You can’t leave the hospital after you have a baby without an infant car seat, the first thing an expecting family buys (that and the crib). These ‘bucket’ or ‘infant carrier’ car seats are very handy for transporting your newborn without having to wake them – and you can safely set them down. Really a great invention.
When I purchased the first car seat when expecting my first child (he’s four now) – I thought it was great that you can use this seat for the first year – until the child is 27 inches and 20lbs. That was until my first child was 4 months old and was already over 27 inches… time for a new seat. No longer did i have the convenience of not having to wake him up to move him. On to the convertible seat.
Pregnancy number 2 – my older daughter: Since the two kids were only 14 months apart, we didn’t need to purchase a new seat. I thought for sure my son was of ‘freak’ height so my daughter would not out grow this seat before the full year. No such luck of course. My older daughter out grew the height at 5 months old. We now had to do the whole car seat re-arranging. Get a forward facing for my son and put my daughter into the rear facing convertable.
Not really practical for a seat that was supposed to last the whole year.
When my second daughter was born in February 2009 – we decided to continue to use the same car seat as we had used – until we need a new one. We were hoping our son was going to be 40lbs by the time he was 4yrs old so he could switch to the booster seat and we were keeping our fingers crossed that Baby wouldn’t outgrow the height again.
Well, Baby did not outgrow the height, but was our first to outgrow the small 20lb limit – at 10 months old. Time for a new seat. We purchased the Graco SnugRide 32 at the beginning of December.
We wanted the portability of an infant carrier so I began my research. Just around the same time Graco (who by then had a seat that went to 22lbs and one that went to 30lbs) came out with their Graco SnugRide 32 infant carrier. An infant carrier that could safely be used until the infant is 32 inches or 32lbs (my older son is 4 yrs old is only 33lbs).
This seat is was the answer to our problem! Having 3 children we needed the ability to put the infant seat down to get our other 2 out of the car and into the house (or where ever we were going). BIG RELIEF!
This seat has all the same features as the regular old Snugride – the canopy, the 5 harness strap, stay in car base. The extra features include a very handy dial adjustable base and belt lock off, harness strap covers and GracoPedic® foam.
The seat is obviously bigger then the first Snugride – but as long as you have room in your vehicle – the pay off is totally worth it. My daughter is very comfortable in it and the straps adjust easily to fit whatever she is wearing (ie. summer clothes vs big winter snow suit). The seat is also ‘backwards compatible” for strollers and will still easily snap into the Quattro strollers and even the DuoGlider double strollers. A major must!
If you have had issues with your child (or children) out growing the infant carrier far before you are ready then I suggest and recommend the Graco SnugRide 32!
