Car seat recommendations

[jamiejolly]

Looking for a car seat for my parents to use for when I'm back to work next month. DS will be 11 months (but is small for his age if it matters). It will only be used once or twice a week or so don't want to spend anymore than £100 ideally. Can anyone recommend something suitable in that price range?

If he's small for his age he will probably still need to be rear facing by law. It's a good idea to keep him rear facing anyway as it's the safest option :)

I'd look at Joie Steadi or Joie Stages (or Graco Enhance) if you want to rear face right up to 18kg/booster age. If you think you'll swap to forward facing at some point, look at Britax First Class Plus, which is rear facing up to 13kg and then forward facing. So you lose out on some of the rear facing capability, but it has a belt tensioner when used in forward facing mode, which the Joie seats don't have.

All of thesse seats are allowed to be used forward facing from 9kg, but I'd stick to the newer regulation and wait until a minimum of 15 months before turning him forward (and really, the longer you wait the better).

I'd recommend Joie Stages too. Rear faces and then forward faces.