Looking for a car seat for birth to much older child. Forward/rear facing.

[JBJ]

Hi all. Not bought a car seat since my now adult son was young, so I’m out of the loop, but we’ve got a baby in the family now, who I’ll probably be picking up occasionally once he starts nursery next year, plus another family member with a baby on the way, and a friends 6 year old that I sometimes give lifts to and would save having to organise fetching a car seat off her parents every time I pick her up.

I’d like to get a good car seat that I can use for all of them for a good while.

I have ISOFIX, but some of the seats I’m looking at have a base which clicks in, but then a leg support that goes into the footwell (looked at some of the Joie ones), which is where I’m getting a bit confused. My car has a kind of storage compartment in the footwells at the back, with quite a flimsy cover over, so I’m a bit concerned that a leg support might not sit securely. Other option is the front with airbag off, but I’d prefer to have a seat fitted in the back (only have one seat in the back currently, on the passenger side, although could possibly pop the middle one in providing the dog’s crate is removed).

I’ve seen other models which seem to have top tether (I’ll be honest that I’ll have to Google that!) - are there any that are recommended? Safety is the primary concern, although I don’t want to spend loads as it’s only for occasional use.

Many thanks!

Right, thanks to YouTube, I now understand top tether, and I think that’s what I need, not a support leg that goes into the footwell (just had a good poke around in the car and that’s not going to be safe at all).

So, I’ve seen this one, which seems to do everything I need, but does anyone have any personal experience? Or other recommendations?

https://amzn.eu/d/01wa67e

With the storage box I'd check the cars manual, some are tested for support legs, some manufacturers sell inserts to make them strong enough, another option is to open the box and put the leg to the bottom of the box. In my car I've been able to position the seat so that support leg doesn't rest on the box but I have independently moving seats in the back.

I'd go for something like the joie stages as it's versatile and from a brand with a good safety reputation.

Yeah the Joie stages is what I was initially looking at. Years ago, I’d have nipped into mothercare to try a few out in the car, but they’re gone and not sure where else I can go to see them!

I’ll check the manual, but I don’t think I’d be happy with it supporting anything on top of the pretty flimsy lid. Could maybe go inside if I take the wheel brace/Jack etc out. I wasn’t sure how much the leg extended tbh.

Smyths and Halfords probably stock the stages or there might be an independent place near you.

Thanks, I forgot about Halfords. I’ll nip down there at some point and see if they have one I can try.

Smyths is really useful for handling the car seats and trying them out.

To be totally honest, I wouldn't pick one seat for the things you want to do. I'd get a seat to cover the rear facing stage, bonus if it has a forward facing mode too, and then a high back booster or possibly a combination high back booster/5 point harness seat. There is a Graco R129 high back booster which is less than £50 which is fine, and you can get rear facing/forward facing seats by Joie or Graco around the £100 mark or less.

I don't like the MyBabiie seat - it has terrible reviews (sort by negative, the positive ones are always boosted by bots/influencers), the instructions are absolute gobbledegook (more so than car seat instructions usually are - these are verging on dangerous!) and it never seems to fit any child well at any stage. Top tether is also very annoying to combine with spin seats. All the youtube reviews I've seen of it and even their own promo videos it's not used correctly, they either don't bother to attach the top tether or something else is wrong.

Joie Stages is still available at Halfords, and would be fine, but won't fit the 6yo for very long, so you're likely to need a high back booster at some point anyway unless you are happy to keep a backless booster around for older children. You could look at Joie Every Stage R129 (or Graco Slimfit R129, they are the same seat) which are very similar to Joie Stages, but the high back booster mode lasts longer. If you are 100% committed to having just one seat, this is the one I'd recommend. The safety rating on it is surprisingly good (it was ADAC tested last year) and the price is nice too - it's about £150.

The only downside of this is that it doesn't have a forward facing mode with the harness - it's either rear facing, or it's a high back booster. No in between. So if your young relatives end up forward facing in their parents' cars aged 2 or so, they might not be totally happy about RF in yours (though, you might be able to sell it as a "cool fun backwards seat!" - we used to love travelling in the boot seats of my dad's Land Rover, because they were backwards.)

If your car is older than 2013, then you might not have top tether anchors, so might not be able to use a top tether seat. In cars produced from 2006-2013 they had them about 50-60% of the time. If you are unsure you could check the car manual as it should say in here. You can't retrofit top tether anchors, or use other similar points like luggage anchors. If your car is newer than 2013, then you will have top tether points and they should be clearly labelled, but they can sometimes be stiff or rusted if they are a D-ring type that have never been used.

The storage boxes as you describe are a pain, they are totally notorious for child seat legs not being suitable. You can check your car manual as sometimes they have guidance for what to do. Some child seats have an extra long leg, which is allowed to be extended to the bottom of the box. I can't remember which offhand, unfortunately, but you could certainly take the car to John Lewis or similar to try. If this is not allowed in your car, then you can usually buy a foam filler from the car manufacturer which will allow you to put a support leg on top of the lid, but at who knows what cost and hassle to find one. For whatever reason sometimes car manufacturers use the term "stay" to refer to the leg. Otherwise they say support leg/support foot.

Thanks. I looked at the Every Stage and the Graco ones, but I believe they are seatbelt fitted not isofix, which put me off a bit, as I was hoping to avoid all the bending and twisting to slot a child in around a seatbelt! I was really hoping for a swivel one, largely because I’ve got a very dodgy back and struggle with leaning into the car to put a baby in, but it’s not a deal breaker.

The car is a 2016, so has isofix and tether points thankfully.

I could get a seat for younger children, plus a high back booster for the older kid, or just carry on borrowing one for her, as I just haven’t really got storage space for 2 seats in the house, but, again, not a dealbreaker. I currently borrow the booster off her mum, but it’s a pain if she rings and asks me to do a last minute pick up if she’s stuck at work, as then I have no seat, so would be good to have one.

The problem is all isofix seats have either top tether or support leg. It's one or the other, you can't have an isofix seat without this "third point of anchorage".

Top tether doesn't work very well with rear facing seats, and while it works quite well for forward facing seats, that means you have nothing for the younger children really.

Swivel seats are great (I love them) but you'd have to do a lot of leaning in and out of the boot if you have one with top tether, and whether tether or leg, they are enormously heavy to carry in and out of the car, often about 15kg. It might work to look into the storage box and see about support legs - post 2013 means your car is at least of the era where the car seat manufacturers and car manufacturers started talking to each other! Check what the car manual has to say about it. This might be even better if you can keep the seat in the car all the time, to save lugging it in and out. There are some which convert to high back booster, but most of the time when you have a seat which is trying to do everything (isofix, spin, ERF, all stages, fashionable cover) and it's for a bargain £100 price as well it's just a bit suspicious - something has to give and unfortunately it's usually quality.

This particular My Babiiee model does look a bit more substantial than some of the earlier ones they've put out, and the tether is on the base which is an improvement because it means it won't get in the way, but I'm sceptical about their seats in general because most of them have been very cheaply produced flimsy models. I suppose you could always order it from amazon and see what it's like, they have good returns policies.

Yes, it was the top tether attached to the base that I actually liked. Not too concerned about having to attach it regularly, as I have a large car/small van and only one seat in the back, so really easy to get to the back of the seat from inside the car without having to access through the boot. I’d prefer the ones with a support leg however, but can’t see anything online about that for my car. I’m going to try and get to a Halfords or Smyths and try a few in the car I think.

And, unfortunately, the seat will be being lugged in and out regularly over summer months, as my car is partly converted into a camper, and to use the bed, the seat has to be removed, but then I regularly lug the actual seats in and out, so can’t imagine a baby seat will be much more of a faff 🤣

Haha fair enough!

I would try out how to switch them between the mode where you use the straps for younger children, and the mode where you don't use them because they use the seatbelt. Some of them are easier to do this than others. In particular I would avoid anything that involves fully taking the straps out. Most these days seem to have a compartment to store them in so they don't get taken out fully, but sometimes it's fiddly with unhooking it from the headrest etc.

That’s a good point, thanks. I’ll check that out.