I won’t even go into my car seat drama, but suffice it to say I ended up going through more hunks of plastic than strictly necessary. In our upcoming book (The Eco-nomical Baby Guide), we suggest purchasing an all-in-one car seat to avoid putting a strain on the planet. These seats “grow with the baby” and are supposed to work from birth until your child no longer needs a car seat or booster at all.
Why did I not do this? My only excuse is that I just wasn’t aware of the choices at the time. My search found just three all-in-one car seats, but they all look like great options if you want to avoid buying a new seat every couple years.
Safety 1st All-In-One Convertible Car Seat
$120—83% off!
- 5-35 lbs Rear Facing; 22-40 lbs Front Facing; 40-80 lbs Belt Positioning Booster
- QuickFit Harness System allows for easy adjustments for harness height up-front
- 5 Point Harness with easy push button buckle
- LATCH equipped
Evenflo Symphony 65 with Surelatch All In One Seat
$199.99
- Side impact tested
- SureLatch technology, which installs your seat to your vehicle as easily as buckling a seat-belt.
- Accommodates children from 5-35 pounds, rear-facing, 20 – 65 pounds forward-facing, up to 100 pounds, as a booster
Safety 1st 3 Phase Convertible Car Seat
$69.98 (46% off)
- Rear facing with the five point harness form 5-35 lbs and at least one year, forward facing from 22-40 lbs., as a belt-positioning booster from 40-80 lbs.
- The child can use the car seat up to 52 inches
If anyone has tried any of these seats (or another one we haven’t mentioned), we’re all ears. Has anyone out there managed to use just one car seat? We want to hear about it!
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February 2nd, 2010 at 8:49 am
A week ago, we thought we were all set to bring our little guy home from the hospital. The nurses took one look at him in our all-in-one seat (A Safety 1st seat) and said “Nope, won’t work.” No matter what we did, the seat tilted him at a bad angle for his airway. And he’s not that tiny–7.5 pounds. So despite our careful research and having the seat inspected for use, we had to rush out and buy an infant seat to bring our baby home.
Since we’ve had the infant seat, I’m discovering some perks: we can load Blake in inside where it’s warm (in the Northeast’s 3 degree weather, that’s a bonus), and not wake him getting him out of the car.
I wish the all-in-one had worked for birth to toddlerhood, but it looks like it’s only going to work for toddlerhood and beyond.
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:49 am
While I do wish that my toddler carseat coverted to a booster, I don’t at all regret having had a separate infant carseat when my son was a baby–it allowed me to enjoy meals out, shopping, etc. while he napped away comfortably, completely oblivious that he’d even left the car. It made the early days of parenthood much easier.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:30 pm
That is what I was afraid of, Allyson! That’s too bad your plans didn’t work out. It is really confusing trying to figure out what car seat will work for your child.
Like both of you, I also had an infant car seat, and it did prove useful.
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:12 pm
We didn’t get an infant seat. We got a 5-65 lb. seat, the First Years TruFit. It DID legitimately work for my newborn who was under 6 lbs. when we brought him home.
He’s 23 lbs. so there’s still a long way to go with this seat, hopefully. We will need a booster, but two seats instead of 3 aren’t bad.
In the car seat reviews I’ve read, the 3-in-1s don’t do any of their individual tasks perfectly. It’s either good for a newborn or bad for big kid, or whatnot.
February 6th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Okay, this was 8 years ago (OMG!!) but I remember I couldn’t use the all-in-one because it wouldn’t fit in my small backseat. It seems like I was able to use the infant seat for both kids though (3 years apart) and the other nice thing about the infant seat was that the babysitter, grandma, etc. didn’t need a whole other car seat in their cars, they just needed the base. Car seats are SO confusing. I remember trying to weigh all the safety features, size requirements, fitting in my car, working for 2 kids, expiration dates, state vs. federal laws, installation, crash test ratings, price, and on and on! Trying to pick a car-seat can make your head spin. Easier to just walk!=)