Car Seats Advice

[ritusharma]

Hello, We are in process of purchasing our first car and need some guidance on the car seats. I have got two kids with weight around 6kg (younger) and 10kg (elder). We are thinking of getting the following two:

1. Kinderkraft Safety Car Seat with ISOFIX Base 9 - 36kg
2. Britax Römer DUO PLUS Group 1 (9-18kg) Car Seat

I am not sure of various terms related to car seats (such as booster seats), we need to fit car seats with minimal effort (hence ISOFIX) into the car.

For your 6kg child won’t you need a group 0 seat for now as they aren’t to the minimum weight for either of the seats you are considering?

Forgot to add ... I already have the Car Seat from www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00F0LEVP4?tag=mumsnetforum-21 which I think I should be able to install rear facing for the younger child until they reach 9Kg age - I am not sure if this is safe.

Can you please advise if this Car Seat (Amazon link) is safe and also if any of the other 2 car seats is a bad idea.

Thank you for your guidance.

Have a good read of this website. And if you're on Facebook join their group. You'll find that moving to forward facing at 9kg is neither necessary or particularly safe. You can ask / search for advice on the best seats for your children and your car based on weights and ages.

www.carseatadvice-uk.com/

Kinderkraft car seats are made by Nania, which is a company who make budget car seats. Often this means that they've only gone through basic testing - completely passable of course but if you're concerned about safety (which I think you are because you're posting about it) the personally I wouldn't as honestly in a bad crash the seats won't do much. Similarly I wouldn't buy the Disney one. If you are budget conscious you'd be better off getting a good quality car seat and then you're buggy secondhand.

I assume, but could be wrong, that you're trying to be mindful of cost which is how you've come across these seats, in which case I'd suggest a "combination car seat" which goes from birth to 18kg. It will last you longer and save you from having to buy so many seats in the long term. Something along the lines of Joie should be less costly but safer. As a PP says it's safer to keep children rear facing for longer so one of these seats would work well.

We have a couple of the Britax seats for two of our children but not the one that you mention. They've been great. One was reviewed as a top choice on "Which" the year we got it and the other was recommended and fitted by a car seat safety centre. That won't mean that all Britax seats are great, but my experience of the "brand" has been good.

Personally when it comes to car seats I would look on the Which website at reviews. I usually sign up for the £1 trial and then cancel. It's very helpful and will give you more detail about good and bad car seats. Similarly if you have a company who specialise in selling car seats then I'd pay them a visit - they take account of car type, needs and budget, although you usually need to make an appointment.

Hi. Thanks for the advice, really helped us
We are now considering:

1. Britax Römer ADVANSAFIX III SICT Group 1-2-3 Car Seat
2. Joie Spin 360 0+1 Child Car Seat

Hopefully these are the right choices.

The Joie spin is a great seat but to be honest given the weights of your children I'd buy them one each. There's no need to forward face your older child

How old are your children?

Rear facing is far safer than forward facing so that should be your main concern.

Look into the Joie Stage, Joie 360 if you want spin or 25kg seats like the axkid Minikid or Britax Two Way Elite (only for your 10kg child at the moment though)

Have a look at the Brittax 2 way elite, only available from the In Car Safety Centre.

I’m probably a bit late here, but I have the Joie Spin 360 and it’s great. I’d agree that you could have two of them and it can stay rear facing until they are 4 (which is much safer).