My DD went into the maxi at around 1 year of age. I recently purchased a new car seat for DD2 to go into when we eventually have no 3. The car seat is a infa secure and a damned lot cheaper than maxi (around $200 vs $400) and thanks to things changing in the past few years safety things etc the infa secure has a higher safety rating than the maxi nowadays. Sales person told me she could go into it any time from then (she was 11 months). I have kept her in the baby seat (lazy).

However, car seat has been turned around since she was 6mths. The turning of the car seat is weight based AND the child needs to have good head control, be sitting up well etc.

Hope this helps!!