Trying to predict when dd will outgrow infant seat

[MrsHin2002]

Help! DD is 9 months, weighing 20 lbs 4 oz (82%) and is average legnth/height (don't have that measurement). How can I try to predict when she will outgrow her Graco SafeSeat, which goes to 30 lbs/ 32"?

We're going to need a seat for our sitter's van for mid-Oct and am trying to decide if another Graco base will last us long enough to be worthwhile or if we should move right to another (convertible?) seat for her at the sitter's.

Thanks!

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[IdentityCrisisMama]

My DC is 16 months and the bucket style seat got increasingly more uncomfortable seeming at least in the last 3 months or so, I would say. So, for us it wasn't so much a matter of her technically growing out the seat but more just a comfort issue. I donated the bucket seats this week. Good luck! 

[skycheattraffic]

My DD is fairly average height/weight and outgrew her bucket seat around 12 months (22lb limit). Yours with the higher limit should last to about 18 months or longer if she maintains her growth pattern. Having said that, I don't know if I'd bother getting another base. The sitter can buckle the seat into the car directly with the seatbelt. The base is really for convenience. Each carseat comes with instructions on how to safely buckle it into the car. If you're really hesitant to do that then I would go with the convertible seat since you'll need that in the future anyway. By the time your LO is walking and getting into the toddler frame of mind, you probably will have trouble using the bucket seat anyways. Just my two cents :-)

[ameliabedelia]

I would go with the convertible, since it will last longer and you will need a convertible at some point anyway, so might as well put the money you put towards a base, towards the convertible.   That would be my reasoning, anyway, and at 20 lbs, I would imagine your DD Is really heavy and awkard to carry around in a bucket seat, so there isnt' much point in using it.

I had a Graco SafeSeat with my DS and he was on the small side...I think only 17 or 18 lbs at a year.  I believe we moved him to a convertible around 16 months...not so much because he outgrew it, but because it became uncomfortable and he seemed to like being more upright (rear-facing) in the convertible.
 

[MrsHin2002]

Thanks for the replies! A very good friend (who I trust implicitly) still has her Graco Safeseat and base that she bought new when her son was born a year after my older DS. She's going to dbl check the expiry but I'm guessing it's Dec/14 since ours is Dec/13. This will give us an extra base and seat that can be left in the sitter's van until DD outgrows it. We went shopping at Sears together for travel systems (she then had a m/c and didn't buy right away) so I'm 99% sure that hers is the same 30 lb model. I trust her 100% (knowing the seat hasn't been in an accident). I don't expect we or the sitter will carry DD in the infant seat - just use it as a regular seat that stays in the car.

Since our seat is going to expire next year (and we aren't having any more children) I'd like to use it as long as possible so a new set of seats purchased for DD will have the longest expiry period possible. If she grows like her brother (who is 36 lbs at 5 yrs) she'll be in a 5-pt harness for a long time and the extra time with new seats would be valuable, I'm thinking.

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[marsupial-mom]

Originally Posted by MrsHin2002 

Help! DD is 9 months, weighing 20 lbs 4 oz (82%) and is average legnth/height (don't have that measurement). How can I try to predict when she will outgrow her Graco SafeSeat, which goes to 30 lbs/ 32"?

Assuming her growth has been consistently around the 80-85 percentile, just look at a growth chart and see what age matches up with the 80th percentile at 30 lbs or 32".
http://www.nal.usda.gov/wicworks/Learning_Center/growthcharts/lengthweightgirl.pdf
I took a quick look and it appears you have a few months. She will probably need a new carseat by the time she's 15-18 months old.