car seat to small for 5.5 month old

[greenwitch]

Hello

The car seat that we have is getting to small for our very long 5.5 month old. Her head is right at the top of the seat now. Apparently there is a weight limit for the next car seat - I haven't weighed dd recently, but will do on Monday.

Any ideas what I should do? The only thought I have is not to drive her anywhere, possible, but tricky.

PS I'm not tall at all!

You could get a 'birth to four years' seat, for now. There is one called the Britax first class, which is used backwards for the first 9 months? or whatever weight, and then turned forwards. So it's safe for all weights iyswim.

We have one from Kiddicare, it was £69 I think, half price and they ahd loads.

There are others - we also have a Concorde Ultimax which is useable rear facing till 18 months, then turn it round till they are four. Bit more pricey though

there are a few others similar, this seems more expensive than ours was, prob more popular colour

Blimey! What seat do you have? There is a weight limit for the next stage seat and I think 9-12mths is about when babies move up. The stage 0 seats that travel backwards are the safest ones though so I really wouldn't move her before you have to. It is to do with neck control and sitting up too.
I think their heads can go above the seat a little bit but I don't have my old stage 0 to check. I know the feet/legs can hang out and that is not an issue....Can you look in your instruction manual?

Btw we are using both these seats rear facing atm, it is just as safe as an infant carrier as they are designed to have babies in them from birth.
HTH

Yes rear facing is the key I believe.

Minimum weight for next stage is 9kg/20lbs and they should really be able to sit well independently to forward face. Many infant seats go up to 13kg, which perhasp yours doesn't, so you could either look for a Stage 0+ which does or a reversible one which goes from birth to 18kg.

Hi ladies

I've got a Mamas and Papas seat (leant to me by a friend). It's got the sun shade on it at the moment, so that might make less room for her head - I will try taking it off.

I had wondered about a 0-4 seat - which would be handy if we do have another baby. so thanks for suggesting britax Columbia.

DD seems to be ludicrously tall - am hoping she might be a supermodel!!

thanks for your advice everyone. Will let you know weights and measures when I've been to the health visitor tomorrow.

Cathy x

Hi Greenwitch,

we had pretty well exactly the same problem with our DD - by 6 months she was looking snug and by 7 she was just too big for her 0+ infant carrier (long body - shoulders too broad for space and too high for straps). She's just about 9kg, but would rather keep her rearward facing for as long as we can.

We looked at the Britax and tried it in the car - just be aware that it is a BIG seat to get in rear facing. With our car (Audi A3 Sportback) it just didn't leave enough room either for the front passenger or to winkle DD into the thing.

We got aConcord Ultimax. It's a bit more expensive but more compact and fits much better in our car. If you hunt around you'll find special offers and/or different colour ways as well.

There's also a 0+1 seat by Jane, but I did hear it's not so great rearward facing.

Good luck
ps - I kept trying to put DD on a diet, but for some reason she got upset...

Hiya
Well she weighed in at 7.9kgs today and measures 68cm. She's on the 75th percentile, so hardly a giant. BTW, I met a girl at the health visitor's who's 12 week old boy who weighed almost the same(!!), and we have the same car seat, he's bursting out of it too.

Anyway the health visitor gave me the number of a road safety lady locally who can check out the fit of the carseat and I'm going to ask her for advice about which is the best car seat to get next.

Apparently a huge amount of people haven't got their carseats fitted correctly, so contact your local health visitor!

Cathy xx

Good news about getting the road safety person's number. Our local one (in 2003) recommended the Britax Rock a tot and I would stick by that still. The Graco we had bought (and thankfully returned) was awful, far too upright even when fitted according to the instructions. The council lady was great explaining why it didn't fit etc. I have seen incorrectly fitted seats with my own eyes with friends etc. Scary. DD2 was quite tall (80th centile) and fitted in that until she was 9 kg and moved to the Isofix next stage seat at about 9 months. DD1 was smaller and nearly 12 months before she hit the 9kg. Good Luck. I am afraid to say our council lady slated the M&P seats, but this was 5 years ago.