Switching from infant car seat?

bbaccino · May 2014

When did you switch your baby out of the infant car seat? My baby girl is six months old and seems like she Is about ready to outgrow her infant seat, her feet are right at the edge and very little head room, so I'm trying to figure out when I need to plan on buying a new seat.

ASmallWonder · May 2014

Feet hanging over the edge isn't a sign of the seat being outgrown. The criteria are if she is at the max height, max weight or if she has less than 1" of shell above her head. You have to switch her to a new seat as soon as she reaches ANY (not all) of those. If she's close to the 1" at the top you should definitely start looking for a convertible. If you'd like recommendations or help, there's a great FB page called Car Seats for the Littles. It's run by trained car seat techs.

VegasGal1978 · May 2014

We switched B just before she hit 6mo. She still had plenty of room, but her plus the seat were just so darn heavy. My DH has a bad back so we made the jump to a convertable. So far so good. It's easier just to put her in the stroller (for him) and for me to just wear her. No regrets.

Svenny1011 · May 2014

We switched at 5m because the bucket seat was too heavy with him. We keep that in DHs car, but now have the convertible in mine, which is what is used 99% of the time. I wasn't lugging him around in the bucket anymore, so I felt we didn't need it.

BoyOhBoys · May 2014

A week shy of 6 months. I baby wear as well and it is MUCH easier!

DahliaFlower · May 2014

We switched to our convertible car seat (Britax Advocate) when DS was about 6 months. We were really done with the infant seat. First off, he is pretty heavy, so we were not using the carrier function. We hated the straps / tightening mechanism on our Graco infant seat. Not sure why, but it never seemed to work properly for us when installed in the base. It was such a pain. We upgraded to the Britax Advocate and were so happy with it. DS looked so much more comfortable. It is super easy to load him in and out of. I didn't miss the infant seat at all and I wished we had switched sooner!

PB102012 · May 2014

elmoali said:

Feet hanging over the edge isn't a sign of the seat being outgrown. The criteria are if she is at the max height, max weight or if she has less than 1" of shell above her head. You have to switch her to a new seat as soon as she reaches ANY (not all) of those. If she's close to the 1" at the top you should definitely start looking for a convertible. If you'd like recommendations or help, there's a great FB page called Car Seats for the Littles. It's run by trained car seat techs.

I couldn't have said it better.

ELauren88 · May 2014

We switched back when LO was 5ish months. She hadn't hit the requirements, but it was so darn heavy, and with her big fluffy bottom the straps barely fit anymore.

roo1oo · May 2014

He's 7 mo old and getting close to outgrowing it but still in the infant seat. We'll be switching as soon as I figure out what carseats to get. We need two (one for each car) so its gonna be a bit pricey.

ASmallWonder · May 2014

@roo1oo It doesn't have to be depending on how big your kid is, what your rear facing goals are and what special features you want. Do you need any help choosing?

Lesley0228 · May 2014

We switched around 5 mo. We had a basic Graco that went to 22 lbs. DS is a big guy and maxed out the weight.

roo1oo · May 2014

elmoali said:

@roo1oo It doesn't have to be depending on how big your kid is, what your rear facing goals are and what special features you want. Do you need any help choosing?

Right now I'm seriously considering a Radian R100 or the new Olympia. Mostly because if I'm gonna spend $400+ on two carseats it'd be nice if its the last carseat I ever need for this LO, and because I've heard they fit in cars/small suvs well. Daycare provider has one that she's going to let me try to fit into my car to see if it works. Otherwise I'll probably go with one of the Britax seats.

ASmallWonder · May 2014

Well, know that for the Radian, the booster is outgrown at the same time the harness is so if you max out the harness use, the seat is then useless. Depending how old your child is, you will either need a high back or a no back booster as well. Britax shells are short and aren't recommended for taller children, which is why I was curious how big she is. If you're looking to rear face beyond two, look into the Chicco NextFit or the Graco Size4me/MySize/Headwise (same shell but exclusive names at different stores). The NextFit is the most compact from to back and second longest rear facing after the Gracos.

roo1oo · May 2014

elmoali said:

Well, know that for the Radian, the booster is outgrown at the same time the harness is so if you max out the harness use, the seat is then useless.

You take the harness off and use the car seatbelt I thought...

ASmallWonder · May 2014

roo1oo said:

elmoali said:

Well, know that for the Radian, the booster is outgrown at the same time the harness is so if you max out the harness use, the seat is then useless.

You take the harness off and use the car seatbelt I thought...

The booster has a 50 pound minimum to use the seatbelt. At that weight, most kids will be too tall because the belt guide on the Radian isn't very high.

ejb23 · May 2014

@elmoali you seem knowledgable about this topic. Do you have a rec for a tall& heavy baby plus small car? My LO is 99% for height and weight. I'd like a one stop shop and not have to buy another for her plus keep her rear facing for as long as possible. TIA!

Eta: OP I don't mean to thread hijack!

ASmallWonder · May 2014

ejb23 said:

@elmoali you seem knowledgable about this topic. Do you have a rec for a tall& heavy baby plus small car? My LO is 99% for height and weight. I'd like a one stop shop and not have to buy another for her plus keep her rear facing for as long as possible. TIA! Eta: OP I don't mean to thread hijack!

I'm assuming she isn't walking yet. Kids typically slow down on their weight as they become mobile but her height curve is likely to stay the same. The most compact front to back extended rear facing seat is the Chicco NextFit. One of the newish Graco seats(Size4Me/MySize/Headwise/Contender) are technically the longest lasting height wise for rear facing but aren't as compact. You could also look into the Radian we were talking about above but to fit in a compact car you'd definitely need to use the angle adjuster.

ejb23 · May 2014

elmoali said:

ejb23 said:

@elmoali you seem knowledgable about this topic. Do you have a rec for a tall& heavy baby plus small car? My LO is 99% for height and weight. I'd like a one stop shop and not have to buy another for her plus keep her rear facing for as long as possible. TIA!

Eta: OP I don't mean to thread hijack!

I'm assuming she isn't walking yet. Kids typically slow down on their weight as they become mobile but her height curve is likely to stay the same. The most compact front to back extended rear facing seat is the Chicco NextFit. One of the newish Graco seats(Size4Me/MySize/Headwise/Contender) are technically the longest lasting height wise for rear facing but aren't as compact. You could also look into the Radian we were talking about above but to fit in a compact car you'd definitely need to use the angle adjuster.

Thanks! Yeah she just started crawling 2 weeks ago so not walking yet. I'll look into these Graco ones. I'd been searching the radian but will switch it up!

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