Car Seat and Strollers

i love my britex roundabout! love it! and as for strollers i love the MACLAREN brand. so easy to use and super light.

Chicco for an umbrella stroller -- reasonably priced, held up well, folded easily, very light.

We had two Britax car seats(Roundabout and Marathon) and liked them both.

Get a Britax Marathon. It has the highest weight capacity (60 or 65 lbs?), so he can sit in it longer if he turns out to be a moose like my son. Plus, they look very comfortable for a long ride.

Strollers are different. Do you need a sturdy, comfy ride? Or does it need to be pretty lightweight? Will you need to use yours everyday a few times like I do to walk to kids to class, or is this more of an errand at the mall stroller? I used to have a huge Graco with my first daughter, but left it at home one time for a vacation since it took up so much trunk space. Never again---almost broke my back with a Bjorn carrier the whole time. I went out and bought a tri-fold Combi (very lightweight) that was compatible with my car seat and still use it to this day when I only have one child with me. Now I use a double Combi... :-)

Hi W.,

The Britax line of carseats have the highest safety ratings, and though they're a little more pricey than the other brands, I can't put a price on my daughter's safety in the car! We have the Roundabout, and I love it. The material is very soft and comfy for her, but easy to remove and wash for me (I've had to do it twice--she got sick!). We were nervous about ease of moving it from one car to another, because we use three different vehicles at home and she stays with my mom once a week (we had three bases for our old Graco Snugride). I was ready to buy an additional seat when I realized how easy it is to transfer from one car to another, both using the seatbelt to secure it and Latch system. The seat has seatbelt-like receivers for Latch hooks in your car, so one click and a pull to tighten and you're done! It also has great Mom-easy features like velcro to hold the straps to the side when you're putting the baby in or taking her out, an easy-to-find button to loosen the straps, and an easy-to-reach lever to change the tilt. We LOVE this seat!

Our main stroller is a Jeep Expedition, which is a three-wheel variety. The tires are air-filled and take the rough roads and dirt paths near our house very well, with great shocks, too, though they're smaller than jogging stroller wheels and the front one pivots for easy turning. The seat is very comfortable for my daughter and I like the height of the handle, cup holders, large basket, and speaker system for my IPod! My daughter also loves the toy attachment with her own steering wheel, ignition key, and shifter! It's big and bulky, though, so it stays at home and goes on long trips with us, not short trips to the mall or other places w/o shopping carts. We have a cheap umbrella stroller for short trips like that. We also had to buy tire slime, because the tires went flat quickly when we went off-road (goatheads are common here). Once we added the slime, we've had no problems.

Hope that helps!
J.

We just bought and installed a Recaro front facing baby seat- it is super comfortable fabric,has side impact protection, and grows with baby as a booster till 80 lbs- plus it is a race car seat company so my husband was super excited about it- it was cheapest ordered through the Recaro site. We use the BOB revolution stroller for all of our needs, fire road trail, side walks and stores- it is super comfortable and has shocks and turns really well. My son is also turning one on Aug 4th- so Happy birthday to your son and family for making it one year!!!

I love my radian80 car seat by sunshine kids. It exceeds all safety standards!, not just meets them. it fold for easy storage it wipes clean its is very narrow yet still has a lot of sitting room. I love it I actually bought two one after researching it. I bought one for my 11 month daughter and I loved it so much I bought one for my 3 year old son, cause compared to the one he all ready had the radian was so much safer. I love our Combi stroller it is light like an umbrella stroller but the handles are tall enough for my husband to push it.

hi W. -

my son is also turning one next month, i just ordered the recaro young sport.

i have the peg perego pliko p3 - i'm not a huge fan, but it depends on what your stroller purpose will be. the pliko p3 works great on smooth surfaces (the mall), but it gets a bit rough on the streets (including walks in my neighborhood).

W.,

I love my convertible eddie bauer car seat- its very comfortable and extremely safe. As far as strollers go, I like peg perego and chicco strollers- great quality and last a long time.

Molly

hi W.,
My son is 23 months old and since he turned one we have been using the Britax Marathon car seat. You can use it rear facing as well as forward facing. I believe it is the called "the convertible" type of car seat. We did a lot of research on toddler car seats and this is on of the best out there. Very easy to install (much easier then the infant car seat) and use.... I can't say enough good things about it, but I would suggest you research some different car seats, only because it is such a an important purchase and everyone has different needs, etc.
As far as the stroller, we still use our Graco stroller that came with our infant car seat..... It is nice, but I am sure other mothers could recommend some higher quality strollers.
Good luck!

Please check out this website: www.carseat.org

This is the site for SafetyBelt Safe USA. This organization is dedicated to child safety in vehicles. They give great advice on car seats, etc. They've been very helpful with my questions regarding my 3 children.

Hello W.,
I love our Britax car seat. We have the Diplomat for my mom's car (she watches my daughter 4 days a week) and the Boulevard for my car. They are the same as the Roundabout and the Marathon but with a few added features including side impact protection.
As far as strollers go, I LOVE my Chicco Cortina Stroller. It has every feature I wanted. I plan to buy the car seat that goes with it for our next one. If you are looking for a jogging stroller, I've heard great things about the Jeep stroller.

I would highly recommend a Peg Perego stroller. It has a great swivel so you don't constantly put pressure on your wrists when you are turning corners. It is very light and folds easily. Mine had adjustable handles so you could raise or lower them according to the height of the pusher of the stroller, and it had a little stand on the back so my then four year old could stand on the stroller when I pushed my son which was VERY handy. Well worth the extra money as compared to a graco/evenflo (which I had with my daughter).

Hi W.,

When my son was about 1 I purchased the Britax Marathon. It is a pretty big seat so I put it in my husband car and did a lot of research and ended up with radian 80 (or 65) car seat by sunshine kids since my car is on the smaller side and I wanted an excellent seat (I also noticed these seat on the show "John and Kate Plus 8"). I think there are several great car seats and you need to consider your car into the equation (I thought because everyone swears by Britax that that was what I had to have). My son is now 21 months old and the issue I have notice with the Marathon is he can pull up on the lever that loosens the safety straps allowing his entire upper body to get out. I am not sure why I have never heard anyone else mention this on any reviews.
:) S.

Hey just to let you know I saw some gracco strollers on clearance at target...

HI!
We really like our Britax Marathon car seat. It clips right to the seat in our car with these great straps, and you dont have to do the sweat and tears routine belting it in!!! We have different seats in our other car, and the Britax one is so nice.
Good luck, and congratulations on reaching the one year mark!
M.

I bought a Maclaren stroller when my daughter turned one. It is a very sturdy umbrella stroller and holds up to 50 lbs or more and it also looks really nice. For the car seat- I don't think you can beat a Britax. They are pricey, but I believe they are rated the highest for safety.

We like our Britax Marathon carseat. The biggest advantage in my opinion is that you can use it for rear-facing beyond one year (to 30 lbs). We plan to keep our daughter (also 11 months) rear facing as long as possible, since it is so much safer!

Please consider staying rear facing. The sites below have good info. Also search it on YouTube for great videos.

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx
http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html

We love our Silver Cross Pop stroller, too. It's kind of pricey, but they have it on shnoop.com sometimes for $100!

Britax marathon is fantastic, pricy but go for it over the roundabout since it has a higher weight limit and a bit larger, my 3.5 year old is still in hers. It can get you at least the booster stage if not beyond. Covers are washable as well and latch system is really easy. Strollers all depend in what you are looking for, for mall I use a Maclaren Volo umbrella stroller- positives are it is really light weight, takes little space, cool in the summer, canopy is adjustable and really does open and close with one hand, however with any weight on the back it is really tippy if empty. I've had mine for over 2 years now and it's great shape, I had a few different models self distruct prior to getting it. Well worth the money. For most everything else I use a BOB revolution stroller, it can go anywhere and is very durable.

I love Britax....very user friendly, comfortable, easy to install, and of course safe! I have a Marathon and a Decathalon.....both great seats! I've also heard great things about the Radian 60 as well.