Infant car seat vs. Convertible car seat?

SillyStraw · August 2012

The sales lady at BRU was pushing a convertible car seat because we'd only need to buy one car seat as baby grows. However, I am looking to get a B-Agile or CM stroller and as I understand, they only work with an infant carseat, right?? So, if we are getting a stroller like this, I am thinking our only option is to get an infant carseat and have to purchase another one as the baby gets bigger. Are there other advantages to infant carseats, such as safety, etc?

imimahoney · August 2012

We have the B-Agile and you are right, it only works with the Britax B-Safe or Chaperone.

As far as infant vs. convertible technically both are safe but I find the infant seat to be much more practical right now. When my lo was younger he stay sleeping when I ran errands and was easy to bring in and out of the car. We also live in the Northeast so I plan on keeping him in the infant seat until after the winter because it is easier to strap him in it when we are in the house where it is warm and not snowing.

ETA: Also, my husband will be doing daycare drop off and I will be doing pick-up. We have 2 carseat bases so we can easily just transfer the infant seat between cars. You can not do that with a convertible and will need 2 seats.

penguingrrl · August 2012

All seats are equally safe as long as they are used correctly. Many people like the convenience of pulling a sleeping baby out of the car in their seat instead of waking them up, which is only possible with the infant seat. I don't know much about the strollers you listed, so I can't speak to whether or not they're usable without an infant seat, but I wouldn't buy an expensive stroller that can only be used with an infant seat since they outgrow the infant seat quickly (both of mine were past either the height or weight limit by 9 months). I personally did not find the infant seat the wonderful product most people do, but that's because my kids hated it and screamed pretty much nonstop in it, so we never had the luxury of not waking a sleeping baby.

penguingrrl · August 2012

After posting I had a few other thoughts.

1) Not all convertibles fit newborns. Some models have too tall lowest harness straps (when RF the harness straps must be below the baby's shoulders and some are too tall to do that for a newborn) so they can't be used until the baby grows into them.

2) There's a lot of benefit to waiting until your baby is here so you can see their size and proportions before choosing a convertible seat (I learned this part the expensive way) since you want it to last a long time. My kids are tall and long-torsoed so the current models of Britax would be outgrown way too early for them (they both outgrew the older style marathon by age 3), but if you have a more petite child they would be fine. So an infant seat can be nice to buy you time to see how your baby is on the growth curve and where they carry their height to find the seat that will suit you best.

MrsJetSet · August 2012

We only got 4.5 mos use out of our infant seat but I would still recommend going that way. For me, the infant carseat made it a lot easier to get out of the house. Now I have to make 2 trips to the car... One with all my stuff and once for dd. dd was no where near the weight limit when we changed over but was getting close in height. she is 90 in height.

gimmietimmies · August 2012

Ditto penguingrrl. Maybe I missed something op, but did you mention using convertible seats in the stroller, or maybe I read wrong. You can use either an infant seat or a good fitting convertible with a newborn, and safely. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Infant seats are able to use with most (but not all) strollers, but you don't need to, as long as the stroller has full recline. Convertibles stay in the car. If you knew that op, reading fail, sorry!

I'm on team convertible, I find infant seats a nuisance personally. Very inconvenient.

ETA: both the B Agile and the City Mini can be used from newborn without an infant car seat. That's my personal preference.

funkymonkeyohyeahhh · August 2012

Our infant seat was free, but if we were purchasing we'd have chosen a convertible from the start. We never use it out of the car as it's heavy and bulky, so that was never an appeal to us in having one.

We have a city mini and have used it with my LO just sitting in the seat since he was 10 days old. He was born at 7lb 11oz and fit in the stroller harness with no problems.

SillyStraw · August 2012

penguingrrl:
I don't know much about the strollers you listed, so I can't speak to whether or not they're usable without an infant seat, but I wouldn't buy an expensive stroller that can only be used with an infant seat since they outgrow the infant seat quickly (both of mine were past either the height or weight limit by 9 months).

Well, I plan to walk a lot with the baby and it seems that to best fit my needs my only choice is to buy a stroller that adapts with a carseat if I want to walk with baby while she is still a little infant... but now that I read these replies it looks like some of you don't even bother with the carseat?

And to the pp who mentioned that the convertible carseat is one you keep in the car- no, I did not know that so thank you for that clarification! That could definitely make a difference in our decision...

jess9802 · August 2012

We've used our Baby Jogger City Mini for DS since he was a week old. Granted, we added a JJ Cole infant body pillow (like the Snuzzler), but he was fine in the stroller, which reclines nearly flat for newborns. We also skipped the infant car seat, and went straight to a convertible. When I need to go somewhere with DS, I put him in the Moby wrap or I just carry him. It has not been the big inconvenience people told me it would be. If he's asleep in his car seat when we arrive someplace, he falls back to sleep pretty quickly once he's either in his crib, swing, or in the Moby.

drpayne · August 2012

The main issue is that the convertible seat is not portable. It stays in the car. If you go that route and your infant falls asleep in the car you have have to wake him/her as opposed to just lifting the seat out of the car. it would be great if one seat worked for everything but I haven't found that to be the case.

garnet10 · August 2012

DD was only 5.5 lbs at birth. There is no way she would have fit safely in a convertible right from birth..

janecanadian · August 2012

I wouldn't have survived without an infant seat for several reasons. First, DD was born in the middle of a cold winter. Since you are not supposed to put little ones in anything too thick and heavy in their carseat, I would have had to take DD to the car, take off her snowsuit, and then get her into the convertible car seat. With the infant seat we put DD in with just a sleeper or whatever outfit she was wearing and then covered her up to keep her warm.

Second, we bought a convertible when DD was about 3 months because there was a Britaz sale and she was much to small for it (and she was 97th percentile for height and weight). She didn't sit properly in it when she was so small and even when it was reclined as far back as possible it was still too upright and her chin would fall into her chest. The infant seat kept her at a nice angle when she fell asleep on road trips.

Next, the convenience of having a place to put her when you are getting ready to get out the door. So you get your diaper bag and anything else you need to head out the door at the door and then you have to put your coat and shoes on and somehow pick up a baby and all your stuff. I don't think so! I found it enough of a pain to move DD to the convertible before she was sitting upright. I had to lay her down at the front door when we were heading out. Luckily we had carpet at the entrance so she could lay down there.

Finally, the convenience of being able to just grab the infant seat out of the car, click it into the stroller and go was really nice especially if I just had to run into a store quickly. Granted, I had a year of mat leave so we were alwoften going out to do some running around.

I have a city mini and the seat back does lay almost flat so it would be suitable to use for newborns, but I am a huge supporter of the infant seat.

Now if your situation is such that you live downtown in a large city and won't be driving anywhere then you would likely want to skip the infant seat as you would not get much use out of it. Consider your lifestyle, when you baby will be born, what is the climate like, where will you be going and how often. That might help you choose a carseat and stroller that suits your needs.

SillyStraw · August 2012

Thank you so much for all of the information. Definitely gives us some things to think about and consider. Looks like the infant seat will be the way to go for us!

wannabigfam · August 2012

As a pediatric therapist, I'd recommend skipping the infant car seat and starting w/ a convertible car seat from birth. The only reason I'd recommend an infant car seat would be if your baby is extremely tiny and weight-wise won't fit in a convertible (as in, less than 5 lbs at birth). Otherwise, the only benefit to the infant car seat is that you can carry baby in / out of the car & into stores, the house etc without getting baby out of the infant seat. Moms love this b/c if they are sleeping, they like keeping baby asleep in the seat. The problem is that then baby is spending WAY too much time in the same position (in the car seat). A car seat is a very poor position for baby to be in for extended periods of unnecessary time. It places pressure on their head & can cause flat spots. It also puts their body in a very passive position where it discourages proper muscle development against gravity. I have also heard some negative things about oxygen levels when in these car seats for extended periods of time, but I don't know how accurate these statements are. I DO know that baby is getting a lot more muscle stimulation if they are taken out of the car seat rather than riding around in it at the grocery store, Target, at a restaurant, etc.

We used a convertible car seat from birth and have never found it to be difficult or inconvenient. Baby was used to us getting him in and out for shopping trips and would stay asleep during the transition in / out of the car seat. We used an ergo carrier most of the time when out and about; otherwise we used his stroller - with the seat laying flat so it was safe for a newborn. Or, we would just hold him (great bonding time - I hate seeing the poor babies in their infant carriers as moms shop - why not hold baby during that time, they are only little for such a short period of time!) For restaurants we either held him or put him in the stroller. It was never a problem. My mom said she used to bring a padded blanket to the grocery store and lay baby in the cart on the blanket for tummy time. She said I loved the sensation of being on my belly while moving forward in the cart :-) Anyway, with baby #2 we're skipping the infant car seat again and have no regrets!

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