Which car seat do you recommend?

[Chadsgirl]

My daughter is two months old and almost out of her infant seat. She was 12 lbs a week and a half ago but she is 24 inches and my infant seat is only good until 26 inches. The seat will be for our only vehicle a 97 Ford Aerostar and I'm not looking at Britax, since they are out of my budget. Anything around $200 or less if possible.

Thank you very much for the help.

[Piglet]

If you post this question on the car seat board they will help you a great deal, but do not worry too much about those 2 inches - they might take longer than you think! Also, it really is more of an issue where the top of your DDs head is relative to the seatback (no less than 1 inch to the seat back is the rule). You have to remember that some babies are all torso and others are all legs. My DS2 is longer in the legs than in the torso, so he was longer than 26 inches when he had plenty of room above his head. Here is the discussion on the car seat board :

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=13&topic_id=36944&mode=full&page=2

In any event, you will probably have to look at a convertible seat soon enough, so you will probably want to research that purchase shortly. I looked high and low and did end up with a Britax Marathon after getting VERY frustrated with the Cosco Alpha Omegas (and all the sister products "made" by Safety 1st and Eddie Bauer). I believe there is a new seat called the Cosco Scenera that is getting good reviews on the car seat board, but I haven't seen it for myself. The Graco and Evenflos have very low top slots which most kids outgrow far too early (i.e. before they are ready for a booster seat).

Good luck,

[Chadsgirl]

Thanks.

[Chadsgirl]

Well I put my daughter in the car seat to see about how many inches we have to play with and we have maybe three. But I noticed that the straps are already at the highest level which is exactly where her shoulders are. I don't think the straps will fit much longer. UGH!!!!

[Neatfreak]

I believe that with a rear-facing installation, the shoulder straps are supposed to be *at* or *below* the shoulders, so your infant seat might last a bit longer than you suspect.

To be honest, though, I upgraded my daughter to a Marathon before she outgrew her infant seat just because I got tired of lugging that heavy thing around :)

[Chadsgirl]

I hear you with that one. I've always had a hard time lugging her around, since she's so heavy in the seat.