Car seat recommendations

[user1495097590]

Hi Everyone,

My lily boy is nearly 8 months weighs about 21lbs now. He's quite a big boy, long and stocky! We have a silver cross pioneer car seat and I reckon he's got another month and he won't fit in it anymore. His legs already hang over the edge which can't be comfy in the car.

I'm looking at the Joie stages seat, has anyone got this? Or can anyone recommend any car sears that are suitable? Do your little ones face the front or still rewards facing in the next stage car seat? Sorry for all the questions I'm new to this! Thanks

Infant car seats are outgrown by weight (13kg) or when their head is level with the top.

Rear facing is recommended until at least 4 years old - it is 5 times safer than forward facing.

The new i size regulation is to rear face until 15 month.

The Stages is a good seat rear facing, not sure it tests well forward facing (but again that's far less safe than rear facing). You need to be aware that the stages is only harnessed to 18kg, which if your son is on higher centile than average, means he could outgrow it way before 4, which is when high back boosters would be suitable.

Check your son's red book and track the height and weight line. If he's going to be bigger than 18kg or 105cm at 4 years old, the Stages will not last to that point. My son is 98th centile and would outgrow that seat around 2.5yrs!

If he is likely to outgrow the seat, I would suggest you keep him in his baby seat until it's outgrown and then look at the Britax Two Way Elite which rear faces to 25kg.

The Facebook group 'car seat advice for mummies and daddies' is really good if you can join that.

The stages is a good seat, yes. If you want to move him up now you definitely want to keep him rear facing, because it's much safer for babies as their heads are so big in relation to their bodies, and in a crash this can cause severe injuries including paralysis or even death. Legally you can turn them forward facing from 9kg if you have a seat which conforms to the old regulations, but this is very outdated and strongly not advised - the new recommendation (and law if you buy a seat with the new regulations) is to keep them rear facing until at least 15 months old. By this point the main danger has passed, but it's still safer to rear face at any age.

Don't worry about their legs as children tend to rest them on the back seat of the car, bend them up towards their body or cross them like they do at school. It's actually much more comfortable for them to have somewhere to rest them, than to have them dangling over the edge of a forward facing car seat, where the pressure can put the feet to sleep and give them pins and needles. Remember that children are much more flexible than adults - if you look at some of the positions they choose for themselves while playing etc, you'll see what I mean! :)

In your shoes and for about that budget, I would look at any of the Joie seats which cover this stage:

Joie Stages
Joie Tilt
Joie Steadi
Joie Every Stage

Thank you both for all your help! I went to mothercare today and the lady who helped us actually showed us that you can take this wedge out the bottom of the silver cross seat and it makes more room. She said most people don't know this but it will make it last longer! So I think we have at least a few more months in it now but at at least I have some recommendations when we are ready :)

Ah that's brill :) Good that you have some wiggle room to make the decision. I always found the infant seat to be more convenient anyway so I wanted to use it as long as possible!