Car seat help - save my sanity!

[NeverGotMyPuppy]

DS is 14 months and needs a Group 1. He has the Maxi Cosi Pebble with isofix at the moment so the pearl seemed the logical decision.

However - it gives our passenger seat a ridiculously small amount of leg room. We are TTC next month and there is just no way I'm going to be able to ait comfortably pregnant (and frankly not pregnant).

Weve started to look at the combined groups. The Joie every stage FX looks good however:

1. Given I'll have to use the belt for FF, do I have to readjust everytime I get him in and out? The seat will stay in the car, we only have one.
2. I've read something about issues with harnesses? Please could you explain in small words?!
3. We have a Mazda 2 atm. Planning on buying a Skoda Karoq next year. Will it fit ok?!

I've been looking at the damn things all day and my head hurts!!

[sofiathe2nd]

I have an axxkid minikid behind my seat in a Ford Fiesta and can just about sit comfortably at 4 months pregnant... for this reason took the seat along when we tried new cars and there was plenty of room in the Skoda karoq and even more in the Skoda octavia we tried it in. The seat is belted in and doesn’t have to be refitted each time we use it, find it a lot easier than our previous 2 way pearl anc more compact.

[BertieBotts]

In Car Safety Centre has the deals listed here for Black Friday - they should be OK through the weekend, I think. If you're not local to one of their stores, you can buy online, and they offer support via phone/email.

incarsafetycentre.co.uk/blog/post/black-friday-car-seat-deals

Otherwise here is a list of specialists around the UK:

www.carseatadvice-uk.com/specialist-retailers.html

Companies like Britax and Axkid tend to standardise their discounts across retailers, which is nice.

[AnotherEmma]

If you are near any of these it's worth a visit to get face to face to advice and try the seats in your car
www.carseatadvice-uk.com/specialist-retailers.html

[AnotherEmma]

Oops cross post I'll get my coat!

[BertieBotts]

Haha at least OP knows it's a well recommended link :o

[NeverGotMyPuppy]

Croydon is close to us - we will head there, thank you. I think we are going to have to up our budget!

[AnotherEmma]

Not necessarily. We just bought the Max Way Plus for £215 (on special offer) and it's a 25kg seat so it will last for years and years.

If you can make it to the shop soon you might just catch a Black Friday deal.

[PurpleGoose]

I can recommend both the axkid mini and the Nuna rebel plus. Our eldest (3) is in the mini and our youngest (9mths) has just gone into the rebel plus. 3 year old is still perfectly fine to be in the rebel plus (no where near the weight limit) but her younger sister had nearly outgrown her infant seat.

Both for comfortably in our Skoda Octavia, although the mini takes up less room than the rebel plus, but that might be because we've got the rebel plus on its greatest recline setting.

Mini is slightly more faffy when changing to a different car, but I see from your post that's not a concern for you.

Winnstanleys Pramworld have their own Black Friday deal on the Axkid mini at the moment, but they will also price match if you find it cheaper elsewhere (you need to ring them and then they send you a code to use). You can order online and they deliver to you - ours came in 48hrs.

The only thing I wish we'd done differently with the mini is ordered it in black instead of grey as the grey is quite pale and my daughter seems to attract mud to her shoes!

[BertieBotts]

What is your budget? While you can absolutely pay some silly money for car seats, there are also lots available for less these days. It used to be you couldn't get anything rear facing past about 13kg for less than £2-300 but there are plenty of seats below that mark now.

Looks like the Pearl variations are about £150-200 - is that around what you're looking to pay?

Here are a couple of articles which provide a starting point to ERF on a lower budget:

erfmission.com/extended-rear-facing-car-seats-that-wont-break-the-bank-seatbelt-install/

erfmission.com/budget-friendly-erf-car-seats-to-25kg/

[BertieBotts]

If you're in South London check your distance from Margaret at Rear Facing Toddlers too - I haven't met her but she does some youtube videos about how to use various seats and she always comes across as so friendly and helpful and good at explaining things.

[NeverGotMyPuppy]

Thanks so much everyone, this has been amazingly helpful.

Max 2 way elite is looking like the front runner, possibly the Minikid.

Just need to try them to see if I have any room in the front...

[BertieBotts]

Just in case you're on Facebook, here's a post from a lady in a V similar situation - same age child, same two seats :)

www.facebook.com/groups/AZrearfacing/permalink/2484544701759981/

They are both reduced until midnight/close of sale on Monday, as far as I can make out, so if you can make any calls tomorrow to get them tried out you might manage to pick one up at the sale price still.

[NeverGotMyPuppy]

Thanks - that was really useful!

My one reservatiknnis getting a seat that will only rearface I had terrible sickness as a child and going backwards would have been a complete no no.

As far as I can see only the Diono does ERF with the option of FF if required?

Everyone I know went FF before a year so I've no one to talk to!

[AlletrixLeStrange]

I've just bought the britax dualfix for DD. It has great safety ratings and my favourite feature... it turns towards the door, put baby in, turns back (or forwards)

[AnotherEmma]

It's an 18kg seat (like all swivel seats) which is fine if your child is small or average size. Big and/or tall children are likely to outgrow them before they turn 4, so a 25kg seat would be a better longer lasting seat for those children.

[BertieBotts]

Yes the Diono is the only 25kg one that can do forward or rear up to those weights. There are two Britax which rear face until 25kg, and can also be forward facing until 18kg with harness - the Two Way Elite and the Multi-Tech 3. Both then convert to boosters (up to 25kg only) but it isn't recommended to use them as boosters - the TWE makes a really old fashioned booster that doesn't position the belt correctly for the child in most cases and the Multi Tech is very heavy for a booster, which isn't something you want unless it's an isofix booster, which it's not. (You don't want the child between the weight of a heavy seat and the seatbelt essentially, without the seat being held back).

An 18kg spin seat will do both forward and rear until the limits of the seat. Or the 2 way versions of the Pearl of course. The Joie 360 spin/i-spin has quite a tall shell and fits fairly compactly - I find it takes up less room than the infant seat, unless it's reclined and then it's the same.

It depends what you want most - the flexibility, or the longevity?

We have a high centile child and I went for the Joie 360 with the idea that we may have another baby in any case, so could move him into a 25kg ERF then. I also feel OK with the idea of him FF after age 3 so we may replace with a Joie Bold when we get there, rather than a 25kg ERF seat - but it's such a personal decision, and all hypothetical for now.

[NeverGotMyPuppy]

We have gone for the Minkid - very exciting!

We decided that hopefully there will be around a 2 a bit year age gap (tho as u say these things are never an exact sicence) between children so if we happen to change our mind for whatever reason we could get a Joie Bold or similar when DC2 is ready to move into the Minikid. You cant live your life waiting for plans to come to fruition but it gives us some things to move around if we want to. Thanks for all your help!

[BertieBotts]

Brill :) Hope you like it - people seem to really love the minikid! I do think it has some amazing features.

[NeverGotMyPuppy]

Arrived this morning. Its bloody massive!!!