19wo baby in Maxi Cosi Pearl

[peaceloveandbiscuits]

My baby is 19 weeks old, but is very long. He is 68cm long and weighs almost 8kg. He is currently in the Silver Cross Simplicity infant car seat, which goes upto 9kg, but he's quite uncomfortable in it due to his length, and will soon be too heavy.
As a separate issue my 2.10 year old is now too big for the Maxi Cosi 2Way Pearl, so he needs a new seat. I had thought that DS2 could go into the Pearl around Christmas time when he'll be 6 months, and that we'd have to buy another infant car seat (upto 13kg) in the interim, but actually, he is within the minimum height restrictions for the Pearl.
I wonder whether he can go straight into it now, or whether there is some safety issue that means he needs to be in an infant carrier? The Pearl reclines so he wouldn't be sat upright. There is no minimum weight restriction, only height, which they say is approx. 6 months - not taking into account my giant babies!
Any guidance would be appreciated.

[peaceloveandbiscuits]

I forgot to add that the Pearl is rear facing, too.

[welshweasel]

He's safest in the infant carrier. I'd keep him in that until he reaches 9kg then swap over, which will probably take you to nearer 6 months. The recline on the 2 way pearl is nowhere near as much as you get with an infant seat - we had a lot of issues with head slumping forward for the first few months we used ours.

[neddle]

It's better to keep them in the lower seats as long as possible. Height isn't quite so important as long as their ears aren't above the back, legs can be bent.
There should be a minimum weight for every seat and if you put them up too soon then it may not protect them properly.

[neddle]

Is your 2yo really too big for the seat? I googled and it's supposed to be for up to 4yo. My 3yo isn't too big for that seat.

[BertieBotts]

If it's rear facing and there's no minimum weight then I think it should be fine. It's I size isn't it, so no group requirements.

[BertieBotts]

As an aside, does the silver cross really only go up to 9kg? That seems unlikely to me unless it's one of those lie flat seats.

Having just thought about it a little more the around 6 months guideline might also be to do with sitting strength. So it might be better to try and keep him in the baby seat for a little longer until he's siting up well. If babies slump in car seats and end up with their chins pressed to their chest it can be dangerous in terms of breathing ease. If you put your own chin on your chest and try to breathe you'll see what I mean.

Why not call maxi cosi's customer serice and see what they say?

[peaceloveandbiscuits]

DS1 is over 18kg and 105cm tall. He is a giant. The Simplicity definitely only goes up to 9kg; we had to borrow a 13kg seat when DS1 was too big for it (around the same age).

Head slumping is something I hadn't considered, thank you!

[Nan0second]

2way pearl is suitable from birth (well mine is!)
www.maxi-cosi.co.uk/gb-en/car-seats/2waypearl.aspx
Maxi cosi themselves agree with this.
Put the baby in the seat

[peaceloveandbiscuits]

Nano I hadn't noticed that from birth bit, I just looked at the height and approx. 6 months! Thank you!

[Nan0second]

Are you 100% sure your 2.1 year old is too big though?
91st centile DD has a very long body and still fits fine at 2.4 years... it did mean we had to straighten up through!

[Nan0second]

It's mainly cos they want to sell you and infant carrier too!

[Nan0second]

Sorry missed your message about your giant!! Wow.
Yes he does indeed need a bigger seat 😱

[CWG17]

Wow, your 2yo is as big as my 3.6 and he is also tall for his age. Watch out if he sticks to the old wives’ tale of adult size being double the height at 2yo!

[Oliack1417]

My 3 yo wears age 5/6 clothing and grew out of the pearl when he was 2 and 9 months!

[BertieBotts]

Strange - the silver x simplicity on mothercare website says it's up to 13kg.

I'd believe a tall 2y10m old is growing out of the pearl, it's not very tall. BIt of a con selling it as rear facing to 4 years!

I wonder if it would be worth buying a group 0-1-2 seat which will harness up to 25kg for the almost 3yo to go into. For now you can put the baby in the new seat until the toddler properly outgrows the pearl. Then switch toddler to group 2 harnessed seat, baby to pearl, and you're done then until the older one wants a booster.

[peaceloveandbiscuits]

It's the old style Simplicity - they recently changed the design. I bought it in 2014. Definitely 9kg.

[BertieBotts]

Ah right! How strange, I didn't know they were even making Group 0 car seats that recently! (The 13kg ones are Group 0+)

[welshweasel]

nano it's definitely not suitable from birth. It's from 67cm (which is approx 6 months). The from birth thing refers to the fact that the 2 way fix base also fits the pebble plus, which is an infant carrier. Please don't put a newborn in this seat. It's really really not safe.

[peaceloveandbiscuits]

Welsh is correct:

"As part of the 2wayFamily, the 2wayPearl and 2wayFix base can be used in combination with the Pebble baby car seat for i-Size safety and rearward-facing travel right from birth."

[peaceloveandbiscuits]

But regardless, he is the correct length and they don't stipulate a minimum weight or age. I think I'll write to Maxi Cosi and ask, though I suspect they'll suggest I purchase a Pebble

[welshweasel]

If he's tall enough why don't you try it out with someone sat in the back. The head slump issue becomes apparent as soon as they fall asleep in my experience.

[Nan0second]

Sorry! I used a cabriofix, not this from birth but was told it could be used from birth when I bought it. Plus it does say that on the website (just saw the 67cm part on there when I went to recheck).
Apologies for my shite advice. Although if he's tall enough, then I would do it on the flattest recline (especially if he's got good head control)

[peaceloveandbiscuits]

He does have excellent head control and is already rolling and trying to sit. Not shite advice at all; I feel really thick for not knowing the definitive answer myself.

[BertieBotts]

It's just new ground, that's all. Previous to this new legislation you would have a car seat which was suitable either from birth or from 9kg and not before (meaning a minimum of a big 6 month old in reality, and most people wouldn't use it until a year or so).

The new guidelines do away with set weight categories. I would imagine that this one does not technically have a lower weight restriction, but it's simply not designed with newborns in mind, much like those pushchairs you can get which don't fully recline. There's nothing inherently wrong with putting a newborn in one, it would still work, but the seat shape isn't designed for them so they recommend only to use from 3 months or so.

So I expect that the guideline of around 6 months minimum is supposed to reflect that babies develop at different rates and that a younger baby with good head control and who is large enough to physically fit snugly into the harness (remember that when rear facing, the straps need to be level with or below the top of the shoulders, not above). But I think the best idea is to ask their customer services department.

Car seats are actually really complicated, and I've gone and looked at the 2way Pearl's manual, and it barely explains anything.

BTW the only other seat I can think of which has a minimum recommendation/guideline rather than a hard limit is the BeSafe one, I can't remember its old name, but is now sold as the Modular/Go which (at least used to) consist of a rear facing permanently installed seat for a toddler and then a lift out baby seat part. They used to recommend that you use the baby shell type seat for the newborn phase even though the main seat itself was technically approved from birth, because there was no recline on the larger seat. But you could buy the main seat without the newborn carry seat part because sometimes people bought it to replace the infant seat as they wanted their baby to rearface for longer.

[BertieBotts]

FWIW on the Maxi Cosi FAQ they have this question about the Axiss and to me it looks clear that it's about the height/length and they only provide the age as a rough help to translate that.

They have switched to length rather than weight classification now because these car seat regulations are used all over Europe and most countries in Europe size children's clothing by height/length, which means that most parents are more likely to know their child's length than weight - which is a bit of a bum deal for the UK, where it's often the opposite way around!