[blparent] Car Seats for Kids Whose Parents Don't Drive?

[Corbb O'Connor]

Allison,

Please pardon my brevity…I am in the midst of preparing for an exam in the morning but saw your e-mail and wanted to reply while I was thinking about it!

My wife and I don’t have a car of our own, but we use the Cybex Aton 2 car seat. There are lots of colors available and we bought ours on Amazon. Here is the cheapest (currently $250)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H6CKG1S/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_Tkr6vb1VAKB76

We love it for many reasons, but chief among them is that it’s only 7 pounds (without the base). Because the car seat uses the European belt path (using both the lap and shoulder restraint), it fits very snugly even without the base. Even better, my wife and I can comfortably both sit in the back seat of a sedan with baby between us in the middle seat. (Beware that some, older cars, the middle seat belt is shorter than the two sides and sometimes it doesn’t fit there…but that’s been the minority of instances.)

We keep the base here at home and if we’ll be using the same car repeatedly (e.g. when a friend or family member comes to visit or in our driver’s car), then we’ll install the base to make it faster to click the baby in and out of the seat.

The only downside (other than the price) to this car seat is that the stroller options with which it is compatible are limited. We use the Cybex Onyx, but we got the last unit left in North America. (Even then we had to import it from Canada!) There may be other compatible models by now, though; just search for “cybex aton adapter” and you’ll find a few.

As far as buses and light rail, we’ve used a few trains with baby and—honestly—you’ll worry less about safety than you will be ecstatic that you don’t have to strap baby into a carseat! However, remember that if you are out and want to come home via Uber, Lyft or Sidecar, legally you do need to be using a carseat (though some drivers are more flexible than others…but honestly the safety factor is pretty real).

I hope this helps!
Corbb & Briley O’Connor


On Sep 3, 2015, at 11:27 PM, Allison via blparent <blparent at nfbnet.org> wrote:

Hi Everyone,

My apologies because I suspect this topic has been brought up before.

My fiancé and I are both blind and expecting a baby girl in January. We went
baby registry shopping the other day, and got to feel exactly what today's
car seats look like.  Now I get what people mean when they talk about
installing a car seat base. I guess that sighted people leave the base
installed in their car and then move the car seat in and out as needed.
However, what do people do who don't own their own car and use various other
forms of transit? Since fiancé and I are both blind, we ride in a variety of
cars in any given week. We use Uber, cabs, paratransit, or friend/family
cars. I do have blind friends who have showed me their car seats, but all
these blind parent friends have sighted partners with their own cars. So I
was hoping to hear from other blind parents who don't have access to their
own cars. What is the car seat situation like for you? Do you carry car seat
and base around with you everywhere you go?  Do you have a specific brand or
style of car seat that you think is especially portable? When your kids get
older and the car seats get bigger, how do you travel with all that
equipment? Do you have any other tips for car seat shopping and baby travel
planning?

Also, I've heard that people are allowed to travel on buses and light rails
without car seats. Has anyone done this and does it feel safe?

Thanks in advance.

Allison



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