Rapidly outgrowing infant carriers?

At what age did your kids move from infant carriers to convertible car seats? At 4 months the boys are 26" long and we are already at the top height adustment on the shoulder straps without a whole lot of room to spare. I thought these things were supposed to last closer to 9mo - year?

 

I thought those things are determined by the weight of the baby.

 

Our Graco snugrides say 29 inches and 20 pounds (I was always told - by ped and firefighters - that weight is the more important element...?). I was worried that AJ was getting close (he was 26 inches and almost 16 pounds at 4 months) and I wanted to double-check before we go on vacation in a couple of weeks. So, I took him to the ped last week for a weight/height check, and he was 18lb5oz and 26.5 inches. We will keep him in the snugride through our vacation, but I think we will be buying a new carseat around 7 months.

I think it all just depends on the baby! Benny isn't even close to outgrowing his snugride, at 25 inches and under 15 pounds. FWIW, my DD was in her snugride until 14 months. She was 30 inches at one year, but under 19 pounds, and when we took her new carseat to the fire dept to be checked, they recommended to keep her in the rear-facing snugride until she hit 20 pounds.

There is a forum at careseat.org where you can get many questions answered!

 

We also had a snugride we didn't outgrow it until they were a year old (because of height not weight). But every kid is different and I know lots of moms on here who had to switch their kids to convertible seats well before a year. I have an IRL friend who didn't even buy an infant seat because she and her husband are big people and their DD was born over 10lbs and was 20lbs by 5 months old!

 

I was wondering the same thing. I have 2 different brand cars seats as my sister let me borrow hers. One of mine is already too big for that one. I had to put DS in a forward facing seat at 10 months because his long legs had no place left to go. I think he was pretty close to 20 pounds at that point. The lady that was keeping DS at the time had a fit about it because he was not a year old yet.

 

Oh that makes me cringe about a baby forward facing so little!

Infant seats have both weight & height requirements. Check those for your individual seat. My boys were getting 'close' to the limits, but just looking uncomfortable & too heavy for us, so we switched to REAR FACING convertible seats at 5 mos. The new recommendation is to keep kids rear facing until your seat's WEIGHT requirement, even if their legs are bent up from being too tall. My personal seat goes to 40 or 50 lbs (I forget), so that's when I plan to go forward facing. If your kiddos need to get out of their infant carrier & they're still little, make sure to purchase a convertible seat that's also certified for rear facing.

Here's a video that shows you why you should keep babies rear facing as long as possible:

Car Seat Video

I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound preachy, but I'm a trauma nurse & work closely with people who are certified at car seat installations (you know, the people who do your car seat checks), so it's POUNDED into us to keep kiddos facing the back!!!!!

 

I couldn't edit my post, just wanted to add that of course, my boys will be in a rear-facing carseat until minimum one year AND 20 pounds!

 

My boys got tall quick too. We were using seats that we borrowed and bought convertibles at 5 months. I had read that you need a convertible seat when your child hits the length or weight limit...whichever is first. My monkeys were only 15lbs but 26 inches so we switched them over. I will be keeping the rear facing till they hit the rear facing weight limit, which I believe is 30lbs on mine (even if they are older than one year). They aren't even 18lbs yet so I think we'll be rear facing for a long time.

 

Oh golly, I never meant to imply that I was assuming others weren't planning on keeping kiddos rear facing. It's obviously a parents' choice, but I just like to do my little spiel to try to get them to keep kiddos rear facing as long as possible. I have a lot of friends who had kids rapidly outgrowing infant seats & wanting to go to straight boosters or convertibles that didn't go rear facing, so they just turned their kids around sooner. Those seats ARE cheaper than the seats that go rear or forward facing & I've even heard of people not knowing about convertible seats going rear facing, which is why I brought it up.

Even if your kids are rear facing, the seats can be installed incorrectly (over 90% usually are), the kids can be buckled in incorrectly, etc etc. I wish I could just stay home & never have to drive with my kids ! I'd LOVE to turn my boys around when they turn 1 (very soon...and they're both over 20 lbs) because I think they'd really like it & it'd be WAY more convenient for me. But, safety first...right???

 

For my girls we never had an infant carrier we just got the convertable carseats. But they grew quickly and were tall. My son, we were given a Graco infant carrier and my son out grew that at about 4/5mths (can't remember which but I think it was closer to 4mths). We just moved him to a convertable carseat and kept him rear facing.

 

We were about 4 months old when we switched to convertible seats. Elizabeth screamed every time we put her in the carrier and we realized she wasnt comfy. Since moving to convertibles things have been great.

I must say though I am one of the few on these boards that does intend to turn them around at a year. Elizabeth is constantly undoing the chest clip and I think that is more unsafe then turning her around.

 

Mine were that tall that early also and I wondered the same thing. We didn't use carrier style seats but I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have made it past 5 months if we had (and they weren't 20 pounds until 15 months).

 

It's amazing, and true I know, but they are now recommending rear facing until 2 years old!!

 

For us, I don't think it is so much total length, but more butt to shoulder length and that the shoulder harness on the seats just does not go high enough. We are well under the weight limit and according to the seat itself still have 3" of overall length to go, but there is just no way without having the top of the harness well below his shoulder height which I always read was a no-no.

Sounds like we better get to looking at those rear facing convertibles. I am going to miss my infant carriers. The boys sleep so well in the car and I am going to hate having to take them out of the seats and potentially waking them up to put them in the stroller or bring them in the house. Errand trips with all those ins and outs are really going to suck.

 

Make sure to check the height/weight requirements on your seats and go from that. The Graco Snugrides have different specs than the newer Graco Safeseat...not sure about Evenflo, etc. though.

My twins were in their infant carriers until they were 9 months old. At 9 months, they were around 28 inches, but both were still under 20 lbs.

Olivia will be a different story. I just took her for her 4 month check and she's 15 lb. 6 oz...no way will she make it to 9 months in that thing....lol! I wish!

 

DS grew our of his at 5 months. He actually probably grew out of it a couple weeks before that but he switched to convertible at 5 months. He was 27 inches and over 18 lbs at 4 months...My infant carrier was 28 inches, 22 lbs. I think...
I wasn't worried about his legs hanging over cause he was rear facing. He just had to bend his legs! BUT I couldnt even snap the crotch in anymore. If he had a wet diaper- oh forget it! He wasn't getting in it!

And I'm switching DD this week...

My babies are very large though. For most people yes- they do last until 9 months

 

Ben outgrew his at 4 mos, in both weight and height. We decided to switch both to convertible seats at that time, since it was easier. They were so much happier when we switched! But man, it was a difficult adjustment for mom!

 

My girls outgrew the infant carriers at about 6 months of age.

And if you are worried about correct installation, I know there are many hospitals and police or fire stations that have car seat checks for free. At least they do in my area, so I'm guessing they would have them elsewhere since I live out in the 'burbs.

 

I was ranting about this this morning actually--and it turns out that there is another adjustment underneath the carseat that buys you a few more inches. Take the plastic piece off the back/underneath, and you will find a little metal clip that connects the straps. You can move that to the bottom loops and it frees up a bit more strap length.

HTH!

 

We're switching to covertible car seats this week I think - as soon as they are shipped here. We will be rear facing for quite some time.

 

We have the Graco Step 1 infant carriers, which are good up to 30"/30lb. My boys looked tiny in these seats when we brought them home (5 lb each), but now they are 11 months & still able to sit in them comfortably. I just leave the seats in the bases now, they are too heavy to carry around, but these seats were a great investment. I just bought a set of convertible seats as we are starting to hit the height limit on the Graco's. I will be sad to see these seats go.