I don't recommend the convertible/booster seat that we bought because Avery can slide the harness down and gets out of the seat.

Jennifer

[Amiens]

Both of my kids were able to stay in their infant carriers until 12 months, however, Brigham had to stay rear facing until 15-16 months because of his weight. We bought him a convertible carseat- Britax Roundabout. We looked at the Marathon, but we figured with having to change out carseats every 5 years we didn't think Brigham would reach the 65 lbs range in 5 years. He's 19 months and 22 lbs. So we went with the Roundabout.

We have since decided that because we will be having another baby in the next year that when the time comes we will move Brigham up to another seat, and keep the convertible for the baby. I am not much of an infant seat person, I can only handle using them for about 8 weeks before my arms are killing me, and besides I use the Baby Bjorn a ton.

I know there is a great car seat forum on About.com; Consumer Reports has great reviews on carseats. I would be willing to post them if needed.
HTH,
Crystal