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Extended rear facing car seat

6 replies

OneCoralKoala · 17/03/2025 19:23

Evening everyone

We are looking to update our car seat for our one year old and its a bit of a minefield. I really want one that can rear face for longer than the usual 18kg ish, but that can also be used front facing too. Everything I've seen only seems to be one or the other and I don't want to pay out for something that won't last as long, or that will need to be replaced when he is ready to forward face. I liked the britax and axkid as they have great reviews, but the extended rear facing ones are unsuitable for forward facing at all.
Anyone have any ideas? 🤞🏻🤞🏻

OP posts:
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BertieBotts · 17/03/2025 20:55

There is only one which goes up to 125cm and can do both - Besafe Beyond, but you need to buy the base as well so it becomes astronomically expensive.

At what age roughly are you thinking you'll want to forward face? And is your little one big/small/average size for age? Also, do you think it's likely you'll have another child in the next couple of years?

There are a couple of spin seats - Cybex Sirona Gi i-size and Britax Dualfix Plus - which have a weight limit of 20kg rather than 18kg, but still have the 105cm limit.

Are you hoping for a seat which will incorporate the high back booster stage, or something which will let you forward face with a 5 point harness? It is possible to buy what they call "All Stages" seats, Silver Cross Motion All Size is the best rated one for example, but it is worth being aware that they do represent somewhat of a compromise, because the job that you want a forward or rear facing harnessed seat to do (stay in place, be sturdy, contain the child and support its own integral harness) is very different from the job you want a high back booster seat to do (be light and flexible, allow the seatbelt to route with minimal distortion, be very adjustable from ~4-12 years) and so it's impossible to optimise the seat for both jobs at once.

In ideal terms you want a seat which does one job e.g. an extended rear facing seat up to 125cm and then a separate high back booster for the forward facing stage. There are some scenarios where it's beneficial to cover two jobs (e.g. spin seats) in order to give you some flexibility in return, but the more jobs you ask a seat to cover, the more difficult it is to optimise the design for everything you're asking it to do.

Slinkyminky22 · 17/03/2025 20:56

The one we've got is called something like Joie i-size 360. I'd recommend it.

*i-spin 360. And I've just learned it's up to 105cm/19kg, so may be no help.

OneCoralKoala · 21/03/2025 11:23

BertieBotts · 17/03/2025 20:55

There is only one which goes up to 125cm and can do both - Besafe Beyond, but you need to buy the base as well so it becomes astronomically expensive.

At what age roughly are you thinking you'll want to forward face? And is your little one big/small/average size for age? Also, do you think it's likely you'll have another child in the next couple of years?

There are a couple of spin seats - Cybex Sirona Gi i-size and Britax Dualfix Plus - which have a weight limit of 20kg rather than 18kg, but still have the 105cm limit.

Are you hoping for a seat which will incorporate the high back booster stage, or something which will let you forward face with a 5 point harness? It is possible to buy what they call "All Stages" seats, Silver Cross Motion All Size is the best rated one for example, but it is worth being aware that they do represent somewhat of a compromise, because the job that you want a forward or rear facing harnessed seat to do (stay in place, be sturdy, contain the child and support its own integral harness) is very different from the job you want a high back booster seat to do (be light and flexible, allow the seatbelt to route with minimal distortion, be very adjustable from ~4-12 years) and so it's impossible to optimise the seat for both jobs at once.

In ideal terms you want a seat which does one job e.g. an extended rear facing seat up to 125cm and then a separate high back booster for the forward facing stage. There are some scenarios where it's beneficial to cover two jobs (e.g. spin seats) in order to give you some flexibility in return, but the more jobs you ask a seat to cover, the more difficult it is to optimise the design for everything you're asking it to do.

Thank you @BertieBotts you've given me a lot to think about and look into.
You make a great point about asking a bit much from one seat.
Maybe an extended rear facing one with a view to a high back booster in yhe future could be the eay to go.
Thanks so much!

OP posts:
skkyelark · 21/03/2025 11:43

Extended rear facing followed by high back booster is what we've gone for.

The 25kg/125cm extended rear facing seats will fit the average child to about 7, and even a very high centiles child to 5 or 6 (and if weight is the concern, there are 36kg/125cm seats). That's comfortably to high back booster age in terms of both behaviour (able to sit sensibly) and skeletal maturity.

A good high back booster also doesn't need to be that expensive, so it's not that much extra expense to have two separate seats that each do their own job well.

OneCoralKoala · 23/03/2025 21:16

skkyelark · 21/03/2025 11:43

Extended rear facing followed by high back booster is what we've gone for.

The 25kg/125cm extended rear facing seats will fit the average child to about 7, and even a very high centiles child to 5 or 6 (and if weight is the concern, there are 36kg/125cm seats). That's comfortably to high back booster age in terms of both behaviour (able to sit sensibly) and skeletal maturity.

A good high back booster also doesn't need to be that expensive, so it's not that much extra expense to have two separate seats that each do their own job well.

@skkyelark I think this is what we've decided to do. Go with a britax that's extended rear facing then look at a high back booster down the line. The safety aspect far outweighs everything else I wanted it to do so this seems like the best idea. Thanks so much for your suggestion x

OP posts:
lachance · 26/03/2025 12:12

We had the besafe and our daughter rear faced until she was around 4.5 then swizzled round and forward faced until just recently when she’s moved into a high backed booster. She’s 5.5 now. She is small for her age though. The besafe was a really brilliant seat and served us really well through 2 kids.

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