# How long did you keep your child in an infant car seat?



## IntuitiveJamie (Jun 24, 2006)

My bff wants to buy her child a new carseat and move her into it around 1. It's a Britax Roundabout with a five point harness. She plans on keeping her rear facing as long as possible, but thinks her babe will like another carseat better then the infant carrier. Her husband doesn't see the point of buying another carseat when the carrier goes up to 35 lbs.
I have never known anyone that kept their baby in the carrier past one, myself included. I'm sure people do it, but I was just sitting her wondering how common it is b/c I seriously don't know a single person. What I am really looking for are good reasons for my bff to buy the new seat (they have the money, but her dh likes to be very frugal). Anyone keep their baby in one past one and anyone have any good reasons to move a baby to a bigger seat (still rear facing)?
TIA!


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## elsie (Apr 5, 2005)

I don't recall my infant seat going up to 35 pounds. I think it was something like 20-25 pounds rear facing which is why we went to the convertible seat after about a year. It was also impractical to carry around a 20 pound one year old in a car seat out of the car.


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## Drummer's Wife (Jun 5, 2005)

If she has an infant seat that goes to 35 lbs. Rf'ing, it will likely last about as long rf'ing as the Roundabout (which also allows 35 lbs rf'ing). I would advise against getting a roundabout for that reason. The shell is a little bit taller (depending on which infant seat she has - but I'm guessing it's a Graco), but chances are it will get outgrown by height before weight (as most infant car seats also do).

My SIL used a infant seat until her youngest was 2 b/c she still fit. It was a Safeseat, so it wasn't one of the smaller, lower-limit car seats (like I had for my 1st baby).

Some LO's prefer to be upright and can see out the window easier in a convertable - but as long as there is an inch of shell above their head and they are under the weight limit, there is no reason you have to switch.

The problem w/ the roundabout - besides it being outgrown quickly rf'ing - is that it will likely be outgrown Forward-facing before the kid is ready for a booster - so she'd have to buy yet another seat (my barely 3 yo outgrew it by height a few months ago).


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## 2happymamas (May 11, 2005)

We kept DD in her infant seat until last week and she is 16.5 months. The Chicco KeyFit 30 allows a weight limit of 30 pounds and height limit of 30 inches. While she only weighs 21 pounds, she was 29.5 inches at her last doctor's appointment. We bought her a Marathon last week and she is RF in it now.

It's only been a week or so, but I miss the infant seat. She always falls asleep in the car and the infant seat was nice because I could carry her into the house in it. In the Marathon, she wakes up everytime and will not go back to sleep, which has resulted in a cranky toddler.


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## jeanine123 (Jan 7, 2005)

My oldest was out of his infant car seat at around 3.5 months old and my youngest at just over 2 months. They were both close to being an inch away from the top of the seat which is just as important as the weight limit.


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## IntuitiveJamie (Jun 24, 2006)

All good things to know. Thanks.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

What infant seat does she have that goes up to 35lbs? That's insane if someone decided to manufacture that and test it. No one would be able to carry a 35lb kid in a infant carrier, and most kids will be waaaaaaaaaaay too tall for an infant carrier before they're anywhere close that heavy. Such a waste of money to crash test for that. (Nope, not even for short and heavy babies, no baby is going to hit 35lbs before they can reach the bottom strap in every convertible on the market.)

Most infant seats max out at 22lbs and they really only go that high because they figure you might want to put a diaper and some shoes on your kid.

Many babies enjoy sitting more upright after they can hold their head up. So your friend is probably right that her baby will like the convertible seat better.

There are now seats on the market that allow RF to 40lbs, and then turn FF to 65lbs. So the new seat will likely last until it's time for a booster.


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## User101 (Mar 3, 2002)

Moving to Family Safety


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## 2happymamas (May 11, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan* 
What infant seat does she have that goes up to 35lbs? That's insane if someone decided to manufacture that and test it. No one would be able to carry a 35lb kid in a infant carrier, and most kids will be waaaaaaaaaaay too tall for an infant carrier before they're anywhere close that heavy. Such a waste of money to crash test for that. (Nope, not even for short and heavy babies, no baby is going to hit 35lbs before they can reach the bottom strap in every convertible on the market.)

Most infant seats max out at 22lbs and they really only go that high because they figure you might want to put a diaper and some shoes on your kid.

Many babies enjoy sitting more upright after they can hold their head up. So your friend is probably right that her baby will like the convertible seat better.

There are now seats on the market that allow RF to 40lbs, and then turn FF to 65lbs. So the new seat will likely last until it's time for a booster.

The Graco Snugride 35 has limits of 35 pounds and 32 inches. We used a Chicco KeyFit 30, which allows for 30 inches and 30 pounds. DD just hit the height limit, so we switched. But, damn, that thing was getting heavy and she's only 21 pounds.


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## DevaMajka (Jul 4, 2005)

I've read numerous times that some kids are happier in a convertible than a baby bucket. Maybe they can be more upright in a convertible?
We had a conv. from the beginning, but ds was much happier when I put it more upright.

Other than that, I wonder if the infant seat would rf until the lo could be ff'ing? If som they'd save a bit of money by skipping a conv. If not, they'll have to buy a high weight convertible at some point anyway, and may as well do it now, have the lo be happier, and possibly sell/pass along the infant seat while it has a lot of life left.

eta- of course, I like buying new stuff, so I'm probably biased. lol


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## Drummer's Wife (Jun 5, 2005)

Saphire - The Graco Snugride 35 goes to 35 lbs. I think more and more car seats have higher weight limits - Britax Chaperone, Chicco Keyfit, and Peg Perego all go to 30 lbs (and I'm sure there are more - these are just the ones I am familiar with).

Just because you use it for longer than a year - you don't have to carry it around, yk? You just leave it in the car like a convertible. I think, in part, manufacturers are making them b/c many people move from an infant seat to a FF seat.

To answer your question, OP, my first baby was out of her infant seat before 6 mos. (it was a 20 lb., 26 inch limit seat). My 2nd made it to right around a year - as did my 3rd and 4th -b/c those seats went to 22 inches and 29 lbs. Even with bigger babies, most could fit at least until a year, and likely longer, in one of the higher limit carseats on the market today. I would guess my babies would have made it to about 18 months, if we wanted to keep them in something like a Graco Snugride 35. They would have outgrown it by height around then (they are tall - but most of this height is in their legs).

Regardless, I think if your friend wants a new seat - she should get one. She'll need it eventually, anyhow. Just not a Roundabout - as it's not going to last long enough to justify the cost, IME. We did have a Marathon that worked well, but even that only has a 35 lb weight limit for RF'ing, and my 3 yr old was over that weight when he was 2 years old.

I would recommend the True Fit, Radian, or MyRide - over any of the Britax convertibles.


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## DahliaRW (Apr 16, 2005)

Seeing as a child should be rfing until 2 BARE minimum and 4 ideally, no, and infant seat will not do it. But, you can start out with a convertible and skip the infant seat all together. Convertibles that fit newborns well include the sunshine kids radian, graco myride, and first years true fit.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *2happymamas* 
The Graco Snugride 35 has limits of 35 pounds and 32 inches. We used a Chicco KeyFit 30, which allows for 30 inches and 30 pounds. DD just hit the height limit, so we switched. But, damn, that thing was getting heavy and she's only 21 pounds.

Really? Oh, no wait, I get it, Graco doesn't make a convertible, do they? They're looking to get all the people who plan to skip straight to a convertible to go with their seat instead.

Or because people go from infant seats to FF.

Still seems like a silly seat to buy to me, doesn't it have to be heavier to support heavier kids and bigger to fit longer kids? Those infant carriers are already a PITA to carry around, it'd be worse if they were larger and heavier.


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## an_aurora (Jun 2, 2006)

Graco makes the My Ride which RF's to 40 pounds (and FF's to 65)









They also make the ComfortSport, but it's got a very short shell and only RFs to 30 lbs.


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## MangoMommy (Oct 20, 2008)

My nearly 1 yr old is still in her Combi Shuttle. It goes up to 22 lbs and 29". She's only 18 lbs and I'm not sure of her height, I need to check. She's a little thing. I never take it out of the car, even if she's sleeping. It's just too heavy. I like it because it has a canopy, and here in HI the sun shines all the time and is bright on her even with my nearly limo-tinted windows.

My others moved out of the infant carrier much younger, but that was 7 yrs ago and the limits for height were much smaller.


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## chickabiddy (Jan 30, 2004)

Graco does make convertibles, and the Snugride35 and Safety 1st OnBoard35 are infant seats with 35# capacity, although most kids will outgrow them by height before 35#.

Many older babies prefer convertibles. Is there a reason she's looking at the Roundabout? There are, IMO, far better choices (better meaning she will get more for her money and the child may make it to a safe booster age/size in the convertible, which will almost never happen in a Roundabout).


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## IntuitiveJamie (Jun 24, 2006)

Thanks for all the input. My friend will be reading these responses shortly. Just as an FYI she wants to buy my Roundabout from me. Knowing it's not expired, not been in an accident and is in great shape, only a couple of years old. I'm selling it to her for super cheap-$40 bucks. And she got the bucket seat from her Sil, so she hasn't even spent money on one yet. Her dd really does not like the car and they have been visiting this week and she has been riding in the Roundabout and seemed much happier. So she is thinking about taking it home with her. Although I will say that you may be right DRUMMERS WIFE- b/c she did notice her baby seems like she would be able to touch the backseat with her feet soon (she's only 7 months) So maybe the Roundabout isn't for them. We'll see what she decides.


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## chickabiddy (Jan 30, 2004)

For $40, a Roundabout is a fine choice, especially if she just needs to see if her child prefers a convertible.


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## Drummer's Wife (Jun 5, 2005)

OH! I would buy a $40 Roundabout. That would be worth it even if it was a transitional carseat, meaning I had to buy another one later on. Actually, I did do that (but paid $109 when they were on clearance), used it for less than a year, and sold it for almost what I paid - so definitely worth it to me. I thought you meant she was going to be paying full-price for a new one, and that her DH is frugal enough that he would be annoyed at needing to buy a bigger seat down the line.

Jamie, it's okay if her feet hit the back of the seat. That will happen in any convertible rear-facing. The seat is outgrown by height when there is less than an inch of hard shell above the head.


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## an_aurora (Jun 2, 2006)

I did the same thing (bought a Roundabout from a tech friend for $40, to use as a transitional seat). It worked well and served our needs. DD2 outgrew it by height around 16 months, and 17 pounds, so well before she could legally use it FF, but we knew that we would have to replace it, and we loved it for the time we used it.

And yes, it's totally okay to have the child's feet touching the back of the seat


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## Anastasiya (Jun 13, 2006)

Our infant carrier goes up to 35 pounds as well. We just switched our 14 month old out of it and into a convertible Graco MyRide (he's still RFacing).

Our third child was in the infant carrier until almost 2 years old. NO, we did not carry him around in it. But he was perfectly content and well within the weight and height limits.

Like others said, the Roundabout won't get her very far, but since she's getting it for $40 from you it's a good transitional seat.







If she was buying new, it would be a waste of money, IMHO.

And yeah, it's a non issue if the feet touch the back of the seat.


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## seagull (Jun 29, 2005)

I loved the Roundabout for my children, who are shorter than most kids. We did use an infant bucket for the first 4 months and 12 months with ds and then dd. That is only because the Roundabout would not have fit them from birth.
My son outgrew it forward facing at just over 4 years old. My dd is now 2 1/2 yrs and still rear facing in the Roundabout. She just crosses her legs or has them straight up the seat back. That is more comfortable for kids than having legs dangle straight down with no footrest. Her seat will expire end of this year, so I don't know if we will go with another convertible or switch her ff at 3 1/4 yrs.Another reason we loved the roundabout, is that it fit so well into our compact car.

Anyways, the best car seat is the one that fits the child and the car and is used properly every time.


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## Smidge (Aug 29, 2007)

I didn't read the other posts









While not buying the Roundabout is a logical decision, the baby will likely not agree. Many buckets don't offer any or much padding and they sit back farther, leaving a bigger infant not able to see everything (again, not logical, just my opinions).

I personally wouldn't buy a Roundabout. I would buy a Blvd if you like Britax or a Radian for even more RFing


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## lunarlady (Jan 4, 2010)

We switched to the roundabout when DD was 7 months because she outgrew the height limit on her infant bucket. She rode in that seat until she was past 3, at which point she switched to a Graco Natualis and now rides FF in a 5-point harness. We expect to get similar use from the roundabout for the next child (due August). So some people might think the roundabout doesn't have a long life span, but 2.5 years seems like a pretty good deal to me. DD did very much like being a bit more upright, and was thrilled to turn FF at age 2. I think it is a good decision as when the roundabout is outgrown many kids are ready for a larger toddler seat that will convert to a booster in time. We actually prefer the roundabout to the marathon as the marathon doesn't fit well in my husband's sedan.


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## Cinder (Feb 4, 2003)

Janelle-16 months, she was around somewhere around 15ish lbs (she was 17lbs at 1 and 15lbs at 18 months), we moved her to a rear facing roundabout at that point cause she would scream any time she was in the car, we think she just hated the angle of the infant seat. She stayed rear facing in her roundabout till past 3 1/2 years old.

Kincaid-4 months old...he was 17lbs and around 28" long and he is all torso, so he outgrew it by height then, he moved to a rear facing roundabout...he stayed their till 18 months, I wish I would of just bought him another seat instead of turning him (both of them, he's the one who outgrew the roundabout by height rear facing at this point, so we turned both of them around) but I didn't think then, so he went forward facing at 18 months.

Travis-7 months, he was only about 13lbs at the very most (14lbs 14oz at 1), but he screamed anytime he was in the car from 6 months on, so we put him in a rear facing boulevard, he's still there and will be 3 in August...he will be there for at least another year.

River-he turned 1 on the second and is still in his infant carrier, he still is very happy on car rides, so I see no need to move him to a different seat till that changes...


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## Cinder (Feb 4, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan* 
What infant seat does she have that goes up to 35lbs? That's insane if someone decided to manufacture that and test it. No one would be able to carry a 35lb kid in a infant carrier, and most kids will be waaaaaaaaaaay too tall for an infant carrier before they're anywhere close that heavy. Such a waste of money to crash test for that. (Nope, not even for short and heavy babies, no baby is going to hit 35lbs before they can reach the bottom strap in every convertible on the market.)

*Most infant seats max out at 22lbs and they really only go that high because they figure you might want to put a diaper and some shoes on your kid.
*
Many babies enjoy sitting more upright after they can hold their head up. So your friend is probably right that her baby will like the convertible seat better.

There are now seats on the market that allow RF to 40lbs, and then turn FF to 65lbs. So the new seat will likely last until it's time for a booster.

That was true 5 years ago, but no quite a few go to 30, 32 or 35lbs, including newer graco snugrides.


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## azgirl (Nov 27, 2006)

My tiny 27 month old is still in his Chicco Keyfit 30 bucket. He doesn't mind it, so why change? We even bought a True Fit Premier a few months ago...we just haven't started using it. I think DS may just barely be approaching the height requirement. (yes, someday soon I'll post about pediatric endos and growth hormone







)


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## urchin_grey (Sep 26, 2006)

About 14 months, but if he hadn't have had to have surgery and be in a spica cast, I would have kept him in it much longer. In fact, I should have put him back in it when he was out of the cast because he still fit and was too small/young at the time to FF. I thought it was okay at the time though.


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## artgoddess (Jun 29, 2004)

Um, four months. Mine had a weight limit of 20 lbs and he outgrew it by then.


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## shanniesue2 (Jul 4, 2007)

DS stayed in his snugride (22 pound limit) until he was 18 months old... he was still only about 18 pounds (had a congenital heart defect that affected his weight gain), but he only had an inch at the top of the carseat, so he was there for height. We already owned a Cosco AOE (it was what we had originally purchased when I was pregnant, before we realized it didn't fit our car at an appropriate newborn angle--or our newborn for that matter)... so we put him RF in that until it drove me nuts and we replaced it with a MyRide.


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## Minxie (Apr 15, 2008)

My DS outgrew the Britax Companion at four months.


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## StephandOwen (Jun 22, 2004)

I moved my ds out of his infant bucket at about 3 months (into a Graco ComfortSport and then a Britax Marathon then a Britax Regent and Graco Nautilus).


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## Llyra (Jan 16, 2005)

I guess infant seats have gotten bigger since we had ours? DD1 was too long for hers at barely four months old, and the twins outgrew theirs by height at 6 months or so.


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## MangoMommy (Oct 20, 2008)

They have gotten bigger, or can accomodate bigger babies. My first 2 kids outgrew theirs by 4-5 months due to length. My 1 yr old is just now outgrowing hers. I think the old ones were like 24" length but now they are 28" and longer. And the weight is much bigger too.


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## Ninetales (Jan 25, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan* 
Still seems like a silly seat to buy to me, doesn't it have to be heavier to support heavier kids and bigger to fit longer kids? Those infant carriers are already a PITA to carry around, it'd be worse if they were larger and heavier.

I have one and I love it. It's no bigger or heavier than the Safeseat was, or the Snugride 32. I wanted an infant seat and I wanted to get my money's worth out of it, and having had a very large baby I'm glad I got this one.

Why do people always assume you plan to carry the thing everywhere? I don't. I like to bring it into the house because I live in an area with extreme weather. Our summers often get into the high 90s (even over 100 sometimes) and winters are below freezing. I wanted to avoid standing around in the blistering heat or freezing cold messing with the carseat, as well as putting the baby into a seat that had been sitting in a hot/cold car.

I'm big and so is she, and I drive a small car, so it is 100X easier for me to get her into the seat and put in the car instead of putting her into a stationary seat.

We only have one car, so it's useful for us to take the seat out while my husband is at work, in case we need to ride in someone else's car.

I have a stroller frame I use sometimes when she's asleep or doesn't want to be worn. I've taken it into restaurants occasionally as well.

So no, I am not lugging the thing around constantly, but I had very specific reasons for choosing it and it works for us. I hardly think that makes me "silly" for using something that doesn't happen to be useful for you.

I also know a lot of people who go right to FFing once the bucket is outgrown. I guarantee my sister will be one of them. At least with a bigger bucket those babies will have a chance at RFing for longer.

My baby will use her 35 until she outgrows it, gets to a point where she'd be happier in a convertible, or we need it for a new baby. If it gets to a point where I can't carry her in it, I will leave it in the car for as long as the seat works for us. She's 4 months old.


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