Infant seat for Passat wagon...recommendations, please!

[Nosy]

We just had our 2nd child. For our first, we used the Baby Trend Breckenridge (whichever was recommended by Baby Bargains 2 years ago). It's still good, but I hate that it doesn't lean back very far when placed in the Passat. No amount of baby blankets rolled around baby keep his head from slinking over to the side or front, and I know it is not comfortable. I've seen infant seats installed in other cars that seem to lean back further so baby's head doesn't fall over to the side. My babies have big heads, so it takes a long time for them to be able to hold their heads up in the car seat. I had thought we would suffer through again with the Baby Trend, but if I could find an infant seat that fit the Passat better, I would get it. It's an 04 Passat wagon w/LATCH (installed later), if that helps. DS1 now has a Britax Marathon, which he is comfortable in, but I think I would encounter the same head stability problem with it if we went ahead and got the convertible seat for DS2.

Any advice?

Thanks!

[o_mom]

We had a Passat and I hated it for that very reason - the seats are so steep it is hard to get a good recline with any rear-facing seat.

Does the Baby Trend have a level indicator? It is possible you have it installed too steep if the head keeps falling- you can always check the angle using the folded paper trick or a $7 angle gauge to make sure it is at 45 deg. If it is not at 45, you might be able to put a rolled up towel or a pool noodle under the base to level it out more. If it is at the correct angle, I'm not sure that any other seats are going to help much.

[Nosy]

I'm glad it's not just me that has this problem, o mom! It was installed by the car seat tech at the VW dealership, but I'll see if we can check the angle. I vaguely recall that it does have a level indicator.

[Momof3Labs]

That's just the nature of the Passat wagon back seat; not sure that another infant seat will work any better for you. We're thinking about going straight to the RA in our Passat wagon for baby #2 because it is easy to get a good recline, but still using the infant seat in DH's minivan (which will probably become the primary baby vehicle for the first few months).

[SusanMae]

A benefit of going with a Britax convertible from the beginning would be that you can tether RF and get a better recline. I'm not a tech but it's a suggestion.

Did you check the compatability database at www.carseatdata.org.

Susan

[Nosy]

Lori, what does RA stand for? Maybe we will go ahead and get a convertible if it will fit DS better. I could live without the convenience of the infant seat if I didn't have to see his little head bobble over while riding down the road.

[Joolsplus2]

I *think* it's really pretty tough to get a good recline with the Baby Trend, honestly...maybe if you installed it with the seatbelt instead of the LATCH you'd have better luck? (and used rolled towels to get it reclined properly). Lori knows better than I do, but I could swear I've had decent luck installing Snugrides in Passats (tough to recall, it's all a sea of back seats to me, lol).
The RA is the Roundabout...nice and short so you can get a full 45 degree recline without pushing the front seats too far forward. I don't know if you can find much to rearface-tether to in a Passat...probably have to use that giant black bar under the front seats that technically does move, but IS solidly bolted (it's a volkswagen thing... there's usually no solid-non-moving part towards the front of the car on the floor to top tether to, but that giant black bar under the front seat is ok for those who are willing to use it...now I've confused you to tears, I'm sure...hehehe.. don't worry, we'll walk you through it when the time comes!)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[Momof3Labs]

I've never tried a Snugride in our Passat wagon, but the FP SIV (seat belt install only) was virtually impossible to get the correct recline on. It also took a towel plus a lot of tugging on the tether to get the RA to a proper recline (we moved DS to it at 3 months old). DH has an Odyssey, which is a breeze compared to the Passat!

[Tondi G]

MY neighbors have a Passat and they had no trouble intalling their snugride in the center. Their DS was fine... no head bobbing. I helped them install their Marathon in there as well and ithas a nice recline with the tether!

Good luck

~Tondi

[BeachBum]

We have a Passat wagon, and a snugride. I really haven't seen kids in other seats so I don't know how to compare the tilt for comfort.

We did have to put a "swim noodle" (you know one of those floaty things used in the pool) under the seat to get the level indicator in the ok zone.
That said, my kids head bonks forward something aweful. Even now at 4 months with great head control when he sleeps his head flops over.