Car seat dilemma - what would you do?

[emisi]

I have a car seat that I bought from a friend I trust. I told her that, after a lot of research, I wanted a Britax Chaperone. She said she'd sell me the one she'd used, clean, no accidents, and is just like the Chaperone but called the Companion and with fewer bells and whistles. It fit in her Prius, so shouldnt be a problem in my Jetta. So I bought it.

It was made in 2008, so it has one year left. However, the fit isn't great in the Jetta, the front seat has to be pushed up pretty far. It fits better in the middle, but I don't know if that's allowed. It also only has a weight limit of 22 lbs - which I hadn't realized until Friday.

BRU is having their great trade in event. Should I trade this in for a new seat with a higher weight limit that fits better? I tried a Keyfit, and it fits better. WWGPD?

[Deleted]

I'd just keep what you've got. I transferred my DS to a convertible seat before he hit 22 lb; it was just easier once he was about 9 months and we never took it out of the car at that point anyway. The ONLY advantage to a higher weight seat that I've found are travel - I've lent out my seat to people going to Mexico, Jamacia, and Thailand because convertible seats are a huge pain in the ass to travel with.

Middle seat installation is generally fine. Check your Jetta owner's manual. A higher weight seat is bigger, so not likely to fit better.

[joolz]

If you're planning another kid in the next five years, then trade it in.

If not, I'd just keep it. Like token said, once my baby hit a weight that was annoying to pick up the infant seat with him in it, I switched to a convertible. That was definitely before 22 lbs.

[jessuhmarie]

Ditto what the other two said. I wouldn't worry about the weight limit since you will likely not want to carry around your LO in the infant seat when he/she gets that heavy.

[KKD]

The middle is generally safest anyway, though I am not sure about Jettas in particular. If it's too tight behind the driver seat, the alternative would be to put it behind the passenger seat.

Like joolz said, if you're planning on having another kid within the next few years and can afford a new seat now, I would trade it in and get a new one.

If you don't plan on having another, or if you do but would rather save the money now and buy a new one later, I think you'd be fine keeping the seat, assuming the Jetta's owner's manual allows for middle seat installation.

Our infant seat only went up to 22 lbs. (because there weren't as many options with higher limits back in 2007), and I was able to use it until 12 months with DD1 and 10 months with DD2 and only gave it up when both of them outgrew it by height but still were several pounds under the weight limit. If I were to do it all again, though, I would opt for a seat with higher limits. I hated giving up the infant seat even when the girls got heavy, just because I liked being able to keep them asleep in the infant seat rather than having to wake them up to take them out of the car. We will have to buy a new seat for baby 3 because our old infant seat is now expired.