Before I click order could anyone confirm a good choice?

[inmyownroom]

Looking for a car seat for my 13 month old. She’s outgrown the infant car seat so I want one that will take her through the toddler and preschool years.

found this at John Lewis & Partners. What do you think? Hope this works

Hmm hasn’t worked.

https://www.mamasandpapas.com/products/maxi-cosi-emerald-360-s-car-seat-50462h700?utm_term=43568969580709&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADsD1FZi9TR5NOQ__CqQBWrFSMPyP&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvPfy1q75hwMVMqNQBh2r6RsmEAQYAiABEgJ6NPD_BwE This one

It only rear face harnesses to 18kg /105cm so isn't suitable for higher centile children. So depends on how big your baby is.
There are better ERF seats available that last longer, I would look into getting one of them. I would then buy a HBB once that is outgrown.

She is quite petite - she’s on the 50th centile officially but people mostly comment how small she is.

105 cm would be around 5/6 yo?

With the caveat that I’m not an expert but have two DCs and know a bit about car seats….

I am not a fan of seats which try to cover multiple stages/age ranges. It tends to mean they don’t cover either stage “well”, if that makes sense. That is also a bulky seat and once your child is older, you will probably want something smaller. We used Joie Stages and Every Stages in grandparents’ cars, so I have some experience of these types of seat. The only advantage to that seat, in my opinion, is the swivel feature.

If your goal is to rear-face to age 4-5, then forward face, personally I’d look at the Axkid Move (or Minikid, which has more features, but the Move is an excellent seat designed for extended rear facing). I would then look to buy a high back booster once your DC is ready to forward face. This seat would take you to 25kg rear facing - age 6/7 potentially.

Depends how long you want to rear face for. We turned at 4 years (he was tall) but lot of people prefer longer now.

I also am not a fan of car seats that go right but to 12 years now. We had one that went to 7 years with our eldest and swapped it for a high backed booster long before he outgrew it. It wasn't comfortable on the back of his legs after about 6 years.

Definitely worth looking at height projection in your red book. My DD is 122cm at 5.5yrs and whilst she's the tallest in her class I don't think the average is nearly 20cm shorter than her.

I looked at the average chart on google as I can’t picture 105 in cm!

I don’t know re rear facing, I don’t have massively strong views either way but I’m conscious DD might!

Clothing wise age 3-4 is up to 104cm in height

Google why rear facing for as long as possible is safer for all children. It doesn't matter what your child thinks, it is for safety, they don't get an opinion on safety.

Yes I know thanks.

I have to admit I was really hoping not to get into a RF / FF debate. I was just wondering about the car seat. I’m not hugely passionate about ERF. I’m happy for DD to RF as long as she’s happy to do so: if she isn’t I will turn her round so I do need one that’s good for both. I realise some would make different choices and that’s fine too.

I think if you specifically want a seat that swivels, that might not be the best one - regardless of RF/FF, I still think you’re better off avoiding a multi-stage seat.

There are other seats such as the Joie Stages that can be used both RF and FF depending on weight and inclination of the child, though that seat is very reclined for RF and I suspect you’ll get protests from an older toddler - seats designed for ERF tend to keep them more upright.

my DD has been in a similar - Maxi Cosi swivel seat and it has been great. However she was on the 25th centile at birth now, 75th. She is 3years and 10 months nearly19kg and 104cm and outgrown this seat already, based on weight. Her friend (same age) is a lot smaller in appearance, but is also 15kg and 99cm. So 105cm might be sooner than you think. we are currently on a hunt for another new seat… so this will be our 3rd before she’s even 4 😭

Don't get a seat which covers multiple stages if you can help it. If you have to combine stages, and sometimes it makes sense, then combine two but not three. What tends to happen with combination seats is they do one role well and the other(s) badly or they do them all in a mediocre way. Your car seat is a safety item and it's helpful if it is optimised in design for 1 job or 2 very similar jobs.

If you have a budget of £300, want good reputation for safety both RF and FF, and like the idea of the swivel I would go for one of:

Cybex Sirona Gi i-Size
Maxi Cosi Mica Eco i-Size
Britax Dualfix M Plus or Dualfix 2 Z-Line

They are all similar in terms of the quality of the brand and the premium of the seat as the one you've chosen, but they don't combine a high back booster mode in with the rear and forward facing, which is a lot of roles to expect a seat to cover and is likely to result in compromises both in safety and also in practicality.

Stick the £50-80 difference in a savings account if you want, and get a separate high back booster when she outgrows this seat. It's SO nice when you get to the age where you can ditch the massive, heavy, bulky isofix base type seats and swap to something much more streamlined - and grown up feeling for DC as well, and you're doing yourself out of this pleasure by opting for an all-modes-in-one model. Also the toddler stage is very hard on your seat - it will be truly manky by the time she is 4/5 and I don't think that these combination seats are as comfortable for older children as a good quality HBB. (105cm is about 4.5 years for an average sized girl - the higher weight limit on the Cybex and Britax is a slight advantage).

Joie Spin is cheaper and is fine, but IMO it is not as nice a seat as these three. E.g. my 3yo is very upset at RF in the Joie spin now because he says there is not enough room. He can forward face in it, and mostly does anyway as it helps with occasional car sickness but I did like having the option to switch him round sometimes. Also, ideally I would not pick Joie for FF. I would like to move DS3 to his older brother's Britax seat but we have had some other budget constraints come up so he is staying in the Joie for now.

Would also recommend going to a John Lewis/Mamas and Papas showroom and checking out the seats in person there :) The Britax Z-Line is amazon exclusive but it's basically the same as their other Dualfix models.