Stuck with choice of size 1 seat

[jobrum]

My dd turned one a few weeks ago and just after her first birthday we got her Maxicosi Pearl to go on the Family Fix base we had. Last week our car (fortunately only my dh was in it) was involved in a horrible side-on crash with a speeding driver. We now have to get a new seat and really want to ensure it’s as safe as it can be. DD is over the starting weight for the Pearl by over a kg and her head is now way over the top of the infant car seat so we are happy for her to be in the next size.

We looked on Which and have narrowed it down to three of their best buys: a forward facing Brittax, an extended rear (a Concord? Forgot the name now) which takes her all the way up to age 4 and a forward facing one with a crash pad thing rather than a harness. I have read reviews that wriggly babies and toddlers can work themselves free from chest pads and it there’s one word that could describe out dd it is ‘Wriggly’! She’s alarmingly strong and I think I’d be concerned about her Houdini abilities every second we were in the car, especially as she is too young to know why she needs to stay in it. I wonder whether she’d be happy in the rf one as she has a ff seat now in my dm’s car and I worry about the potential vomity mess if she’s as travel sick as I was. And the Brittax one has a high safety rating but obviously not as good as rf.

I know both the rf and the chest restraint one are rated higher than the Brittax and we want her to be as safe as possible but they both seem to have potential drawbacks that make picking between them hard. And we also have the horrible realisation that whatever seat we had in the back of our car wouldn’t have saved her in the accident and we will probably never have an accident like that again. How my dh walked away from it with minor injuries can only be described as miraculous – but we’re trying not to think about what could have happened.

Does anyone have any experiences of the chest restraints or extended rear facing seats they could share with me to help us decide? We'll be getting another large car so space wint be a problem.

[MauriceMossMug]

I'm sorry that your DH was involved in such a horrible accident and I hope he's soon fully healed.

On Friday I was hit from behind and I've suffered whiplash due to it, DD (2) however is completely fine and I honestly feel that her being in a rear facing car seat is what prevented her being hurt.
We have the Britax Duelfix and I would highly recommend it. It can rf until 4 but also ff.

[poocatcherchampion]

I was in a nazty accident too. My children were saved by their erf seats aged 1 and 3. Car was totally smashed in on motorway by lorry. Was grim.
Erf all the way now

Sorry for brevity new baby on my typing arm!!

[Hoplikeabunny]

We got the weird cybex one with the chest restraint thing yesterday, because our Houdini DS can get out of the 3 point harness ones by unclipping himself. He can't get out of the cybex one, it's driving him mad, but he kept getting out of his britax while we were driving and it was terrifying me. I know that rear facing is safer, but it terrifies me that I wont be able to see if he has unclipped himself, so for that reason, forward facing cybex is safer for us. So far I love it as DS looks safe, but it may take a bit of getting used to as it's quite restrictive for him and he's not happy!

[RockCrushesLizard]

A word of warning about the chest restraint ones - don't buy one unless you have physically tried your child in it. Some kids go loopy! I tried my DD in one 3 times on different days, and she screamed and thrashed each time, but was perfectly happy in a 5-point harness.

[jobrum]

Thank you everyone. I'll have a look at that Bittax one. Good advice about trying them, we just got the Pearl as it fit the base we already had so didn't think about it. I'll tell dh that if he feels up to it at the weekend we can have an exciting time visiting retail parks!

[Hoplikeabunny]

rock So true! Although unfortunately for us, DS loved it when we tried it yesterday, but has been going absolutely berserk about going in it today! I have a feeling it may need to go back...not sure they will want it back as had to bribe him in it with chocolate and I now has chocolate all over it...argh! Now not sure what to do as he can get out of the harness ones.

[captaincake]

I would go for a rear facing seat. and have. We have a be safe izi i size in one car and a dual fix in the other.

hop have you tried one of the anti escape things? 5 point plus is it called?