Utterly baffled about car seat options

[Lung]

Hi All,
1st post here, so please go easy on a poor dad-to-be :)

I'm looking in to transport for our baby, and am utterly baffled by the various options available. Am I better off going for a straightforward 3 in 1 travel system, or a better car seat plus the extras needed like a pushchair, or going for a larger, fixed chair and the extras? I'm really struggling to weigh up the various pros and cons of each option as I have no experience in what I need or don't need.

The options I'm looking at currently are:
a) 3 in 1: Venicci Mini
This looks great, but the car seat is only rated to 10kg and would need to be replaced quite quickly.

b) Cybex Cloud Q seat + a frame to attach it to.
This seat looks fantastic as it allows fully flat lying. However, the Priam frame that it's designed to fix to is very expensive, and Cybex aren't saying which 3rd party frames it will attach to yet. I'd also need a larger seat for the car eventually and another seat to make it a stroller for a toddler.

c) Cybex Sirona + totally separate pram.
This seat is fixed, but will last up to 4 years of age, so considerably longer than the other 2 options. I'd then need a separate pram/pushchair, plus some way to safely carry the baby into and out of the house or on short journeys, where a car seat would normally suffice. Would a sling work here?

Many thanks for any help provided.

I meant to add, you can reuse the cabriofix type seat and base for subsequent children so it's not a waste of money for short term use.

Well a newborn doesn't typically try to escape from things, so I wouldn't worry about that. My worry would be that the newborn's shoulders might be slight enough to slip between the two shoulder straps, especially considering how loosely most people do up straps. I want there to be less margin for error, not more.

The age at which they typically wriggle out of car seat straps is around 2-3 years. Younger, they don't think to try, older, they can be bribed/reasoned/frightened out of it. No car seat us escape proof - impact shields can be slowly worked forwards (seems harder to figure out) and 5 point harnesses can be escaped by sucking in their tummies. There's an after market product called 5 point plus which supposedly prevents this, it does look better than the chest clips you can buy.

I wouldn't bother with the car seat attaching to the buggy frame - though most of my friends have done. I find a car seat + baby awkward and heavy to carry and babies aren't meant to be left to sleep in car seats. I find it odd that people bring their babies into places and dump them in the corner in their car seat.

Bertie we've got the 5 point plus - it does make it more difficult for DS to wriggle out of the straps, but because of his sloping shoulders, he just sort of shrugs one arm out of the top, then the other. It was better than nothing though.

I'm not sure that I could justify a carryable car seat just for 9 months to carry the baby in and out of the car, even if it was the Cloud Q which lets the baby lie properly flat.

The only downside to the Sirona (imo) is it has a much shorter shell, so if you or your OH are tall, there is a strong possibility your child will outgrow it in length (head well over the seat back or shoulders no longer fitting in the shape), much sooner than in weight. I have a 3yo dd who is tall and simply wouldnt fit in our friends Sirona. Luckily friend and her dh are short and so is their dd.

OP lots of people upgrade to forward facing at 9/10 months - basically as soon as their babies hit 9kg. It's (completely correct) but unusual I think to use them until 13kg. I know for is the less time we used it for no1, the safer it feels for no2.

It's hardly an "upgrade".

Rear face for as long as possible. Til four if you can.

I agree Hacked (you'll see from my poss above I'm an ERF fan too). Clumsy choice of words at the end of a long day.

Oh, don't underestimate the wonder of being able to transfer a sleeping baby into the house I suppose it doesn't matter too much if you don't mind sitting in the car while your baby finishes their nap... They are expensive when you think of it like that, though.

However - if you plan to have another baby, it is cost effective to buy two separate seats. By the time #2 comes along, #1 is out of the baby seat and you can use both at the same time, rather than #1 still being in a birth-to-four and hence needing to buy a second seat. With separate seats and around 3 years between babies, by the time #2 needs the second seat, #1 is big enough for a booster.

Plus Which? often say that seats which run across two age categories are less well suited for either category than a seat designed for only that age group.

We have the Klippan kiss 2. It's a from birth extended rear facing seat. Can be fitted with isofix or seatbelt.

It has an infant section you can remove to take baby out car into supermarket etc.. I didn't use this a lot but handy to have the option.

It lasts until 18kg (approx 4 years). My lo was 6lbs 10oz at birth and very comfy I seat, straps fitted snugly. She's almost 2 now and still lives the seat and has plenty of room.

I bought ours from securatot and found them extremely helpful. www.securatot.co.uk/klippan-kiss-2

Does the Kiss 2 swivel?

No it doesn't swivel. Looks great i think if i hadn't got the besafe that was definitely one I might have bought.

Without a swivel won't it be hard to get a toddler into a fixed rear facing seat?

It's actually easier to get a toddler into a rf seat than it is a ff one as there is more room to manoeuvre around the car door. Imagine coming back to your car and finding some idiot has parked so close you can only open the door a tiny bit, in a ff seat you will find it impossible to get child in as the child seat sticks out in the way. A rf seat however means there is more room to get child in as the seat does not get in the way of the opening, so you have more chance of being able to slide child through the small gap into their seat.... I've had to do this many a time!

Completely agree with the above post. Getting a child into a RF seat is really easy, the swivel is not necessary unless you have a chronic back condition which prevents you from twisting even slightly whilst lifting a child.

I never even thought about the 'idiots parking really close' issue until somebody did it to me. It was really easy to still get DD2 into the car, I would never have got her in forward facing.

Nope my 3.5 yo niece tried out my non swivel rear facing seat and it was really easy to get her in. It was impossible to get her into the dual fix rear facing because it is just too small and the sirona is even worse on leg room rear facing.

I'm confused by this new thing about having rear facing car seats beyond 9 months.

Where does a 4yo's legs go in a rear facing seat?

I never had a travel system but drive a lot and found it really inconvenient not being able to put the car seat into a pram chassis. I'd often be stuck in the car waiting for DC to wake up as I didn't want to wake them and have them crying by taking them out of the car seat. It was a daily bugbear and contributed to me becoming very housebound

My DD is 4, but the size of a 5 yo and has very long legs (sadly she got this from DH, not me). She was rear facing in a Britax 2 Way Elite until about a month ago and didn't have a problem with where to put her legs, though that seat looks better for leg room than some other RF seats.

legs go against the seat, does not hurt if they are bent. Official advice in Scandinavia is to keep toddlers rear-facing until they are 4, and Scandinavians are tall people and manage.
interesting video:
www.rearfacing.co.uk

DD either crosses her legs, dangles them over each side of the seat or rests them up the seatback infront of her. She is 3.3 and 91st centile for height and totally comfortable.

The flexibility of a Dualfix or Sirona, though, is that if you don't mind them facing forward before 4 years, you can do that without changing seat. Not every seat will suit every child trough the full range if sizes, but those two seats do build inflexibility.

Personally, I doubt dd with still be rear facing at 18kg, but it's nice to have the option.

OH bought a new car and the Sirona and BeSafe Izi Kid were the best, so easy to get his toddler niece (17 months) in especially in RF position. She is fairly tall for 17 months but had a lot of room In the seat. We've bought the Cybex Aton Q and Sirona. Sirona will mainly be for grandparents cars till LO is out of the Aton

We had a Cabriofix in the beginning and agree that it was useful for getting her out of the car when she was asleep or for a very quick shop (we always followed the rule of no more than 2 hours in the car seat and always got her out a soon as practical). We now have the Dualfix and love it. I think that Which can be misleading with their reviews some times.

Cabriofix then Sirona. Dd was in the Cabriofix until 16 months so really it isn't that short a time. Lots of people are far to quick to buy forward facing seats at 9 months.

Sirona is great. She'll be in it until close to four when I expect DS to grow out if the Cabriofix. Still rear facing as I don't think she'd like the shield and Is quite happy rf.

OP you can join which for £1 and then cancel after a month. done it a few times now