Next stage car seat. . . When??

[housewifey]

Hello ladies! My daughter is now 7 months and weighs 21 pounds. She has hated her infant car seat for a while now and I was waiting until she reached the correct weight for the next stage. I went to Mothercare today and the sales assistant said that she had to reach the weight AND age reccomendations before I could move her up? Is this correct? I thought it was weight that was most important?? She hates rear facing though and its a screaming match most car trips!!

Any help appreciated! Thank youuuu xxxxxx

 

[mommyof3co]

Age is important because the way their body develops and bones harden is based on their age...not their size. I would look into getting a bigger rear facing seat (carseat.se is a good site you can look on). She really should stay RF past the minimum the law states, it's much much safer. But a bigger seat would offer her more room and most babies like them more because they sit up more and can see more

 

[Blah11]

They can still see loads when rearfacing. Infant carriers are quite reclined but higher weight rearfacing seats are really upright. Anyway, theres a thread in natural parenting about extended rear facing that I recommend you looking at before you make ANY decisions.

 

[bunnyg82]

She was definitely right. The longer they can stay in rear facing the better as it is the safest option. In the UK, the minimum age to transfer to FF is 12 months - USA has just changed to advise not changing before 2 years old and I think in Sweden, they advise till about 4 years old!

Obviously if your daughter reaches the weight limit, I am pretty sure that you will need to change seats, and in that case it would be better for a next stage rear facing seat if it's going to still be a while before your daughter's 1st birthday.

My son isn't a big fan of sitting in his car seat - he absolutely hated it when he was really little, but his safety is far more important and I can usually settle him now. I always thought you changed them over at 9 months! But thankfully I found info on rear facing and kept him in his seat. He's small for his age too so at 13.5 months, he's still got loads of growing room in his current seat, but I feel for those that have fast growers! x

 

[going_crazy]

Have you thought about getting a stage 0+&1 seat?
This means your LO can rear face until they are at the correct age and weight then you can ff when you choose to?

 

[housewifey]

Yeah what she was saying seemed to make sense and I'm glad I asked! The health visitor told me she was big enough for FF!!

I'll have a look at that thread in natural parenting! Thanks!

So there is a car seat that is bigger than and infant carrier but is rearfacing? And then when she is 1 I can switch the same car seat to forward facing?? Or do I have to get a new one again for forward facing??

Yeah Halle is in 91st centile for weight and lenght haha so she's deffo outgrowing her infant seat!! Xxxxx

 

[gumb69]

Yeah have a look at the erf in natural parenting section.
Each parents choice, i was going to go ff until i read about how safer erf is,
so Chloe will be rf until she is 6 now xxx

 

[Tor]

Yeah what she was saying seemed to make sense and I'm glad I asked! The health visitor told me she was big enough for FF!!

I'll have a look at that thread in natural parenting! Thanks!

So there is a car seat that is bigger than and infant carrier but is rearfacing? And then when she is 1 I can switch the same car seat to forward facing?? Or do I have to get a new one again for forward facing??

Yeah Halle is in 91st centile for weight and lenght haha so she's deffo outgrowing her infant seat!! Xxxxx

If u don't want to ERF then a britax first class plus is good you can rf until 29lbs/13kg then use the same seat ff until 18kg and they sit higher up than an infant carrier so even when they are still rf they can see loads more.

ETA- The law in the UK is at least 9kg to be FF there is actually no age limit by law although it is recommended to be at least 9 months in age as well. It is safest to RF as long as poissible though.