Help! Ds 5 month ds is too long for his baby car seat but too young for the next one up?

[cityangel]

Has anyone else been in this position? Found a car seat that is in between the 5 month 9 month stage for a tall baby.

Ds is 96th percentile height wise to his feet are touching the seatback in his cabrio fix and the body distance from crotch to shoulder is too high on the highest setting.

He doesn't meet the weight or age criteria for the next seat up but in a couple of weeks won't fit in the baby seat

Any ideas?

As long as his head is not sticking out over the back of the seat he is fine - I spoke to maxicosi about the strap height and they told me it was fine. don't worry about his legs touching the seat, he will need to bend them! you could get a rear facing seat that does newborn - 4 but you need to keep him rear facing as his neck is not strong enough to face forwards yet, if you had an accident it could cause him to break his neck - as we were told 'what would you rather broken legs or a broken neck?' - if you ahve a look on youtube at the crash tests for the forward and rear facing seats you will see what I mean.

We have had a similar problem with our almost 8 month old, but she now has her legs bent and is ok, I will be keeping her in her cabrio unitl she reaches top of weight limit or head goes over the back, just as it is so much safer - alot of europe keep them rear facing until 4!

As i said if you are really worried get a birht - 4 seat so you can keep him facing the back!

hi cityangel i wouldn't worry about it if it's only his feet. ds was on the 99.6th centile for his height at 5 months but has only just came out of his cabrio at 9 months as his head was reaching the top! he has just gone into the britax 2 way elite and i plan to keep him rear facing until he reaches 25kgs if possible as i really do believe that this is the safest for him. it does look a little uncomfortable for them but ds used to cross his legs and had he not been getting another rf car seat i would have left him in it for a bit longer as i still think he's too tiny for ff.

i can recommend the in car safety centre in belfast or milton keynes depending on where you are if you are interested in another rf seat. simon was very helpful when we got our seat of him.

hth you a little

Hi you can get car seats that go from 0-4 years and they can usually stay rear-facing up to 18 months.

I cant do links but the ones I've been looking at are:

The concord ultimax £135 from kiddicare
The britax first class si is also there for about the same price.

thanks for all the advice I will go and have a look at the different brands advised.

You're right bending his knees up is preferable to broken neck and his head is nowhere near the top of the seat. Mainly because the shoulder straps are low.

I haven't had him weighed for a month, but he is on the 9th percentile weight wise around 14lb and he can hold his head up a bit but not when tired and tends to sleep in the car seat with his neck floppy.

The real issue making him uncomfortable is the crotch to shoulder length is so tight its squishing him up.

He only goes in the car once a week if that but now and again we do a longer drive.

I spoke to Maxi Cosi and they said just lengthen the straps and that is was fine that they went down behind their shoulders. My DD is coming up to 20lb and is 7 1/2 months and will be in her cabrio for at leasth another 2 months (she isnt that tall!) - Maxi Cosi told me that ideally they should be able to pull themselves to standing before going forward facing, they said at the very least she should be able to sit unaided for 20minutes!

ca as long as his head isn't coming over the top of the seat it is fine. My ds was big and long but rather a bit cramped than unsafe.