Looking for car seat recommendations for all of my children.

[CoffeeGirl]

Hi all, so we need new car seats for all kids. My eldest (4y5m) has just outgrown hers and it's too worn out to give to my 3yo whose car seat went mouldy. My other child is 6m so still fits her seat but would still like to get one at some point that can just stay in the car and isn't part of the pram.

I've got a Ford fusion 2 so it's quite an old car, no isofix things. I can fit 2X Joie tilt and a baby car seat in there, it's a squeeze but it works. I'm happy to purchase another Joie for my 3yo, she's quite small so I'm happy that she'd likely get another couple of years from it. However my 4yo is too big for that now and I'm not sure what would fit that's big enough for her. Getting a new car isn't really an option at the moment we just don't have that kind of money. Thanks

It sounds like your kids are pretty hard on their car seats - is the 4.5yo’s seat cover not washable? They’re generally rated to last about 8 years from manufacture so we’ve got 2-3 kids worth of use out of ours so far with the aid of taking everything off the frame for a good scrub. Takes ages to put back on after though!

I'd probably get a high backed booster for the 4yo. You can get some pretty cheap ones which are also well rated and slimline. I'd look at these:

Britax Adventure
Maxi Cosi Rodi
Joie Trillo (or i-Trillo)

If you struggle to fit the booster and the Tilt together you might want to try a 25kg rear facing seat for the 3yo? They can be fitted further forward leaving more space for the booster seat. Britax Max Way or Axkid Move. I know they are a lot of money, but it is probably cheaper than getting a new car plus those seats last for ages and would mean you probably only need 2x high backed boosters in the end rather than 3, since by the time the youngest has outgrown it the eldest won't need a seat any more.

The Tilt is probably a good idea for the 6mo if you like it, as it's one of the slimmest seats on the market.

In terms of fitting multiple seats it's mostly just a case of try and see - the shape of them is usually the most important thing, maybe go somewhere that stocks the Tilt (Graco Extend is the same seat, BTW) and try it side by side with different booster seats to see which shapes fit nicely.