Are Britax Car Seats the Best Choice for Extended Rear Facing?
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, meaning I may earn a sales commission at no extra cost to you. Please see my full affiliate disclosure here.
Britax car seats are very popular and for good reason. They are easy to install and use correctly, they are attractive, and they are extremely well made. My oldest had a Britax Roundabout when he was a baby fourteen years ago and a Britax Parkway booster seat. My youngest son has a Britax Boulevard that is now in our second vehicle. I have been a Britax fan for a very long time and still am, but not for extended rear facing.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not bashing Britax by any means and this post is not to say that I don’t recommend them at all if you plan on rear facing your baby for the recommended two years. However, if you plan on extended rear facing until three or older or if your child has a long torso, you may want to look at other options.
The Britax website is pretty ambiguous about their height limits for rear facing because it isn’t a cut-and-dry answer. The website says you can rear face up to 40 pounds and 49 inches but unless your child has a very short torso then chances are that your child will outgrow the seat long before either of those are met. The length of the torso is the real determining factor as to whether your child will be able to rear face for an extended amount of time in a Britax seat.
My son outgrew his Britax Boulevard a few months before his third birthday even though he still isn’t close to the weight limit of 40 pounds. He does have a long seated torso height at about 17″ already where my older son’s height was all in his legs. At this age my older son may have still been able to rearface in a Britax seat. The problem is that most people purchase a convertable seat when their babies are still infants so unless you have a crystal ball, you have no way of knowing what your child’s seated torso height will be when they’re older.
So in my humble opinion, a Britax seat is a fabulous seat. Easy to install correctly, easy to use, comfortable, attractive, and safe. Just don’t expect it to be the only seat you will have to buy if you have your heart set on extended rear facing. I truly hope that they increase their shell height in the future now that we know so much more about the benefits of extended rear facing.
Whatever brand of seat you choose, please just make sure that you are using your car seat correctly. Make sure that your child is not only within the weight limit of the seat but also the height limit.
