What kind of carseat would you recommend for a one year old?

britax advocate = http://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/advocate-cs

Okay, something I feel like an expert in! lol

You have to follow state law, but honestly? They’ve been trying to change it for YEARS. 1 year and 20lbs is ridiculous law for rear facing. At a minimum, children should be rear facing for 18 months. My son rear faced for 25 months, and I know plenty of parents who do it for years beyond that. Rear facing is the safest way to travel in a car, with a five point harness. Here’s a sad youtube video explaining the importance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ

That Advocate looks like my Britax Boulevard! I wonder if they changed the name.
Here’s what we use for my older son who will be 3 in July: http://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/boulevard

Most 1 year olds have outgrow the infant bucket seat, so they need something called a convertible carseat. It can rear face and forward face, since legally, they need to forward face in a 5-point harness until 4 years old (that’s the law in my state, it varies…but it’s generally the same.)
Britax is very expensive. You can get more affordable carseats that are just as safe.

I think we might get a Radian once my little guy outgrows the bucket. Radian

Or check out Target:
Evenflo Triumph
that rear faces until 35lbs I believe. How much does your grandson weigh?

Also, pack n play wise…are you positive he’ll sleep in it? I find those things sort of a waste, unless you really need one. Again, I’d need to know how much he weighs.
This thing goes to 25lbs, and my little guy LOVES it http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Newborn-Rock-Sleeper-Yellow/dp/B002M77N22
we can also hang toys on the side and he plays with them.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! I’m very involved with carseat safety.
Also, if you need help installing it, do NOT ask the people at babies r us, they are not certified.
Here is a website that goes by state, to find someone certified who will install it properly or help you fix it if it’s not done properly http://www.seatcheck.org/

everything @casheroo said about carseats is true and correct – rear facing since their necks are too weak to resist the thrust of a car accident. she’s right about them being called “convertible” car seats. don’t spend a ton of money if it’s only a temporary situation. you could get a reasonable one at Target or probably Kmart or Walmart, or Babies R Us. definitely get it installed by someone certified to install them. Usually the local police or fire departments have people that are certified. call around and you can either find an individual cop or Fireman who can accomodate your schedule, or sometimes they have “car seat clinics” where you have to wait in line and they do it assembly-line style. i get mine done by a guy at the local sheriff’s dept, who happens to be stationed at the local middle school. i call him directly and schedule a time convenient to him and to me. my mom (“Grandma”), however, gets hers done at the car seat clinic where she has to go at a set time and wait in line – much more hassle – makes me grateful i have this cop at the middle school.

pack n plays are heavy, but they are portable, convenient and good for indoor,outdoor. for a picnic or party outside, sometimes you can just get a baby fence that just sits on the grass, and they toddle around in that. also, the disadvantage of pack n play is that they’re expensive. another good, cheap thing you can get for a toddler age like your grandson is a cheap baby pool. you can pick one up at Toys R Us or Walmart, fill it up with hose every day. the sun will wam the water up.

@casheroo He’s pretty big; between 20 and 25 pounds now. Do most of them get permanently installed in a car so that we couldn’t use the same one in their car and ours?

it’s not “permanently” installed but if you go through the trouble of getting someone who really knows what they’re doing and they take some time to put it in your car, you probably won’t want to take it out. however, they will show you how it should be installed, according to the child’s height (like where the straps should be on his body, etc). of course, when they do it, it looks effortless, and the thought of duplicating what the cop does to mine is daunting. but yes, if for some reason you want to take it out you just unbuckle the buckles.

for me, i just consider that my car now holds one less adult, because i consider my seat permanently installed…...but it’s really not.

@janbb No, not permanently installed. All newer cars have a thing called “latch system” you can either put a carseat in using the latch system or with the seatbelt, not both at the same time. The latch system is very easy to use…if you have little metal hooks in your backseat, you have a latch system.
It can be interchanged easily. We used to only have one carseat for my son, but we use my parents carseat pretty often, and leave it in my husbands car, and I have the Britax in mine.

Also, just a fair warning…most of the police stations do have someone to do carseats (usually the state police) They are only trained to keep kids rear facing until 1, so if they say “oh he’s big enough to forward face” DON’T DO IT! Tell them you want it rear facing.

So they are rear-facing in the back seat and you can’t see their face? (You can tell it’s been a while since mine were in carseats.)

You get a mirror so you can see them http://www.toysrus.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=mirror&origkw=mirror&f=Taxonomy/TRUS/2255957&sr=1

You could have a forward facing car seat if you had the baby wear a HANS device!

Seriously, about 1.5 lives per 100,000 are saved by car seats each year. The value of your child’s life is typically $7,000,000.

This suggests spending $105 for each year you expect to use the child seat. Install the car seat permanently, since your technique isn’t perfect and the time lost to doing it can add up.

Prudence, not paranoia.

Ugh, Car seat discussion always makes me feel like a bad parent. My kid’s in a $40 Walmart model, and has been forward facing since his first birthday.

@Seek_Kolinahr Using a car seat is a good sign, don’t worry. The price is not a gauge of the quality The only time it really matters is in a collision, so avoid collisions as much as possible ~

@Seek_Kolinahr Cost doesn’t really matter, and not a lot of people know to rear face past 1. Pediatricians rarely talk about it, which pisses me off.

Well, it was a conscious decision to face him forward. I know many people who still rear-face. I live in Florida, and Ian sweats profusely and becomes uncomfortable at the best of times. He needs the air conditioning more than the possible increase in relative safety.

where i live i used the cop from the county sheriff, and he suggested keeping her rear facing until she was about a year and a half, due to the little ones having weak necks. i took his suggestion. i think they go to car seat trainings and conferences yearly so they are up on the latest seats, and methods, etc. plus car models change all the time.

@Seek_Kolinahr ” He needs the air conditioning more than the possible increase in relative safety.” and that’s a decision you would have had to live with, if god forbid something had happened. For me, even with the screaming, I still kept my guy rear facing (and he only screamed because my parents refused to keep him rear facing so he knew he could face forward.)