Car seat/pushchair help

[York28]

Hi everyone,

I appreciate that pushchairs and car seats are personal but I have a couple of questions that as a FTM I would appreciate any advice or opinions on.

My husband and I have narrowed down the pushchair we like to three. Going to go try them out in the flesh in a few weeks. They all come separately or in bundles with car seats. All these car seats obviously have the advantage that they fit onto the pushchair but they only are suitable up to about a year. Meaning after that we would have to get another car seat.

The maxi - Cosi car seats that seat from birth up to 3-4 years do not fit onto the pushchairs, even with adaptors. The only maxi Cosi car seats that fit the pushchairs are only suitable for 12-18 months. Which again means re purchasing later on.

My question is how useful is a car seat that clips in the pushchair? I have read that babies should not be car seats for too long so am wondering if it’s a deal breaker. Or if people have found them incredible useful maybe it is worth going for the pushchair car seat bundle.

So I guess simplified I am asking do I get a pushchair compatible one for now and repurchase car seat in a year or get a car seat that is suitable for a longer period of time?

Opions and lived experiences all welcome!

Thanks

[Mmsnet101]

I found one that clipped onto the pram much easier when DD was little, much easier when she was sleeping a lot to pop into shops/doctors /classes etc without having to disturb her. The pram part of my travel system was so big it took up a lot of the boot space and I wasn't really out long enough with her that age for it to be worth the faff.

For advice on a good car seat for when they are 9m+,try the Facebook group car seat UK. It's a minefield of info so I found them really useful!

[MrsH497]

We've got the pebble pro maxi cosi and honestly it's so useful that it clips on to the pram (silver cross) means for day doing her jabs I could just pop the car seat out and onto the pram base. Really useful for us

[Travellingraspberry]

Very useful to be able to clip the car seat onto the pram when they're little! If you want to nip into a shop or pop for a coffee after driving there and baby is asleep the last thing you want to be doing is getting them out of the car seat and into a pram and back again! Ok you could carry the car seat round the shop but they are surprisingly heavy with baby in

[HappyPotato]

We never had a carrier car seat, and I never felt like I wished I had one. I was always paranoid about the amount of time they're meant to stay in carseats though.

[OneIsAWorldOfBooks]

I had the cabriofix that clipped onto the pushchair when DS was a baby and have bought a new one in a bundle for DD due in September. It does mean buying a new one but I felt the convenience of having the carrier one for the first year was worth the cost. Really useful for popping into shops, doctors, school run etc especially if baby is sleeping or if it’s raining you can stick a rain cover over the car seat and baby doesn’t get wet.

[Footlooseandfancy]

I never used the car seat on the frame with my first but I can see how it will be really useful with my second for quick trips to the shops or going to playgroup etc. I did find it useful to be able to take baby out of the car in the car seat though, for example if she was asleep and I was meeting a friend for coffee, I could just carry the seat in rather than disturbing her, same with going the drs or baby clinic where there's no where to put baby safely while you sort your things out.

[York28]

Thank you everyone you have been very helpful xx

[MrsH497]

Would just add the silver cross we had broke after 9 weeks very very light use so I wouldn't recommend them at all. Bugaboo would definitely recommend

[RowboatsinDisguise]

@HappyPotato

We never had a carrier car seat, and I never felt like I wished I had one. I was always paranoid about the amount of time they're meant to stay in carseats though.

Same here.

It was no bother to pop DS into a sling from the car seat.

[thunderthighsohwoe]

All those people who say that they had no issue transferring car seat to pram/sling and vice versa are right...for their babies. Mine hated daytime napping with a fiery passion from week five onwards, so if she’d nodded off in the car I’d rather have bought a new car seat each time than have woken her up!

As it was, she started waking up the minute the car seat was clipped into/out of the car/buggy at about six months, but my goodness the cost of buying another car seat when she was a bit older was soooooo worth my sanity in that five month period!

[Scubalubs87]

Up until 6 month or so, I found it really really useful to have an infant seat that clipped onto the pram or could be lifted out and taken into the house. We had a Kiddy evo-Luna seat which reclines into a layback position meaning they can be in the seat safely for longer. My son stayed in his until 15 months. The Joie 360 he’s in now is suitable from birth but I wouldn’t have wanted him in it so little.

[DappledThings]

We had a car seat that clipped onto the pram frame. Across 2 babies I used it a grand total of once. The cat seat barely left the car.

[BertieBotts]

Check the car seats you're considering in your car, before you make any purchase involving a car seat. Things like the angle or height of your back seats or the presence of storage boxes in the base of the car can make a huge difference as to how the seat fits and can sometimes cause problems. There is no use researching and buying a seat without trying it out in your car - that needs to be your first port of call and then you narrow down from the ones which fit which one you decide you want to use. The angle of the seat when installed is important. 45 degrees is the maximum angle a newborn can cope with, preferably 40 or even 30. (You can get spirit level apps for smartphones). And if you choose a seat where the base also takes a toddler seat later, check the toddler seat too, even if you're not buying it yet.

As for whether to get a fixed one or a portable one - it's incredibly personal - I think in hindsight I would have preferred a fixed one, I just think it's better economically than the incredibly short period of use of the first seats, but I can't deny that it's nice to be able to take your time getting them sorted in the seat (straps correct, blankets/layers on top - no blankets or puffy clothing under the straps) in the house, rather than fiddling around in the wind, rain or cold. It's handy for things like doctors' appointments to have a safe place to put them down which isn't as bulky as a pushchair. Also, it is a pain when you switch to the toddler seat if they are the kind of baby who wakes up when transferred out of the seat. Means you end up sitting in the car with the napping baby sometimes, whereas you can just carry them in a portable one.

[grey12]

We automatically bought one of those bundles. It was useful that the car seat clipped in the pushchair. Like another PP my experience with DD1 was of a baby who hardly slept her naps! So a few more minutes of quiet when we got home were gold!

I also remember having to get a taxi to the hospital for appointments and so DD1 and then DD2 would go on the carseat strapped in the taxi with the frame in the boot. So that was convenient!

This kind of carseats (the "egg" like my mum says) are smaller than the big carseats suitable for older kids so it was easier for me to slot myself in the backseat in between my 2 children when DD2 was still a baby.

Afterwards you can get a carseat that goes all the way to 12 years. We have the Joie Every Stage.

[ForeverHomeSearcher]

One thing I never see mentioned on these threads is the ease with which you can use the baby car seat in another car. Fixed car seats are really heavy.

If baby is going to be travelling in someone else's car, it's so much easier to just seat belt the baby seat in. Our fixed seat is isofix only and this means it won't go in some friend's/relative's cars. Now I'm in a position to use our car so not a problem. On mat leave though my husband had the car in the week so this would have caused issues.

[Superscientist]

I am not going to have daily access to a car during my maternity leave as my partner needs it for commuting because of this we went for the 360 swivel maxi cosi seat that can rearface up to 4 years. It should be a rarity that we transfer it to a different car so for us it was worth getting a fixed seat like this. What is right for you comes down to how you plan on travelling with the baby.

[BertieBotts]

Yes, good point about ease of transfer to other cars.

[grey12]

@ForeverHomeSearcher true! Like I mentioned if you need to take a taxi you'll be much more relaxed to have your tiny baby in a carseat, even though it's not mandatory