so stressed about car seat, ds too big?? Is this unsafe?

[urghl]

It says for the one we have it’s max 85cm height, up to 15 months. Ds is 9 months and already 92 cm and I am so worried he’s obviously been in it while too big, will that have harmed him?

also can anyone a understand if these two car seats are different? They are wildly different prices but look the same? I am so stressed.

https://www.halfords.com/seasonal/child-motoring-safety/joie-i-spin-360-group-0plus%2F1-baby-car-seat---coal-806924.html?

https://www.johnlewis.com/joie-baby-spin-360-group-0-1-car-seat-ember/p3975674?deepLink=false

I think one is the spin seat and one is the i-spin seat, the i-spin is newer and I think has more safety features. I doubt you'll have done your DS any harm, he probably just wasn't quite as safe so just buy a new seat ASAP and I'm sure it's fine.

Also, sorry if this sounds rude or patronising, but are you 100% sure he's that tall, has a health visitor charted him at that height? It's very easy to get wrong when doing it yourself (from experience!). It's just that 92cm is off the charts tall for 9 months, my baby was 99th percentile tall but nowhere near that.

It won’t have harmed him, he just wouldn’t have been adequately protected in an accident (if he’s really that tall) but you didn’t have one so absolutely nothing to worry about.

You won't have harmed him. You would have noticed if he wouldn't fit in. The danger would have been if there had been an accident, but there wasn't.

Are you sure you've measured correctly? That would be absolutely gigantic for a 9mo wouldn't it? Like off the scale and then some. I just plotted it for my 13mo and it's so far off the chart it's about 160th centile.

You haven't done him any harm if you haven't been in an accident. Being over the height limit simply means that the seat may not sufficiently protect his head and neck in a crash.

The only difference I can see between the two seats you've posted above is the colour. The Halfords one is black and the John Lewis one is actually red ('ember'). But the images they are using are of the black one, except for the last one (it's a video). The red one is just a bit ugly and probably not as popular, so they seem to be selling it at a discount.

That said, there are probably less expensive rear facing seats available. I know the spin one seems attractive at 9 months, but it won't be too long until your dc can just climb in themselves, so I wouldn't necessarily pay loads extra unless money is no object. Both of mine were rear facing until they were 4.5 and I didn't find not being able to spin them to get them in and out to be an issue - if anything, spinning the seat around at 3-4 probably would have been more challenging then putting them in rear facing at 1.

Sorry he’s 82 not 92 cm! And this was a month ago so I am worried.

@Lilyoverthevalley thank you, perhaps I have got it wrong as that was my measurement. The last official one he had was end of February and he was 67cm? I assume by now he would be near 85 even if I’ve got it wrong? He was 97th percentile for height at that point. I am so worried as not paid until Monday so won’t be able to sort it until next week and we live rurally.

@Hugasauras i don’t know if I’ve done it right. He was 67cm in February and on 97th percentile so I assumed he would be beyond 80cm by now? Perhaps not?

Ah 82 makes more sense!

You're definitely over-worrying! He might not even be 85cm yet! Just measure him at some point in the next few days and buy a new seat within the next couple of weeks if he's a cm or two over the limit, which he probably isn't!

You can see growth charts here: https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/uk-who-growth-charts-0-4-years

If I'm reading it correctly he'd be about 77 cm now if he's stayed around the 98th percentile.

No don't worry. If he was 82 centimetres a month ago, he won't be 85cm for ages. They don't keep growing at the massively fast newborn rate forever, they slow down. If you look at the centile lines you can see that the growth is a curve, not a straight line.

It's also not unsafe to keep using a seat unless their head is over the top of it or they don't physically fit in. You shouldn't go over the stated height/weight limits, but if you accidentally go over them slightly it's very unlikely to cause any major issue.

Since your DS is quite big for his age, you might be best off avoiding the spin type seats and looking straight at an ERF seat up to 25kg/125cm. If he continues on his current line then he'll be too big for the spin seats by about age 2.5, which is much too young to go into a booster seat. You'll end up having to buy a bigger seat when he grows out of it but you might as well just buy that bigger seat now.

Look at Britax Max Way Plus, Besafe Stretch, Axkid Minikid (2/3/4), Besafe izi Plus.

Lastly it can be tricky to measure the length of a wriggly baby! So it is possible that you've still measured it a bit wrong, because 82cm is still over the 99.8th centile for a 8/9 month old baby. Not implausibly so - some babies genuinely will be here. If he is in this region though, you're going to need the bigger next stage seat, not the spin one.

What size of clothing is he wearing? If he is genuinely 82cm then he is likely to be wearing mostly 18-24 month clothing, is that right?

They are different seats. The top one is i-size so to the new regulations and has scored better in independent testing than the other one. Both are decent seats though.

But if your child really is high centiles then I would skip the spin seat and go straight to a 25kg or 36kg rear facing seat. Something like an Axkid Move/Minikid or a Besafe Stretch. Britax have the Maxway Plus but you might find hard to find it in stock. These seats will last you much longer as otherwise you'll need to buy this in a couple of years as your child won't be old enough to go into a forward facing seat but have outgrown the spin seat.

My nearly 5 year old is about 93cm tall, how quickly is your kid growing? Are you sure he's that tall?

@BertieBotts i didn’t think of this! He fits 9-12 ok ish and ive started buying 12-18. This has reassured me a bit!

@Boomboom22 i must have done it wrong! Thank you that is reassuring

@BertieBotts @Wrongsideofpennines thank you, what is it about spin ones that aren’t so good?

They only go up to 18kg generally, but also have a shorter shell so don't last as long for taller children. Because they are bulkier with the spin base they offer less leg room, and also you have to lift them quite high to get them in the seat. As she gets heavier it might be more difficult to do and spinning her might be harder too.

They're not bad seats at all, just there might be something better out there that would last you longer.

what seat do you have at the moment?

DS1 was in the MaxiCosi carrier, at 91st centile for height still until he was almost 12 months.

I LOVED the spin 360, and I felt it was worth buying it for the extra ease of use for those first few years. Getting a stroppy 2 year old strapped in to a car seat is hard work, the spin 360 made it so much easier. I'll be buying another when my littlest one outgrows the newborn car seat. I'd highly recommend it, OP.

I have 2 x the I size spin 360 joie seata and they've been great but my wee ones are quite short for thier ages.and at current rate of growth will get to 5 before too tall or heavy.

3.5 year old is only 14.5 kg and 94 cm. Sometimes forward facing g now but normally still rear facing with me at least. Other wee one will be 2 in August and is 13kg and 84cm. Both still comfy in the seats. I don't think I'd pick this though if I had tall children.

You need to look at seat like the britax maxway or an Axkid seat as your child is so tall as they can rear face and stay in the harness until the required age he is on a higher centile. The joie spin seat won’t last until four years if he stays as he is.

Was he actually in a car crash while in that seat? Its not clear from your post.

If he wasn't in a crash then you're being absolutely mad (i mean that kindly).

There is nothing wrong with spin seats, but they are a smaller size.

When they say "Up to 4 years" this is like clothing sizes. So children outgrow these seats roughly when they move into age 4-5 clothing.

To compare, your LP is currently 9mo but he is wearing age 12-18 month clothing. So you can see that he's a little ahead of those expected age ranges for things, and he might go into age 4-5 clothes when he's still 3, for example.

It might be that this growth slows down as he gets more mobile, or he's recently had a growth spurt and will plateau for a bit, but if he is on a higher growth centile, and you buy a spin seat "up to 4 years" (or the ones that go up to 12, the rear facing/5 point harness mode only goes up to age 4 approx as well) then you will find that he is only three, or sometimes not even three yet, when he outgrows it.

Most people after the "up to age 4" seat move children into a high backed booster type seat, but this is not appropriate for a 2 or 3 year old, because it just uses the adult seatbelt and doesn't have a 5 point harness. Toddlers are too little to have just a seatbelt, they play with it, they get their arms out and they aren't sensible.

So, no problem with buying a spin seat now. It will be lovely for your little boy right now. But they cost £200-300, and you might find in a year or two you are going "Help, I need a bigger seat with a 5 point harness!" and then when you find it, and fork out another £200 or £300 for it you'll say "Why didn't I just get this one in the first place?!"

So this is us (older mums been there done that) saying don't do that, just get the bigger seat in the first place

That would make your 9 month old more than 3 feet tall? Are you sure you measured correctly?

I'm fairly sure the height scales for under 2 cannot be measured in the normal way, is he due his HV check soon, get the HV to double check him.