Too Many Choices: Convertible Car Seats

I am indecisive.  I may say that I like to have options to choose from, but in reality, I do not do well with many choices.  Ask my husband.  He will tell you how annoying it is to sit with me at a restaurant while I have to read the menu over word for word at least twice before I am able to narrow my dinner choices down to two or three.  Choosing that one dish that I will eat for dinner?  Pretty near impossible.

“So, Cameron’s 29 inches long.” I tell him.

“Oh, that’s great!  He’s grown 10 inches since birth!”

Silence.

“Oh wait… when does he outgrow his car seat?”

“29 inches.”

My son was quickly outgrowing his infant car seat.

All of a sudden, I found myself faced with another decision.  Do you know how many car seats I had to choose from?  I could choose a convertible car seat that went from backwards to forward facing; I could choose a 3-in-1 seat that also works as a booster.  I could turn my son forward facing pretty soon and just forgo the backward facing seat.  I could choose this**.

All these choices make Mommy not able to make a choice.

Crap.

Thankfully, I decided to do some research.  I decided to open myself up to suggestion.

Right about the time I realized I would have to start looking for a new car seat, I went to the grocery store with my son.  He was in his infant carrier which I had placed on top of the shopping cart.  I am very used to people taking a peek and telling me how cute my baby is, so when a lady came up to me and told me I had a cute son and asked me how old he was, it didn’t seem weird at all.  Then she told me that she was a safety consultant for car seats at the IWK***.  Oh no! I thought.  Would she tell me that I’ve been buckling my son in wrong all this time?!  “You’re using that car seat perfectly!” she told me.

I told her that we would soon be looking to get him a bigger car seat.  So, she gave me some suggestions:

• Whatever you do, don’t buy your car seat from Zellers, she told me.  They continue to sell car seats well into the life of the product, and so you end up buying a car seat at full price that you can only use for a few short years.
• She told me that the best seat she would suggest buying is the First Years True Fit Convertible Car Seat.
• She then also suggested the Graco My Ride Car Seat.

Sweet!  My decision just got a lot easier now that I have an expert giving me advice!

I then jumped on Facebook and asked if anyone had any suggestions.  Lo and behold, the True Fit was suggested to be again by someone who actually used and loved it!

Now that the True Fit was on my radar, I started doing my own research.  I decided what I wanted in a car seat (high weight limit on both rear and forward facing, something that would fit into my little Yaris hatchback, and good side impact safety rating).  I looked online at my options.  I compared.  I checked out recommendations on a car seat forum.  The True Fit kept coming up as the best option for me.

Did I just make a decision?!

I sure did!

* I realize that Cam’s not buckled in safely.  We weren’t actually going anywhere here.  He was just sitting in the car while I installed the new car seat.
** just kidding.
*** or something like that.