How long did you use your infant car seat?

[AveryShay]

I am curious about when babies typically outgrow carseats. I am going to be a first time mom in the end of september and am flying out to New York from CA for Christmas.

I had planned on using the car seat on the plane and buying a kolcraft UCSC for the trip. But then I thought maybe she wont fit in the snugride at 3 months.

So before I buy a stroller I might not need I thought I'd check and see how long these snugride carseats typically last.

THANKS!!!!
Shay soon to be mom of baby girl

[CiderLogan]

I'm sure there is LOTS of variation in how long babies can fit in infant seats, but we used ours until DD was about 6 months, and she was fairly large for her age. By the way, we had the Kolcraft UCSC too, and we were really happy with it. (Unfortunately, it broke soon after we stopped using it. Ugh.)

Jenny
Mom of Julia, 8/03

[kijip]

We used our infant seat till Toby was a hair under 4 months. He is 90% for length and was a little chubster. If your baby is average to above average for length you should be good at 3 months for sure. 5-7 months seems to be the typical life of the infant seat.

[HHCs Mom]

We used our SnugRide until DS was 3 1/2 months, but he is off the chart (barely) for height and 75th %ile for weight. He was 7lbs4oz at birth so we didn't know then that he'd be so tall. If you look at both DH and I you could probably *tell* that DS would be tall, but we didn't know he'd outgrow the infant seat so quickly. Guess it's just a gamble! :-)
Kim
~~ Harrison 04/06/04

[anuta]

Esther grew out of hers at about 4 months, but she is 95% for both weight and height... Also girls are smaller, so if you have a big girl she will be able to use the seat longer than a big boy... I think most likely you'll be still able to use the infant seat for your girl at 3 months.

[JElaineB]

DS is on the small side, and we used his SnugRide and a Snap N Go until he was 9 months old.

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[Momof3Labs]

Colin was long but very skinny and outgrew his seat by height at 3.5 months.

[Judegirl]

Riordan is in the 90th %ile for both weight & height, but is long-torsoed, and is just about out of her SnugRide now (just over 3 months) b/c of height. So even a very big girl should be okay at 3 months. (She was 9lbs, 1oz at birth.)

HTH,
Jude

[LucyG]

My DD is small for her age in both height and weight, so we used our Snugride for 10 months. We could have gone longer (she had not exceeded either size requirement), but she was not the most comfortable in it at that stage of the game, so we moved her to the Marathon and Triumph.

[SissyTone]

Annabel is 5 months old tomorrow, and we are transitioning from her Baby Trend & Snap n Go to a Roundabout & Zippy.... she is already 26+ inches.

[OneOfEachHowSweet]

Miss Lilly was too long for her infant seat at 6 months ~ but nowhere near the weight requirement (barely 13 lbs) she's only 18 lbs now at 13 months :) Since then she's been RF'ing in her Britax RA ~ I'd suggest an infant seat that has a higher height restriction ~ I'm hearin' good things about the BabyTrend Adjustable Back Infant seat ~ http://babytrend.com/carseats/6169.htm

Shannon
Mommy of 2

[Rikkele]

DD is 12 wks and 12lbs and 23 inches. She was 7lbs 2oz at birth. Am hoping we get at least 3 more mos of use out of it! :)

[new_mommy25]

We used the Snugride until DS was 8 months. He outgrew by height, not weight. He is 11 months now and finally broke 20 lbs.

[aa2mama]

DS was a fairly chubby baby, but he outgrew his Snugride by height at 6 months.

[vdrake71]

I used my snug ride until my DS was 5 months and my sister-in-law is still using her snug rige at 7 months.

[strollerfreak]

Both of my boys went out of their SnugRides at around 6 months...

Neither had outgrown it by height or weight at that point, but carseat + kid was just getting to be too much to carry around.

My ds#2 could have EASILY used the SnugRide still at 11 months old, and I considered it when I flew with him by myself, but just didn't feel comfortable doing so because he WAS very close to outgrowing it height wise at that point.

[murphydog77]

My ds outgrew his Century infant seat (to 22 lbs. and 29") when he was about 4.5 mo. old. He was and still is in 100%+ for weight, though he's probably dropped into the high 90s for height now at age 4.5 yrs.

My dd outgrew the same Century infant seat at 5 mo. old and she was in the mid-90% at the time. Now at age 2, she's dropped to 75% for both height and weight.

Heather, CPS Tech
http://www.carseatsite.com

[tinkerbell1217]

My DD used hers til about 5 months, then we went to a convertable. DS used his til almost 4 months, but he was a big baby at birth (10 pounds 2 ounces). Travel system type strollers didn't come out til my kids were about 3 so I haven't had the chance to use them. With this baby we will be using an Aprica stroller with carriage features like full recline and reversable handle. I want to keep the car seat for the car only. It is different for everybody though. I just don't really like the travel systems or UCSC/SNG types either. Some moms swear by them. It's just not for me.

[DagnyT]

We had a Century SmartFit Plus- the plus was rated for up to 22 pounds. DS1 stayed in until he was 14 months old, DS2 was out of it at 6 months. Weight at birth seems to be no indication- at least not in our case, the boys weighed within one ounce of one another and were the same height! IMO chances are better than not that yur baby will, at 3 months, be able to be in the snugide.

Good luck!

MIM
Prescott 8/15/01
Lyman 7/28/03

[sdjeppa]

I used my Graco Snugride for about 4.5 months - DS would have fit a month or so longer, but he was getting really heavy, and was right at the limit. He was 6 weeks premature, so only 5lbs, 3oz at birth (he caught up fast, lol).

[amp]

My son was HUGE when he was born and he outgrew the Snugride at about 3.5-4 mths of age. He was right at the weight and height limit. It was a very convenient seat until that time and we loved it!

[puppymom]

Our DS stayed in his until he grew to 26", the limit for that seat (Graco). He was about 6 1/2 months.

[iriebride]

Is my DS the only one that rode in his SnugRide until 11 mos? He's a shrimp. He was only 5 lbs 9 oz, 19" at birth and right now he's 20lbs, 29" at 13 1/2 mos! We have the Combi Ultra Savvy Perfect Match stroller...love it for traveling b/c it's so light! The SnugRide snapped on perfectly. We love how it folds in half twice and has a carrying strap.

Good luck!
Joyce
Zerick 7.3.03

[lfp2n]

We used ours til DD was 9 months, I think technically she still fitted it then, but she didn't look very comfy so we switched her to the Marathon.

Lucy DD 3/03

[stillplayswithbarbies]

Logan would have fit in her infant seat until she was well over a year old. (we had a Fisher Price Stay in View which has higher weight/height limits)

But we moved her to a Roundabout and Marathon when she was 7 weeks old because it was much more comfortable for her. And actually we found it to be easier than lugging that infant carseat around all the time.

We did use the infant seat for airline travel since it is easier to install and transport.

...Karen
DS Jake Feb 91, DD Logan Mar 03
http://members.aol.com/khowe14494/superpower.gif http://members.aol.com/khowe14494/borntobebreastfed2.gif