For the past five months, we’ve been using the Graco Milestone car seat as part of the Generation Graco team of reviewers.
Our Graco Milestone came to us at a really great time. Six year old Arlo was growing out of his 25kg extended rear-facing seat, and we were looking for a next-step car seat – a high back booster that will see him through the rest of his car seat days, until he is approximately 12 years old.
Although our Ford S-Max has a third row of seating in the back, we like to keep all three car seats in the middle row of the car, so that we can make the most of a larger boot space, so it’s really important to us to have three car seats that will fit neatly together side by side in the middle row. The Graco Milestone fit perfectly in the middle row of our Ford S-Max, between Otto’s Graco Snugride i-size (and more recently, his group 1 car seat now that he has outgrown the Snugride), and Rory’s extended rear-facing seat.
But not only is the Graco Milestone a high back booster, it is actually an all-in-one car seat that it can be used from birth all the way up until approximately 12 years of age. From birth to 13kg, the Graco Milestone is a rear-facing group 0 car seat. From 18kg – 25kgs, the Milestone converts into a forward facing 5 point harness group 1 car seat. And then from 25kgs to 36kgs, the Milestone converts into a high back booster seat.
One really great feature of the Graco Milestone is the easy adjustability of the straps. There is no need to rethread the straps when you need to adjust their height. Instead, they slide up and down on the same track as the headrest. You can adjust both the headrest and the straps together with just one hand.
Longtime readers of my blog might know that we like to use rear facing car seats for as long as possible. So, although I would happily use the Milestone in rear facing baby seat mode and also in high back booster mode, I wouldn’t use the Graco Milestone in it’s forward facing group 1 mode. In all honesty, when I was first introduced to the Graco Milestone, I didn’t think it would be best suited to us for that reason. But in using our Graco Milsetone for the last few months, I have been really surprised to find that there are a lot of reasons than I initially thought for why we would opt for this all-in-one car seat.
Reasons the Graco Milestone is a great car seat for our family
As a spare seat for friends
We often have friends coming over to play or are ferrying various children to various after school and weekend activities. The Milestone is absolutely brilliant as an adaptable car seat for different sized children. Whether it’s one of Rory’s friends (group 1/2) or Arlo’s friends (group 2/3), I can quickly adjust the Milestone just by sliding the headrest up or down – no need to faff about with rethreading the straps.
As a high back booster
We really love the Graco Milestone as a high back booster. Arlo is very happy and comfy in his new car seat and loves having a drinks holder.
As a car seat for the grandparents
Although we rear face in our car for group 0-2, our children do sit forward facing in their grandparent’s cars, as rear-facing car seats are pricey and inconvenient to install just for very occasional use. Our Graco Milestone is absolutely brilliant to give to the grandparents, as it can be used for any of our three children, no matter what their age.
If you are looking for a car seat that can be quickly and easily adjusted to fit children of different ages, the Graco Milestone is a brilliant option.
