HBB recommendations please

[RedRobyn24]

So my daughter is 5.5, 122cm and 25kg, she’s outgrown one do her rear facing seats and I’m looking at HBB for the first time

I’m quite confused which one to go for? We used an Axkid move when rear facing. I heard there is a HBB which tilts for when they sleep, not sure which one that is.

What seat would you recommend please?

We have the Cybex Solution T i-Fix - my son finds it very comfortable and there is a reclining headrest, think it has 3 recline positions. It has isofix and side impact protection too and I liked that it is very adjustable and grows in height and width with them. We rear faced until nearly 6 so the HBB was important to me to get right. Very impressed with this seat and would recommend.

Recline functions in HBB are usually not great because they can tilt the child's pelvis forwards under the belt, which is not a good idea in terms of protection.

Britax seats tend to have a V-shaped headrest to accommodate sleeping and the Cybex ones have a bit of a tilt in the headrest itself. A lot of brands have features like this to support sleep without needing a recline.

TBH I would take the child to a shop which has several models and try them out if they have a demo "car seat" there. It doesn't have to be an ERF specialist, any large enough chain store or nursery store will tend to have a range of HBBs and the brand is less important at this stage - but the usual, well known brands tend to do well in testing - Cybex, Britax, Maxi Cosi, Joie, Recaro, Besafe are all good options (plus Avionaut + Axkid but they are less often found.)

You are looking for good belt path over the hips/top of thighs (belt should touch hips and not be higher than them) and that she is generally comfy in the seat.

Then ideally check in your car as well as the shape of your headrests can sometimes interact with being able to have the booster flush against the backrest. Reverse the headrest ideally to avoid this, or sometimes you can get a better fit by extending or reducing it fully. It's best not to remove it unless you really have a huge gap which is bending when the child sits in the seat. Also shape of her shoulders and whether she has space to grow into it later. Some expand widthways as you raise the headrest, which is nice if you don't need to fit anyone next to the seat.

The last thing to check in the car is whether the seatbelt retracts back properly when it's fastened after your child leans forward and then sits back again.

So nice to see other ERFs! We maxed out our Axkid to 25kg, then moved to the Britax Kidfix iSize. We got a good deal around Black Friday so it could be worth waiting a little while. The Britax holds my son nicely even when sleeping. I like that it has the crotch strap to stop the risk of submarining in a crash. It can be fitted using either isofix or seatbelt, so it’s a pretty versatile car seat.