Losing my mind with car seats - Ford Focus

[daisygirlmac]

Hi I've posted previously about this but lost the thread...

I have a very long (73cm) 4 month old. We currently have a Concord Air but it's looking too small for him. I'm really concerned about the recline when seats are put into my car (Ford Focus) as they all seem really upright, particularly bad when they are on an isofix base. It's better when they are belted in but really not ideal - DS' head is flopping forward way too much for my liking. I bought a Cybex Sirona but when I put him in it the same problem happened and for £400 I need it to be right.

Does anyone have any recommendations, belted, isofix, group 0 or stages, will consider anything at all! Just really want to try and get that recline improved as we do quite a lot of long ish journeys.

Britax first class plus

We have a Focus and used a Maxicosi Cabriofix with isofix until DS was about a year, then switched to a belted Britax 2 way Elite.

Both have great reclines, just make sure you are using the right headrest cushion thingies.
Good luck!

Is he definitely too small for it according to the instructions with your car seat? If he just looks a bit squashed but is within the allowed size (eg top of head still within the shell) then I would keep him in there as long as possible.
We have an Axkid minikid in our ford focus but our daughter didn't go into it until 18m; it's got decent recline with a towel under the front legs but I can't imagine a 4mo in it (I think it only goes from 6m anyway)
Can you get to an In car safety centre or Securatot to try some seats out in your car with your baby?

Another option is to beg steal or borrow another infant seat for him that has a little more room? Looking back at DD's height records I see she was about 77cm when we moved her from her maxicosi cabriofix and she still had about another cm of head room if I recall. Even those few extra cm should buy you another couple of months, they change so fast at that age.

Also looking at pics of your car seat online I assume you have already taken out all the extra cushions. I know it sounds stupid, I'm sure you have, but you never know!

According to the instructions it should do him until 18 months old but his head is at the top of the seat now and I also feel the recline isn't good. I just hate seeing his head flopped all the way forward it's horrible and it can't be good for him!

I have taken all cushions out

Do you specifically want one that you can take out?
I have a joie stages in my Ford focus. It's birth to age 7. DD1 is still rest facing at age 3 in it. But it's not an infant carrier ...

Hm can I be honest, I'm not sure you'll get any better recline than you're seeing in your infant seat. As seats get bigger the recline has to get steeper.
Have you looked at putting him in the front passenger seat on long journeys? That might enable a better recline either in a bigger infant (group 0+) seat or in one of the rear facing seats mentioned above. In Scandinavia they put kids in the front passenger seats a lot and I've read that as long as the seat is approved to use in that seat, everything is fitted correctly and the air bag off, it is just as safe as anywhere else in the car. However I don't know what the deal is with turning airbags off in the Focus.

Here's a link from a well respected car seat guy in Sweden here about putting rear facing seats in the front seat. There's a further link within that to another page with more info and quotes from various companies about it.

We had the same problem with a sirona

We now use maxi cosi pearl two way for a 10month old and a 3 year old.

Worth checking how sloped the rear seats are in your car - if they slope (sports seats often do) towards the back of the car then this negates the recline on a rear facing car seat and causes them to be too upright (hence the head flopping). If this is the case a belted seat would be better as you can wedge it underneath to be flat (you can't do that with isofix). We changed from a BMW because of the sloping seats

The Joie Every Stage has a good recline, so even with the slope of the car's seats cancelling it out it should still offer a good recline when installed.

Thanks moggle that's really interesting. Sadly on a long journey I can't shove 6"2 DH in the back! It is a stupid sport version of a Focus so yes does have quite a sloping seat. I genuinely do not mind what sort of seat at this point, I just want DS to be comfy.

I didn't know you could wedge a belted seat - is there something you could buy or would you just fold a towel or something?

I will have a look at maxi cost and joie. The whole thing is a nightmare as I live over an hour away from the nearest town with shops that sell car seats!

Thanks all much appreciated.

Which infant seat do you have? They are the safest - moving up a seat really should only happen once its outgrown.

Another vote for the joie everystage. The seats in my Audi q3 are quite steeply sloping but the recline is still good. Better than the 2 way pearl which is our other seat. Agree with trying to source a different infant carrier though. DS is a tall 16 month old and could still fit in a maxi cosi pebble plus until fairly recently. I really can't see how a 4 month old wouldn't fit.

Are you 100% sure he doesn't still need some of the cushions? The head cushion part should last longer than four months and would stop his head flopping forward too much.

daisy some seats have a wedge available but you can also use a towel. Ours was fitted by an expert with a towel, she said as long as it was still rock steady it was fine.
Napqueen the OP put info about their infant seat in the first post.

This is a very useful tool;
www.britax.co.uk/fit-finder/

Thanks to everyone I'm going to try and get to the shops in the next week or so. My car seat is second hand from a friend but I don't have any cushions for it, although I have to say I don't think DS would fit in with cushions. His head is level with the top of the seat I'm definitely not in a rush to put him in the next stage seat, another infant carrier would be fine it's more that it panics me to see his head lolling around!

Great tip about the towel thanks Moggle

I suspect the answer is a belted carrier with a towel - the low tech option when compared to the Sirona! Anything has to be better though than buying a new car

Here we go, I'm sure it's not right that his head is there

From looking at pictures of this car seat online I think you are able to adjust the headrest upwards. You are right that an infant carrier is outgrown when the baby's head becomes level with the top edge of the seat (as in your picture), but you can make this seat bigger.

If you don't know how to do this and don't have the manual I think this is the correct one online media.concord.es/archivos2017/archivos/documentos/51manual_air_160317_en_internet.pdf

Thanks Alicemum I have the manual and have tried but it won't go anywhere. Not sure if I have an older model maybe or if it's broken or what!

Ah, that's a shame!

I still think the Joie Every Stage would be your best bet, it's rear facing to 18kgs but the harness goes up really high so it's good for tall children who aren't massively heavy for their age.

Just been down to Halfords to look at the Joie. While I was there the nice man looked at the Sirona and said, you do know that's got another recline setting don't you? It's just not been put in right. For FUCKS sake DH bloody hell! Another example of why you read the bastarding instructions BEFORE you start fannying about!

Well tbf you could have read the instructions.

I was holding the cranky poorly baby NapQueen. I'm also waiting for cortisone injections in my back as I have a bulging disc, so installing a heavy car seat wasn't high on my agenda. Thanks though, helpful. Unreasonable of me to expect DH to do the job properly, should have supervised more closely.