Do you take your carseat out? ever?

[niq]

After a trip to Target we are still just as lost when it comes to carseats and strollers as when we went in. Well, okay, now we know we want one with a detachable foul weather hood .

I'm looking at measurements on car-seat.org, and all the convertible seats are in the 15-20 lb weight range. Combined with baby, moving the seat from the car to the stroller is 30-40 pounds. I see these strollers where the carseat fits into the stroller, but I can't really imagine it's that much fun to hoist that much weight. So if you are on the mom side rather than the pg side, did you use a stroller/carseat combo, and take the seat (or the removeable portion of it) out when you used the stroller? If so, how often did you actually take it out?

(we are already registered for a Gemini baby carrier, which will probably be our usual baby carrying MO since we take the bus a lot).

[jennlin]

we did not do the "travel system" (stroller/carseat combo). but i know a lot of people who have/do, and really like it...and h and i also used it when we were borrowing a cousin's in california..and it really is convenient. i can't imagine it to be really 15 pounds. maybe 7ish pounds max. but either way..it really is convenient, bc you can pull the baby out of the car and go grocery shopping, or whatever, and never wake the baby....*however* we personally chose not to do it, bc we liked the idea of always pulling the baby in/out of the car, so that bjl knew that it was daytime, and daytime was for shorter naps, and nighttime is when you sleep longer. bjl wakes up a lot at night, but she *never* wakes up to play..only wakes up to eat and go back to sleep...i think this helped, but some will say it doesn't matter. but i believe it to be true. i will admit, it is harder, when bjl is sleeping, and i really don't want to wake her up, but i have to because i can't take the giant convertible seat out of the car (britax boulevard)..

[catbus]

Ah, you need to look at infant car seats, not convertibles. Convertibles stay in the car at all times.
We love our Maxi-Cosi Mico, and it's one of the lightest seats on the market at ~8 pounds. :-)

[niq]

I hadn't thought about waking the baby. That's a good point.

Also it looks like all the travel system carseats have 30-40 lb limits, and those only weight 7-10 pounds. So it's either get a travel system and then a FF seat that converts to a booster, or just suck it up and take baby in/out of the carseat every time. ofc the booster seat has to be used until age 8 now (how are carpools supposed to work?!?) so we will need to get a second carseat anyway .

[jennlin]

niq, our boulevard (love, has great ratings) goes from 10lbs-70lbs.. starts rear, can become fwd facing... we also have an infant insert from britax that works from 5-12lbs....we used it for about a two months...makes it a one-car-seat-until-she's-obese situation.

[jennlin]

www.amazon.com/Britax-Marathon-70-G3-Convertible-Seat/dp/B00834D5SO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1364081910&sr=8-2&keywords=britax+boulevard

www.amazon.com/Britax-USA-S844900-Infant-Positioning/dp/B00422M5JQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1364081950&sr=1-1&keywords=britax+infant+insert

[picksthemusic]

We got a Britax infant seat and loved it. We will use it for baby #2. We also have a Britax Boulevard like jennlin and love it.

[niq]

Yeah it took me a while but I figured out the convertibles live in the car forever .

Our car mfgr has a big PDF with a list of supported carseats. But yeah, Target won't let you pick up the strollers or car seats. So BRU it is.

I am starting to get on board with the Freakonomics people. ._.

[picksthemusic]

Also, once you get a car seat you like, Evergreen hosts free car seat checks (you have to register) that checks to make sure you have it in right and that you know how to use it.

[jennlin]

yes, most, normal families keep a convertible in their car forever. if you're crazy like the jennlin household, we take ours in/out every day bc MIL picks up bjl from our house in the morning. we're too cheap to buy another one (although we've been debating for months). right now we move it every day at 4:30am, and again when i pick her up in the afternoon. another bonus is that the boulevard is really easy to take in/out.

[Deleted]

Mar 23, 2013 19:49:25 GMT -5 jennlin said:

yes, most, normal families keep a convertible in their car forever. if you're crazy like the jennlin household, we take ours in/out every day bc MIL picks up bjl from our house in the morning. we're too cheap to buy another one (although we've been debating for months). right now we move it every day at 4:30am, and again when i pick her up in the afternoon. another bonus is that the boulevard is really easy to take in/out.

This is crazy. Get a scenera for your mil. They are $50.

[jennlin]

oh i just noticed you said you registered for gemini...just something to keep in mind since gemini allows forward-facing-carry...it's not a recommended position to hold baby...always parent-face. just do a quick google search (you're smart, so i'm not going to do it for you) for "why you shouldn't carry your baby face forward in a carrier".

[niq]

Mar 23, 2013 20:10:06 GMT -5 jennlin said:

oh i just noticed you said you registered for gemini...just something to keep in mind since gemini allows forward-facing-carry...it's not a recommended position to hold baby...always parent-face. just do a quick google search (you're smart, so i'm not going to do it for you) for "why you shouldn't carry your baby face forward in a carrier".

This is by age, right? Like after some number of months, or by weight, ff in a carrier is okay?

Even on a tablet, I blame all wrong words on Swype

[jennlin]

I'm unsure about forward facing front carry when they are older. I was under the assumption it's always bad. If they want to look forward, they can be worn on your back.

[catbus]

We just recently started doing an occasional front carry with E in the Gemini, and he loves it. But, we only do it for short period of time (~20 minutes or less) in places in which he won't get overstimulated. So we did it this evening when we went out for a neighborhood walk. It allows him to see dogs (his latest favorite), the neighbors' chickens, and blooming flowers. I definitely prefer to have him facing in, but I don't think any harm will come from him occasionally facing out. 

As for convertible seats, we have the same one spunbutterfly posted on the way (should be delivered Monday). I'm super excited to switch to a convertible seat, but for us, the infant seat was worthwhile in the beginning, because E would fall asleep practically every time he even saw a car, LOL, so being able to let him continue sleeping was valuable. But at this point, we really don't need that functionality anymore, and I think E's getting frustrated with the steep recline of the infant seat. The infant seat is not *necessary*, but I found it incredibly helpful and convenient... and I'm otherwise a baby gear minimalist.  

[karebear219]

If I wasn't a runner I would start with a convertible seat. Without an infant seat I couldn't run with bkb until she was at least six months. Running while I was on leave kept me from having a nervous breakdown and bkb loved it too.

[Deleted]

Mar 23, 2013 20:10:06 GMT -5 jennlin said:

oh i just noticed you said you registered for gemini...just something to keep in mind since gemini allows forward-facing-carry...it's not a recommended position to hold baby...always parent-face. just do a quick google search (you're smart, so i'm not going to do it for you) for "why you shouldn't carry your baby face forward in a carrier".

This being said I highly recommend Boba carriers

[Deleted]

I know Jen didn't link any articles but I'm going to link a few good ones from the Boba site

www.bobafamily.com/faq/why-dont-you-have-the-forward-facing-baby-carry-on-your-site-is-there-something-wrong-with-carrying-my-baby-this-way/

www.bobafamily.com/faq/can-my-baby-face-out-in-the-boba-2/

www.bobafamily.com/faq/what-positions-can-i-use-for-your-wrap-and-carrier/

[sarack]

i'd definitely get an infant car seat. it will make your life much easier. plus, can you imagine being with baby alone, having to get their bag and your stuff, plus making sure you're holding baby tight enough?

I can't imagine having two babies without having removable infant carriers.

[catbus]

Mar 25, 2013 20:46:59 GMT -5 sarack said:

i'd definitely get an infant car seat. it will make your life much easier. plus, can you imagine being with baby alone, having to get their bag and your stuff, plus making sure you're holding baby tight enough?

I can't imagine having two babies without having removable infant carriers.

Plus, arm workout! If I were having a (ONE) baby in summer, I'd consider just going with a convertible carseat. One of the benefits of the infant seat with a fall baby was being able to bundle him up really well without compromising safety.

But I'd still go with an infant seat, if only for those first couple months. Because OMG it was soooo worth it for that period.

[niq]

Okay this is going to sound ridiculous ...

Does someone have video proof of babies staying asleep in infant car seats as you pull the seat out of the car or carry them around or whatever? Msniq doesn't believe me that this works.

[niq]

Mar 26, 2013 12:45:57 GMT -5 @jennuinne said:

Mar 26, 2013 12:38:17 GMT -5 niq said:

Okay this is going to sound ridiculous ...

Does someone have video proof of babies staying asleep in infant car seats as you pull the seat out of the car or carry them around or whatever? Msniq doesn't believe me that this works.

Haha, no.  Just lots of testimonials.  I went shopping w/ a friend the other week and her son stayed asleep for at least an hour while we shopped, maybe longer.  Then we ate and she switched him to an Ergo carrier.

Are you guys the first ones w/ kids?

HSIL (that's "half sister-in-law") has an 18-yo son. She's helpful for child-rearing stuff but not so much for gear stuff since it's changed so much.

I guess we could ask HSIL's bf, who has younger kids.

[jennlin]

Mar 26, 2013 12:38:17 GMT -5 niq said:

Okay this is going to sound ridiculous ...

Does someone have video proof of babies staying asleep in infant car seats as you pull the seat out of the car or carry them around or whatever? Msniq doesn't believe me that this works.

lol. no video proof. but she has my promise that *my* daughter stayed asleep in it when we used one..she was about 3 mos old, and we borrowed it for a long weekend in an unfamiliar place.

[jennlin]

Mar 26, 2013 12:47:51 GMT -5 spunbutterfly said:

Mar 26, 2013 12:38:17 GMT -5 niq said:

Okay this is going to sound ridiculous ...

Does someone have video proof of babies staying asleep in infant car seats as you pull the seat out of the car or carry them around or whatever? Msniq doesn't believe me that this works.

It does work for most kids.

But? FWIW...

we could/can take Thor out of his car seat without him waking up most of the time.

this, too. when she was little. now it's quite a bit harder, but still works maybe once a week or so.

[jennlin]

Mar 26, 2013 13:12:11 GMT -5 spunbutterfly said:

OH!

One thing we did find a little inconvenient...

most restaurants are not equipped to handle a stroller. though our stroller doubles as a high chair. they get immediate panicked looks on their faces. just fyi... in this regard, I would think an infant carrier is probably easier. but only if you plan on going out a lot to restaurants with baby. we didn't. it's just the few times we went, it was kind of a hassle. everyone expects babies to have a bucket seat, and if they don't have a bucket seat, then SURELY (SURELY) they must be able to sit in a high chair.

asshats.

oh yes. this.

[catbus]

Mar 26, 2013 13:12:11 GMT -5 spunbutterfly said:

OH!

One thing we did find a little inconvenient...

most restaurants are not equipped to handle a stroller. though our stroller doubles as a high chair. they get immediate panicked looks on their faces. just fyi... in this regard, I would think an infant carrier is probably easier. but only if you plan on going out a lot to restaurants with baby. we didn't. it's just the few times we went, it was kind of a hassle. everyone expects babies to have a bucket seat, and if they don't have a bucket seat, then SURELY (SURELY) they must be able to sit in a high chair.

asshats.

Yes, the infant seat is pretty much necessary in a restaurant situation for the first 5-6 months. We take out E and hold him in our laps a lot, but still need to set him back down occasionally. Can't wait until he's truly able to sit unassisted (he's still getting the hang of it).

But I am a little confused as to what makes the restaurant staff "asshats." I never try to bring a stroller into a restaurant, and I'd assume if I didn't have my own seat for a young infant, that he'd have to hang out in someone's lap for the whole meal.

[catbus]

OK, I get it. Sorry. I couldn't help but laugh when we were asked if we needed a kids' menu... when E was about three months. (Although, given the CDC findings just released on when parents start solids, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.)

[catbus]

Mar 26, 2013 22:15:02 GMT -5 @lauralynne said:

You mean you didnt give chicken nuggets to your three month old???
(I totally judged a mom this weekend - her baby wasn't old enough to sit in a high chair unassisted but was able to drink SODA THROIGH A STRAW)

Gross. 

[jennlin]

Mar 26, 2013 22:15:02 GMT -5 @lauralynne said:

You mean you didnt give chicken nuggets to your three month old???
(I totally judged a mom this weekend - her baby wasn't old enough to sit in a high chair unassisted but was able to drink SODA THROIGH A STRAW)