Infant carrier/second stage car seats

[PurplePisces]

Hi all,

I'm trying to find an infant carrier that's group 0+ that can be lifted off the base.

I would like the following features:
Isofix, i-size, carry handle, some form of a recline feature would be good but not necessary. Would be ideal if it could fix onto a travel system but again not necessary as it doesn't look like I'll be going far in the next 6-8 months.

I don't mind going for a slightly older model as we're on a budget and hoping to spend max £200-250 on seat and base combined.

Baby is due March but have been told is in the 50th centile.

I have also been looking at some next stage seats (group 1&2) and would consider axkid minikid as that's extended rear facing till 25kg- it's hard to find a full list of group 1&2 erf seats - what would my other choices be? Again would like isofix and i-size if possible. Swivel option in a 25kg would be perfect but I haven't come across one in my research yet..? Only asking now so I can keep an eye out for offers.

Could I please get recommendations for car seats that come highly recommended in both groups?

Extended rear facing to 25kg is a great decision and the minikid is a brilliant option. No 25kg seats use isofix or swivel but belting in is just as safe and they tend to have low sides so easy to lift them in.

In terms of infant seats, any of the big name brands are fine - joie, maxi cosi, cybex, be safe etc.

We started off with a Maxi-cosy Pebble. It was recommended and was available with isofix but we were shown how to secure it with the seat belt and it was so simple that we didn't think it was necessary to spend another £100+ on it. The car seat cost us about £90 and we loved it as we could attach it to our icandy with the adaptors. It didn't recline but has the isofix option and handle that you're looking for.

The full list of group 1/2 ERF seats isn't very long :)

Axkid Move / Minikid / One
Avionaut Sky
Besafe izi Plus
Britax Two Way Elite / Max Way / Max Way Plus / Multi Tech 3
Klippan Century / Opti 129

There is also Diono Radian 5 but it's discontinued and harder to find - will probably be even harder in a year or so.

The only one of those which is isofix is Axkid One. Isofix has a total weight limit of 33kg for child + seat, so it's very rare to find a seat that goes up to 125cm / 25kg with isofix. The Axkid One is limited to 23kg. It also costs £6-700, which is about twice as much as the other most expensive ones!

The three i-size ones are Axkid One, Avionaut Sky and Klippan Opti 129. You don't necessarily gain anything from a seat being i-size except for side impact protection. The Klippan does have a higher weight limit.

The non i-size ones with good SIP are Axkid Move/Minikid, Besafe izi Plus, Britax Max Way Plus and Multi Tech 3.

As for infant carriers + base combos, the list of those under £250 isn't huge either. I will have a go at getting all your criteria.

Is there a reason you want it to be i-size? Is it the better side impact protection you want, ie, would a non i-size one be OK if the side impact is good?

They all have a carry handle. 99% fit on travel systems if you so wish to.

I will compile a list and in the meantime if you reply to say not i-size is OK if side impact good then I'll update it :)

Oh yes and there are no 25kg swivel seats. It would be too unwieldy with a larger child.

I just included a couple of non i-size options anyway. These are all isofix and buggy compatible so all you need to see is whether they are isofix and whether they recline.

Does everything:
Maxi Cosi Marble (comes with base)
i-size yes
Recline yes

Joie i-Level (comes with base)
i-size yes
Recline yes

Somewhat fulfils all criteria:

Venicci Ultralite + IQ base (Under budget at Kiddies Kingdom)
i-size yes
recline no - but does have innovative straight back positioning for baby, that often works better than a recline.

May sort of fulfil requirements?

Nuna Pipa Lite (comes with base)
i-size yes
recline no, but padding to flatten the seat for newborn

Cybex Aton 5 + Base 2-fix
i-size no, but good SIP
recline no, but padding to flatten the seat somewhat for a newborn (personally I didn't find this very effective due to the headrest pushing head forward)

Maxi Cosi Rock + FamilyFix 2 or Babyfix
i-size yes
Recline no, but padding to flatten the curve for a newborn

Joie i-snug + i-base or i-base advance
i-size yes
Recline no, but i-base advance can tilt

Joie i-Gemm + i-base or i-base advance
i-size yes
Recline no, and not great positioning for newborns, but i-base advance can tilt

My advice:

Buy an infant seat that has good safety reviews and has good growing room (some are roomier than others), if it's reasonably light for carrying around that'll be a bonus as baby grows!

If you're on a budget, look at Joie infant seats as they are good value and have good safety ratings I believe.

Don't stress about choosing the next seat now. Wait until baby is here and you know what centiles they're actually on (growth scans are notoriously inaccurate). If your baby is on the smaller side for weight/height, you might get away with an 18kg spin seat and it could last until the child turns 4. But if baby is average size or big, it might be wise to get a 25kg seat that's guaranteed to last until at least 4. The risk with a bigger baby in an 18kg seat is that they'll outgrow it before they're old enough for a high back booster.

However, choose a good infant seat with growing room (not the cybex Aton Q!) and you'll have ages to choose the next seat - baby should be in it until they're at least 1 year old.

And if you're on Facebook, join the group Car Seat Advice UK for lots of helpful info and advice.

@Soboredofitall

We started off with a Maxi-cosy Pebble. It was recommended and was available with isofix but we were shown how to secure it with the seat belt and it was so simple that we didn't think it was necessary to spend another £100+ on it. The car seat cost us about £90 and we loved it as we could attach it to our icandy with the adaptors. It didn't recline but has the isofix option and handle that you're looking for.

Thank you so much. The only reason I would prefer a base for the first stage is to save time so I don't have to worry about securing the seat every time with a belt.

Could I ask which icandy you use? That's my next purchase and so baffling!

@BertieBotts

The full list of group 1/2 ERF seats isn't very long :)

Axkid Move / Minikid / One
Avionaut Sky
Besafe izi Plus
Britax Two Way Elite / Max Way / Max Way Plus / Multi Tech 3
Klippan Century / Opti 129

There is also Diono Radian 5 but it's discontinued and harder to find - will probably be even harder in a year or so.

The only one of those which is isofix is Axkid One. Isofix has a total weight limit of 33kg for child + seat, so it's very rare to find a seat that goes up to 125cm / 25kg with isofix. The Axkid One is limited to 23kg. It also costs £6-700, which is about twice as much as the other most expensive ones!

The three i-size ones are Axkid One, Avionaut Sky and Klippan Opti 129. You don't necessarily gain anything from a seat being i-size except for side impact protection. The Klippan does have a higher weight limit.

The non i-size ones with good SIP are Axkid Move/Minikid, Besafe izi Plus, Britax Max Way Plus and Multi Tech 3.

As for infant carriers + base combos, the list of those under £250 isn't huge either. I will have a go at getting all your criteria.

Is there a reason you want it to be i-size? Is it the better side impact protection you want, ie, would a non i-size one be OK if the side impact is good?

They all have a carry handle. 99% fit on travel systems if you so wish to.

I will compile a list and in the meantime if you reply to say not i-size is OK if side impact good then I'll update it :)

Oh wow, this is amazing! Thank you so much for taking the time out to list all my options!

I'll start with the infant carrier - yes if the side impact protection is good then a non i-size would be fine as well. It's just I live in a congested area of London where majority of drivers drive quite rough and higher than avg accident rates so safety is a huge worry for me. But if the car seat is highly recommended without i-size and perfectly safe, then I'm happy with that. Would definitely want isofix + base though for ease of clicking the seat in and out in a rush. Are they any other car seats apart from those you have mentioned that fit the criteria but non i-size?

In regards to the 25kg seat, I realised I didn't mean to mention isofix as the car seat will remain in the car and I would be looking to take the child out instead which is why I was keen on the spin aspect of it. Both husband and I have fairly bad backs and a low car.

I guess it would also depend on the weight/height of my child.

Thank you once again ever so much!

@NameChange30

My advice:

Buy an infant seat that has good safety reviews and has good growing room (some are roomier than others), if it's reasonably light for carrying around that'll be a bonus as baby grows!

If you're on a budget, look at Joie infant seats as they are good value and have good safety ratings I believe.

Don't stress about choosing the next seat now. Wait until baby is here and you know what centiles they're actually on (growth scans are notoriously inaccurate). If your baby is on the smaller side for weight/height, you might get away with an 18kg spin seat and it could last until the child turns 4. But if baby is average size or big, it might be wise to get a 25kg seat that's guaranteed to last until at least 4. The risk with a bigger baby in an 18kg seat is that they'll outgrow it before they're old enough for a high back booster.

However, choose a good infant seat with growing room (not the cybex Aton Q!) and you'll have ages to choose the next seat - baby should be in it until they're at least 1 year old.

And if you're on Facebook, join the group Car Seat Advice UK for lots of helpful info and advice.

Thank you so much for your reply!

Would you be able to suggest where I can check safety reviews of car seats please?

That's a very good point about centiles and I will keep that in mind. I just thought I could keep an eye out for offers until then. At what stage is the centiles confirmed? Everything feels so new to me, I feel so clueless..

I had no idea about centiles when I bought my first car seat when I was pregnant with DC1, got the Cybex Aton Q and had a huge baby hence advising others against making the same mistake

The FB group I recommended will have info and advice about safety ratings. The gold standard is the Swedish Plus Test but I don't know if they test infant seats (I bet Bertie will know!) ADAC tests are the ones that Which? use for their reviews. The ADAC website is all in German but you could use Google translate (via Google chrome) to translate it! Or just ask Bertie

Shame about lockdown as you can't beat going to a specialist retailer, looking at their seats and getting advice in person - but many of them are doing advice by phone and email. Find your nearest one at www.carseatadvice-uk.com/specialist-retailers.html

Oh sorry I didn't answer your first question.
When baby's born, the midwives will weigh them and you can use the weight to work out centiles. It will change of course and weight/centiles might go up and down a bit, but by the time baby is 3 months old or so you should have a good idea of whether they're tracking the centile line.

(Just to clarify it can of course change again after 3 months but you will at least know whether your baby is big or small to begin with!)

No, the Plus test isn't for infant seats. Only seats up to 18kg, 25kg, 105cm or 125cm.

There was another test they did recently in Norway which tested a load of seats in a very similar set up to the plus test, but for infant seats. But everything they tested is over OP's budget.

The thing is if you're going for a 25kg seat after the infant seat, then you don't need to worry about centiles. If you have a high centile child, then you'll need the 25kg seat, and if you have a low centile child, happy days, you can rear face them until they're 8 or 9!

Spin seats are not really easier to get children in or out of than 25kg seats. 25kg seats have low, open sides so they are easy to maneuvre into and out of. Spin seats can be more of a pain especially once the child is over about 18 months because they hit their head on the ceiling, and this is after we moved to an SUV... Children over 2 can often climb into 25kg seats themselves, some even younger, so then you only have to strap them in.

OTOH, if you think you'll have more than one child, it can work out to get a spin seat for straight after the infant carrier and then a 25kg seat for afterwards, when the spin seat is needed by DC2. Then they just move through them in turn.

Centiles can go all over the place in the first year, especially if you have any issues with feeding, but yeah you should have an idea by 3-4 months or so. Just a note, centiles are not taken from birth weight any more but from weight at 2 weeks old or after baby has regained birth weight. This is because centiles can change quite dramatically from birth and this isn't usually relevant - birth weight is affected by gestation, size of mother, and gestational diabetes among other things, and may not be indicative of future centiles.

I did include a couple of non i-size seats in the list :) Only the ones with good side impact protection. I agree that in a city, the side impact is quite important, because a side impact is more likely in city roads with more T-junctions, crossroads etc. Whereas if you're doing more motorway driving, the frontal impact score is probably more important. All the seats I mentioned have bases available and all of the bases are isofix. TBH there are not very many non-isofix bases.

I should have added I think that the padding in the Maxi Cosi Rock is pretty good, whereas it's not that rgeat in the Cybex and I'm not sure wbout the Nuna.

@PurplePisces We have the icandy peach. We got it £300 off the full price as we bought it from icandy directly and the adaptors were £20 as it was an older model. The maxi-cosy car seats are compatible with other pram manufacturers too I think but we really liked icandy.