what to use after safeSeat?

[mama2lukee]

My son is now 1 yr, ~24 lbs, 27 inches. The limits for the safe seat are 30 lbs, 32 inches. So it would appear that we have some more time in the seat but his feat are hitting the back of the seat. If we buy a new car seat should we buy a convertible car seat or a booster? we were looking at the Cosco Eddie Bauer High Back Booster 22859 Baby Car Seat that waks is rated high on consumer reports.
The specs are below:
The High-Back Booster from Eddie Bauer is the safe and comfortable way to travel for children up to 80 pounds. Features: Five-point internal harness for children 22-40 pounds Belt-positioning capability for children 30-80 pounds Padded armrests Removable cup holder Stylish dark blue padding LATCH-equipped for 22-40 pounds Made in the USA

Thoughts? Recommendations?
Thanks in advance.

[Joolsplus2]

In a word, no. That's really a fairly cheap seat in fancy clothing. It has low top harness slots, and really is a poor booster later.

Feet touching the seatback are in no way an indicator that the seat is outgrown... you only want to make sure that there's room above his head... at least an inch of hard seatback should be above his head, if there's less, then it's time for a taller seat (I hauled my dd around in her Safeseat till she was 19 months, her feet were WAY off the side and well meaning strangers always pointed it out to me, but I'd have to explain that it didn't matter, she was under the weight and height limits :) )

You'll want to get a nice convertible seat to make sure your kiddo rearfaces to at least age 2 (newest studies show that it's five times safer than forward facing... as long as you can is best, but shoot for age two as a good minimum).

So good choices would be the Britax Marathon (or Boulevard), Evenflo Triumph Advance, Learning Curve True Fit, Safety 1st Uptown, Sunshine Kids Radian 65. Most of these weren't in the last Consumer Reports (which isn't the most reliable source of carseat data... We are! ;) ), but they have EPS foam for head protection, have tall top slots for forward facing, and nice tall seatbacks and high weight limits for rearfacing. These should keep your kiddo comfortably rearfacing for another year, then harnessed to at least age 5, which is a good safe minimum to go into a safe booster seat. The Uptown only goes to forty pounds, and may not last a big kid as long, but it's a good price and should still fit to age four at least (and it's light for traveling).

:)

[tnrnchick74]

Julie:

thanks for your great info! I'm subscribing to this thread...because one day I will need another carseat after my Safeseat!