Former 5.0 owner

+1 on getting a travel system that allows you to leave the base in the car while you pick up the seat and carry it with your child inside still asleep.

fwiw - Use a different car to tote your kid around in. The Mustang will be a PITA to use with a newborn.

AusTXMCA

- kiddo didn't go in the Stang until he was about 3 years old. I can't imagine how big of a pain it would be to have a rear-facing seat in there...

coffeejolts

Yeah, it won't be fun that is for sure. But it is workable if nobody is in the passenger seat. I'll need to take my newborn to day care 3x per week in the Mustang. It's not a big issue, since nobody will be in the passenger seat and the daycare is only a couple miles from the house. Once she moves to a forward facing seat, it will be easy.

phanattic

I stopped in at a dealer this afternoon and installed the base from our Graco Infant seat system. The base includes an adjustment for the bucket seat, and it actually fit pretty snug. I doubt that I could have a front seat passenger with the baby in the car, though.

eci

The law generally states 1 year or 20 lbs before front facing. Common sense and love of your child states use rear facing as LONG AS POSSIBLE until the seat no longer supports the weight.

I use a Radian XT which goes up to 85 lbs. It is a convertible seat and can go front eventually. It works fine behind the passenger seat in the Shelby.

Use a mirror to see the baby.

Skotty

So when your kid is 10 years old he'll still be riding around in a rear facing child seat?

Common sense and love of your child also state that you should drive an economical family car. And I'm not doing that either.

Greywolf

buy one that has the option to purchase extra base so the grandparents can use it. the seats with a base can also be used with out one.

eci

Rear facing goes to 45 lbs on the model, 85 front.

When your child has severe spinal cord injuries from a collison because you put him/her front facing too early, think of this thread.

eci

Not all of them. The Chico seats *requre* the base.

05GT-O.C.D.

Common sense says that by the time your kid is 10 his legs will be too long to put in a rear facing seat. eci's right - rear facing as long as possible to avoid injuries in a collision.

As did my Graco.

Skotty

Overprotective much?

eci

lol, ensuring my child is safe in the vehicle is "overprotective"? Following the guidelines of the American Council of Pediatrics is "overprotective"?

Why don't you just put your baby in the front seat and wrap the lap belt around them? Overprotective much?


Oh look

http://www.carseat.org/Resources/633.pdf

05GT-O.C.D.

Of a baby??? Yeah, so sheltered being in a car seat that faces the proper direction.

You're confusing being overprotective with being responsible.

eci

No kidding. Guess he can't admit he is wrong. All actual evidence destroys his "belief".

Skotty

Make sure you wrap them in bubble wrap before leaving the house each day. Children are safer when wrapped in bubble wrap. You wouldn't want to be irresponsible.

05GT-O.C.D.

You may think you're being funny, but you're making yourself look like an idiot. Especially for someone who has a young child himself.

If you can't see the difference between being responsible and placing a child in a rear facing seat as recommended by every professional or expert, vs being idiotic and over reactive by placing a child in bubble wrap, then you sir are the one with the problem. Don't fault anyone here for giving good advice and criticizing advice that goes against every expert (the people who witness child injuries and crash test these things) opinion out there.

If you think you know better, then so be it. But people in this forum care about one another and aren't going to recommend not properly caring for a child who is otherwise helpless and dependent on his parents.

Edit: There are obviously risks to a front facing seat before the proper age/weight, but let me ask you - What are the benefits to using a front facing seat when it's not necessary?

Skotty

I'm going to drop this after saying one more thing. Eci started this with his holier than though comment:
If you want to recommend or support recommendations for safety, feel free. But how much safety a parent deems necessary and prudent for their family is largely a private matter, and if you can't state your recommendations in a positive non-intrusive non-insulting way, your better off just keeping your mouth shut. Quite frankly, some of the comments some of you have made are very disrespectful to past generations which almost certainly includes your own parents. So go tell your own parents that they shouldn't have been allowed to have children because they didn't put you in a rear facing child seat for as long as possible. Real classy.

eci

Previous generations were not aware of current, learned knowledge.

Now that we know better, there is no excuse.

05GT-O.C.D.

Intelligent people learn from their mistakes and other people's mistakes. When new information and facts are presented, they make decisions based on the new knowledge with the best interest of themselves and their families. People used to think asbestos was safe. Cars never used to have shoulder belts. Cars didn't even have headrests in the past. But, people now know that asbestos causes cancer and no longer use it. Cars no longer have solely lap belts because paramedics got tired of picking skull fragments out of broken windshields. People decided that they didn't enjoy being paralyzed after rear collisions and now we have headrests to prevent those neck injuries in a rear collision. When I was a kid my parents did not take all the precautions with me as I do with my son, but that's because I now have knowledge that wasn't known when I was a baby. No, I don't look down on my parents because they did what they thought was best based on the knowledge they had at that time. Now, when they drive my son they're much more cautious because people are much more aware of potential injuries from not properly restraining a child. That makes them good parents/grandparents. If they now turned a blind eye to it and just put a lap belt on a 3 yr old in the front seat, then they would not only be irresponsible, but would never drive my child again. Fortunately, my parents care enough about my son that I know I don't have to worry about anything like that.

mrk1984

eci,and everyone again, thanks for the words of advice. Keeping rear facing as long as possible is partly why I'm considering the larger travel system of 30 or 36 lbs and I actually forgot about the mirror too. We were thinking of getting a convertable and a travel system, but the convertable is gonna have to wait til she can't fit in the infant seat ($$$). We are definitely getting multiple bases, 3 or 4, one for each of our cars and probably grandparents. Right now the Chicco 30lb system looks like the one I'm going to get, great rating and decent price.

Skotty, safety is definitely top priority when its going to come to my daughter, so eci's comments are helpful and informational. If you don't agree with what he says oh well, get over it, you don't need to try to stir up problems in this thread when he is speaking from experience and compassion.