Britax Rock-A-Tot

I was very impressed with this car seat. Its lightweight but very study with plenty of padding in the right places both side and back. Its easy to fit and can be used front or seats depending on whether you have an air bag. The seat belts are adjustable.

My faith in the product was proved right as we had a car accident and our little one slept through it completely unharmed and safe in her seat. I replaced the chair after the accident and I have purchased another Britax.

NB. The Britax Rock-a-tot was replaced by the Britax Cosytot which has now been re-named: Britax Babysafe, the Babysafe Plus, which works in conjunction with the Isofix base and the Babysafe Plus SHR which is also compatible (without extra fittings) with most Britax pushchairs.

Easy to use and fit, sturdy and nicely padded for baby this is a really nice carseat. I had one for my 2 elder children and just bought one for my newest addition too. The handle can be tricky to move if you don't press it down right but it holds the seat very stable in the car. It can be strapped in 2 different ways too which is useful if you are ever in a car with a short seatbelt.

The best for babies up to around seven months, any older or bigger and the baby will fill it entirely, but it was a godsend to us especially when visiting relatives as our son adored being rocked to sleep in it. Its also a lot lighter which was perfect for me as I had a c-section. It is worth having one of these as a second car seat for using in relatives cars and keeping in the house for feeding times and sleeping. Only flaw is that on the version we have, which is quite old, when you adjust the handle it does make quite a loud noise and jolts the baby which is not what you need if baby is fast asleep!! VERY easy to install in the car.

The car seat itself is installed in the car using the cars own seatbelt (the ones with the shoulder and lap belt). The car seat is very simple to install, and its very easy to remember how to belt the seat into the car as the carseat has slots through which the seatbelt should be fitted.

The disadvantage of this car seat is that if the seat belt is even a little twisted, through hasty installation, you may (like I did); turn to find the car seat pitched forward complete with your baby murmuring to herself in complete darkness. However the car seat does have a very secure three point harness. Before buying I would advise that one tries belting it in the car first, as some seat belt come up just a little tight; e.g. The Britax fitted fine in our old Vauxhall Corsa, however its a tight fit in our new Golf, as although the car itself is bigger, the seatbelts for some reason are shorter in length in the Golf, and longer in the Corsa!

Whilst the car seat user life is dependant upon the babys weight, I found my daughters legs grew longer than the bottom of the seat before she passed the weight range. The Britax website does advise that the car seat should be changed if the babys head clears the top of the car seat, so if you can handle the baby madly kicking a hole in the back seat whilst you drive, this particular car seat is value for money.

A major plus point of the Britax Rock a Tot is that, (yes) its base enables one to rock the seat. On the same point, this also facilitates over enthusiastic toddlers to try and rock the baby to sleep, depending on the toddlers enthusiasm, and the babies mood, one would not advise leaving the car seat with baby strapped into it with a toddler in close proximity whilst one finds the car keys.

The only grumble I have about this car seat is that carrying it is so awkward. Although the seat on its own is very light, with a baby in it (even a light one), as the weight is concentrated on one point, it creates a tremendous amount of pressure on your arm, it is therefore not at all easy to carry comfortably for long distances. If the baby is to be transported in the seat for a long time but not in the car, investing in the complementing Britax chassis would make life a lot easier. On the other hand I may just have really weak arms.

All in all, the seat itself is nicely padded, handily the seat cover can be removed and washed, and it also has a comfy little headrest. The Britax rock a tot could be considered pretty good value for money.