Advice on when to move to 9month-4 yr car seat.

[mootthing]

DS is just 7 months and has just reached 9kgs. He currently has a Maxicosi cabriofix seat which is supposed to last up to 13kg. I know that it is better to keep them in a rear-facing car seat as long as possible, and that maxicosi suggest you don't move them until the crown of the baby's head is level with the shell, however he is beginning to look squashed in his existing seat.

Although the crown of his head isn't quite above the shell yet, he has quite broad shoulders and we have found that if he is wearing a coat it is very difficult to get him to fit in between the wings of the seat. If we do put him in wearing anything bulky and he falls asleep his head sometimes seems to loll forwards which I assume is because his shoulders aren't fully back in the seat.

Has anyone else had this happen? Do people think it is better to keep him in the baby seat a little longer and risk the lolling head, or move him to a large seat sooner rather than later? He is able to sit up unsupported.

Keep him in the seat and don't put bulky jumpers/coats on him, use blankets tucked in at the sides once he is strapped in and consider buying a rear facing seat to 18kgs.

i had this with ds and moved him to a rf britax two way elite at 9 months. however he had to use his baby seat last week and is now 20 months and still fitted(just!!) and he is on the top charts for height and weight! he did look a bit squashed but must have been comfortable enough as he fell asleep.

i would keep you ds in the cabrio until he reaches 13kgs if you do not plan on getting a group 1 rf seat.

We have a similar issue with our 4.5 month old DD and the cabriofix car seat. We had to remove the head-hugger early as she just wouldn't fit in. Our way around it is as others have suggested... our DD only wears a thin jumper/cardigan and we use a blanket. To be honest, she might get a little cold initially until the car heats up but that's better than her being squashed or not in the seat properly and I've found the straps are more secure when she's wearing less clothes as they fit on her shoulders better.

The big disappointment is that we've hardly been able to use the cosi-toes we bought for it as she soon couldn't get her shoulders in with that there.

You shouldn't use a coat in a carseat anyway as if you had an accident the force of the collision can make the fibres of the coat compress and mean the straps are too loose. I don't know why this isn't more publicised over here (only web results I can find are from USA) because I always see people putting their babies in carseats with huge coats on. Also, they tend to make the shoulders slippy and rounded which again can make the straps less secure.

• oh, here, I found a copy of the article, sorry it's on babycentre but I couldn't find the original anywhere: here

DS is in his baby seat still and is 15 months, just under 11kg (the seat goes up to 13kg) and his head is a good half inch from the top. His legs don't straighten out any more but he doesn't seem to mind, he likes kicking the seat.

The BBC article that is.

And American youtube video here.