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I wish I had used a convertible from the beginning. The car seat was heavy to tote around, and she outgrew it in 5 months so it was a waste of money. Besides, I think it's better for babies to be held anyway.
I usually took her out of the seat anyway and put her in the ktan. It didn't disrupt her sleep - she would slightly stir and then go right back to sleep.

Next time I'll use a Combi Cocorro from the beginning along with a few baby carriers and no stroller. I'm a huge fan of that car seat, I recommend it to all my friends. It's so lightweight and easy to install, and cushy and comfortable looking.

My advice for my best friend (which she took and is happy with now) was to get a Combi Cocorro, a baby K'tan or moby, and an infantino mei tai. Affordable and easy.
If I were to get a stroller, I'd wait a couple of months (it's so good for them to be close and in arms for those first few months) and then get a City Mini.

1) Which convertible car seat did you choose? Graco Myride. We love it.
2) Which stroller(s) and components did you choose? It's a Chicco...I don't know which model it's called. It reclines all the way back and is very lightweight.
3) How did carry your baby around when not in car or stroller? I wear him or carry him.
4) Did you find moving baby out of convertible car seat into stroller cumbersome and disruptive to baby's sleep? He's rarely asleep when I do it. If he is asleep, he falls right back to sleep once he's settled in his stroller.

@Dandelion: Yeah, I was just specifying that you would need a stroller with a feature like that, since it's not something they all can do.

@wonderstruck: @Mrs. Lemon-Lime: yep...plus, they get HEAVY!

Reviving this thread because we're in the process of registering and strongly considering skipping the infant seat... Anyone else do this? Or wish you had?

I'm thinking of going with the Graco Size4Me 65 from the beginning. We already have a Britax B-Ready and I'm considering getting the bassinet that goes with it as another "baby holder" and for stroller walks once the Midwest winter is over.

Question for those who went straight to a convertible. What do they do when you leave the hospital? It is standard procedure here that you can't get discharged until baby is checked and assessed in infant seat. Do they just do that in the parking lot?? We have the infant seat but also were gifted the stage 2 convertible. Due first week of November and love in canada so infant seat and winter sounds like a good idea to me!.

I guess it might be different in places where walking and public transit are common. I live in a very wintery, car friendly city.

@MrsScottish: My guess is they follow you out to your car. I suppose we'll find out!

Jut throwing this out there- we used our infant seat until LO was over 11 months old! She is sort of small but not tiny and se fit in it until about a year, but once we bought the convertible seat we just installed it since we had nowhere to store it. Even once she got really heavy in the seat, it was still so nice to be able to move her into the house without taking her out of the seat- and I carried her up two flights of stairs to my condo. And I was adamant about having a bassinet for our stroller since we rarely drive and it's better to lay flat- she hated it. The only way she would fall asleep in the stroller was in the infant seat.

So I'm not saying it doesn't work great for some people to not have the infant seat, but I am just saying sometimes it's worth it to make your life so so much easier.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: we are average size adults. Not sure about dh as a baby, but big babies run in my family, and c was actually over 8 lbs at birth. I was surprised when she wasn't outgrowing all her clothes as fast as my nephews did. She's about 50 percentile for weight for girls, a little under that for height.

So yeah, I guess I did expect her to be a little bigger and outgrow the seat sooner, but we have a lot of baby friends who were in it until at least ten months. Most used it more like a convertible and left it in the base in the car most of the time after 7 months or so.

We have the combi cocorro and love it. And weRe still using out bassinet option on the city jogger. And then if were at a store and need to have cart space we just use a cart. We get by!!

@Trailmix: With our LO he has always had a long torso so he reached the top of the seat at around 8 months. By 7 months he was extremely cramped in the seat around his shoulders. He has always been on and above the 97% curve for height though.

@PawPrints: What you want to keep in mind is that you get a convertible seat that has a very flat (sleeping) position since otherwise LO's little head will always fall forward and that can constrict their airways. This is a problem you usually don't have with infant seats.

@anonysquire: Great to know you love the Cocorro!

we started with a convertible carseat from the start. at our hospital we just told them it was in the car & signed paperwork saying we had the carseat stating we knew it was mandatory. i was wheeled out to the car by transport & no one checked at that point either... we have a britax & bought the britax infant insert (approved with their carseats) to use with until our LO had better neck/head control.

i know I'm in the minority but we totally do not miss not having an infant carseat and have had no problems taking our LO in/out of the car even while sleeping (our LO is pretty easy going though...). and we used a k'tan until about 8 weeks old then switched to a boba 4g SCC (comes with a infant insert setup!) when we wanted to be out and not use our stroller.

I don't know if this helps, but this was my experience. My oldest was able to use his infant car seat until just past his first birthday. But my youngest was starting to outgrow it around 10 months or so with height (head sticking above the seat) but was still at the weight limit. I was a big fan of using an infant car seat because waking a sleeping infant was brutal for us. They almost never went back to sleep and baby wearing wasn't an option for me b/c of my back and hip problems so as they got heavier it was so hard to carry them. I used a infant car seat stroller frame which was lightweight and compact until they outgrew the car seat. I didn't really use a stroller until after they turned one, really. I liked that when they fell asleep in the car seat I could just bring them into the house and let them finish their naps there, supervised, of course b/c of airway constriction. As for convertible, we went to Diono Radian RXT convertible car seats after and now never have to buy another car seat again since they go up to 120 lbs (5-45 rear-facing, 20-80 lbs 5-point harness, 50-120 lbs booster mode with a seat belt). I'm still comfortably rear-facing my 35 lbs 2.5-year-old.

You'll want to check with your hospital to see if they require that you show them the infant car seat when you leave the hospital b/c our hospital wouldn't let us leave unless we carried our babies out of the hospital in one.