Would a SafeSeat be my best bet?

[Niki_n_Abby]

I'm expecting #2 and we already have car seat issues LOL! I had origionally planned to not use an infant seat and get a DC for the new baby and move my current dds seat to my moms car. I never carry a baby in a car seat, sleeping, cold or not, I just don't do it. However.....

I'll be returning to work when the baby is 4 months old. For a 4 month period after that, MIL will pick up the baby in the morning then bring the baby to my mom at lunch time and baby will go home with my mom. I know that is confusing but my mom teaches at my dds school in the mornings thus the reason to involve MIL. Since MIL will also need a seat for her car for 4 months, would I be better off getting a SafeSeat that we can move between cars, use that for a year+(whenever it is out grown) then just worry about 2 new seats at that time?

Thanks for your thoughts!
Niki

[Joolsplus2]

*I* probably would do that. I'm not a big fan of leaving babies in infant seats for hours at a time, of course, but boy, there is just something so very convenient about them, compared to a convertible (esp. the safe seat, with the built in belt lockoff on the base? sweeeet!). It just seems like it's easy to install right, easy to use right, convenient for multiple users, costs the same as any other infant seat that won't last as long....

Just my 2.5 cents, lol.
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[seeks1]

Julie, can you explain what you mean about the built in belt lockoff? Is that in the seat or stay in car base?


How does it work to just have the infant carrier go from car to car without a stay-in-base?

A while back I posted about my husband and I having to swap baby around and the suggestions I got was to just use the infant carrier and the seat belt to do this and wait until we need convertibles to buy them. I was planning on getting the Key Fit but is the Safe Seat a better option for this?

Thanks!

[Joolsplus2]

The base has a clamp on it that clips the belt, if you are using seatbelts, and not LATCH, which is just a really nice feature if you have lap/shoulderbelts (which make Snugride bases tip like heck). The Key Fit is great, and it *can* be installed with just the seatbelt, no base, but it looks like it would be *hard* to do, since the belt loops are totally covered by the cover (compared to the Snugride, Safe Seat, or Combi Connection, which have nice open slots for putting a seatbelt on just the seat itself)

:)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[seeks1]

Okay, that is what I was thinking. I knew the Key fit had lockoff's on the base.

I also thought the Key Fit looked like a total pain to install without the base. In the store I tried to pull the cover up to get to the slots and about hurt myself (of course that has nothing to do with me being a klutz or anything :-))

So, I guess my choices are, get the Key Fit and go ahead and either waste money on a second base or go ahead and get at least one convertible.

Or, get the safe seat which is easy to put in another car without the base and wait on convertibles until baby needs them and decide at that time what I want and with the Safe Seat that might give me another year which would make the convertibles last through child one and maybe a good part of child two.

Well, that changes all my plans for strollers etc but sounds like a good idea to me. My husband is going to wait as long as possible to have a carseat full time in his car.

Thanks!!

[murphydog77]

So you would need to install the KeyFit without the base? It's really not that hard. Just pull the cover up, tuck it in on the inside and leave it that way. It leaves the belt path across the top of the seat exposed. The designer of the seat wanted the belt path on the seat covered up because she believes that there's less misuse when the base is used, but if you're familiar with installing the seat without the base, then it's OK.

Heather, CPS Tech
http://www.CarSeatSite.com

[seeks1]

On any given day my husband or I will pick up or drop off from daycare and so I was thinking of getting a convertible in one car and using the infant carrier in the other. It was recommended in another post that I just use the infant carrier without the base in one car and wait until I really need the convertible to get as much use as possible out of it.

I am having trouble spending $50 on another base. It just seems like a waste of money if I can get away without it. I rather use that for a better stroller or convertible that will have a longer use.

So it is safe on the key fit to leave the fabric pulled up to expose the belt path?

[SusanMae]

I can't imagaine that it would be unsafe to leave the belt path exposed, but I'm not a tech either.

The concern I would have about so many different people installing the infant seat with no base is would they all get it right? It's not hard, but some people don't get it.

We used to fuss at my brother for just putting my nephew all buckled in his seat in the back seat---seat not buckled in. I'm sure there are plenty others who do that too.

Susan

[seeks1]

Well, it would just be my husband and I using the seat without the base. I trust both of us! :-) We both are pretty particular. Thanks!

[Joolsplus2]

Well, Heather makes it sound pretty easy to just pull that fabric up, and of course it IS perfectly easy to learn how to install it right...but boy, on my Key Fit, that cover is really tightly covering the belt guides...you'd really have to leave it permanently semi uncovered if you were going to do it every day or so. Still, cheaper than another base, if the inconvenience doesn't get to you... One Step Ahead is having that Key Fit sale, that's more reasonable...and if you go with a Snugride instead, Walmart has second bases for only $30....
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx