Rotating car seat with travel system

[GemzJ]

Hello. I am looking for any recommendations on a car seat for newborn.
Needs to be rotating and rear facing.
Ideally I would like to buy a travel system, as I only have a small car and being able to use the car seat on the pram would help save space.

I'm due my first in December and there are just so many options I want to make sure I'm buying sensibly.
I appreciate any advice.

Its not that safe to use the carseat on the pram full time, Its fine for a short time, but ideally no longer than 2 hours.

www.lullabytrust.org.uk/safer-sleep-advice/car-seats-and-sids/

Plus the baby will grow out out the clip in to the pram style by a year old. So it might be better to invest in a rotating seat that stays in the car, and use the bassinet in the pram. You can get small fold prams made especially for small cars.

We have joie 360 spin that's great, it's suggested it will do till age 4, but our older DS grew out it before age 3 as he was huge. Younger DS now uses it.

Beware, not all babies like pram either, our older son wouldn't tolerate the pram or car seat, he'd just scream, but was happy in the wrap.

There are two kinds of rotating car seats, the kind that go from birth - 4 years (approx, based on average sized 4yo) and stay in the car all the time, these don't go onto a pram as they are too heavy and bulky.

Or you get infant carry type seats that click into a rotating base. These can tend to be a bit bigger than other kinds of infant car seat so not always the best choice for a small car. They last for approx 12-18 months and can click into the pram. These are popular currently but they are a lot more expensive than a standard infant car seat which can cost around £100-180, with optional base around £100. (the rotating ones typically cost around £250 with an extra £200 for the base).

The rotation for the infant seat is IMO a little bit of a gimmick - generally, with an infant carry type seat, you would get your baby ready and into the seat inside your house. Rotation is therefore not necessary as you can place the car seat on the floor and rotate it in any direction you like. It does come in useful either later on when the baby becomes too heavy and you leave the seat in the car permanently, or for the next stage up, when you have a toddler. The rotating bases for the infant carrier are all also compatible with a toddler rotating seat, but those rotating seats cost in the region of £300, and if you look at rotating seats which come with the base attached (don't need a separate base) they cost anywhere between £150-400, with most popular models in the £200-280 price range. I know this is getting ahead, but IME the sales people tend to bank on the fact you're not thinking ahead and just think oh great, this base will still be useful for the next seat up.

As the previous poster says, a car seat on a pram chassis won't completely replace your pram or pushchair seat, because a car seat holds the baby in quite a restricted position and is only really recommended for car travel. It sounds like perhaps you want to skip the carrycot stage? You can do this more effectively by looking at prams where the seat unit for toddlers can lie flat and parent face so that it does the job of a carrycot. I had this for all my children and really liked it - never found the carrycot part necessary, although I did also have a carrycot for DS2 and DS3. We couldn't have fitted one into the car for DS2, so we only used it for walks from home.

I agree with Bertie - I would just get the usual infant carrier type car seat and then get a Joie 360 type at a year. The rotating is most useful with a reluctant toddler, it's not such a big deal with a baby.

Well I wasn't exactly saying that you shouldn't get a rotating infant seat, some people do like them, I just wanted to give some general information around the topic which might help with a decision, if OP comes back with any more specific questions then I would probably start recommending brands etc, but at the moment there's not much to go on really.

Hi @BertieBotts I know it’s a bit late from the last reply and I’m not the OP, but I found your post really useful and wonder if you did have any other information or can link to another thread maybe if you’ve answered before?

Which rotating car seats bases have options for both infant and then toddler up? I was wondering if it’s possible to buy a travel system for now but upgrade to rotating seat once baby is bigger. I’d likely but the pram/carrycot second hand but would buy the car seat(s) brand new. Not sure if best to go with standard isofix travel infant car seat and then separately buy rotating 1-4 car seat next year, or try and get a base to do both now.

Any tips would be appreciated! Thanks!

There are quite a few that share the base and both seats rotate - off the top of my head it's the Cybex Cloud Z, Maxi Cosi Pebble (or Coral) 360, Britax iSense or Babysafe 3, Joie Encore, Nuna have a couple compatible with a spin base.

But honestly I think they are a waste of money, the toddler seats that go onto the spin base cost about £300 and this doesn't make sense - you can get a spinning seat with the base included (attached) for less than £300. The spinning multi-seat bases cost about £250 whereas a normal base costs £100. And an infant seat to use on the spinning base costs about £200 whereas a standard infant seat costs £150ish.

So you're spending ~£250 extra overall just for the sake of having the infant seat be able to spin, and to me, that's not worth it.

If you plan on having more than one child it also makes sense not to use one base for both infant and toddler seat, because when you have a newborn + 2/3 year old, you'll want the base for the newborn seat, but your toddler's seat will be using it.

The whole idea of one base for two seats makes no sense at all, but they are counting on you not realising that you don't need a separate base for most of the stage 2 seats on the market. It benefits the company massively as well because of course when you get to stage 2 and you've already invested in this long lasting base then you'll go OK, I need the seat that goes on this base, so they have an almost guaranteed sale.

Thanks @BertieBotts, you are very wise! We have decided to go with the travel system for now (Joie Versatix and I-snug seat) and think about the next stage next year!