Infant Seat for 2007 Honda Fit?

[ianewmom]

I am having trouble finding an infant seat that fits in a 2007 Honda Fit. I have tried carseatdata.org without much success. After returning the Snugride 32, I now have a basic Graco Snugride infant seat that also puts the passenger's knees against the dash board and requires him/her to sit completely upright--not conducive for as much as we need to travel. We only have Target and Wal-Mart in this area for baby stores which don't have many options. I'm not finding measurements for other seats on-line. Does anyone have a recommendation for an infant seat that fits a Honda Fit?

[GraceH]

maybe try the center seat and leave the handle up?

[k_null81]

I would try the Combi Coccoro. It's not an infant seat but it's the only car seat we could fit in our Jetta comfortably. We have been happy with the seats thus far and I'm planning on ordering 2 more this week for our other car.

[ianewmom]

Unfortunately the Fit does not have a center seat option due to the way the seats split and fold. The anchors can only be found on the outside seats.

Thanks for the Combi Coccoro recommendation. Is it okay not to use an infant seat for the first few months? How would you do that? Were you able to use it rear facing? Good to know for the next phase also when we will be doing most of our traveling.

[k_null81]

We honestly used the infant seats maybe for a week before returning them. My husband couldn't drive with the infant seat behind him and I didn't want to get stuck driving every where we went. We do have both Coccoro's RF (rearfacing) in our Jetta. Most convertible seats are to big for newborns and don't have enough padding to support a newborn properly but the coccoro is a compact convertible seat with a really nice padded insert. We are happy with the seats and I'm ordering 2 more this week. The cheapest I could find the Coccoro is at babycatalog.com for 152.10 using code BCSV10

Good Luck!

[GraceH]

Unfortunately the Fit does not have a center seat option due to the way the seats split and fold. The anchors can only be found on the outside seats.

Thanks for the Combi Coccoro recommendation. Is it okay not to use an infant seat for the first few months? How would you do that? Were you able to use it rear facing? Good to know for the next phase also when we will be doing most of our traveling.

Don't let the anchors fool you into picking an outboard position, a properly done seatbelt install is safer than a poor LATCH install. Other than the lack of LATCH, is there a reason to avoid the center spot?

It is fine to start with a convertible from day one BUT you have to pick one that will fit a newborn well, plus *I* would have missed the convenience of my infant seat sorely.

[ianewmom]

Thanks, ladies.
I'll experiment more with installing the Snugride in different ways. The center seat would be preferable if we want to use the passenger seat comfortably except that we will not be able to use the folding backseat option which helps us get more in the Fit when traveling, and we will not fit in the back seat with the baby if desired. The hospital requires us to get a car seat check done before we can take the baby home. I'll see if they approve the center installation configuration.

I just reread the Baby Bargains review of the Coccoro and see that it is for 5 to 30lbs. and can be used rear-facing. It wasn't rated by Baby Bargains yet and they didn't have a lot of info on it. Does it have a handle for carrying, and can it be used with any stroller frames? I'll look at the website you mentioned.

[ianewmom]

I'm not sure if my reply a half hour ago came through. There may still be a delay since I am new. If not, I will experiment more with the center seat option for the Snugride.

I checked babycatalog.com. It looks like a very well designed seat. I do see that there is a stoller option for the Coccoro coming out in October called the Coccoro Flash. Do you ever mind not having a handle?

[k_null81]

The Coccoro currently doesn't have a stroller frame that it fits in. So when we originally got the seats we knew that we wouldn't be removing the car seats to put them in a stroller frame. Now since they are coming out with a frame for it specifically then I would have thought about it if we didn't have twins. I personally don't mind getting the boys out of their car seats and putting them in an actual stroller and to be honest if I had a singleton I still probably wouldn't use the snugride all that often except for maybe a quick in and out of the store or quick errands. Also it seems the snugride is outgrown around 7-8 months unless you get the snugride32. So it didn't make much since finanacially to keep the snugrides on top of the fact they didn't fit comfortably in our car without eating driver and passenger leg room. I hope in the near future we will be able to afford a van but as of right now it's not in the cards.

Good Luck! And if you want to get more info on the Coccoro or other car seats check out www.car-seat.org

[bubbaray]

You should easily be able to install an infant seat and most convertibles RFg in the center with belts. If someone tells you you can't do that, they are wrong -- the only thing you can't do in the center is install via latch by borrowing outboard anchors (Honda d/n allow that in any of their vehicles).

Latch isn't safer and after 40lbs, you have to install via belts in all Honda products anyway, so you'll need to learn the belt install eventually.

[ianewmom]

Thanks again. Since we received the Snugride and the stroller as a gift and the baby is due in the Dec. in Iowa, I think we will try that for a little while in the middle seat. I doubt we will be getting out much this winter except to go to the store where the snugride may be more handy for now. I'm strongly considering the Coccoro for spring and the second six months when we start to travel more and the baby still has to be rear-facing. I'm assuming a boy to taller than average parents may outgrow the Snugride by then and may become fairly heavy to carry that way anyway. We'll be thinking about regular strollers then, too. Thanks again for the tip on the Coccoro! I really like the apparent thought and engineering they put into it.