Britax Decathlon

At Anderson's six month checkup he was a whopping 22 pounds. When seated in his car seat, his feet are now touching the back of the seat. That is a safety hazard because if, heaven forbid, we were involved in an accident Anderson could displace his hips. So, its definitely time for us to invest in our second car seat.

Up until now we have been using an infant car seat from Graco — the kind that attaches to a base that you leave in your car. Those are definitely convenient for when you are bringing a sleeping baby inside, or when you're going to the supermarket. Unfortunately they don't make removable car seats for when your children get bigger.

For Anderson's next car seat, we've decided to go with the Britax Decathlon. We understand that Britax is definitely a trusted name, known for making safe car seats. We chose the Decathlon specifically because it integrates with the LATCH system found in newer cars, it has a 5 point harness, we'll be able to use it for a while as it accomodates children up to 65 pounds, and it has a 3 position crotch-strap which is very important to those of us with big babies!

Rear-facing installation with the LATCH seems almost too easy. Basically you just connect the two specially designed tethers to the LATCH connectors found in the crease of your back seat. Forward-facing installtion is a little trickier, only because you have to connect a tether from the top of the car seat to an anchor located somewhere near the back of your car. I definitely appreciate easy installations — especially after spending several hours installing Anderson's first car seat! Of course, always follow the instructions found with your car seat, as well as the instructions listed in your cars owners manual.

Hopefully the car seat will arrive soon, and we'll definitely let you know all about it once it gets here!

October 16, 2006

Britax Decathlon