Please help me with rear facing seats...

[firsttimemothergoose]

DD is getting close to needing a new car seat. We've had the maxi Cosi cabriofix and are looking for another rear facing seat.

I keep reading that rear facing is safer and should be used up to 15 months. I'm sure I've even read that it's compulsory??!
The trouble is, I can't find any!

I've seen the Maxi Cosi 2 way pearl online but can't actually find it for sale anywhere?
There must be other rear facing Seats out there, can anyone suggest one and where to find it?

Thanks!

They should be able to stay in the infant seat until 12-15 months, so that's easiest. After that it depends on how much you want to spend and whether you want isofix etc.

There are several group 0/1 seats that rear face until 13kg then can be turned forward - something like the Britax First Class.

There are also seats that rear face until 18kg - some Joie seats and the Hauck varioguard do this.

Then there are "extended" rear facing seats that should last until 25kg or your child is about 6, like the Joie Stages and Britax Two Way Elite.

Joie, Britax, Axkid and BeSafe are all other brands to look for.

Thank you for that.

There is no way Dd will still be in her seat at 15 months, she's huge! I'll be surprised if it lasts until 12 months tbh so needing to look ahead.

We have a cybex sirona which should hopefully be rear facing until 4 my lo is 9 1/2 months so still fits infant carrier despite being very tall so we mainly use that with isofix base in my car. The sirona is in hubby's car until I no longer want to use the infant carrier and we'll then move it into mine. My lo loves it though and it's a nice comfy seat that swivels to make it easier to get them in and out. It can be turned forward facing as well if you remove the harness and replace it with the impact shield instead but we intend for it to stay rear facing.

Securatot and in car safety centre have a large number of rear facing seat to 18kg or 25kg.

You will also find Britax dualfix, cybex sirona, joie stages (rear facing until 18kg and then forward facing booster until 25kg) and hauck Varioguard in mothercare / John Lewis.

The cabriofix is outgrown at 13kg or when the baby's head is taller than the seat shell. Nothing to do with legs being past shell of seat. Have you removed the support pillow to give lo more room?

If lo is big then I'd suggest looking at seats that rear face until 25kg for maximum value and to keep lo rear facing for longest time. New guidance is to keep lo rearfacing until at least 15 months but it's not a legal requirement. Britax max way and Britax two way elite are popular seats that are cheaper end of rear facing price range (approx £215 but should last until approx 6 years)

There's also the Concord Reverso which is due to launch now.

Try to go here:

incarsafetycentre.co.uk

You can phone them if you are too far away to visit.

Rear facing seats are available in lots of places although availability is ridiculously poor outside of Sweden who are 30-50 years ahead of pretty much all other countries in car seat safety.

A few points:

• A child MUST sit rear facing to at least 15 months according to the new R129 regulations. This is the absolute minimum and any parents who turn forward at 15 months is doing an extremely poor job. Kids should sit rear facing to age 4 since it's 500% safer. 500% is not a misprint, RF or FF is often the difference between death/paralysis and a child without a scratch. If one can't make it to four years at least make it past the third birthday for an absolute minimum.

• To read about some basics of rear facing and why it's so superior have a look at www.carseat.se.

• You do not under any circumstance want a Cybex Sirona. Made with cheap blow moulding and it must then be used FF at 18-24 months since seat shell is quite small. In FF mode it used the "impact shield cushion" which is a disaster for a child and full of serious safety issues such as huge abdominal pressure, chest deflation, submarining and rollover ejection. Not to mention it's very warm and uncomfortable. Since you have a large child Sirona is probably the absolute worst seat you can select.

• Some more basic info is needed. What car are you using? Do you have Isofix? How tall and heavy is your child?

• If you have a large child a seat to 25 kg is likely a better idea. Dualfix is not a bad seat but it has a shorter seat shell than other seats so it won't last that long.

Wow! Thank you for the in depth help!

Dd is 6 months, weighs 9kgs and is in 9-12 month clothing, so fairly big! The cabriofix has worked well so far, although I did remove he inner support pillow fairly early on as she is so big!

I drive a large 4 x 4 and have isofix. We have used the isofix base for the cabriofix.

I did see, I think it was the cyber sirona, that you have to turn it forward at 9kgs, so I assumed that most seats would be similar.

As I have said, the trouble is finding somewhere that actually sells the rear facing seats. I will have a look at some of the seats and websites suggested though, so thank you!

Btw, I aim to keep DD in the cabriofix for as long as possible, ie, until her head reaches the top, but I think this will be soon after 9 months.

Oh, and she is 68cm long, I think, the last time she was checked.

Car seat question; has anyone with a Mark IV VW Golf (mine is 2003) found out from Maxi Cosi or VW whether the Maxi Cosi 2 Way Pearl isize seat is safe to use in their car? Our trusted local baby stuff retailer asked us to check with VW that the isofix points are up to the 2008 standard but spoke to VW today and they couldn't give a definitive answer - just said that the isofix points were safe for seats manufactured around 2003...

Mothercare would probably sell me a seat anyway, but our trusted shop are rightly more cautious and would ask us to sign a disclaimer if we haven't got advice from VW that the seat is compatible.

Please help! I can't be the only person with a Golf Mark IV to have asked this question... Can I?

Oh and Maxi Cosi website helpfully says, we're not sure, ask your retailer... Confused.com

Sorry, new here..meant to start a new thread with that one! Oops

If your child is big for age then definitely go for a seat up to 25kg. My youngest child reached 18kg just before 3rd birthday and there was no way I was letting little one go into a HBB at that age. Youngest is now 5 and about to be too heavy for the Britax Two Way Elite.
I was a bit nervous about it at first as it didn't seem to have much cushioning around the edges but we bought the head support and the tether straps keep it firmly in place.
I can't recommend the TWE highly enough, it's so flexible and has fitted in all of the cars I've needed to use it in. Easy to carry from car to car too.

Adventuredad - can you recommend a good HBB? Don't care about the cost, just want the best. Also was thinking of adding a 5 point harness to it (can buy special needs ones to fit HBB) as well as using 3point harness for added protection. Do you have any advice on this? Thanks and sorry for high jacking the thread!

Hi, we are just starting to look too - we are 14 months, having similar issues being in NE England no independent retailers of rear facing....found Mamas n papas stocked 4 .... TRY THEM IN YOUR CAR - they were brill tried all 4 they had in stock, the one I wanted BESAFE didn't really work in our car, too narrow to squeeze baby in.

Halfords were AMAZING - -really knowledgable - but only a few to select from and actually told me that the Britax isn't isafe!

Mothercare - had an interesting swivel Maxi Cosi - our fav in the non swivel at the mo - but concerned at lack of leg room...... we walked out of having been stood there for 20 mins, and another customer managed to gazump us.

However since this - my lovely online friends have also recommended the Concord Reverso......my worst nightmare - only stocked locally at MOTHERCARE!!!!!!!

looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and go into the shop (different one) and see if the seats fit our car & our toddler! - the reviews on the reverso are really good - and can fit from new born (according to their bumf!)

We had no shops nearby. I phoned securatot told them what car I had, Dd's size and mine and DH's size and they reccomended ones that would work. Great friendly service. I would use them again. ERF seats are expensive, but should last a while and are much safer.