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My cousin, a new grandfather to beautiful twin boys, sent me the following letter. As soon as I read it, I wanted to post it here, to see if you, Constant Reader, can help him out. Thanks in advance!

Stu,

Do you (or your readers at GNMParents) have any info on infant/toddler car seats?

We are getting the next size car seats for the twins (two seats for their mom and dad, and two for us). We currently have infant seats, and need the next size up.

We’ve settled on the Britax Roundabout … expensive, but with very good reviews.

I know about the Consumers Review article/review and subsequent retraction (but that review was only for infant seats).

First issue is rear vs. forward facing of the seat. While many toddler seats can be installed either way, everything I’ve read about safety points to keeping the child in a rear facing seat as long as possible (until they physically outgrow the rear facing seat). The Britax can be used rear facing until the child reaches 33 lbs.

Second issue is whether to tether the rear-facing seat to an anchor point in the rear (which will provide protection from front-end crashes) to to an anchor point in the front (which will provide protection from rear-end crashes). This is the issue that has me stumped.

I found this site that provides some good info (on tethering to front or rear anchor) …
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/BraceTether.aspx

I also found these sites,

http://www.angelfire.com/wa3/isakswings/ratetherrf.html (how to tether rear facing Britax seats)
http://www.car-safety.org/ (general info on rear facing vs forward facing and tethering)
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/BraceTether.aspx (another article on rear facing and tethering)

…even after reading these, I still can’t see a definitive recommendation on which way to anchor is best.

Any input from you or your readers would be helpful.

Photo courtesy of mundoo, used under a Creative Commons License.

[tags]infant, baby, toddler, car seat, safety, anchor[/tags]