Car seats for 1 year old and 2 year old

[lulu165]

Looking for some advice on car seats, as my head is in a spin.

I have a 12 month old and a 2.5yr old. The 12 month old is in a Maxi-Cosi Rock, which they have almost outgrown now (only suitable up to 75cm). My 2.5yr old is in a Joie Group 0+/1 car seat, which is suitable to 18kg. My 2.5yr old is around the 50th percentile in weight for their age, so roughly 13kg.

I am wondering what car seat I should get, now I need to move the 12 month old out of the Maxi-Cosi. Given that my 2.5yr old will only get another 1.5yrs out of Joie seat, should I move the 12 mth old to the Joie seat and buy a new seat for my 2.5yr son old that is suitable now but also goes beyond 4 yrs? Does such a thing exist?

Just to note, we need seats that can be used without isofix.

Thanks

I have an avionaut sky for my little girl that lasts till 125cm/25kg- based of her centiles she'll technically fit until 6 or 7. It's rear facing only so the safest way to travel and installed with a seatbelt and tethers (basically mini seatbelts you attach to the floor).

I'd put your eldest in a seat like this and move your youngest into the joie, then when your eldest can move into a booster seat you're youngest can have their seat.

If the sky doesn't work for you I'd look at axkidd/britax/besafe. The seats aren't the cheapest but they will last you the whole time they're in seats rather than having to keep buying different ones as they grow

Yes, I'd look at the extended rear facing car seats by brand like Axkid, Britax, BeSafe, and Avionaut for your 2.5 year old and then move the 1 year old into the Joie, assuming you're happy with it. The extended rear facing car seats generally fit until a child is 25 kg/125 cm (some go up to 36 kg), and very few of them use isofix. Look for one that is Swedish Plus Tested. My two year old and four year old are both in Axkid Minikids, and we really like them.

Is your 2.5yo rear facing or forward facing?

You can get rear facing seats which go up to approx 7 years which don't use Isofix. That's probably the best option. Lots of options and you can potentially hand down to youngest later on too. After this is outgrown or whenever you want to you (e.g. age 4/5/6 but no worries about reaching limit too soon) can move the older one to a high back booster seat.

Or you could look at forward facing seats which convert to high back booster. You basically have two types depending on whether you want a 5 point harness or impact shield. RECARO Tian is probably the best harness option, performs much better than anything else in this category, whereas the Cybex Pallas are the impact shield seats. Not the i-size one, as this is Isofix.

beware of the cheaper harness 123 seats as the safety is quite basic on them.

Hi, my only recommendation is to stay away from Maxi Cosi. See my other thread on the subject. Seem to have gone massively down hill in service and quality control.

Thanks everyone! I will have a good look in to these options.

Oldest is forward facing but the Joie seat can be rear facing up to 18kg, so i think i am going to switch them round and hope they don’t protest!

Also i should note that the 2.5yr sits behind the driver, when my partner (6ft 2) is driving there is very limited space behind the drivers seat. We have an old estate.

2.5 years is so young to be FF, personally I wouldn’t care about protests, I’m the parent and I keep my child as safe as possible. Are you aware that FF seats need a 55cm ‘survival’ space between the child seat and the seat in front so in reality forward facing seats need as much space as the ERF ones.

The avionaut sky 2.0 is supposed to be a very compact extended rear facing seat which will last until approx 6/7 years old and can be fitted without isofix.

They are expensive, but as PP have said you won't need to keep buying new seats, and it's one of the safest on the market. It's what we'll be buying when DD outgrows her infant carrier.

I’d not heard of the ‘survival space’. Will be switching my 2.5yr old to RF tho.

i was thinking that the Joie will only be suitable for my 12mth old up until they are 4. At this point my oldest will be 5.5 yrs old. If my youngest then had their seat, what would a 5.5yr old move in to?

@lulu165 ideally your first child would stay rear facing until 6/7, but at 5.5 you could move them into a high backed booster and give younger child the rear facing seat.

They should stay in the high backed booster until 135cm. Don't use a backless booster seat, they don't provide enough protection.

I think the Axkid seats, e.g. Axkid Move, are more compact than the Avionaut and any of these 125cm limit RF seats the Swedish style are more compact than the Joie belt fitted seats, these are v huge front to back because of the larger recline.

I think the Move is a reasonable price at the moment at £229. Most of these seats are unfortunately expensive. The other cheaper one is Britax Multi-Tech 3: https://www.baby-2000.co.uk/britax/britax-multi-techbr-iii/

I would definitely try your 2.5yo rear facing, because the Joie seats have fairly minimal/basic safety features, which doesn't matter RF but does make a difference when FF.

At age 5.5 your older one will be fine to move into a high back booster e.g. Britax Adventure Plus.

Thanks for all the suggestions and helpful advice.

I am wondering if there is a seat that will be suitable up to 6 years that can be RF and FF? I would like to aim to have my children RF as long as possible but i think i would like the option to FF when they are a little bit older.

The multi tech 3 as I linked can do that, but it's a bit of a strange one as rear faces up to 25kg but the forward facing harness limit is only 18kg.

There isn't currently one that will do both to the same limit. Apparently Besafe are bringing one out this year but it won't be ready until at least September.