Outgrowing baby car seat insert too soon

[PacificMar]

We have a Maxi-Cosi Pria Air 70 convertible car seat with a Tiny Fit insert recommended for infants up to 18-22 pounds. Our daughter will be 12 weeks this Thursday and is just over 13 pounds, but we have the seatbelt for the five-point harness extended to its full length and it will soon be too tight. We moved it to the higher/larger position a while back.

Are there seatbelt extenders that would allow us to keep using the insert until she reaches the recommended weight, or is this a "soft" guideline...and should we therefore take the insert out when she outgrows it regardless of her weight? If so, is it safe to pad the larger car seat so she's not swimming around in there, or can we purchase a larger insert?

Thanks!

[chel]

Not sure of the seat in question, but some have loops behind the seat where you can adjust the straps length. At the point where the two shoulder straps meet with a metal connectors that connects to a single strap that comes to the front that you grab to adjust the harness.

[brigala]

There's something not right... an adjustment you're missing or something. Have you checked the manual? 

A 13 lb baby likely won't fit in the Pria without the Tiny Fit insert in it. Baby's shoulders need to be tall enough to be even with (or above) the lowest harness position. For most babies that will be at around 20 lbs or so. 

If you can't find the answer in the manual, I would suggest you call the company.

[TiredX2]

Maybe you could post a picture and we could help figure out what is going "wrong"?

[PacificMar]

Thanks so much for responding! We had a second, thorough look at the manual, and it gave a weight and/or height requirement. While Luthien doesn't meet the weight, her shoulders were above the specified area on the carseat. We tested her in the seat without the insert in our living room, where she couldn't get into an accident, and she does fit into the larger seat. I guess she's just a tall baby! Just to be sure, we also tried every way we could to loosen the straps further in the baby insert, and that was as long as they got. They were starting to gouge into her thighs, which I'm sure wasn't the manufacturer's idea of an appropriately snug fit.

[inkandpaper]

I have the same car seat, and my dd outgrew the tinyfit insert before the recommended weight.  Straps weren't an issue, it was that her head came to the top of the insert.  I was a little confused by the manual, which had two different standards for when to take out the insert.  One was by weight (I think 22 lbs max, but it also said the seat without the insert was for 18 lbs min), and it also said to take out the insert when the baby's head reached the top.  My dd outgrew it by height before she reached the minimum weight for the seat without the insert.  I went ahead and took it out and just made sure the straps were properly adjusted.  It looked like it fit her correctly without the insert, and I wasn't totally sure that it wasn't ok (like I said, the manual was a little confusing).  Anyway, that's my story :)

[PacificMar]

That's exactly what happened to Luthien. Thanks for the reassurance, Inkandpaper! She's our first baby and we've never used a car seat before, so our first thought was that we were goofily missing something--and that's not what we wanted to do with such a crucial safety item! (Abd I second your observation about the manual being confusing...)