Safeseat SS1 won't fit in grocery cart?

[aldente]

I was all set to get the Graco Safeseat SS1 until I read here that it's so big it does not fit in the typical grocery cart - that's not good for us. Baby #4 is on the way and will likely go in the second row driver side bucket seat of Honda Odyssey. But also might be switched around to different seats on occasion. So the SS1 looked really good for its ease of installing/removing without the latch always. We prefer the shoulder/lap combo belt. Our babies are small to normal size.

I understand the Chicco keyfit is good for small babies, but is also big too, plus a little more costly. Does the Keyfit in the grocery cart? How about the snugride? Any suggestions welcomed! We are open to anything but are somewhat cost sensitive.

We are also shopping for a new side-by-side double stroller and would like the infant seat to snap into one side of it.

Regards,
Shawn

[vludmilla]

Not to be annoying, but I didn't think car seats were supposed to go in shopping carts and in any case, IME shopping carts vary too much to say that any one car seat will fit in all carts.
Maybe someone more knowledgeable about carseats can speak to this more and tell you if any car seats are safe to fit in carts.

[mom2binsd]

Do you mean fitting on the top of the grocery cart???? If so, it's been found that this is extremely dangerous as one little nudge by another shopper and down goes the baby in the carseat...I usually put my infant seat (the Combi Connection) in the large part of the cart, and used the space around and below for groceries, not the best but safe. Maybe some Safeseat owners can tell you whether it fits in the large part of the cart if that's where you were wondering about.

There was a thread about the dangers of this awhile ago (as well as putting infant seats on top of the restaurant wooden highchairs flipped over- most restaurants won't do this anymore as too many babies were knocked over-I witnessed two myself!).

[mom2binsd]

I also looked for a double to attach an infant seat to that wasn't too expensive, ended up with the tandem combi counterpart (about 175 now)....lightweight and worked ok with DS in the infant seat in back, DD age 3 1/2 in front (the front seat isn't huge but it's okay)- the side by sides didn't leave much room for the toddler with the infant seat in. The combi connection seat is about 139.00 now I think, although I think that I'd choose the Keyfit if I were buying now.

[MontrealMum]

We have a Snugride and it fits into the bottom part of a grocery cart. I don't do this frequently since DH does most of the shopping; also, there is very little room left to put the actual groceries, but it's OK if you're not getting too much. I have no clue about attaching the seat to the top part of the cart since I've heard, and agree, that that is unsafe.

[o_mom]

I put mine in most grocery carts - down in the basket part. It definately fits in the Target carts. :D It fits in the regular grocery carts for the most part, but occasionally I find one it doesn't fit in. It doesn't fit in the racecar ones at our grocery, but it does in the ones at Home Depot. No way is any seat fitting in the ones at Joann. Now that DS3 is sitting, I put him in the cart seat if the SS1 doesn't fit (using our floppy seat and own straps).

[Joolsplus2]

I put mine in sideways at our grocery store... :love-retry:

It's true, though, it's actually incredibly dangerous to put infant seats on the seat part of carts (well, probably hundreds of kids a year, not a statistical nightmare, but is it worth the risk?)...I know a few years ago that cart compatibility was a major feature of most seats, but now that the dangers are known, they don't do that anymore, and don't encourage it. The SS1 was a lifesaver for me, as my dd was a late walker and I was always driving my other two kids around... I wish she still fit in it now at age 2 because I always end up going to walmart at naptime :p

[aldente]

Thank you all – very good information. I especially appreciate the ideas for grocery cart use.

Yes, I did mean to place it onto the grocery cart seat. You see six years ago when we bought our first infant car seat, the Century 22 (highly recommended from these boards at the time) one of the benefits was that it snapped/locked into place in the front part of the grocery cart (like the built in gray ones you see these days). So naturally we loved that we didn’t have to wake up junior while we went shopping, no transfer was necessary. We used the same car seat for three kids in a row but now that one is used up and it’s time to buy another one. I wasn’t aware of the safety studies, so thanks for pointing that out.

For bulkiness, would you say it goes, Safeseat SS1 > Chicco keyfit > Graco Snugride ?

Will any of these three seats snap into a side-by-side double stroller?

[khm]

Will any of these three seats snap into a side-by-side double stroller?

I don't think any infant seat will fit in any side-by-side stroller. At least, no stroller that will fit through a standard doorway! The carriers are just too wide to leave any additional room for the other passenger side.

If you really want side-by-side stroller, best to go with one that is suitable for a newborn. There are plenty of great options! Hop over to the stroller board! I'd look into an e3. ;)

[HIU8]

My SS1 fits into the big portion of the grocery cart. I put groceries around it and in the small handheld baskets that I use underneath the cart. It also fits in the basket at Target, but they don't have a bottom portion to store anything but big boxes of diapers, so I feel the space in the cart is more limited.

[codex57]

Snugride snaps just fine to the seat area of a shopping cart. I don't think it's tippy at all. Flipping over a child seat at a restaurant and putting it there is tippy. The shopping carts seem fine.

However, we just throw it in the main basket b/c while it snaps in fine, that middle moving part of the cart makes the angle of the Snugride all wrong. Doesn't look comfortable for baby so we don't put the SR there any more.

[TonFirst]

It may be unlikely that the seat will topple off of the cart, but not so unlikely that my sister didn't see it happen several times during the six months she worked at Bed, Bath & Beyond a few years ago... She said it was a terrible thing to see.

[mariza]

The SS1 will lock into any stroller that takes a Snugride. The Zooper Tango and Aria Twin are 2 SBS that come to mind. I have a 2006 Tango that I love, but they didn't make the car sesat compatible version until 2007 (although I did manage to make it work in a few emergencies - like trying to bring the dog to the vet with a 2 yo and an infant!)
There is a current thread about Zooper on the stroller board.
I had a big baby 9lbs 5oz and I LOVED my SS1, he was in it until 1 year and probably could have stayed a bit longer, but he was never a great car rider and the seating position of the MA agreed with him better at that age.
I think the SS1 would probably snap into a grocery cart, but like all PP's I wouldn't recommend it, I always put it in the main cart too. Until I started splurging on online grocery shopping with home delivery :)
Here are some links:
I have the Zooper and a Phil and Teds E3 and there are lots of times I wish I just bit the bullet and got the MBUD
http://www.letsgostrolling.com/mountain-buggy-urban-double.html

http://www.letsgostrolling.com/2007-zooper-tango-double-stroller.html

don't let the width of the Zooper scare you, yes sometimes if the wheel is not straight you will get caught on the doorframe, but you just back it up and try again. I've only had 1 door that it didn't fit through and that was in a small store in a "boutique" section of Boston. I've never had a problem at the mall or doctors offices.

The Peg:
http://www.amazon.com/Peg-Perego-Light-Weight-Stroller/dp/B000WK28PS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=generic&qid=1202336572&sr=1-2

[801kelle]

I put mine in sideways at our grocery store... :love-retry:

It's true, though, it's actually incredibly dangerous to put infant seats on the seat part of carts (well, probably hundreds of kids a year, not a statistical nightmare, but is it worth the risk?)...I know a few years ago that cart compatibility was a major feature of most seats, but now that the dangers are known, they don't do that anymore, and don't encourage it. The SS1 was a lifesaver for me, as my dd was a late walker and I was always driving my other two kids around... I wish she still fit in it now at age 2 because I always end up going to walmart at naptime :p

When I had an infant seat.. I had the Graco Snugride and the clips on the back actually locked onto the grocery cart seat.. at the top of the back part of the front seat.

[Joolsplus2]

Which is great, but the cart then becomes extremely top heavy and more likely to tip over entirely...which is why I said maybe only hundreds (more likely thousands, but I don't feel like looking up the statistics...) of kids a year need medical treatment for shopping cart injuries, but why risk it?

[DaniannieB]

Well, enough injuries occur that the AAP has a policy recommending that shopping carts be used cautiously, if at all, with children of all ages. Instability of an infant seat on the cart is not the only issue. Most of the carts are actually unstable on their own; adding an infant seat does not help. The infant seat falling can and does happen with frequency. I don't care if it seems the infant seat "snaps on", the cart can still tip over, or someone else may knock the infant seat off. Overall, shopping carts really aren't that safe for any young children, but I'd say that putting an infant seat on the shopping cart makes the cart even less safe.

http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/aug06shoppingcart.htm
http://www.aap.org/family/SpgCrt-TechnicalRpt.pdf
http://www.aap.org/family/ShopCartPP.pdf
http://www.aap.org/family/ShoppingCartPolicy.pdf

Is your convenience really worth a potential injury to your child?

[Joolsplus2]

Thanks for doing the research :bowdown:

I know my older kids have pushed a cart over once, the big one onto the little one... it was easy to do, and if a baby had been up there, even with proper harness strap usage (which most people don't do! have you seen the loose straps on kids in seats in carts?!?!?!), it could have been disastrous (as it was, the force was spread out enough on the kid that got crushed that she wasn't hurt....)

[aldente]

After much deliberation and reading we decided to get the Combi Centre DX with ARB and the Combi Twin Sport 2 double stroller. The Centre DX snaps into the left side of the stroller - Yeah!

[mom2binsd]

Not to throw cold water on your plan, but have you tried to sit a child in the seat with the carseat installed on the other side - I tried a number of models, the combi being one of them and there was no way a toddler was going to be able to sit with the infant seat beside them (we ended up getting the tandem combi and combi connection infant seat which we liked instead because of that). At the time my older DC was not yet 3 and pretty skinny and she was feeling squished. I know they design them to fit two kids but it didn't seem very functional.

[Joolsplus2]

I do like that seat :D (no comment on the stroller, I haven't seen it, lol)

[aldente]

Great idea Beth, and no we didn’t try it out, just did a whole bunch of research. We will take our 2-yr old and plunk him down next to the Centre DX in BRU this week to try it out. Thanks for thinking about this. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the research I don’t even think about the reality of the purchase. Luckily all our kids are small so I hope it’ll work. Thank you.

[gatorsmom]

I don't think any infant seat will fit in any side-by-side stroller. At least, no stroller that will fit through a standard doorway! The carriers are just too wide to leave any additional room for the other passenger side.




Not true. The snugride will fit in a Mountain Buggy Urban Double (MBUD) which is a side-by-side stroller. It was super handy for me when DS1 was 2 and DS2 was a newborn. You could put the toddler in one side and click the snugride into the other seat. And the MBUD will fit through standard doorways. The only doorways I've found it didn't fit through were the narrow ones in the dressingrooms and bathroom stalls. Gotta use the wheelchair-compatible stalls.

In fact, this set up was so easy for me that i'd use my MBUD at Target. I attached those Strollr Swivelr hooks that you can get at BRU and hung a basket on the back of the stroller. Big items went in the basket of the stroller. Did it all the time. It worked great because the toddler stayed strapped into his seat, the snugride was safely clicked in, and I could push that thing one handed!!! It was very handy.

hth