Convertible seat that converts to a booster?

[hudsonam]

In reference to my post about the crappy car seat my in-laws want to use for my son, I'm thinking a great solution would be for us to get a convertible seat that converts to a booster. I saw an Eddie Bauer seat that starts at 22 lbs, and my son is over 25 lbs at this point.

Are these types of seats safe? It says it's good as a booster up to 80 lbs. This way we can buy it now and rest assured that they have something safe for a long time to come.

[Joolsplus2]

Is he forward facing? The the ONLY Cosco seat I'd look at is the Apex/Alpha Elite.. the other eddie bauer's have mega-low top slots and are NOT long lasting. Graco Ultra/Platinum Cargos or Evenflo Chase/Genereations are great seats for forward facing kids.

:)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 3 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[momtoB]

The only problem with the Cosco AO/EB 3-in-1 seats (both are the same seats marketed under different names) is that the top slots are low and a lot of kiddo's outgrow the harness well before they are ready to be put in a BPB. This happened to my ds. He outgrew his AO harness by the time he was 34mos old. He's skinny, only 28lbs now so I couldn't put him in a bpb if I wanted to (which I don't, but the minimum weight for bpb is 30lbs anyway). When you're looking at these seats the harness adjusts using a bar on the back of the seat. The very top slot is only intended to move the headrest up to the highest level for bpb mode, but it isn't reinforced so you can't use it for harnessing. The 2nd from the top slot is the highest usable harness slot and it sits at about 15".

If you want to keep your kiddo rear-facing as long as possible, I would recommend getting a $40 Cosco Scenera 5-pt which is rated to 35lbs r/fing, 40lbs f/fing, and once outgrown, switch to a either a BPB or a good combo seat like the Generations/Bolero. Or if you're comfortable with f/fing now, just go for the Gen/Bolero.

hth.

Cheryl
ds-4/21/03 (rear-facing in a Blvd in our car, uses a Bolero in MIL's car)

[hudsonam]

Thanks for the suggestions and information. He is forward facing now.

[Kat_Mom2D_J_andRuthie]

I agree with the others... if he's already forward facing, I'd go with the Evenflo Generations/Bolero, which will make the best booster of any combination seat.