| The Hatman |
| Any one have a good idea of how best to protect the middle seats from two beautiful girls in car seats. Is there a good seat cover that would kind of blend in with a saddle interior? Thanks. |
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| ghost |
I've been using a heavy polar fleece blanket behind the car seat (now a booster seat) - it does a good job of protecting the leather, and also means you have a blanket on hand. Not particularly cosmetic, but it's low cost and it does the job!
Keeping the Cheezits out is another story... :) |
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| genemish |
| Can anyone recommend a good carseat for an upcoming baby that will fit well in the mdx? also, do u recomment middle seat or side? |
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| roadrunner |
If you check at Kids-R-Us or any other baby superstore you should be able to find car seat "splat-mats" which fit under the seat and provide a handy pouch below. They are plastic on top and fleecy on the bottom and come in a variety of colors and patterns. We have found them invaluble when our precious grandson gets to ride with us.
Meep Meep |
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| The Hatman |
I can't tell you which one is the best seat, but the middle is the safest seat for infants. Since they are facing the rear you can see them easily if you get a little mirror that attaches to the side window with a suction cup. They are sold where you buy any baby stuff.
Good luck and congratulations!:D |
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| genemish |
| thanks, i also hear they make the ones that face forward now.. is anyone out there using these productS? |
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| bdespain |
| Infants need to face backwards. After they reach a certain age you can turn the baby carrier around to face forward. |
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| TheWorm |
Do a quick search for carseat, Roundabout, and Advantage and you'll find some good info and associated links.
We used a Evenflo On-My-Way Position Right V for the infant seat w/base, and now have the Britax Advantage rear-facing. Both center, 2nd row, great fits. The search will bring up the threads. wmquan also had some good comments -- I believe he used a Graco for his infant seat.
Insofar as seat protection, we're using a nylon deal by Fisher Price in the MDX and a fleece-backed deal (can't remember mfr) in my Lexus (or, maybe it's the other way around). You should plan on finding some nonslip material for either application as both the nylon and fleece allow the seat to slide more easily, making a good install difficult. You can buy that very-thin rubbery material to put under a carpet runner at the hardware store - the brand I got was called "Slip Not" and it's exactly the same as you can buy @ the kids' store, just half the price.
[edit: changed On-My-Way mfr to Evenflo. Oops.] |
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| wmquan |
| Please search for "advanta" or "avanta", that's the seat I used as an infant seat. I think it placed second in Consumer Reports' testing for what it's worth. Unfortunately at this second I can't recall who hit first place. |
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| Morgan89 |
| Babies should always be put in the middle of the seat if possible. That is considered the safest location in the car for an infant. I love the fact that the MDX comes with the tethering (sp?) anchors in all 5 seats - it's awesome. |
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| FatBoyMDX |
I use a Vinyl Seat Saver for the Leather in My M3. Its likea vinyl rubber mat thing that projects leather, as well as from spills. Got it at Babies R us.
I think they have it in a brown-ish color too. |
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| genemish |
| Thanks for the info guys.. At which point can a baby face forward? And where should that seat be mounted? |
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| saracami |
Hi all - Here are my car seat opinions. I love the Britax Roundabout (about $200). It is rated one of the safest seats (if not the safest). You do not have to buy a infant car seat becuase it go from front to rear 5 lbs to 40 lbs.
I am not to thrilled with the booster I chose (Century Metro). It was highly rated and is very safe but it seems more uncomfortable when my 3 year old falls asleep (head flopping - lack of "cradleling"etc.)
I need to secure my booster seat with the tether and I use this yellow and blue rachet type of device that I found at Babies R'Us. It virtually eliminates any annoying slack in the belt.
Good luck with your choices. |
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| saracami |
| Babies should face until about 20 lbs and they should have very good neck strength. |
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| genemish |
| 20lbs.. thats how many months old?? (sorry, only 1st child coming) |
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| TheWorm |
Kids must be rear facing til 1 yr old and 20 lbs. We're keeping ours rear facing til the limit on the seat, which is 30lbs, since it's safer.
BTW while you're looking for carseats (and we're very pleased w/our Advantage) I would strongly encourage you to consider an infant-only rear facing for the first few months - having the handle and portability makes a huge difference so you don't wake the baby when you take him/her out of the car. That's the only thing we miss. |
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| wmquan |
As Worm says, the rule of thumb for rear-facing is one year old and 20 pounds. Every baby is different, and the key is the neck. We were rather surprised (and taken aback) when our pediatrician told us that our 10.25 month old has matured enough to be forward facing (he's 29.5 inches long, 24 pounds). Nevertheless, we're going to keep him rear-facing until he outgrows the rear-facing Britax Roundabout, or until he can't stand it anymore.
It's impossible to predict when your child will be twenty pounds since the growth rates vary tremendously. It may be six months, it may be one year. Your pediatrician will give you growth charts which track percentiles of weight, height, head circumference, and weight/height ratio. They're fun to track with.
I also highly recommend a dedicated infant seat until the baby outgrows it. Our baby outgrew his at six months and went to the Roundabout rear-facing, but right away we noticed that the straps on the Roundabout were a bit wide for his relatively narrow shoulders. And the spacing of the belt (even with the chest clip) made it a bit difficult to make sure his shoulders were being secured. I could only imagine how much more difficult it would have been if we had started out with one. It's not really Britax's fault since the seat has to be designed to hold a child up to forty pounds. A good dedicated infant seat has harness straps spaced and sized right for a broader range of infants.
And as TheWorm says, being able to not take out baby without waking him/her, especially in the early months, is huge. Our son would be asleep by the time we got home, and we'd remove the seat, carry it inside, put it on the floor of the family room, and let him sleep for as long as he wanted to. Sure gave us a sanity break.
Also, when our baby was having difficulty sleeping in his crib, he would sleep soundly in his infant car seat (probably more enveloping and comforting). The pediatrician recommended this and said it was okay because the seats are designed for sleeping babies
If you buy an infant seat, you might be tempted to buy one of those travel systems that are combination strollers and car seats. They're okay, but for the money you might be interested in one of the Combi strollers that have an attachment system that lets you mount most infant car seats to them. They start at about $70-$80 for their "Convenience" line, and they have a high-end "Ultra Savvy" for those looking for a premium stroller. There's also the Baby Trends Snap'n'Go Deluxe, which is just a basic frame with a basket that you can't use as a stroller later on.
With any of the above strollers, you can end up with a lighter, perhaps better quality stroller and not be limited by what infant seat you can use (assuming the one you choose can be attached).
Finally (!) you might be interested in the Britax Super Elite instead of a booster. It is currently in very limited supply (sound familiar?) but should be more widely available next year. It's a five-point harness seat for forward-facing (only) kids 20-80 pounds. Kelly has one and she loves it.
If you get a conventional booster seat, please make sure it's of the variety where the belt is properly positioned, not near the child's neck. |
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| wait4mdx |
| I've found the people at Center For Injury Protection to be very knowledgeable about car safety for children, and very willing to answer questions. They also stock and sell some items, at good prices (recently purchased a car seat "tether" for much less than Toys R Us price). Try: http://www.cipsafe.org/carseats/default.lasso |
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| saracami |
Hi Genemish - not to worry and congratulations on your first! Usually between 6 months and 1 year old. FYI - I have a 6 month old that is 17.3 lbs. She is in the 65% percentile for weight.
Feel free to ask away on baby questions |
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| talkwithmc |
| We use the rubber mesh non-skid stuff that you can buy in hardware stores. It pretty much matches the leather and keeps the car seats from sliding all over the place. |
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| FatBoyMDX |
quote:
Originally posted by FatBoyMDX
I use a Vinyl Seat Saver for the Leather in My M3. Its likea vinyl rubber mat thing that projects leather, as well as from spills. Got it at Babies R us.
I think they have it in a brown-ish color too.
Sorry, its Rubber, not vinyl.
BTW, our Britax arrived today. Now all I need is an MDX to install it in. |
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| golfski |
I just finished installing two car seats in our MDX. I purchased two rubber seat protectors from a baby store in Toronto - high quality black rubber (also came in grey and light brown)- long enough to protect both the seat and seat back - made by a baby product company called Prince Lionheart.
I'm using both outboard positions for the seats because it was just too tight using the center and outboard positions. I'm using two convertible carseats (Century and Evenflo), one front facing for our 3 year old and one rear facing for our 7 month old. As someone else stated, the metal bar that runs under the front of the second row makes it really easy to use the tether strap for rear facing seats.
One thing to keep in mind if your child is stll rear facing and you're using the center position - make sure that the front of the car seat is high enough that it will definitely prevent the center armrest from moving. Most car seat manufacturers actually recommend against using the center position when rear facing IF there is an arm rest, because in the case of an accident, the arm rest may come down.
... a neat accessory for Acura to offer would be a short anchor strap for the middle seat - eg - a short length of seat belt, with buckles at both ends and length adjustable. This could be used for both rear and front facing seats, and would make securing the seats easier (until the latch system is out). |
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| lwe302 |
We were planning to keep our son rear-facing for as long as he was comfortable, past the one year old/20 lb mark, since this position is better for small children. There was plenty of space in front of him, especially since you could recline the 2nd row seat back to allow for even more leg room. But then, I noticed a sticker on the carseat that states: "This child restraint is designed for use as follows: Rear-facing between 5 and 30 lbs and whose height is between 19 and 30 inches. Forward-facing between 20 and 40 lbs and whose height is between 27 and 40 inches." At 13 months old, our son was almost right up to the 30" maximum. I'm not sure why they have that height stipulation since it seemed like it should work fine, but in any case, we turned him forward facing.
FYI, the sticker also states: "Place this child restraint in a rear-facing position when using it with an infant weighing less than 22 lbs." So those of you who have Roundabouts should wait until 22 lbs to ff, instead of the 20 lbs as recommended from the AAP.
Remember when moving your baby from the rear-facing position to the forward-facing position, the shoulder straps must be moved to the slots above your child's shoulders, instead of the slots below them (as is in the rear-facing position).
I also highly recommend getting an infant seat. It is so much more convenient. While they're <6 months old, they're sleeping most of the time anyway, and so in the infant carseat, they are a lot more portable!
wmquan, your son sounds like he's growing and developing well! :) Our baby is 16 months old and is about the same size as your 10.5 month old... he's 30.5 inches and 24 lbs! That's great that your ped said your son is ready to be faced forward at 10.5 months. Like you planned though, I would probably leave him rf, at least until he is right at that 30" max.
For the AAP's 2001 Family Shopping Guide to Car Seats, check out: http://www.aap.org/family/famshop.htm |
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| wmquan |
You are absolutely right, I always forget to mention the height limit for the respective seat and the seat orientation. And it's also great to mention the harness height slots.
That of course is another advantage of the Britax Roundabout and the Advantage. Some lesser seats require that you reposition a metal plate whenever you rethread the seatbelt, so it holds the belt to the back of the seat. Unfortunately, I believe there are documented cases where the parent forgot to move the plate and the seat harness tore from the weaker plastic, causing injury and, unfortunately, fatalities. With the Roundabout you don't need to reposition a plate, and with the Advantage, you don't need to rethread.
Yes, our son was topping the growth charts, though his height rate has dropped back to 75% while his weight remains about 90%. Earlier on his height was 95% in front of his weight, and now that I think about it is was his height that prompted us to take him out of the infant seat, as he was about to exceed its rated height limit.
I assume that's your baby as your avatar? Very cute! |
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| A2MDXer |
| Lots of good info here. I would only add that manufacturers limit the height on kids in the rear-facing position so their neck and head are fully supported by the seat. It becomes dangerous if the child is too tall and the head is near the top of the seat. |
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| lwe302 |
wmquan, yes my avatar is our son (when he was 3 months old). For some reason it's not too clear... looks better as my IM icon. He used to be up in the 75-90 percentiles, but now he's only in the 25-50 percentiles. His slow down in weight is probably due to all that running around, since he's so active now. It sure isn't his eating habits, since he has a pretty healthy appetite... the boy would probably eat nonstop all day, if we let him!
A2MDXer, I guess that makes sense about the height limit. Then again though, if the child is too tall for the seat rf, why does the height limit increase for ff, in that same seat? :confused: I thought maybe they put a height limit to make sure there was enough leg room for the baby. But in the MDX, that isn't a problem since the seats can recline. Oh well, I guess it's best to just go by the manufacturer's recommendations, whatever their reasons may be. |
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| wmquan |
quote:
Originally posted by golfski
One thing to keep in mind if your child is stll rear facing and you're using the center position - make sure that the front of the car seat is high enough that it will definitely prevent the center armrest from moving. Most car seat manufacturers actually recommend against using the center position when rear facing IF there is an arm rest, because in the case of an accident, the arm rest may come down.
Is it really true that "most manufacturers" recommend against using the center position? Which ones? Britax doesn't, but I hear that Evenflo does.
From carseat.org:
One CRS manufacturer (Evenflo) states that a rear-facing CRS should not be used in front of a fold-down armrest. Check vehicle owner's manual for recommended seating positions to place CRS. For example, Ford states that their testing of cars with rear-facing CRS in front of armrests in the back seat does not show a problem. Chrysler states that they have inertial-locking armrests, which will not flop down in front of the baby's face in a crash. In families with three or more children, it is important to make a decision for the best protection of the whole family, taking into consideration the ages of the children, the types of restraints, the type of vehicle belts available, and the instructions in the vehicle owner's manual. For example, a family with children of six months, five years, and ten years would need shoulder belts (usually found only in the outboard seating positions) for the older children. In most cases, the center lap belt should be used to secure the infant's rear-facing CRS.
However, allegedly Safe Kids Canada says:
A rear-facing seat must not be installed in a seat that has a fold-down armrest or an air bag as this could cause serious injury to the child.
ParentsPlace has a good thread on this at:
http://boards2.parentsplace.com/mes...8.html?embed=-1
It's up to the individual parent to decide. In my own opinion, I have a feeling that there's still more research that needs to be done for this. I'd be hesitant to put a lone childseat in the outboard position of an otherwise empty row versus the center position since the center is less vulnerable to side impacts. Especially when I haven't heard any scientific evidence that there is an injury risk from the center armrest, while there is plenty of evidence of side impact dangers.
Just in case, I guess I'd make sure the armrest can't swing down, which wasn't a problem with the Century Avanta we had been using or the Britax Roundabout in rear-facing position (we had it tilted slightly for a better recline, and its front bar was pushing hard against the armrest). |
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| golfski |
Evenflo definitely recommends against a center rear facing position if there is an armrest (I have two Evenflo seats, one an infant travel system, and the other a convertible). I have to admit that my source for the "most manufacturers" statement was the store where I purchased another carseat (a Century Smartmove XT). This particular store specializes in kids safety, so I took the statement at face value.
For the record, my Century carseat instructions do NOT contain any warning about rear facing in front of an armrest- which is probably why the store specifically mentioned not to use it rear facing where there is an armrest. However, I truly believe that the instructions SHOULD contain a warning. This is because of the design of the seat. In rear facing mode, the seat is designed to be reclined, for the baby's comfort. In the event of a serious rear end crash, the seat is designed to rotate to an upright position. (This means, of course, that with this seat, you would not use the tether strap when it's in rear facing mode). When the seat rotates to an upright position, the front of the seat becomes low enough that some armrests could come down (depending upon the design of the armrest). (BTW, all of this was not an issue for me because I was using it forward facing, and it's a great seat.)
It's not going to be an issue with certain carseats, but it will be with others. And I'd definitely look beyond the manufacturers instructions, and make your own decision when installing the seat. The center position, does seem like the safest position, and it probably is (on average) for side impact crashes. However, because of the many different factors involved (seat height, seat design, arm rest pivot point) it's not alway's going to be the best choice for a rear facing seat. As I said, it's something to think about.
On another note, when I was a "toddler", my car seat was made of metal tubes that slid over the seat back, with vinyl seat straps, and a hard plastic steering wheel with a horn. We've certainly come a long way with safety - hopefully none of us will ever have to find out first hand! |
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| wmquan |
Yes, definitely something each parent should think about given their own unique circumstances.
I'd have thought if the center armrest was really a problem, you'd see some manufacturers come up with a "locking" center armrest that can't come down. Might be an idea for the future!
It's interesting that the Toyota Highlander and I believe the Lexus RX300 do not have top-tether anchors for the center seat of the second row. I don't think it's because of armrest fears as much as it's just being cheap. Granted both vehicles are smaller than the MDX so there's not much room in the outboard positions with a carseat in the middle, but there are plenty of single-child families buying these vehicles. Lexus only added a shoulder belt to the center position recently, too.
Another area of individual consideration is the height limit discussed in some posts here. The manufacturers don't go out of their way to tell you that the seats have a height in addition to a weight limitation. One problem is that the height limit is relatively general and doesn't factor in torso+head length vs. leg length.
Here's another thread from ParentsPlace.com discussing height limits:
http://boards2.parentsplace.com/mes...1.html?embed=-1
After lwe302 rightly pointed out the height limit, we re-measured our baby's height and he's actually about 30 3/4" on the conservative side, not the 29.5" from a checkup two weeks ago. Apparently the nurse had trouble measuring him as he was being particularly squirmy at the time, it's a two-person job. So a-forward-facing he goes, since a lot of his length is indeed in his torso and his big melon head (said affectionately from dad and painfully from mom ... his head was about 120% of norm when born, which gets my wife untold sympathy). |
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| tcabral |
I just found this particular thread and wanted to add some information to the excellent posts regarding the height/weight limitations on car seats.
The height restrictions really seem to be more of a general guideline. You really need to watch for 1" clearance around the top of the head. This 1" clearance provides a halo of protection around the infant's head. This is important because even infants who are not yet at the height restriction might be sitting up too high in the car seat to allow for the 1" halo between the top of their head and the car seat top.
One other note about car seat straps. In REAR facing car seats the straps should be at or slightly below the infant's shoulders. In FORWARD facing car seats the straps should be slightly above the infant's shoulders.
If you want yet another site about infant car seats check out: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/inj...tips/index.html
The NHTSA site has a lot of great information.
As for us, we have a Cosco Alpha Omega for our 2-1/2 year old on the driver's side tethered in the back and an EvenFlo On My Way Infant Carrier (rear facing only) CarSeat on the passenger side. Having the wide base Cosco next to the bulky handles of the EvenFlo left the EvenFlo at an angle. Hence, our choice to put both car seats in the outside positions. However, I have been able to place a Britax highback booster seat in the center between our car seats with excellent results. The child in the middle wasn't squished in anyway and enjoyed being able to see out the front window.
My wish? A rear facing infant seat tether anchor on the floor of the MDX (or along the 2nd row seat bottom). I guess it would be obsolete with the highly touted in-the-seat anchor bars coming on the market. |
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| wmquan |
It's never beating a dead horse to bring up child safety, as people continue to have kids, and the industry advances every year, seemingly.
I agree with the height being just a guideline. We turned around our son this weekend because his height, which had already exceeded the rear-facing limit of the Britax Roundabout, did seem to be starting to put his head too high in the seat. It sort of depended on how deeply he was planted in the seat, but since our pediatrician told us that he was okay for forward-facing at 10 months (he's 11 now), we finally turned him around.
Forward-facing installation of the Roundabout in the center of the second row of the MDX was quite smooth. I installed it in the reclined position, and made the 60% portion of the second row recline back to accommodate it. The seat is top-tethered very securely, with the Y-straps running slightly below the headrest (I thought about removing it totally but decided to leave it).
I noticed after we installed the seat that the 40% portion can slide forward and collapse freely, without interference.
Tethering a rear-facing seat can be done in the MDX against either the steel bar that runs below the front of the second row, or by extending the tether underneath the seat, and then up the back to the tether anchor. An esteemed member brought this up for their Roundabout. For tethering to the steel frame bar, the Roundabout's D-strap accessory (now included with the seat) makes the attachment easier. |
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