Can anyone tell me their experience with not having a bucket seat? As a former nanny, I HATE those things. They were always too heavy and awkward, and I plan to babywear pretty much all the time so I wouldn't want it in general. My sole concern is that if I have a light sleeper I'll regret not being able to get them out of the car without waking them. But I don't leave the house much in general, so I'm not sure how big of a deal that'd be since they'd only even be in a bucket seat for a few months. Has anyone gone this route? I really have no interest in having the bucket seat or wasting money on it, but I'd hate to regret it later.
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If you don't live somewhere with super cold winters, or if you have an attached garage, I think you can totally get away with not using a bucket seat. I was fully planning to skip the bucket seat for Rosie and just use my perfectly good convertible car seat (rated from 5 lbs.) and wear her everywhere I went. And then I remembered the part where I was having a winter baby and routinely go out in sub-zero temperatures (and no attached garage) and decided I'd rather get baby all tucked in and warm in her seat while still in the house, than trying to deal with wrapping her up and getting her out to the car in howling winds and fumbling with cold car seat buckles, etc. So I got a bucket seat. But if I'd had a May baby, I totally would have skipped it.
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I loved mine and used it for a long time. The Chicco key fit is pretty light.
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Something our local Buy Buy Baby told us is that some hospitals won't allow you to take the baby home unless you actually have a bucket seat, and a convertible seat won't cut it. So if you know where you're delivering I'd check first!
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Oh boy I'd be in big trouble without a bucket sleep. Some of LOs best naps are in her car seat. If it's nap time and I know we have to go out within an hour, I just put her in her bucket seat, she falls asleep and then transfer to car when we need to leave. If she falls asleep in car, I can always bring her in without waking up. I'm no help, sorry, I can't imagine not having mine!
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I am not getting a carrier, only a convertible seat and a wrap and ergo. Also I got a stroller. I figure between the carriers and the stroller and my arms, the baby will be ok.
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Do you mean skipping the infant car seat and going straight to a convertible? I think you could probably do it, but I don't regret having had the infant seat, and I'm a total baby gear minimalist. I feel like the infant seat was worth it during the year he was in it, even though lugging the seat around was kind of a pain. A sleepy, but not sleeping baby would have been way worse in most of the situations in which he was sleeping in the seat but not in the car. I get my LO (now 3yo) out of the car seat and into the house/bed still asleep on a regular basis and I was a hardcore baby-wearer when he was an infant, but I don't think I could have transferred him from the car into a carrier still asleep. Also, it took some time to develop the ability to keep him asleep during the transfer.
I'd check with your hospital if you go the convertible seat route. We were told we had to carry the baby out of the hospital in the seat, which would have been a pain with a convertible. They should be able to work with you, but release time is not when you want an unpleasant surprise, you know?
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It depends on your lifestyle, but I can't imagine not having the bucket seat. As @FarmWifeGina: mentioned, having a baby in the winter means it's a whole lot harder to babywear everywhere. The bucket seat is also helpful for going out to eat. We take the baby to Panera and we put the seat either on top of the table or on the seat next to me. Without it, we'd have to wear him and eat, which can be awkward. And our baby falls asleep usually in the car. So we'd have to take a peacefully sleeping baby out of the seat, probably waking him up in the process, and then try to wrap him while he'd scream from the cold.
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We skipped the infant seat with DS2. We had a Graco MyRide 65 and it was wonderful. I just wore DS2 everywhere until he was big enough for a stroller (reclined).
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I only used mine for 6 months before E just got too heavy, but I found it really necessary. It was really nice to be able to take him out and bring him right into the house or set it onto the stroller base without waking him up. E was a really light sleeper, though, and it was pretty much the only place he'd sleep that wasn't my arms (but he hated being worn) so I would take any break I could.
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For us the bucket seat was invaluable because LO often fell asleep in the car. Also, se babies just don't like to be worn so just be ready for that possibility.
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I got a bucket seat because I didn't know that convertible car seats existed and I wouldn't get one again! I hated it, she hated it, she wouldn't be in it for one second longer than was absolutely necessary. We got in a car accident when she was 2 months, and I switched her to convertible then and have never looked back. I am facing down a Canadian winter with no bucket, and no garage or covered parking and it works totally fine. I just zip her up in her Ergo into the coat I wore when I was 9 months pregnant, and pop a beanie on her. When we're getting in the car to go somewhere, I pre-warm it, wrap her in a blanket, and race from the door to the car, and I strap her into the car seat with all of the doors shut. If she naps in the seat, I just sit in the car with her until she wakes up. With the bucket, as soon as I moved it, she woke up anyway! I think you can totally make-do without a bucket.
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The only thing I regret about having a bucket seat is that LO seems to be outgrowing it lengthwise already, and he's not even 8 months yet! Otherwise, it has been invaluable for the cold, sleeping, travel, and when he was too young for the stroller/shopping carts/restaurant highchairs, etc.
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We skipped it and I have no regrets whatsoever. We also live in MN, though she was born in March and was a little older when winter came. I think I would do the same no matter what season my baby was born in.
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I'm doing the same thing. I hate those heavy carriers!
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I'm a nanny and I feel the exact same way. My wife was on board but when we asked her mom about it she made me doubt it a little bit. We don't live in a cold climate but we do have frequent down pours. We might end up with an infant/bucket seat as a backup/extra but I plan to use the convertible most of the time.
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I love the fact that the answers are so extreme one way or the other. Only a few in betweens!
I'll definitely have to think and research more. And thanks for the warning about the hospital. I'd never have thought of that!
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I love babywearing but DS didn't like it. I would have been screwed without a convertible. Plus it was nice when he was sleeping bringing him into daycare I could just leave him in the seat and let him sleep.
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@Torchwood: I was a nanny too and loathed those seats as well!
I wanted to buy just a convertible seat but realized that even though most say 5lbs+, they aren't designed to recline at the proper angle for an infant. In the end we bought a bucket seat for that reason. I could not find a convertible that would fit in a car and recline properly. Plus, it IS a pain getting an infant in/out.
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@MoonMoon: I bought a bigger one for that reason alone! So many babies I knew were outgrowing theirs at only 6 months. I bough the safety 1st onboard McKenna air, which is good for 35lbs and 32". He was in it until 16 months!
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If I knew then what I know now, I could have skipped the bucket. But I had to have it because it was on every list and every other mom I knew had one.
It wasn't practical for our lifestyle, though. We relied heavily on public trasnsportation and my son never slept in it.
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@Mrs. Pen: Britax makes an foam insert to make the recline more suitable for a small infant. We used ours until Lorelei was 3 months or so (but she was fairly small-- around 6.5 at hospital discharge, and then quite low on the charts for a long time). It also helped with strap placement.
I'm a big babywearer, and didn't really think I would be having her in the seat any more than was necessary to get somewhere, so it really worked for us. With Ellie, I had an infant seat (thought you needed one) and it was a pain because she didn't like to be in it if you weren't in the car, and she was born in winter, so quite often I'd be wearing her and carrying around the seat. So frustrating. I decided after that that I would just skip the infant seat.
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Even though we babywearing a lot, I still loved having the bucket. I liked being able to cool/warm the car while I was getting her into the seat inside and then a quick transition into the car. Easy peasy. We used it for almost a year and plan to used it for future LOs, so I don't feel like it was a waste of money.
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I baby wear and I have an infant seat. I'm glad I have both because some days LO can't stand being worn at all. So in that case, it's great to be able to keep her in her seat. My sitter will get her ready to go in the afternoon in her seat of she is tired and it's so nice if she falls asleep in it, I can just put her back in my car. I'll definitely use it again with other lo's.
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I know a lot of people skip the infant seat and go right to the convertible, but despite being a big babywearer it wouldn't have worked for us. She's nine months now and it's seriously been MONTHS since I have lugged her around in that seat, but it was so very helpful from months one to four.
In those early months, she fell asleep in the car seat ALL. THE. TIME. And she woke up if I ever tried to transfer her out of the seat. So it was super clutch for us to have her in the bucket and to be able to easily click into the stroller without waking her.
Also, not sure if this is a factor for you, but we're travelling with DD next week. She has her own seat booked on our flights and we specifically haven't switched her into her convertible seat yet (just bought a Foonf a few days ago) because of how much easier it will be to keep her in the infant seat for the plane and for installation in our rental car.
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I'm in an area with cold climate and my LO was born in October,I would have been lost without one. I put the cover on & carried her into stores without her having the affects of the cold. I used it for 8 months, and loved the easiness of popping it out of the base & either carrying it in or snapping it directly into the stroller.
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I had a January baby in Canada and didn't get an infant seat.
We live a stones throw from public transit and I hardly ever drive. I think LO was in the car maybe ten times in her first three months. By four months she was 17 pounds and too heavy to be lugging around anyway.
We have an UBV and would use the bassinet to get around town the neighborhood. I'd babywear on the subway.With the next baby I'd get a bucket if we've moved to the burbs by then but if we're still in the city it seems redundant.
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@Mrs. Pen: oh man, I should have done more research before getting ours!
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Although heavy as he got older I found the bucket seat to be a necessity. He slept in it, easy to transfer, etc. Plus my son didn't like to be worn.
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I think it totally depends on your situation. I couldn't have lived without it. Ok, I could have but it would have been more difficult. We were living in our condo at the time and it was a long walk to the garage. It was also winter so it was easier for me to bundle him up inside and carry him down that way. Plus, I walked him to daycare every day and it was easy to use the bucket seat and the snap n go. I didn't have a coat big enough to baby wear him at the time. Plus, I liked the rain cover to protect him from the wind. I did start baby wearing him to daycare once it got nicer out.
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No way we couldn't have had one. She would fall asleep and we could move her to the stroller without waking her. The times I tried to move her sleeping from the car to the Ktan, she woke up every time. We stopped carrying the seat in around 6 months ( 14lbs), just left in the car unless she did fall asleep or was raining.
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We loved ours and wish he hadn't outgrown it (we used it the whole first year). I plan to baby wear more the second time, but there are so many times its just super conveniant.
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We love ours for the cold winter — and she's still in it at 14 months
(She's tiny - 18lbs). We don't drive that much, but when we do, it's been nice to bundle her up in the bucket to take her out.
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I really like having mine. I'm still using it at 20lbs and 9 months (our convertible seat is in the box in the garage). I like being able to keep him bundled up in the cold, it's great when we go out to eat and it's easy to transfer him when he's sleeping.
I'll definitely have to think and research more. And thanks for the warning about the hospital. I'd never have thought of that!
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