Big toddler what group car seat to get

[snowman212]

Hi, my 2 year old is almost 20 kg so has slightly outgrown the weight limit of her current car seat (18!kg). She is nearly same height as some three year olds.
Should we move on to the next size? (But then they're for 4 year olds ...)

Go by weight and/or height of the child, not age.

You need to have a harnessed seat at that age, preferably a rear facing one. Have a look at the axkid minikid or move and the britax maxway. They all rear face to 25kg or there is a klippan seat the rear faces to 32kg but is very expensive. A high back booster with seatbelt is definitely not safe for a 2 year old as their pelvis is not developed enough to prevent submarining under the belt.

Thanks for your replies. I will have a look at the ones you've suggested @JC12345. She gets really car sick though, I'm thinking rear facing might make it worse ? Safety comes first of course

Have a look at the car seat advice uk Facebook group. Lots of info on there about seats and also suggestions to help with car sickness.

@JC12345

Have a look at the car seat advice uk Facebook group. Lots of info on there about seats and also suggestions to help with car sickness.

Thank you

You can get forward facing seats which have a harness up to 25kg which might be better for her, but they all need top tether to fit. If your car doesn't have top tether, then your only choice is a rear facing seat up to 25kg, because it's really not a good idea to have a 2yo in the adult seatbelt.

Should add the easiest to find/use and most popular are Joie Bold, BabyAuto Dupla, Cozy n Safe Excalibur or Cozy n Safe Hudson - that's the forward facing seats up to 25kg.

Thanks @BertieBotts. I will check although up to 25 kg might last us less than a year...

The problem is there isn't any that go higher than that. Well, there is one, but it's only rear facing and it costs £425 - Klippan Opti 129. That is up to 32kg and 125cm. It doesn't convert to a booster so once she's got to the limit, that's it.

After 2 they do put weight on much more slowly so you should get a bit longer out of them, a child wouldn't normally put on 5kg in a year apart from the first year. She is very big for her age, which might mean that she's only just had a growth spurt and it will be a while before she puts any more weight on at all.

But even if she continues to put on weight at the same rate you should get at least 18 months in the harness, and then these seats convert to booster seats, which while they are best for 4+ year olds can fit a 3.5 year old OK. They are generally advised for no younger than 3 (and best closer to 4) - some people have other ages they prefer to advise, but if your child is too big for any seat on the market, you don't have much other choice.

Or you can import a seat from America where they have much higher limits, but this costs a lot (maybe less than £400 though) and isn't straightforward to do and isn't technically legal anyway. Although realistically nobody is ever going to stop you and say you have the wrong country's seat there.

@BertieBotts thanks so much for your input, you must be right re growth spurt, I'm reassured to check the ones with 25 kg limit now. 🙂