Britax Marathon for Newborns?

TeamBabyG · May 2013

I've seen mixed reviews on the Britax Marathon carseat for newborns. Has anyone had success with it?

If not, do you typically buy an infant carseat that you'll only be using for a few months then switch over to a convertible? FTM here and feeling slightly (very) overwhelmed!

Thanks!

alake · May 2013

You can, but you will probably 99% of the time need the newborn wedge that goes in the seat. It is sold as an accessory by Britax. I thought I wouldn't use my infant carrier for long, and still use it at nearly nine months. It is nice. I leave it in the car, and take her out. I have done this pretty much since day 1. I had a stroller with a bassinet and would just lay her in there.

The reason that we still use her infant car seat is that we fly often. She has been on 12 international flights. We don't use the lap child option. She has always had her own seat, even when we flew at five weeks. We are Canadian transplants who live in Florida. We go home often. We got home a week ago today.

klyann · May 2013

Unless you have a particularly long baby, they should fit in the infant seat for almost a year, if not longer. We transitioned DD to the Britax Boulevard at 11 months (RF until 2 yrs) and she still doesn't meet the weight requirements for the chicco keyfit 30. She outgrew height around 14 months. The only reason we moved her was she started to hate her infant seat and wanted to "sit up" and be able to see more.

Even on the lowest recline, I would not feel comfortable putting a newborn in a convertible.

gimmietimmies · May 2013

It's absolutely fIne, and completely safe yo use a convertible with a newborn, provided it is a good fit. The Marathon on its own isn't known for fitting newbs well, you often have to order the infant wedge and that still doesn't work well on the tinier newbs. Its also not a long lasting rf seat, especially if your lo is above about 40%ile. Great seat for tiny ones.

If you're looking for convertibles that fit newbs well, Cosco Scenera, Chicco Nextfit, Diono Radian, Graco MyRide, Graco MySize. There are a few that don't do well until about onsie size 6-9m, Guide 65 and Cosco/Safety 1st AOE (prefer not to recommend the AOE though). I prefer convertibles to infant seats personally.

jess9802 · May 2013

We have used it for my son from the beginning. We did use the foam positioning insert when he was really tiny. The fit was okay, but it was very quickly very good. My son is a small guy (25th percentile for weight and 10th for height) so I expect we'll get some decent use out of the seat.

If I were in the market for a car seat for a newborn and was going the convertible route again, I'd be looking really hard at the Chicco Nextfit.

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