rear facing Archives - Rave & Review

It’s a big time in our house! Baby girl has finally reached a really big milestone: she outgrew her infant seat and it’s now time to switch her to a rear facing convertible seat.

But, the problem is that we have three young children in car seats and we own a compact sedan. Knowing what a tight fit the infant car seat had been, I was dreading moving her to an even bigger seat because it was clear it just wasn’t going to work. We looked into numerous convertible seats to transition her to, but they were all just too big.

It began to look like we had two options: 1) buy a new car, or 2) switch my almost 6 year old to a booster seat. Obviously, neither option appealed to me. So, I began to research anything and everything to fit three across in our compact sedan.

When I found the Britax Frontier ClickTight, I realized that it just might be the best of all worlds – a 5 point harness that converts to a booster seat and is slim enough to fit in a compact car easily. With the dimensions of 19" W x 36" H x 21" D at its maximum and only 28” H at minimum, it’s one of the slimmer car seats we found anywhere, and by far the slimmest with the features we were looking for. Add in the fact that it converts and can be used by my son until he no longer needs a seat and it’s the clear choice.

As soon it arrived, the kids went crazy celebrating their “big switch”.Sorry, baby girl. This is your brother’s seat. Your new-to-you Britax convertible seat will hopefully be just as exciting.

I’m an urban girl at heart and have never met any big city I didn’t feel at home in. My stroller, however, prefers wide open spaces where turning radiuses are as far as the eye can see. On the days that my suburban stroller makes it to the big city, I feel like I am constantly apologizing for taking up the whole sidewalk, for knocking things off shelves, and for occasionally running over a toe or two.

Since strollers are still very much a necessity once we hit the city and are ready to explore, going without is just not an option. But, even though we needed something compact, it needed to be something as adventure-ready as we are and hopefully with a few premium features. Umbrella strollers need not apply.

I finally found the perfect candidate, and am now fully in love with the Stokke® Scoot™, hailed as the urban compact stroller. Besides simply being compact, it is by far the most maneuverable stroller we have ever pushed. It has an incredibly small turning radius and it takes almost no effort at all to steer – even one handed with a child inside. Add in the suspension to give you a smooth, easy ride and it really is a dream to push.

Yes, that's all the same stroller pictured above in 4 different positions. As you can see, it features an active and rest recline both forward facing and parent-facing. And, it looks absolutely nothing like an umbrella stroller with a minimal frame and lack of features. As many of you already know, I pushed an umbrella stroller for exactly two days in the past 3 years because I simply cannot stand them. Sidewalks trip them up, they require two hands to push, and they have zero storage, comfort features, or agility to handle real city life. Thanks, but no thanks.

And, then I met the Stokke® Scoot™ and fell in love with the perfect stroller for our active lifestyle. I love how versatile it is, the kids love how comfortable it is, and it's a great for all of our adventures.

rear facing

Britax Frontier ClickTight Harness to Booster Seat review

Stokke® Scoot™: The urban compact stroller

RECARO ProRIDE Convertible Car Seat