Carseat for Two Cars Advice!!!

[Rowlie]

LO needs a new carseat and I’m hoping someone might have some advice/recs. I would like one that goes from birth-4 years+. LO is currently 9m and is outgrowing Maxicosi Pebble.

I like the look of the Joie Baby i-Spin 360 however I note base is attached. We have two cars and ideally I’d like one carseat which can easily be moved between the two, with an isofix base in each car. Does anyone know a carseat that does this which also spins?

I could get 2x Joie Baby i-spin 360s but this would cost nearly £600, so wondering if there is a cheaper option.

What do other people do with two cars? Just have two separate seats with isofix bases?

We always shared nursery runs so dc were in each car 50% of the time, so yes, we had a seat in each car (for 2dc!)

If you don't use one car as much, moving the seat might not be so bad.

We had a BeSafe Izi - it doesn't spin but it is a seat on a separate base and you can put it on rf or ff. It's not that difficult to put dc in the seat rf without the spin, they're bigger seats than infant carriers.

We have a Joie all stages. It doesn't swivel and we fit it in with the seatbelt.

My daughter is 3 and still fits in it well. She's also tall for her age. It's supposed to last until they don't need one.

You don't need the swivel, especially when they can forward face soon and after a while will be able to climb in and out themselves.

We had a Britain's 2way Elite. Its belted with additional tethers, so we got an extra set of tethers for the other car (£20). It moves very easily between the two.

We used the Maxi cosi 2 way pearl for DS1 but then moved onto the Britax 2 way elite because he was very big and outgrew the pearl way before we wanted to stop rear facing him. DS2 is average sized, 4.5 and still fits in the pearl we have in my parents' car. He's in the 2 way elite in our car.

I’m not sure on the make of the chairs. But I did find it easier to have a car seat in each car - trying to get to work taking the car seat out or at pick ups putting the seat back! Being stuck in traffic so the other parent doing the pick up……they didn’t have a car seat. We lasted 2 weeks and got another seat for husband car!

We shared nursery runs so had to buy two car seats as we often had one of us drop off and the other collect.

If you want to do extended rear facing, Axkid Move is on offer at the moment for £195. You could get one for each car and they last for ages so no need to change it for years.

I would recommend speaking to an independent car seat retailer for some proper advice. Knowing your child's weight/height centiles is also useful.

In what way is the pebble outgrown? Is your child reaching the height limit?

I'd image that most people have separate seats for each vehicle. It's definitely more convenient. Otherwise if mum does nursery drop off and goes on to work in the car, dad can't do pick up unless it's within walking distance. Although many more people are working from home these days and that might not be an issue.

Many car seats after the baby stage have integrated isofix, so not a separate base, as the seats for older kids aren't designed to be carried around. They generally stay in the car.

Isofix isn't any safer than a correctly fitting belted seat, but it is more convenient.

Isofix car attachments have an upper weight limit, usually around 25kg to include child and seat, so suitable for children up to 18kg (a few have a slightly higher limit). If you child is on the higher centiles you might not get until 4yrs in that seat.

Rear facing for as long as possible is recommended.

This!!!