Questions about Rear facing carseats?

[Breezy]

Ok ladies I have a few questions as I know the majority of my family members never really did ERF. In fact, I heard about it here when I was pregnant and that is the first time I had ever heard of it (thank goodness for baby and bump).

I know that my LO is fine being in his current carseat for now but have started doing research on the different car seats available as I like to have a plan for things so I am not scrambling around at the last minute trying to make a decision.

So, my questions are:

When did you switch LO to a different car seat? How much did your LO weight/how long were they?

When you switched, was it more difficult to go places as they no longer had the car seat to sit in when out of the car? I guess this may be a stupid question depending on how old LO's are when they start using the seat but I am so clueless!!!

LO is getting kind of long and it is only a matter of time before he is too long to comfortably sit in his current car seat.

Sorry if I sound really dumb but as I said, I don't have any one else to ask!

 

[Cattia]

We actually switched later than we should have done at around 12 months but I think it should have been about 9 and there is also a weight guideline for switching but I can't remember what it is! By the time we had switched I had long since stopped moving Abigail in her cat seat, i think we stopped that by about five or six months, when she didn't sleep in the car any more so that wasn't a problem.
We have the Britax hiway and we got it from the Swedish website. It is great, especially if you have a smaller car.

 

[Virginia]

I think the best time to switch them is after the baby can sit in a highchair. Of course, I only say this for convenience as when I go to a restaurant or something, I don't want to be holding a baby the entire time, ya know?

 

[bubbles123]

I switched him to his ERF seat at about a year. He still only weighs 11kg now so I could probably still get away with putting him in his infant seat but I thought he was looking a bit squished so moved him up to an ERF seat. Our ERF seat is 0-18kg though so I could have switched him at any time. As he was that much older I never really took him around in his car seat anymore anyway so it wasn't a problem.

 

[Gingerspice]

We only just switched when LO was 13 months. We still found being able to lift the carseat out to take into places if LO had fallen asleep useful, although rarely used in comparison to when they were a newborn. It would literally be to carry them into a place as we stopped using the pushchair it clipped onto months ago, and as they walk and sit it was only if they'd fallen asleep that we would take the carseat out with them in it.

They are still well within the weight limit of the infant carrier car seat (only now 9kg and seat went up to 13kg) and also their head was below the height but I felt the position itself wasn't ideal for them and also wasn't happy as the shoulder straps were below their shoulders in terms of where they came through from the back which I think is also a cue as to when to move them on to a bigger seat.
Just because a child reaches 9 months or 9kg you do not have to move them for the sake of it. The important thing is the weight limits of the seat so if they're still fitting and happy then there's no need to rush them.

 

[kmac625]

We had to move Clara into an ERF when she hit 8 months because she had hit the maximum height restriction (73cm) even though she was way under the weight limit of 22lbs. I find it easier because it was too heavy for me to carry her in the infant seat (I'm a wimp ).

 

[sunshine114]

We will be switching LO shortly to the Britax hiway which we are buying from carseat.se. They have been good as they have told us it will fit in our Focus.
He is almost 10 months and only just over 20lb, and to be honest, it is faaaar too heavy to lift him and his carseat in and out of the car, so 99% of the time his infant carrier stays in the car so I don't think it will make much difference on that front!

 

[Mel+Bump]

I don't plan on switching over until she's about 13/14 months, maybe longer. Shes 16lb 10oz at the moment and still has at least 4inchs of head room left

I havent decided on another car seat yet, Ill decide when she starts to grow I think

 

[Eala]

I moved Roo to her ERF seat when she was about 11 months old. She was well within the weight limit and height limits for her infant carrier, but she was getting very frustrated with the reclined position. Our ERF seat does 0-18kg, so it meant I could put her in it right away, and she much prefers the more upright position.

By that point I'd pretty much stopped using the carseat on the pram chassis anyway, as again, she didn't like to be so reclined. I tended to just lift her out and put her in the pushchair.

 

[a_c]

I think you'll find when your lo hits about 5 months you'll take them out the car without the seat, they just get too heavy. Poppy is off the scale heightwise & she's still find in her maxi cosi, yes her legs are over the end but that's no issue to her safety or comfort to be honest

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

We moved Ruby to the Britax Multitech at 15 months. She was 26lb at that age, still within the weight limit of the maxi cosi infant seat but her head was almost at the top of the seat, which is when you should get a new seat. Legs over the end is no problem.

We didn't put Ruby's car seat onto the pram past about 4 months. Definitely didn't carry her in the seat much at all - sooo heavy!

 

[Gingerspice]

yeah, the only reason we stilled carried LO in the carseat up to 13 months (albeit it less than when newborn) was because she's a lightweight at only just reaching 9kg so we could.