Newborn in a convertible car seat?
Have any of you had success with a newborn in either a Sunshine Kids Radian, Graco MyRide 65 or Britax Boulevard? I'm hoping to skip the infant bucket seat all together and just wear him while out and about.
I am expecting a big baby (not because of an ultrasound or anything, just the fact that I was over nine and my boyfriend was over 10. Does that mean anything?).
I plan on also using a stroller. I just plan to wear him for shorter outings when you'd otherwise use the car seat, like the grocery store.
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9 Responses to “Newborn in a convertible car seat?”-
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the average newborn will fit in a myride or skr…both fabulous seats….they will NOT fit in a boulevard, the lowest harness setting is just too high….for example my TALL 5mth old is just now fitting into our boulevard. But if your baby is not due for a while you could wait until the newest britax seats come out in sept and see if the harness slots are lower….it is a possibility…but from what i’ve read the harness height is still going to be at 9inches, too tall for average newborn length.
but out of those that you posted i would vote the skr xtsl…we have one of these also and its nice for rearfacing to 45lbs, it can also be tethered rfing to help prevent rebound which is a huge safety plus….the boulevard can be tethered as well but not the myride
ETA: for safety purposes a child rearfacing must have the straps JUST AT OR BELOW the shoulders…so those posting may not have been following the safety guidelines when they state their child fit.
also courage is a bit off……the new britax seats rearface to 40LBS, NOT 45LBS….and then ff til 70lbs….just wanted to clarify that, the myride rf to 40lbs, ff til 65lbs, skr xtsl rf til 45lbs
you can; however, its hard to wear your baby ALL the time. you’ll want a break from time to time! fyi, my husband was 11lbs, i was 6lbs, and our baby turned out to be right at 8lbs. just take an average!
well baby weight really isnt genetic, i figured ours would be big because my husband was almost 10, but after some research i actually found out that there is not much impact on your childs weight based on yours and the fathers. our daughter weighed 6 11 at birth.
as far as the carseat goes, i hoped to do this also, but even though the seats say 5-whatever pounds, they are usually best used later. my daughter is 4 months old, 13lbs and we just got her the first years premier convertible seat and she barely sits good in it, and i dont think she is gonna sleep well in it.
most suggest after about 6 months for a good "fit". so if i were you i would not get a convertible seat unless you can find a really good support for the inside of it, cause if not it will probably be too big for your child.
but if you do get a seat, combi has a convertible seat that actually fits on a stroller! i wish i woulda seen that before we bought our travel system with infant seat!
I haven’t used either of those car seats, but I completely support the idea of skipping the infant car seat. It’s a waste of money. If your baby does end up being bigger than expected and carrying him all the time gets to be too much then just use a stroller. It’s safer anyways as infant seats are only recommended to be used in the car only. And just because you and your boyfriend were big it doesn’t mean your baby will be big. Genetics have some play in size, but mostly the size of your baby is determined by the amount of food you eat during pregnancy and whether or not that food was healthy. Healthier the food is the better size your baby will be. And when your baby is born. I was nine pounds at birth and my husband was almost nine and our kids were only seven pounds and four pounds.
I have a Graco MyRide and a Britax Decathlon (basically like the Marathon.) We got the Graco Snugride 35 for our newborn though (it’s shaped for their bodies, and I read that was a bit safer, so we decided to use that until he was about 6 months old.) However, I would have had NO problem putting him in the My Ride. It has a newborn cushion. The only issue is laying it back far enough to reach that 45degree angle in my car. We have very small compact cars and I just couldn’t get it to lay back far enough, any of the convertibles. That doesn’t matter as much once they’re over 6-9 months, but at newborn.. it is a problem. The Radian is even taller.
However, then I moved the Graco My-Ride into the middle of the backseat and it fit between the front seats perfectly and would have been fine. Dang it.
I do not use the carrier though, just use it like you’re talking about. We use an Ergo and I take him out, put him in the Ergo, then get my toddler out of her seat (the My-Ride) and put her in a cart and use that for her, while he rides in the Ergo (where he’s so comfy he falls asleep within 10 minutes, or will even poop.) I love it far more than carrying the bucket around with my first.
The bucket was just cumbersome and annoying in the end. My husband has said how much more enjoyable just carrying the baby is, or putting him in the carrier. You get enough breaks not carrying them when they’re at home in the bassinet or something.
Just to point this out, the Britax line is increasing their weight limits. The Britax Boulevard… I found one that rear-faces to 35 and forward to 65 for $169 at Target because they’re releasing a new one that rear-faces to 45 and forward to 70! If you’re expecting a big baby, and can wait until they’ve released it, and have the money for it, then that may be an option. The only one with better weight limits is the Radian (and it’s a bit taller, so if you and your bf are tall people then the Radian may be what you need.)
Add: We got the Ergo carrier. I could put my 25lb toddler in it and walk around shopping without getting a back-ache. Really it’s not hard to carry my 11lb son around in it. I can shop for hours with him in it, it’s just comfy.
Add: For the record, it’s not SAFE to leave a baby sleeping in their car seat. Studies have been shown proving that the baby’s oxygen levels drop while sitting in an inclined position, a position car seats usually have to do. The oxygen levels don’t drop while in a baby chest-carrier (none that I’ve ever read about actually), or while in a fully reclined stroller (there is a slight drop but not as strongly as in the car seat.) That means that leaving the baby to sleep and not disturbing him is dangerous. Using the baby-car-seat on a stroller, in a shopping cart (which is dangerous on so many levels), as a place to put the baby down, as a feeding chair, and the many many other uses people seem to use them is just not safe.
I used a car-seat carrier with my first. It was less convenient, more cumbersome, and after about 10lbs I couldn’t even lug her and the stupid seat around without hurting myself. I began putting her into an Infantino carrier, which was uncomfortable but better than the seat, until she could sit up in the shopping cart. My son? He’s over 11lbs and it’s so easy to put him in the Ergo and do my shopping. It’s nicer than the Infantino, and we’ve never once regretted leaving the car seat in the car and not using it as a carrying device.
We’ve done this in rain and blistering heat so far, and we don’t regret leaving his car seat in the car. Besides being safer, it’s just far more convenient and enjoyable.
Add: Which breaks the back more? A car-seat weighing 20+lbs and the baby having to be carried off to one side so that it’s yanking the back out of alignment… or a fabric carrier weighing less than 7lbs aligning the baby with your back so your center of gravity is not off? The car-seat again with all it’s weight being put into the stroller, or a stroller designed from the get-go for newborns (like the Chicco or Graco Quatro Tour Deluxe) that lays flat and doesn’t have to have a 20+lbs addition for use with a newborn?
Believe it or not the convenience of a bucket seat is wonderful. It cradles them so and you dont even disturb them when you take them in and out of the car. Also, if you are at friends or family….baby has a home base that they are comfy in. You dont have to hold them the entire time, which doesn’t sound so bad now, but it does get your arms tired eventually. Also, it gives them "santuary" in a way…people know baby is napping and leave him/her alone
I originally had your logic and found that baby’s head would flop down and the seat seemed to consume him. It didn’t look safe to me. (although they have weight guidelines, and I am sure it is perfectly safe). I ended up switching about 5 months and he adjusted well…no complaints.
Oh and the weight has nothing to do with parent’s birth weights. Remember we aren’t only made up of our own parents, but their parents and the parents before them and so on. It is a roll of the dice and you never know what you will get. Take it from me…I am 5’11" and my mother is a foot shorter than me.
You are going to get tired of wearing him around, it will break your back literally. I’ve hardly ever used my bjorn pack because of that. Also if he falls asleep in his car seat you are going to have to wake him up to pull him out. I think you will probably end up regretting not using the infant seat instead, but that is just my opinion. Also, it’s hard to put a newborn in a stroller, they don’t fit in the harness so well.
I didn’t use an infant car set with my daughter. She was in a Britax Roundabout from birth, and I carried her in a wrap/sling when out of the car. It worked just fine for us.
Believe it or not the Britax convertible car seats do not fit newborns well. The others should work well for a newborn. I would also recommend you take a look at the Learning Curve True Fit car seat. Granted it only rear faces to 35 pounds, but it fits newborns great.