Car seat confusion

[rachc85]

Sorry if this is really silly of me...& already covered....but I am sooo confused with the whole car seat thing! Have read the reviews etc but I don't get the practicalities! Any advice appreciated!

So my DS is 7 months, was thinking in a few months he'll prob need bigger car seat (have silver cross travel bundle now). But...we have 2 cars & will both need to collect him from childcare & in mothercare they were all £200 plus each! Some £500!! & the staff member was not at all helpful!

& then on top of this what if a family member / friend offers to collect them - can they never do this without his seat?! & this continues into toddler age & up? So how do people give lifts to other children & stuff? & for holidays etc you always have to bring a car seat with you? Like what if I want a short break to see a friend which involves a 1 hour flight & her to collect us....she can't do this unless I pack a car seat as luggage??

Hmm maybe I am being dumb but right now my heads pickled wondering how we'r gonna manage! Also any recommendations would be good for brands as the staff members shrugged when asked was forward facing still popular as the rearward facing he advised were so expensive & when asked could I swap the seat between cars easily he laughed & said 'try lifting that love'. Helpful!!

[Roobix04]

No recommendations as we have a rear facing one. But yes you always need a car seat. It's for your child's safety. I think you can sit them on your knee in a taxi but I'm not sure.

[PennyHasNoSurname]

We rear face too (highly recommend the Britax Two Way Elite). Can you leave the carseat at his childcare? So the picker upperer puts it in their seat?

Car seats can go.in the hold of aircraft and dont count towards your luggage entitlement.

[Roobix04]

We got ours from the incarsafety website if that helps.

[Jesabel]

Yes, you need to take a car seat everywhere I'm afraid. It gets easier when they're 3+ and then I would take a portable Trunki booster seat for taxi rides/holidays.

I'd look at Britax First Class - it's a good seat and not very expensive (£100) and is belted so can be used in most cars. It is rear facing until 13kg which is around 2 years, and forward facing until 18kg so 3.5/4 years. Then they can go in a high backed booster seat.

[missingsleeptime]

Oh thanks for the ideas! & that's great to know about being able to bring in addition to luggage on the plane. I hadn't even thought of leaving it at the daycare place! Good thinking! Though we will have to find one we can lift after the sales person laughing at me when I suggested taking it in & out! think that was a particularly big one though.

Of course I understand it's for my child's safety!! I'm about the most safety conscious person I know when it comes to DS! Hence we wanted rear facing as read it was safer! I was just surprised at the price! & also confused as I thought I kept my isofix base & just bought a bigger seat & it was all steps get forward! More reading needed I think! &!a more helpful sales person who can advise.

[FatimaLovesBread]

If your ds is 7 months I'll doubt he'll need a new seat for a while yet. DD was in her infant seat until 16 months and only moved because we'd bought an erf seat.
Most infant carriers go up to 13kg so should last until 15 months or so.
So you should have plenty of time to research.