Hello everyone! I have a 5 month old son weighs 14lbs 26 in long. When I see him in his infant car seat I feel like he is getting way to big and see him getting uncomfortable. I feel like I should remove padding? Are you suppose to remove padding as your child grows?If so how do you know when to do so? I looked on instructor manual and its answer is vary vague. I have Peg Perego Viggio Infant Car seat. Please help!
You should stop by your local fire department and ask rhe fire-men to look at your car seat with your son in it- they will know what is safe and if it is installed correctly- at 14 lbs he should be ok without the infant padding, it will give him more room and freedom. But drop by the fire department anyway- they are super helpful and very knowledgeable on car seat safety!
Padding serves any of 3 purposes: 1-impact protection, 2-snug fit, and 3-comfort.
1) If it is removable, then it is not required to meet the impact protection legal standards and is fine without.
2) For small babies, the padding is necessary to get the baby fitted snuggly in. If he can be fitted snug without it, then you don't need it for this purpose either (but you can keep it in if you like).
3) Some people leave the padding in just to give the baby extra soft comfort. Some of the head pillows I've seen look uncomfortable (push the head too far fwd) and are not necessary.
I kept my babies in the infant carrier until they hit the weight limit b/c it was SO convenient for me with the base in the car (they never reached the height limit). But if your son looks big, look at the distance between the top of his head and the top of the carseat--if there is at least 1" of seat above his head, then he still fits. Legs do not have to be "inside" the seat. If you choose to move him to a convertible seat, the same guidelines for the removable padding apply.
My suggestion would be to transfer him to a convertible car seat at this point. The padding in any car seat is to protect the child from injury if there were ever to be an accident. I transferred both of my kiddos at about 5-6 months bescause they were getting cramped.
ONe of the main reasons the padding is there is to help keep a newborn's head from flopping around. At 5 months, I'm sure this is no longer a concern. At 14 pounds I would definately remove the pads. I'm sure he's strting to feel quite squished. Good luck.
