Britax Frontier or Parkway? FF or RF 2 yr old

[Lerber]

Need a second car seat for DHs car, have a graco Nautilus right now (thinking about putting this one is DHs car). DS just turned 4 and is 43lbs and 42" I would like to 5 point harness as long as possible, although do not want to buy the 5 point and end up putting in booster mode soon after. I have heard and read that children can grow out of 5 point... So I am looking for some suggestions or advice from others experiences...Frontier or Parkway?

Also...went to Dr the other day for 2yr and 4 yr checkup and dr said to put DD (2) forward facing when I mentioned that I have heard it is safer to keep rear facing as long as possible he said no forward face her. Her car seat rfs to 35 lbs so she has some time before it requires her to FF.

Also any deals on Parkway or Frontier?

[bubbaray]

The Parkway is not a harnessed booster. It is a belt-positioning booster only. While it is a great booster, personally I wouldn't put a newly 4yo in a booster unless they had outgrown all other harnessed seats on the market and I had no other choice.

For your DS, the Frontier would be my first choice, the Nautilus second. There are pluses and minuses to each seat, so do some searches here and then try them out in your vehicles.

For your DD, I would keep her RFg to the limits of her seat.

[TwinFoxes]

Also...went to Dr the other day for 2yr and 4 yr checkup and dr said to put DD (2) forward facing when I mentioned that I have heard it is safer to keep rear facing as long as possible he said no forward face her.

Did s/he say why? This goes against pretty much all advice I've read. Honestly, I think your doc probably just gave an answer without really basing it on anything in particular. I'd trust the car seat techs on this board more, unless the doc had a real reason. :)

[mom2binsd]

Yup, the ped isn't up on the latest car seat safety information, you are better informed! If you seat allows longer RF and your child fits there is no reason to turn him.

The new 4 year old would be great in the Frontier and can probably stay harnessed for awhile, my 47" 6 1/2 year old DD still fits with plenty of room in the harness.

[arivecchi]

Your ped is wrong. Check out the car-seat.org car seat basics page. Rear facing to the limit of the car seat is best.

[maestramommy]

Keep the 2 yo rearfacing to the limits of her seat.

If you post this in CARSEATS you will get a lot of feedback.

[arivecchi]

http://www.car-safety.org/basics.html

http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html

http://carseatblog.com/?p=5168

[chozen]

our daughter is about 37" tall how could she fit rear facing? she weights about 30#.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

kids just cross their legs and are fine rear facing. In fact, most kids are uncomfortable when they have to go forward facing and their legs dangle and fall asleep.

It looks uncomfortable to us as adults because we are not as flexible, but kids are fine with it.

[Joolsplus2]

I think peds have so much to keep up with, they maybe get a grasp one time of what seats are available, the 'average' height and weight limits for RF and FF, and then make basic recommendations. It's not really that they mean FF is better (well, some peds who are totally not up on any research might mistakenly mean that...), just that they are thinking, "oh, seats only rearface to 22/30/33 pounds" and they don't hoof it down to the store (or google, lol) to see the ones that RF to 40/45 pounds with tall backs that can easily accommodate kids up to age 3 and 4 comfortably. As long as your child is below the maximum RF weight limit and their head is one inch below the top of the seatback, it's fine to rearface until one or the other of those limits is reached. My kids were fine in our minivan till age 4/4.5 in the Marathon or Radian rearfacing, but I'll admit that folding them up to RF in our compact sedan was quite a challenge at about age 3 and I relented and went FF then (and even at 2 with dd2, because of DH's car situation and the rare, rare trips she rode in there...)

[codex57]

I think DS is 35-36" tall now. He's totally comfy RF. Like others have said, he just crosses his legs or whatever.

[lorinick]

My ds is rf at 2.5 yrs. old 31lb and 36inches tall. It's easy to rf in my car SUV. Very hard to rf in dh very small sedan. I have that car this week, and installed the seat rf. I've hit the little guys head a few times. Ds usually ff in that car. Dh can't deal with it. But he only rides with dad maybe once a week on a Sat. arond town.