Struggling to find a car seat - where do I go to for help?

[KatyMac]

I have a ford tourneo connect (2014) and I need a car seat that turns as I can pick car seat and baby up together

I tried a Joie one and it didn't fit

Is there anywhere I can go to try multiple car seats and work it out?

Halfords?
They iirc come and fit them in the car for you to check they are suitable before purchasing.

I believe Halfords do this but I had a non turning one and could pick baby and car seat up together. So it might be worth looking at others.

Thanks our halfords is small, so I'll look for a bigger one where they have more stock

Carrying the baby is going to be a problem, never mind the car seat!

Dont go to Halfords - they give awful advice. Where in the country are you? Your best bet is a local independent car seat retailer who will be able to help you test different seats in your car. If you post your general area, someone might be able to advise. Alternatively if you join the fb group Car Seat Safety UK, someone might have the same vehicle and can recommend what works.

You don’t need one that turns, you really don’t. And you want baby in an infant carrier as long as possible, until they max it out. I went into a swivel seat with DS, DD went from infant carrier to an ERF seat that doesn’t swivel and it makes absolutely no difference. I don’t miss the swivel at all.

The best infant carrier is the Avionaut Pixel Pro and I’d highly recommend it. Really, safe, especially for small babies, and so light. I was able to carry DD in the infant carrier till she was about 10 months, DSs seat was too heavy with him in after 6 months.

Depending on where you are, In Car safety Centre at Milton Keynes were beyond brilliant when DD was little. They stock so many car seats, have fitters put them in your car etc. if you could make it there I'd highly recommend them.

Why can't you pick them up together? Do you have mobility issues? Asking because my advice will be different.

Yes, strength/stamina and flexibility issues

Milton Keynes is a bit far but I'll Google and see

I’m going to go against the grain and say that my dd hated the infant seat with a bloody passion. She screamed from the second we placed her in it until the second we took her out. She sounded like she was being murdered. Using it outside of car was unthinkable. We tried getting her used to it outside of the car. Even tried a different infant seat. It didn’t matter.

things improved when we got rid of the infant seat. She still didn’t love the car and we still had screaming, but we often got some time before she got unhappy and it wasn’t such a distressed upset.

the infant seats hold them at such an odd angle. The sooner you can ditch it the better.

Babysitter extraordinaire! But I'll need to transport the baby

I'm also looking at a bike trailer/buggy combo as I really can't walk far any more

And maybe an OT consultation to solve other problems!

Oh there is a car safety centre in Essex, that's quite a bit closer!