I don't know whether I am coming or going (forwards or backwards)

[SuzysZoo]

I am looking for a next stage car seat and I have seen lots of information on rear-facing seats. I feel pretty well informed. They seem safer. However, I have also to weigh the practicalities of everyday life (other children etc). Sure, the safest thing for me to do would be to go and live in Sweden (fewer crashes) and buy a Volvo, but, living in the real world, I am finding the choices tricky. I have twins so if I go for two rear facing seats one older child will have to sit in the front of the car (even if I am not transporting one of the babies). Or should I just get two Kiddy seats I should swap around? Research seems to show that these rear facings seats are safer but research also shows that white cars are safer, and it would probably be safer for all passengers to travel in the rear, but adults of course tend to sit in the front even if the rear seats are unoccupied......Help. Obviously I am not going to swap my car to white and start insisting my adult passengers all start sitting in the back. My head hurts with all the decisions/choices!! Any ideas? If you had four children would you put in two rear facing seats and make one older child always have to sit in the front or would you get seats you could easily swap around so you could mix and match the seats to get as many children in the back as you could (depending on who you were transporting)?
PS - I know you CAN move the rear-facing seats but I am talking a 1 min change around needed when we are all late for school!!

[castleonthehill]

The kiddy seats look good and fit up to twelve but not sure how easy they are to get a screaming toddler into. try the twins in them as they may not look safe or comfy in them and they don't recline very far

[thisisyesterday]

i would use rear-facing, no question about it

your babies are the most vulnerable passengers. you can't compare them to adults, so making adults sit in the back is irrelevant.

I have 2 rear-facing seats side by side in the back of my car and a highback booster behind the driver

your other option is to have one of the rear-facing seats in the front of the car as long as you have no airbag, or it has been disabled

[SuzysZoo]

Hi everyone and thanks for your replies. I have a 7 seater car and four children. Two are in high back boosters and two in 0-13 kg seats at the moment but I need to buy the next stage. If two adults travel, oldest child has to go right at the back of the car. If it is just me and four children, I sit oldest child in the front as I have been told that this is safer than the furthest rear seats of my 7 seater. If it is just me and three children, they all sit across the seat behind driver/passenger. If it is just me and 2 children, they sit in the row behind the driver in the middle and behind the passenger (as I have been told the middle of the rear seat is safest, followed by seat behind passenger). If it is just me and one child, they sit in the middle of the rear seat in high back booster or portable baby seat.
My problem is that the next stage car seats are not so swapable. If I have two rear facing seats my oldest child will have to sit in the front even on journeys when my babies are not with me (cos in reality I won't be moving the rear facing seats around. So, these are my options.

1. Buy easy to move forward facing seats (eg Kiddy) and put whichever kids I am transporting in the safest seats (middle rear and behind passenger rear then behind driver, then front - in that order).
2. Buy two rear facing seats and put them on the first row behind driver. However this means oldest child will have to sit in the front, even if I am not transporting the two babies.
3. Buy one rear facing seat and stick it behind the driver, then I can swap round the two high back boosters and one Kiddy as appropriate, maximising the safest positions in the car.
4. Put one rear facing seat in the front seat and one behind the driver, leaving the middle rear and middle behind passenger for the older two in their high back boosters. But this means a baby always has to travel in the front, even if i am not transporting the older two....

Any suggestions?.....

[thisisyesterday]

i think you need to think not just about the safest positions within the car, but also about who is most at risk if there were an accident

your babies are the most vulnerable. and as such need to be in the safest seats in the safest positions

it's all well and good being able to swap seats around and making sure your eldest sometimes sits in the middle row... but if that means that one of your youngest isn't in the safest possible seat then I am not sure how it makes any difference

do you see what I mean? for example I would suggest that a rear-facing group one seat in a side seat or rear=most seat is STILL safer than a forward facing seat in the middle of the middle row

I still stick by my original post. I would have the twins rear-facing in the safest positions in the car. then I would put the 2 eldest wherever is safest for them depending on who else is in the car

there is no reason why an extra adult shouldn't sit in the rear-most seat either is there?

if you do decide to do rear-facing I can highly recommend the britax 2-way elite as it's very light and actually really easy to fit and move about. obviously not as east as the kiddy seats or a highback booster tho.
do you have isofix?

[castleonthehill]

I have not heard that about the back row on a seven seater. It might be that often the high back don't go in properly. Seat belts are often two far forward. The safest seat may also depend on what type of driving you do. Around two I would expect that the middle and then the seat on the passenger side of the car.

But swapping seats around all the time is increasing the chance of fitting them in wrong. You have to buy the seats that are best for each of you children and not what is easiest for you.

I would either bit babies in fixed seat in the tired row or fix in the second row.

Not strapped in seats are very dangerous.

[thisisyesterday]

castleonthehill, most 7 seaters recommend not putting children in the back row as it's in the crumple zone

a friend of mine has a grand scenic and it says this in the handbook. tho, to be fair i don't suppose many people read the whole handbook lol!

[TruthSweet]

Just a thought here but if you have four children (two of whom are twin infants) how much time do you really want to spend each time you go out in the car moving and installing car seats about. If you spend time to get 4 car seats installed properly each and every time you go out you are looking at at least 30 minutes every time you go out.

Far better to choose the seats positions and make sure the seats are installed tight rather than rushing through each time. Yes you may get quick at installing the seats but each time you do it (especially under tight time constraints) leaves you open to making an error in the installation.

You haven't said (or my reading skills have dipped to zero ) how old your twins are but if they are under 4 they REALLY would be safer rear facing by a factor of 5.

We have a Two Way Elite (for DD1 who is now forward facing but harnessed at 4.3 y/o, 20kg & 108cm), a Nordic Secura (for DD2 rear facing at 2.7 y/o, 13.5kg & 95ishcm) and a First Class (for DD3 8 m/o & 6.6kg).

The TWE is a great safe light weight seat, it's easy to use and quick to install with tethers. Would recommend!

The NS has the same shell size as the FC but has a better recline (which is weird as the NS is a 9kg-25kg seat and the FC is a birth to 13kg[R/F]/9kg-18kg[F/F] ). The NS is better suited for a shorter/heavier child than a tall/light child if you were to want to get to 25kg in it.

First Class is a good all-rounder and is a great back up seat (the one in our car at the mo will be eventually replacing our back up FC (original seat for DD1) when it expires).

[SuzysZoo]

Hi Truthsweet and other posters - thank you for your opinions. Truthsweet I don't want to spend much time setting up the seats every time I go out, but if for the sake of argument I had the two high back boosters and two forward facing Kiddy seats, it would take no time at all as they all just rest on the seats.......
If I went for this option I could make sure that each child was in the safest place in the car although they would not be in the safest seat (because that is rear facing). My dilemma is DC1 who will be sitting in the front all the time if I get two rear facers in the first row (cos I won't be swapping those rear facers much!).

[TruthSweet]

SuzysZoo - At the risk of being brutal (and if you don't want brutal stop reading here) here's my tuppence.....





It will made not one jot if your children are sitting in the 'safest' possible place in the car if the car seat they are in just doesn't protect them from injury due to immaturity of bone density/internal decapitation. Here is the website for Joel who SURVIVED internal decapitation due to forward facing at 18 m/o & 33lbs. It wouldn't have mattered which seat his parents put his car seat in he still suffered the crash forces.

Sorry for the brutal I'm a bit about car seat safety.

[thisisyesterday]

truthsweet has said what i was trying to say but more eloquently!

[SuzysZoo]

Hi again everyone. I value all your opinions, brutal or otherwise.........I think where I am coming from with this is that I know it is safest for my babies to sit rear facing but I was/am concerned that rear facing my babies puts my other child (having to sit always in the front) at greater risk. Hence my dilemma.
Anyway I have today driven to Essex to try out all the car seats in my car - thank you Essex in Car Safety Centre.
My car is a Citroen Grand Picasso so our choices are limited by the underfloor storage. Two two way elites will fit perfectly behind the driver and passenger seats and my DC2 will be able to climb from the front into her high back booster in the centre of the first row. I was very impressed how light and easy to move these seats are. I will never have to move the seat behind the driver. If I am just transporting the older two children, I will be able to take out the Two Way Elite behind the passenger seat and swap it over for DC1's high back booster. TBH I probably wouldn't do this for a very short journey and he will probably end up in the front in his high back booster.......
Regarding the Two Way Elites generally, they seem to be a good choice if you are intending to rear face for a long time (because they have a tall shell) and I found that I could fit these in with the driver and passenger seats pushed well back to the rear of the car (thus, in my car at least, having these rear-facing seats does not push the passenger/driver seats forward). I was pleased about this because if I sit DC1 in the front seat, I want that seat to be pushed back as far as possible. Thanks for all your replies.

[TruthSweet]

Glad you found seats you were happy with - TWE are great seats! I love the Essex ladies too, they were the one's to fit all ours across rearfacing.

[Carseatcrazy]

Fantastic news i'm glad you found a solution and a fab rearfacing one at that