Swedish plus tested seat compatible with ANY pram

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I’m hunting and reading threads but having no luck

We’re looking to buy a group 0/1 Swedish plus tested seat that fits on any pram or stroller. I’m having zero luck finding any that are compatible. Surely this isn’t new?!

As a general, there aren’t any Swedish plus tested group 0+/1 seats that can attach to a pram as these stay in the car. The majority of infant carriers remain rear facing and do well on safety, so I wouldn’t worry about this stage provided you stick to well known brand—think Britax/maxi Cosi/nuna.

Alternatively, there are some car seats that come with ‘modular bases’, which use the same base for both the infant carrier and toddler seat. These can be expensive but useful if switching between cars—eg instead of two toddler seats for each car if you have a base in each then it’s easier to switch the seat between the cars without having to reinstall the seat—although bear in mind this is better for the toddler stage. Most toddler seats don’t need a separate base anyway which can make it confusing when baby outgrows the infant carrier.

If you plan on having DC2 when DC1 is around 2/3 or so, and you have a modular seat that DC1 may still be using, but likely to want the base for DC2, which can work out rather expensive if you decide to buy another base or you’ll need a new seat for DC1, at which point you’ll have to decide whether DC1 is old enough to go forward facing or fork out for a 25kg seat.

The 18kg seats as a general are based of average children on 50th centile to four, or you may find that if DC is on higher centipede or you don’t feel safe putting them into a booster at four (I found that to be the case), at which point you’d need a 25kg seat which can actually be cheaper than modular seats (Cybex Sirona Z is circa £220, but axkid move is a similar price and can last much longer). As far as I know, there are two which have Swedish plus toddler tested seats—the Axkid modukid and BeSafe Izi modular.

Do you know which pram you’re getting? If you get one that’s compatible with maxi Cosi/universal adaptors, then you can use the following infant carriers with it:

All maxi cosi’s
All Nuna
All Cybex
Joie (all except Juva)
All BeSafe
Axkid modukid infant
Recaro (with interim adaptor)

Okay and finally—there is one car seat that can stay in the car but also has an infant carrier detachable which can be used on all maxi Cosi compatible prams with an interim adaptor from recaro—but, it isn’t Swedish plus tested and you don’t have to use it forward facing.

Thanks @teaandlotusbiscoff

The Swedish plus is something I’m not willing to compromise on so I think we will need to look at not having pram comparability. I had hoped the newer ones (Joie spin, axkid modukid) may have hacks to fit to strollers for short distances

Years ago infant carriers often fitted to pushchairs but it's not now considered to be good to keep young babies in the car seat position for long - babies should be flat in prams for the first 3 months at least. Advice changes but this was the case when my niece was born.

Many years ago I had the forerunner to the extended rear facing rests that stayed in the car and people thought it was odd but I preferred it.

OK—in that case the modular seats would be virtually useless as they begin at approx 6 months old. The best Swedish plus tested seats for newborn are as follow

Joie spin safe/i-spin safe, has good inserts and reasonably priced. Joie spin safe (not i-size) has a rather tall shell and can last until DC is outgrowing 4-5 year old clothes, whereas with the i-spin you have to stop using it as soon as DC is 105, while they may still fit in the shell eg if more long legged

BeSafe izi twist B - the b stands for “from birth” and this seat has a newborn shell inside it. Particularly good if you have sloped seats as the installation method counteracts this. There’s a newer version E-fit which guides you through installation to make it easier

Final one is very £££ at £700, but is the only one that lasts past 4ish (all these ones aforementioned last up to 18kg which if you have a DC on high centiles may outgrow it before you’re ready to forward face them or put in booster). Lasts up to 125cm/23kg, which is approx age 6-7 year old clothing. It’s the axkid one+ (the plus version is suitable from newborn, yet the regular one is not).

The Axkid one+ might seem expensive at the start of looking but should last many years and rear faces the whole time. It's a great seat as I have one for my daughter and it's so adjustable.

Infant carriers don't get plus tested, and seats which aren't infant carriers don't attach to prams. So what you want is incompatible. It's purely a practical thing - a seat that accommodates a child up to 18kg (average 4 years old!) simply isn't going to be feasible to lift on and off a pram, let alone having a carry handle to allow you to do something like that.

As to why infant carriers aren't plus tested - I'm not sure! I will try to find out.

It's generally considered best practice in the ERF world to purchase a good quality infant carrier - I'd recommend Britax, which don't fit to quite as many prams, but still a good amount - or Besafe if you want maximum compatability. Besafe and Britax make several plus-tested and high performing seats for the next stage, so you can safely say, if there was a Plus test for infant seats, Besafe and/or Britax would pass it! And then once the infant carrier is outgrown the child will generally fit into any of the 9-25kg ERF seats, most of which are plus tested.

You could look at Klippan KISS? It's probably a bit out of date now but I'm sure they had a clip out infant part which might attach to a pram (maybe only a Klippan one...) I have to admit I'm not certain whether the Klippan KISS is plus tested but a few other Klippan ERF seats are.

All I can find is that the only seats allowed to be put forward for the plus test are Group 1 or Group 2, so up to 18kg / 25kg, or the i-size equivalent which is up to 105cm / 125cm.

I would guess they have singled out this middle group of seats because infant carriers already provide an excellent rate of protection and because high backed booster seats are for older children, so measuring the neck loads makes less sense. (There's no barrier to forward facing seats taking the plus test, but none have ever passed.)

This is interesting OP - not come across this test before, but it's a Norwegian one (where ERF/car seat safety is very taken very seriously, similar to Sweden) and they have specifically tested infant carriers.

The article is in German, unfortunately, but you can use Google Chrome translate to view it and it's fairly easy to understand.

www.kindersitzprofis.de/kindersitz-test-von-naf-und-testfakta-fuer-babyschalen-januar-2021/

And this is the link to the actual test (in Norwegian)

www.naf.no/forbrukertester/test-av-utstyr/bilstol-baby-test/slik-testet-vi-bilstolene/

Thanks @BertieBotts

I’m now lusting after axkid one+ 🙈

If it were me I'd get the Axkidd 1+

Axkid One+ is absolutely gorgeous for newborns!

If you don't expect to be passing down seats between siblings it would be a great choice. Personally if I was planning to have more DC, I'd do infant carrier (and probably the Besafe one, going by this new test) and then plus tested ERF, so that you don't end up duplicating expensive purchases.

Actually the more I read about the Britax babysafe 2 i-size the more I wish I'd got that for the newborn period! We have a Cybex Aton 5 which I chose because of the safety ratings but I just hate it. It's perfectly good so will be using again but argh!

I’m thinking axkid one+ then a mini kid if we have another - use the one+ for the newborn and then transfer. Not sure if we will have another though.

I wouldn’t worry about the seat not fixing on to a pram. It’s better for small babies to be in the car seat for as little time as possible. Their breathing becomes very shallow on that position so they should be moved to lie flat as soon as possible. Modern seats are safe but they’re also much heavier than when the baby carrier car seat concept was first invented. They aren’t particularly portable anyway.

Very true about the weight of modern car seats - the more lightweight ones are often the older/more basic designs, which was probably key in the portability concept originally.

Isn't there an Axkid newborn carrier? Even if that one isn't plus tested the fact that all the other seats in the range are could work for you

You could say the same about Britax and Besafe :)