Recommendations for next stage car seats

[Livingmybestcrazylife]

Hi all,

I'm needing help my nearly 6 month old looks to be needing to transfer to a proper car seat. I've been looking at the Cybex Sirona Z car seat but I've been told by a few people that they have grown out of them quickly around 2 years old. I'm wanting a rotating car seat that would last us a while. Any recommendations would be so helpful x

Infant carriers usually last closer to 1 year. Have you taken out any inserts that may be making it seem smaller?

Yes i have removed inserts. Her feet are pushing up against the rear seats now. So was told by my mother I should look into moving her up into a proper car seat. Just so many options and don't know which one is best!

It doesn't matter if her feet touch the seat as long as her head is not over the backrest and she is still within the weight guide. What seat is she in?

Joie 360?

She probably still fits fine in her infant carrier, until her head reaches the top (when she is pulled down sitting nappy to buckle) or she maxes out the weight limit, whichever comes first.

Are you thinking of rear or forward forward facing? She needs to be rear facing until she is over 9kg, or until 15 months if you have an i-size seat. Safety rcommendations are rear facing until age 2, or ideally age 4 but legally its 9 kg or 15 months (2 laws running side by side atm)

Spin seats have a rear facing weight limit of 18kg (average age 4), so depending on the centiles of your child, she may outgrow it earlier. I'm not sure if the weight limit is different if forward facing, worth checking.

Extended rear facing seats generally have a weight limit of 25kg, but there are no spin versions.

I'd keep her in her infant carrier as long as possible. It doesn't matter if her feet touch the rear seat, this isn't an indication that she needs a bigger seat. We kept our LO in his infant carrier until I think around 10 or 11m, then moved him into an Axkid Minikid which is rearfacing until 25kg. Other plus tested extended rear facing seats are the Axkid Move, Britax Multitech, Britax Maxway Plus.

When looking for car seats I'd check out if they are plus tested, and ADAC testing reports.

I would be really surprised if your DD needs a new seat. As others have said, check her weight and where her head is. My 75th centile DC2 managed 15 months in his first car seat. My 25th centile DC1 managed 21 months.

Your DM may have similar views to my DM on RF car seats (ie that they are “leg breakers” and must be “so uncomfortable “ for the baby, and wouldn’t the baby rather face forwards to see what’s going on?). Worth pointing out that a) RF is much safer (and the only legal option until 15 months now, I think), and b) no baby is known to have broken their legs in a RF car seat….

For a spin seat, you’re probably looking at a Joie 360 or similar but as others have pointed out, they have lower weight limits. They can also be quite bulky but this may not be an issue for you depending on the size of car you have.

We have just bought an Axkid Move for our 17 month old and are happy with it - it’s also on offer until the end of June.

Oh, and the In Car Safety Centre is a great place for advice, as well as selling all the above seats (I think).

Thanks all. Yes my mother is very much worried about leg breaking in case god forbid the worst happened and it kind of put the frighteners in me. I guess from what you have all said I'm going to keep her in her car seat a bit longer.
She's currently in the cybex z platinum carrier. But when I do move onto the next car seat I will be buying a rear facing car seat until she's 4. Thank you also for the suggestion of going to the in car safety centre x

I have a Joie 360 - had it since birth, DD now 28 months and very happy in it. She now climbs in herself!

We have the britax romer dualfix. Great seat.

@Livingmybestcrazylife I believe legs are more likely to be broken while forward facing due to the forces involved and also potentially the impact on the seat in front. There are some good crash test videos if you or her wanted to explore it further but I cant recommend any as I'm not brave enough to watch them!

If you want to rear face until age 4, id look into a 25kg extended rear facing seat unless your LO is under 50th centile. To avoid you ending up buying 2 more seats to get to age 4 which would be expensive!

rearfacingtoddlers.com/

This is a really good and informative website. The lady who runs it is very helpful too. I didnt find the in car safety centre to be very helpful or friendly, but this lady was both

My DS had the Joie spin 360 until he was 4 and it was a great seat. I would keep yours in an infant carrier as long as you can though as I think they recline back more than the next stage car seat. Even though the Joie spin is suitable from birth it's quite upright and I would worry about head flopping forward particularly when they are asleep.

@Livingmybestcrazylife

Thanks all. Yes my mother is very much worried about leg breaking in case god forbid the worst happened and it kind of put the frighteners in me. I guess from what you have all said I'm going to keep her in her car seat a bit longer. She's currently in the cybex z platinum carrier. But when I do move onto the next car seat I will be buying a rear facing car seat until she's 4. Thank you also for the suggestion of going to the in car safety centre x

500% safer to keep children rear facing until 25kg than forward facing. Rear facing for this length of time prevents death and serious injury to the head and spine. Reports say that broken legs are not found any more often in rear facing children than forward facing. However if I had the morbid choice to choose I'd rather a broken leg than internal decapitation. Children's heads make up a larger percentage of their body in relation to an adult build so forward facing increases their risk by 500% of serious serious injury and death.

We have the Cybex Sirona S iSize and it's great. My daughter is a very tall 2.5 year old still fits comfortably in it, plenty of room to grow yet. She was rear-facing until about 6 weeks ago (only turned her around because car journeys were becoming hellish when she wanted some interaction!) and she had loads of leg room. It reclines back quite far but agree with PP to keep your baby in their infant seat as long as possible to avoid slumping or head falling forward while asleep.