Only one baby seat for life- Is This Possible?!

[Takingbabysteps]

Recently i have been working with a family who had their first set of twins. When setting up the nursey, we found the expenses just piling up as everything is multipled by two. At the moment they are so tiny that they can share a moses basket, but that was x2, the amount of bottles, nappies, clothes, muslins, etc.
Another part of this is that car seats are super expensive. Let alone buying times 2 as we are talking about twins. Is there any car seat out there that can be transformed into a seat we can use forever? AND good value? AND be part of a buggy??

I may be asking for a miracle here! Ideas please!!

[happyhorse]

Well, you can get group 0/1 car seats - although you can't fit those to a buggy. They start off rear facing and then turn forwards and last from birth till around 4. You can also get group 1/2/3 car seats that last from around 9 months to around 12 years. I was told, and I don't know how true this is, that these seats aren't always the safest on the market as they aren't designed specifically for one age group. As far as I'm aware there isn't one that will take you from birth to 12.

[aswellasyou]

There aren't any seats that go past 13kg and can still be put on a pushchair, except for the Klippan Kiss 2 which has a removeable birth-10kg seat that can be romoved from the rest of the seat that goes up to 18kg rearfacing. There are loads of group 1/2/3 seats on the market but seats start to degrade after 5-6 years so they would need to be replaced at some point in the future anyway.

Carseats don't have to be expensive at all-shopping around, you can often get really good deals. What pushchair have they got? That will narrow down the choice of carseat considerably. Group 0 carseats can be used up to 18 months by many babies. By then, they could suggest family group together to buy two new carseats as a Christmas present (or other religous event present) so the expense is cut down to them.

I'm a twin. When we were children, our Dad wasn't paid very little and worked voluntarily at times, our Mum earned a slightly below average wage, but we never felt hard done by at all. Our parents are bargain hunters extroadinaire. I would advise the parents to invest time when looking for anything baby related so they get the best deal they can find. Money Saving Expert is a great starting point for saving money!

Sorry this got so long!

[tutu100]

One option may be to get the group 0+ carseats that fit onto their pushchair, then once they have outgrown those (hopefully they will be in them for a year or so), then buy something like a Britax Evolva which is suitable from 9 months to 12 years. I am fairly sure there is no car seat that will do from birth to 12, and atm it will probably make their lives much easier to have seats that clip onto the buggy.

Can anyone give/loan them one? (well 2 obviously!).

[JuneMummy]

Hi I dont think there is a seat out there that will last 0-12 years. plus alot of seats only have a life span of 10 years so you wouldnt want to use it any longer then that anyway. I think the cybex pallas lasts until age 12. Its a seat with an impact cushion instead of a harness which is apparantly much safer. If it was me id get an infant seat that clips onto the buggy and use that seat for the first year or longer (my son outgrew his infant seat at 18 months) then id probably go for the cybex pallas. (if i wasnt mad about rearfacing seats like i am )