car seat

A New Car Seat: the Maxi-Cosi Pria 70

By in All Things Reviewed, Mio Tags: , , ,

As we mentioned a couple weeks ago, Mio is quickly outgrowing her infant car seat and accompanying Snap n’ Go, and although we got her a new stroller, we still needed to find a larger car seat for her. Since we found her outgrowing the infant car seat before six months had even passed, we really wanted to invest in a car seat that would last us a few years so that we would not constantly have to upgrade to more car seats as Mio grows since they can be pretty darn expensive!

I didn’t do nearly as much research as I did for the stroller, as there are comparatively fewer options when it comes to convertible toddler car seats. While I at first considered either of the very popular Britax Boulevard or Britax Marathon, I found myself drawn to one that I’d seen at Buy Buy Baby when we had gone to take a look at the Quinny Zapp Xtra — the Maxi-Cosi Pria 70. Maxi-Cosi is a brand under the same umbrella company (Dorel Juvenile Group) as Quinny, so their products boast the same sophisticated design and great quality that attracted us to the Zapp Xtra.

The great thing about this convertible car seat is that it can fit smaller babies in it with its TinyFit system, starting from only 4 lbs to 22 lbs.

Maxi-Cosi Pria 70 with TinyFit system

Later, you can easily remove the TinyFit system for the car seat to fit a larger toddler, rear-facing from 18 to 40 lbs. When your toddler is ready, you can turn the seat around and it will comfortably fit children up to 70 lbs forward-facing.

Maxi-Cosi Pria 70

Additionally, those nifty parts that have the <air> symbols are Air Protect advanced side impact protection, which is being integrated into more and more car seats these days. Air Protect is a new technology meant to soften the blow to a baby’s head in a side-impact crash — it’s essentially a constantly deployed airbag, or a super soft pillow capable of absorbing the a large impact and effectively extending the amount of time a child’s head has to stop in an impact situation. While I hope we never get into a car accident with Mio in the car, it’s nice to have that assurance and peace of mind that she’ll be in a seat with the best protective technology on the market (especially when you’re like me and not the best driver on the road).

More great features: the straps are very easy to adjust, and the clips are sturdy yet easy easy for adults to unfasten. Height is adjustable with the sliding headrest, and the seat is thickly padded for extra comfort and snug fit. The fabric on the Pria 70 is very smooth and almost slick, making it easy to quickly wipe away sweat and any spills, and won’t overheat your child in hot weather. I also read that Maxi-Cosi’s seats generally rate cleaner on the toxic chemicals list than other companies’ convertible car seats. It even has a cup holder! The Maxi-Cosi Pria 70 is still a very new convertible car seat on the market, as it only just became available in August, but it seems like car seat experts agree that it is a revolutionary seat in terms of fit, versatility, and safety.

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Car Seat Complications

By in Pregnancy & Parenthood Tags: , , , , ,

Although we’d gotten baby essentials such as our crib and changing table new, two big ticket items we had not had to spend a penny on had been the infant car seat and stroller — my boss’s sister had very graciously let us borrow her Graco SnugRide travel system which her kids had outgrown. We thought we were all set in that department — until about a week ago, when Dan went to get the car seat inspected at the local police department to make sure he had installed it properly. (Apparently, 90% of parents don’t install their car seats properly — being the anal retentive worrywart that I am, I made sure that we got ours inspected to make sure that that would not be the case for our baby.)

Dan’s installation of the car seat was perfect — in fact, the police officer was really impressed, saying that it was the best installation job he’d ever inspected. There was a problem, however, with how old the car seat was and the fact that the mount showed wear and sun damage, and so the car seat itself failed the inspection. Apparently, you’re not supposed to use car seats that are over five years old period — the one we were borrowing was a little over five years old, but it looked to our untrained eyes like it was in really great condition so we were really surprised when we were told by the officer that he couldn’t pass the car seat. Five years seems like sort of a short lifespan for a car seat, especially if you plan to have multiple children to reuse it for, but I guess safety regulations can change a lot within that time.

As bummed as we were, we knew it was better to be safe than sorry, so we set out on our search to buy a brand new car seat. Which meant that ultimately, we ended up having to buy pretty much all of our big ticket items completely new, which we had been trying to avoid as cost-conscious new parents — but so it goes. Such is life.

And so we did our research — from Graco, Evenflo, Britax, to Chicco… but we ultimately ended up going with what my cousin Yuko had recommended to us when we visited her last September. The Baby Trend Flex Loc — affordable, manageable, and the #1 rated car seat in terms of safety. It can be used for a pretty long period of time, considering you can use it until your child is 30 lbs — which is great, especially with the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommending that you keep your child in a rear-facing car seat until the age of two. We went with the Grey Mist model, because of the soft, high-quality fabric and cushioning as well as the fact that it would be gender-neutral for potential future children. (Dan’s eyes are starting to hurt from all the pink!)

As for the stroller, after talking to a number of seasoned parents and reading various reviews, we decided against getting a full travel system to go with the car seat, at least for now. We were tempted to get the Jogger stroller that the car seat fits right into, after seeing how maneuverable and relatively light it was, but a lot of parents told us that the last thing we will want to deal with is a bulky travel system that will be a pain to unfold and put together. For myself personally, if I’m going to be taking the baby out on my own, I’ll want something I can unfold and snap the car seat into with one hand , unassisted, while holding the baby. So the Snap-n-Go Stroller seemed like the perfect answer. It’s a simple, light metal carriage frame that you can easily snap the car seat into and be on your way. I’ve seen a bunch of parents wheeling these around in the area, and it’s so low-profile and seems so much easier to handle than their travel system counterparts. You’re already carrying around so much extra baggage with the diaper bag and other baby essentials (not to mention the baby herself adds considerable weight), so why get an unnecessarily large car seat-and-stroller system on steroids? In a metropolitan location like the Bay Area, this seems like the way to go. We’ll definitely need to invest in a larger stroller when the baby’s older and can no longer fit in the infant car seat/carrier, but until then the Snap-n-Go should be enough for us.

Now that we’ve purchased these final items, we’re finally completely ready for our little girl. Since last Friday, I’m 37 weeks so the baby is full term and can come at any time in the next few weeks. All we can do now is wait patiently to see when she decides to make her much-anticipated arrival! 🙂