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Nurseries and Baby Gear
bringing baby home in convertible car seat
I really think that we just will get a Britax Convertible Seat (fits infants as small as 5 lbs.) instead of an infant seat and a convertible seat later on. My question may be stupid, but can you bring a baby home from the hospital in a convertible seat? When I looked at the hospital webpage, it says that they check the baby in the seat before letting you go home. If the car seat is already installed in the car, will a nurse come out to the car with us?
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Re: bringing baby home in convertible car seat
I'm assuming a nurse would just come with you to the car. As long as the seat is made for an infant, I don't see why there would be any issue.
That being said, I used my infant car seat SO much that I couldn't imagine not having it the first 6 months. It's so easy to carry with you when shopping or anywhere really. I did use a Moby for awhile but the carrier was still so handy, especially with getting in and out of the car! I really hated to give it up once he got too big for it.
Now I'm curious as to other moms that did this and how it worked out...
I am thinking about going without the infant seat because it just seems too heavy and bulky for me. I have babysat for a friend with an infant seat, and I am just so short that it was not that easy for me to lift up onto a shopping cart and stuff. Plus, I thought that it was really heavy and awkward!
That's understandable. My infant seat was pretty heavy, but I didn't research that before hand. I'd still be lost without it, heavy or not. Next time around I'll probably get a lighter one, like a Chicco. Did tone up my arms though! haha
Ahhh...you sound like me. We brought DD home in a convertible car seat (a nurse checked it when we left - but couldn't help us). By 4 weeks we had purchased an infant seat, because it was just super-convenient. I wish I could have done the first 4 weeks over...I would have gone out more with DD with an infant seat.
From what I remember - the Britax isn't really for an infant. It has no padding. I can't remember the details of what the other ladies said. We got the Evenflo Triumph Advance DLX. We love that carseat and it had good padding for DD.
I'm a "to each their own" kinda girl but agree with this. I can't imagine waking up LO each time we went somewhere. Beyond this I can't imagine taking LO out of a seat and carrying him/her in the cold/snow/rain instead of throwing a blanket/car seat cover over.
I totally disagree with this. We have used the infant seat outside of the car twice. Seriously, twice. And DS was crying the whole time. My son HATES any car seat, especially the infant seat. We now use the Britax Bouleard in my car and the infant seat in DH's and whenever we pull the infant seat out, DS arches his back and starts crying. It's like torture.
We were gifted a Graco Snugride and I wish I had stuck to my plan of not using one since I feel like it was a waste of money.
If you aren't sure you'll like it or need it, you can always buy it later if you feel like it's something you want. DS much preferred the Moby or Ergo when out of the house.
DS is now 5 months and if we had the funding right now, we would be ditching this seat all together and moving him into a second Boulevard in DH's car.
ETA: Because DS hated the car seat, waking a sleeping baby was never a concern. The only times he's fallen asleep (worn out from screaming), he has awakened when the car turned off.
Also, if you are planning to use the Britax from birth, get the infant insert ($15 I think). It makes a huge difference in the seat height and fit DS well at 6 pounds.
With DD, we had an infant seat, but rarely did we take her out in the seat. If she was asleep, she stayed asleep or easily went back to sleep when we put her in the bassinet part of her stroller.
That being said, DH had a Britax in his car from the get-go, and even though it said for infants as small as 5lbs, she didn't fit well in there until she was about 12 weeks old, so I personally wouldn't want a convertible as my primary car seat for a newborn.
I used an infant carrier with my girls, but never took it out of the car, I had a baby front carrier. If you go with a britax convertible car seat, they don't fit newborns well, except if you purchase the newborn wedge to go with it. The harnesses are to high up, and it raises the baby up. If I ever have a 3rd child, I plan on not doing the bucket seat and going straight to a convertible.
https://www.britaxusa.com/store/details/accessories/advocate-70-cs/gray
This is the item that I am talking about. I don't know why it won't make a clicky
They will check the convertible seat in your car when you leave the hospital.
I know this part is more related to your responses rather than your question....
My baby hated the infant carrier from the moment we brought her home in it! Still, we did use it when she was sleeping to take her into stores and stuff. Also, it is really nice not to have to unbuckle the baby every time you are going in and out, especially if it is just a quick trip. We use a convertible seat now and she is much more comfortable, but I always hate waking her when she is sleeping to get her out of the car! Another really nice thing about the infant seat- our family watches her regularly so they just had to buy bases for the seat rather than their own carseats.
If you are set on using the convertible from birth, get it. You will need it later anyway. And if you feel that the infant seat is needed once your LO is here, then you can buy that afterwards.
I'm also planning to skip the infant seat and go straight to the convertible. I'm pretty small and genuinely don't think I can carry baby in an infant seat for more than 10-15 minutes. We figure that worse case scenario we'll wish we had an infant seat and end up buying one anyway and best case scenario we'll love the convertible and save the money from the infant seat. I
After I did some reading about convertibles, it did seem like a lot of reviewers said the harnesses were too high to use with smaller babies (it seems like most harnesses only went down to about 10"). We ended up getting the Maxi Cosi Pria 70 (click the picture below to see it at Babies 'R Us) because it comes with an infant insert (called Tiny Fit) that allows the harness to adjust down to a 5" height and it says you can use it for babies as small as 4lbs. Most reviewers also said it takes up less room rear-facing than most other convertibles, since I drive a little Saturn, that was important too.
This.
I love my infant seat, but if you go the route of a Britax convertible, you MUST purchase the infant insert for it to fit your baby correctly.
We will be using a Radian from day 1. Baby is due in a few weeks so I can offer an better review/experience soon.
I believe that we have to bring the seat up to the room and show the nurse that we can safely strap baby in. The seat isn't super easy to install and will seem worse if our Alberta winter decides to be nasty. We might *borrow* an infant car seat for the coming home day. If a nurse will come out to the car with us we'd just keep the plan as is.
I'm not worried about waking a sleeping baby/keeping baby warm. Our lifestyle allows for us to run errands together or for me to simply stay home with baby if it's during a sleep time.
This. Infant seat was a must for us. Also, if it is icy where you are at I'd rather be carrying a baby in a carseat rather than risk falling on the icy with a newborn in my hands. Our dd fit in her infant seat until about 15 months. She's in a convertible now and while it's nice it definitely sits way more upright than the infant seat. Can't imagine a baby being so upright. Seems like their head would slump over since they don't have the core strength that a toddler does.
Photo taken at 16 months old
It's not a personal attack at someone telling them that they might regret not getting an infant seat like attacking a parenting decision. It is absolutely doable to skip the infant seat and go straight to the convertible. I just don't think it's the most convenient choice.
We had an infant seat. I wouldn't go straight to a convertible for the convenience factor that the infant seat provided us, personally. I had a winter baby and it was much easier putting him in the infant seat and putting blankets over him than it is bundling up my 1 year old now and adjusting the straps constantly depending on what he is wearing or taking his coat off when he's in his car seat if it's bulky, etc.
I've read that Britax convertibles are not recommended for newborns. We have a Britax Boulevard and even when installed correctly (we had it checked by our local PD), it sits much more upright than our infant seat did. I'm not sure how a baby's head wouldn't flop forward in it.
For the poster who said they couldn't carry it for more than 10-15 minutes, there is no reason to be carrying it for that long. You snap it into your stroller or put it in a shopping cart. You wouldn't be lugging it around for more than a couple minutes - into and out of a store or the house.
I agree w/ the PP who said that babywearing is great too, but it certainly can limit what you're doing. If you want to go shopping for clothes or out to eat, you would have nowhere to put your LO down and you're not going to want to be wearing them in those specific instances either. Most newborns like the car and will sleep in it. You could be lucky and have an easygoing baby who has no problem coming in and out of the house in your arms and staying asleep. It just depends on your child and your lifestyle. If you're going to go out more often, I think that the convenience is worth the cost. You don't have to get the $200 Snugride 35 or Chicco. We found two Snugride 22s on clearance for less than $40 each - one at Target and one at Sears.
11-15-08
12-1-10
I used the infant seat with my son for about 3 months and I do not regret buying it. He likes the convertible now because he sits more upright.
Make sure that if you plan on using a stroller you get one with a bassinet or that goes completely flat as your baby cannot sit that upright for months. I would also be worried about how upright the convertible carseat is as your baby's head will fall forward- the infant seat is more reclined.
Do you plan on taking LO to the grocery store? Restaurants? Are you going to baby wear? I had a sling I used around the house but loved being able to snap my carseat out of the car with my sleeping baby and put it in the grocery cart without waking him up. I also had to take him for the occasional car ride to help him fall asleep and would have been petrified to have to take him out of the seat and risk waking him up. Sometime I would just let him sleep for 30 minutes in the carseat before risking taking him out.
God, I hate it when people say you WILL regret so and so. I regret having wasted the 100-some on the infant seat personally. DS is huge. I could barely carry him in it as a 1 month old. At probably 3 months DH (who is 6'1" and muscular) even said forget this. We managed keeping him in it until 6 months, but DH was struggling to carry him in it for more than a short distance like the house to the car and there was NO way I could carry him in it. DS hated his seat and as soon as we moved him to the convertible was much happier. We live in the country and don't really go out to eat, run around shopping, etc. I can definitely understand needing one if you are constantly running around, etc. It would be a pain strapping and unstrapping, but ds never stayed sleeping anyway. I SAH right now, so I look forward to going shopping when DH is home and I can go by myself. DS has almost always woken up as soon as the car stops. I think it was useful for us maybe 2 times that he stayed sleeping? One was a week after he was born when we went to target together and he was so new he slept ALL the time. The second was when he was exhausted and happened to stay asleep around 6 months and that was extremely rare. Since we switched to the convertible he travels so much better and is even happy in his seat for a while when awake. As soon as he was awake in his infant seat he was screaming. Even if the car stopped and one of us ran in the store to grab something he'd wake up screaming and we'd have to take him out.
ETA: and as far as snow and bad weather- I live in Indiana, which has bad winters. DS was born at the end of April and has now outgrown his infant seat so keeping him in it for convenience with cold, snow, ice, etc. was never even an option and might not apply to everyone!
I used convertible car seats with my preemie twins from day one (Evenflo Symphony seats). I do not see the appeal of lugging around a 20 pound car seat that weights almost 30 lbs once you get the baby in it. Also, people who use infant carrier car seats tend to let their babies sleep in them and leave the babies in them for WAY too long. It's not good for their heads or spines to be in that position for too long. Don't care how convenient it is. If I did it with twins, you can do it with one baby!
A quick tip- put a pack n play/ rock n play/ bouncy seat/ whatever near your door so that when you bring the baby in you have somewhere to put him when you go back out to the car to get your groceries and such.