Car Seat for 9 Month Old

Updated on April 08, 2009
S.S. asks from Tacoma, WA
18 answers

My daughter will be 9 months tomorrow and she is getting way to big for her car seat. I really want to get her a big girl seat and not really sure what appropriate age is to change to a big girl seat. I know it's still supposed to be rear facing but not sure if she's to young for one. If anyone has a specific brand or anything that they feel is better than others that will be way helpful too. Thank you everyone.

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J.T.

answers from Portland on

I have a Britax Marathon and I love it! My step-sister originally let me use hers, and when it expired, we bought a new one. They are more expensive, but they last a lot longer in my opinion specifically because of ease of cleaning and use! My neighbor buys a less expensive brand, and when they get dirty, she buys a new one. I think she has already spent more on 3 car seats than my 1 Britax Marathon. I would recommend a replacement cover in case of "baby accidents". With the Britax Marathon, you can start with rear-facing and then switch to forward facing when ready.

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J.B.

answers from Seattle on

I switched my daughter to a convertible carseat at 6 months because she was hopelessly too big for her infant seat. Her new seat (I think we got an Infinity -- effective and cost effective) has a setting for infants that will tip back and act just like an infant seat, but it will also function as a child seat and a boosterseat up to 60 lbs. She loves it, especially now that she can face forward.

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K.J.

answers from Portland on

The min is 1 yr and 20lbs to go forward facing...I think. However the AAP has changed their recommendation to 2 years and 30lbs or so. My triplets will be 9 mo on the 12th and they are all over 20lbs. We just switched from the Graco Safeseat infants seats to the Recaro Como's. They are 5pt harness rear facing to 35lbs and forward facing to 70lbs.
They are a good seat with extra safety features that we really like.
http://www.albeebaby.com/recaro-como-convertible-car-seat...
On sale here for $120 down from $250!

1 mom found this helpful
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M.L.

answers from Seattle on

We switched our daughter into a Britax Boulevard at 16 months. My daughter was 32 inches and about 22 pounds at the time which was the height limit on her baby bucket. At 21 months and about 23 pounds, she is still rear facing and happy as a clam about it. I'm not sure where you're located, but a great resource is http://www.carsafekids.org/. They will tell you that they aren't allowed to recommend specific seats or brands, but when pushed a little, they'll tell you that Britax is the gold standard for safety. They are a more expensive brand, but the way I look at it is that I would rather spend a little extra on a safe car seat now than wish I had later. We got ours from http://www.albeebaby.com/ and it's great. They also have some Britax on sale right now. We decided on the Boulevard because it has extra head supports in a sideways collision and because it has high weight and height limits. If I can be any more help, please e-mail me!

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W.C.

answers from Seattle on

Go by weight and height. I think that the auto safety commission has guidelines.

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J.S.

answers from Seattle on

You can move babies out of infant seats when they're 22 or 26 lbs for most seats - check yours. Also, her feet can hang over, but her head should not be above the seat when she is properly seated.

You can move her to a convertible seat when she's ready, but try to keep her rear facing just as long as possible. Many people view forward facing as a big milestone they can't wait to get their kids to, but in even a "slow" 30 mph accident a two year old can be internally decapitated when forward facing, making them paralyzed. Not trying to scare you, just trying to get the word out that rear facing is much safer!

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J.L.

answers from Corvallis on

There are alot of car seats that you can get that you can also use as rear facing. make sure you read the info on the seats to find th right one for you. Nine months is to early to switch around.

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M.G.

answers from Seattle on

You said she is too big for her current seat I assume you mean she has an infant carrier car seat? If that's the case then just switch her to a new rear facing seat. It is illegal and extremely unsafe to turn her forward facing now. There are several convertible seats that are worth their price tag. Britax and Graco are two great brands.

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L.G.

answers from Anchorage on

I hear a lot of children don't fit in infant seats, but my baby was a big baby and I left him in his graco snugride until he was a year, I DID NOT pack the seat around, so when he turned 1, I just moved him to a seat that was forward facing only from 20# up and converts to a booster, that way I only had to buy 2 seats instead of 3 or 4. He was not over the weight and height restrictions on the infant seat, since it went up to 29 inches and 22 lbs.

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H.G.

answers from Portland on

Britax has the best safety rating. I would get the Britax Regent if she is 22 pounds or more, it will fit her comfortably for a very long time. My 7 year old daughter who is very skinny & light (55 pounds) is still in hers.

Segals for Children (in Beaverton) is a great resource. You can go in, ask them all your questions and they will help you for free. I fit my daughter in her seat there & found it cheaper on the internet & bought it at http://www.albeebaby.com.

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B.H.

answers from Seattle on

Well shes probally ready for a convertable carseat, so she can still rear face until a shes one or older.

i got a Britax Marathan, which my son can be in until 65 lbs, so that way i wont need to buy a carseat for a very long time.

For my older son, i just bought a cosco 5 pt harness convertable which worked great for a while, but he was bigger and outgrew it, so then i had to buy a booster.

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J.M.

answers from Portland on

This is a HUGE undertaking! I had no idea what shopping for a carseat would be like. There are about 5,000 choices in all price ranges. I shopped for weeks comparing prices, features and reviews. I finally settled on one and headed to Babies R Us. I asked one of the gals working there what she thought of the one I had selected. This store is a bit more expense on some items but they have excellent advice from "been there, done that" moms! She steered me to one I hadn't seen before that was exactly what we needed. It's a GRACO Nautilus™ 3-in-1 Car Seat. It's about $179.99 but I've seen it on sale here and there for $149.99. If you get those Babies R Us mailings the coupons help a ton. This car seat goes from start to finish. Although, I use mine facing forward in the middle of the back seat. My son is almost 10 months old and 24lbs. Getting him in and out of one of these seats facing backwards would be near impossible! I have a newer Jeep Grand Cherokee and it works great facing forward. It's secure and it even came with the strap covers for the sides of his neck. I almost bought those seperately. We also bought one of the $52.99 car seats at Target for daddys truck cause Dylan doesn't ride with him very much. It's horrible! Don't go too cheap. You'll end up sorry and baby won't be to thrilled either! Hopefully my weeks of searching for the perfect car seat helps you. Good luck!

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S.C.

answers from Seattle on

You can get a convertible car seat. They can face backwards for babies under 1 year and then you can turn it forward facing for older babies/toddlers. We have a britax marathon and love it. They're a little expensive, but well worth the money. We're on baby #5 and have always gone this route.

HTH!

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R.S.

answers from Seattle on

My son was 6 months old and 20lbs. So we had to get him out of the infant car seat. We bought the Eddie Bauer car seat that can be used rear facing and forward facing, also it can be used as a booster up to 80 or 100lbs. We liked it so much, we got another for our daughter when she outgrew the infant seat.

As long as she is rear facing until at least a year old, she is not too young for a new seat.

In my car seat shopping experiences,it is important to remember that the seats would not be able to be on the market if they were not safe. So it is a matter of your personal taste, size of the vehicle, and price range.

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F.M.

answers from Portland on

I am not sure where you live, but Segals for Children (in Beaverton) is a great resource for me. You can go in and ask them all your questions and they can help you for no charge. They will even try your child out in different car seats to see what would be the best for your situation and will install the seat for you. We did not buy our first seat there, but they installed it for us for free and showed us how to do it. We did buy our next two seats there, though, because they were so great and helped us tremendously. Our daughter was a preemie so they helped us make some accommodations for fitting her into her first seat. I can't say enough about them and, no, I don't work for them or anything. :)

By the way, we did buy the Britax Marathon from them and used it for both rear and forward facing. My daughter could qualify for the booster seat since she just now turned 40 lbs, but the Marathon lasts until 65 lbs and is so much safer than the booster. The Britax is expensive, but I am getting a lot of mileage out of it and it is soooo easy to install compared to all the others.

Best of luck to you and your little angel!

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A.M.

answers from Seattle on

Check out car-seat.org. There are carseat techs and others who can help you and you will learn so much!

We switched DD to Britax Marathons when she was 6 months old (rearfacing of course). She was able to rearface until 3 1/2 years old.

There are more reasonable options available that may fit your needs.

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A.B.

answers from Anchorage on

convertable carseats can be rear facing. and once she hits a year old you can turn her around. i have a 5 year old and 18 month old. igot the evenflo triumph for boht. it is abit big and there are less bulky and less expensive seats. check out walmart.com and in the baby gear section under carseats, just look for the convertable carseat option. hers the link. there arelots of great carseats on there. i suggest reading the reviews to see if anyone else had problems or things that didnt really like.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=91368&...

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S.S.

answers from Seattle on

Switching car seats has to do with weight more than age. My son outgrew his infant carrier seat at six months because it only went up to 20 lbs. so we switched to a convertible car seat and kept him rear facing for as long as we could, turning him around at about 16 months or so when his legs were too long to be rear facing any longer. Our current seat should take him until he's about five years old (can't remember the weight restriction, but it's much higher).

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