The rules about car seats changed from the time I had my first child to when I had my second. The new recommendation is for children under two years old to remain rear facing for two years, not just one. It isn’t a law, but our precious toddlers are more than five times safer riding rear facing in a car seat. (Source) Graco has come out with the first car seat to grow with your child from four pounds to 40 pounds. It’s the Graco SnugRide Click Connect 40, only available at Babies R Us currently.
I was lucky enough to attend a fun party to learn more about this new car seat. My friend Charlene was our host and we got to have a little mommy time at MiniLuxe in Wellesley, MA. What’s not to love when you get to learn about car seat safety while getting a manicure and enjoying nibbles from AltaStrada.
Our little guy has been rear facing and really doesn’t know any different. He can see his big sister facing front, but he doesn’t seem to mind. He started off in the Graco SafeRide car seat, which is the larger version of the prior SnugRide bucket seat. When we got the new car seat sized to him in the house, he was delighted to climb in. It was cozy, but he was comfortable. It was the easiest car seat strap adjustment we have made in our history as parents. My husband is the one in charge of this task and I was surprised how fast he tweaked it to fit our 21 month old.
The base of the bucket seat installed easily with the Latch belts into our Ford Escape. We have him on the passenger side and the front seat is moved up about 2” from it’s farthest distance from the dashboard. We slid the recline position to the largest setting to give the little guy more leg room. Can I say how much I LOVE the kick board feature?! Finally the back seat of my car won’t get ruined. Great update in my opinion.
We reviewed the Moonstruck pattern, which is the gender neutral option. Mena is the floral pink option for those of you who know what you need! The retail is $219.99 at Babies R Us. There is also a new stroller that will work with updated car seat to replace the Snap n Go. I’m rather attached to how easy it was to put the bucket seat on the Snap n Go so I plan to get the new stroller.
The only disappointment I had with the car seat is the top hood doesn’t adjust as easily as my old Graco car seat. It only goes up halfway and I did love how I could pull it further over to shield the babies from the sun (or rain) when I needed to. I did pass that info along to Graco.
I’ll leave you with a fun fact I learned at the Graco Safety website…kids in Sweden stay rear facing till they are 4, and there are nearly zero auto related injuries to kids under 4. Food for thought.
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I loved that you included that children rear-face until 4 in other countries. In the US, we're too consumed with our children achieving "milestones" – I know parents who've turned their underweight children forward facing before age one, all because it was "too hard" to reach them/see them/blah blah.
Safety should always be the first thing we think of when we put our children into vehicles. I'm glad that Graco is making it possible to rear-face until 40 pounds! If we're blessed with another, I'll be purchasing a Graco seat!
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Hello,
I kbow this is an older post, but maybe you’ll respond 🙂
What year is your Escape? I am planning on getting this seat for my 2011 model and it will have to go behind passenger seat as well, since it will be a second child.
Thank you for a great review!