Active discussions

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Car seats

Confused about car seat regulations? Find baby car seat advice here. For Mumsnetter-approved essentials, sign up for Mumsnet Swears By emails here.

Original poster

Anyone lived without the carseats you carry round?

28 replies

Babbabump · 11/01/2019 08:59

Hi :)
We have got a fab deal on a carseat that gets fixed in the car ... which is suitable from newborn and has made me wonder If i need to buy another that fits on the pram and can carry about ...

Anyone have any experience? I wonder if it becomes a pain taking them out of the pram into the seat and vice versa ...

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
moreismore · 11/01/2019 09:06

It is sometimes handy to be able to lift a sleeping baby in car seat but hey shouldn’t really spend long periods of time in them so better to use pram instead.
You can get something called a snuggle bundle which is like a cotton blanket with handles-if you put that in car seat first you can lift a sleeping baby into pram without waking. Only works while they’re relatively small though. By age of 1 I’d say almost all will have outgrown baby carrier so may be money you don’t want to spend for a short period of time...

moreismore · 11/01/2019 09:07

(By baby carrier I mean baby car seat)

reallyanothername · 11/01/2019 09:07

It really depends on how much in and out of the car you will do - school run with older kids etc - several times a day then yes one that fixes onto the pram without disturbing baby would be helpful, only the odd trip out then no transfer straight to pram

Original poster
Babbabump · 11/01/2019 12:39

Oooh snuggle bundle may be a game changer!! goes off to google thank you!!

I do have a school run but hoping to walk it most days :)

OP posts:
itsboiledeggsagain · 11/01/2019 12:44

I never took it out the car in 3 babies. Babies are much lighter than babies in car seats.

jomaIone · 11/01/2019 12:59

We only used our lift out car seat until 4 months then became too heavy to lift out anyway.

GummyGoddess · 11/01/2019 13:04

Ours our fixed and am on dc2. However I just use a sling and a backpack. Once sleepy baby is in the sling the walking sends them back to sleep.

We do have a pram but it's been used less than 10 times for both children so not sure how to answer that part.

Happyandshiney · 11/01/2019 13:04

When our twins were little you couldn’t get side by frames for two car seats so we would like our babies out of the car seat and transfer them into the pram.

It wasn’t that big a deal (thought it did mean P&C spaces were really important for us.

What was useful though was to be able to put the babies in their car seats in the house and carry them
Both our to the car (and vice versa) that would have been far more difficult with fixed car seats for twins. Probably not such an issue with only one child though.

3timeslucky · 11/01/2019 13:04

You don't need one. But if you don't get one you do need to be happy to lift (and potentially wake) your sleeping baby when they nod off in the car. But they're not considered safe for babies to sleep in for long periods of time so you should be lifting your baby out anyway.

PennyMordauntsLadyBrain · 11/01/2019 13:08

We had a travel system car seat for my car and a fixed seat for DH’s (Joie 360 Spin).

The fixed seat is far easier to use, and as a PP said once DD was about 4/5 months the bucket car seat got way too heavy to carry her in comfortably.

Original poster
Babbabump · 11/01/2019 14:38

Thank you so much everyone - I was really overthinking this one! Im not going to buy one but will invest in a couple of snuggle bundle 😍😍😍

OP posts:
ifoundthebread · 11/01/2019 14:55

I got a car seat with my travel system, used it to carry baby out of hospital and take home in the car. Then bought a fixed car seat and used that since, have used the carry car seat twice since (he's 9 month old now) because he projectile vomits every where and I had to strip his car seat and clean it, didn't want to put the bits through the dryer so allowed an extra day to dry. Find fixed car seat so much better

Paranormalbouquet · 11/01/2019 15:15

We live in London, seldom drive and almost never took car seat out of car. If you drive a lot I can see how it would be useful.

MulderitsmeX · 11/01/2019 20:47

I totally wish i had bought one like that, have used the carrier a bit but not necessary. Would hsve saved me about 400 quid!

bonzo77 · 11/01/2019 20:48

Totally manage without. I didn’t use it for my first (didn’t realise I could do it) or my third (hated the car seat, preferred to be moved to the sling). It’s handy but really not essential.

ForgivenessIsDivine · 11/01/2019 21:15

With my second, it was much easier to put DD in a carrier of some sort rather than struggle with the car seat. It meant I had a hand free for a bag and a hand free for DS. School run was much easier on foot even in the rain, than two children in and out of the car. Actually. . school run was with 3!!

Original poster
Babbabump · 11/01/2019 22:38

Eek!! 400 pounds MulderitsmeX - was it made of gold ?

Thanks for everyones experiences - youre all so lovely here

OP posts:
PippilottaLongstocking · 11/01/2019 22:42

I only ever carried the seat to transfer baby from car to house if he was asleep, I didn’t use a pram or buggy if any sort til baby was around a year old so it’s definitely possible to live without!

WhirlieGigg · 11/01/2019 22:47

I got a lift out car seat but never lifted it out because it was too heavy to carry with the baby in it. I purposely avoided getting one that clips on the pram base because it’s really bad for a baby to be scrunched in a car seat for a long time - for proper spinal development and breathing they need to lie flat. I wanted to make sure that nobody could risk my baby’s health by pushing him round in a car seat so I made sure it wasn’t possible to clip it on the pram base even if someone wanted to.

Iamnobirdandnonetensnaresme · 11/01/2019 22:51

I never carried either of my babies around in the car seat. It is really bad for them to be in seats for long stretches, just get a buggy that lies flat.

Waterlemon · 11/01/2019 23:00

I had big babies- I couldn’t manage them and the car seat! So I rarely took the car seat out of the car. And I’ve always thought it was best for baby to not spend too much time scrunched up in a car seat, so never used it with my pushchair/pram .

Although the car seat was useful when visiting relatives- for sitting in and as a makeshift high chair, particularly with dc1 who hated being fussed over or held for very long.

teaandbiscuitsforme · 12/01/2019 08:13

There are advantages to buying an infant car seat, even if you don't take it out of the car.

Seats suitable from birth tend to go to 18kg. However, if your child is taller or heavier than the 50th centile, they're likely to outgrow the seat long before 4. (E.g. My 2 year old is predicted to be 18kg at around 2.5yrs).

In that case, it's better to have an infant carrier, use it until 1yr+ (13kg), then buy a rear facing 25kg seat.

welshweasel · 12/01/2019 08:16

The safest way for a small baby to travel is in an infant seat, irrespective of whether you take it out of the car or not. The larger seats are rarely a good fit for a newborn and you may struggle to get enough recline. You can buy a cheap infant seat for around £40 (joie juva) and belt it in to the car. Once they grow out of it then you’ll know whether an 18kg or 25kg seat would be the appropriate next step - if you get a 0-18kg seat now you may be wasting a huge amount of money.

itsboiledeggsagain · 12/01/2019 09:18

I am not sure I agree weasal that any old (cheap) infant carrier is better than any other type of seat for an infant.

teaandbiscuitsforme · 12/01/2019 09:35

That's not what welsh said. The evidence is that infant carriers are the safest type of seat for a baby from newborn to around 1yr. She then said that the Joie Juva is a budget friendly seat, and she's recommending that one because it's scores very well on safety for an infant carrier. Yes there are better and worse infant carriers but on the whole, there is far less variation in their safety standards than in the Group 1 range of seats.