question for a friend

is it safe to put a newborn baby in a rear facing convertable? he and his girlfriend registered for a graco snugride and received a alpha omega 3 in 1 b/c his mother thought the infant seat was just a waste of money. he's concerned... he wants to know if those types of seats are meant to hold such teeny tiny babies!

Some convertibles are better suited to little babies than others. I have absolutely no experience with newborns in the AO. Sorry!!

I will go check the measurements and will get back to you immediately.

Is it the regular AO/3-in-1 or the Elite version? I ask because the Elite version has much taller bottom slots, for some reason.

In general convertibles don't fit many newborns well from birth, but there are some exceptions. Some seats have very low bottom slots (Cosco Scenera) and fit a newborn well, some newborns are just long-torsoed and fit better in convertibles.

The reason a baby's shoulders are supposed to be at-or-above the slots when rear-facing is so, in a crash, baby does not "ramp up" the seat too much, possibly exposing the head and possibly coming out of the harness. If a convertible seat has very high bottom slots that are very far above baby's shoulders, baby will move more in a crash.

However, if the lowest set of slots aren't TOO high above baby's shoulders (say, an inch or less), it should be fine.

If the seat is too wide to fit baby comfortably you can use rolled up receiving blankets on each side of baby. NEVER behind baby or under harness straps. Never use aftermarket accessories like head supports, either--nothing that did not come with the seat that could interfere with straps or the performance of the seat in a crash.

I used an older AOE for my baby as an extra seat and he fit fine in it. I've never measure the slots on an AOE and an AO so I don't know the difference. I guess it would depend on how tall the baby is and where their height is. I myself would be worried if they're saying the infant seat is a waste what are the chances that they would use the seat a bpb before the child is ready? Not saying they would, but alot of people do it because they figure they spent all the money on an AOE, they're not going to buy another harnessing seat.

its the elite version. it says 5-either 80 or 100lbs, i can't remember. he is just worried b/c he doesn't know if its going to be a wise choice for their baby. he is an average (about 5'11") and skinny, and his girlfriend isn't much shorter than he is. i told him if he is really concerned about it to just purchase an infant seat! he says he doesn't want to hurt his moms feelings by not using the seat he got. (if it were me, i would have taken it back and got an infant seat, its still sealed shut in the box!)

The Elite version has higher bottom slots, so it may not fit a newborn well. I would get an inexpensive infant seat just in case. Do they have someone they can borrow one from for a few months?

One thing they need to know about the 3-in-1s is that they have very low top slots. Kids get too tall (shoulders over top slots) for these seats before reaching the harnessed weight limit of 40 pounds. So parents are either forced to put a too-young, too-small child into booster mode, or to buy another harnessed seat with taller top slots.

So many people get tricked into thinking this is the only seat they'll need, and it simply is not true.

It's a great seat for extended rear-facing, kids can rear-face in it until 35 pounds.

Please make sure they are aware of this seat's limitations.

The harness height is changed by raising or lowering the headrest. The very top headrest position cannot be used with the harness, it is only to raise the headrest higher in booster mode. It's so easy to miss this and lots of parents misuse the seat by using the harness in the top headrest setting. The seat could fail like that.

From what I found, the Elite has bottom slots around 10.5". That is too high for a newborn.