Is an ok rear facing car seat better than a very good forward facing one.

[makedoandmend]

I can't seem to find the answer anywhere. I'm pondering between this and this

not sure about the side impact performance o the Recaro

No one can possibly answer that question.

We have had Britax, Graco, Recaro and Maxi cosi car seats.

It will in part depend on how well each of them fits in your particular car

I reckon rear facing though especially if your dc is only young still

dd is 13 months and on the small side (just sidling up to 20kg).

God I've got to make this decision with a headache and sore nipples

I don't have a Which? subscription so can't see the comparative scores. However, I do know that Which? tend to dislike RF seats and that some of the scores are subjective (such as ease of use) or selective (safety scores tend to reflect the poorest possible configuration for seats that can be used both RF and FF). I would also like to know the details of the Which? safety tests before using those to base my decision on.

Fundamentaly, a FF Grp 1 seat with shoulder restraints can never protect the neck in a frontal impact whilst a RF seat will. Accidents with a significant proportion of frontal impact are far and away the most likely to occur. As such, I will (and have) keep DD RF as long as possible. She's currently in a BeSafe IziKid and 2 3/4 - and will be staying in it for the foreseeable future.

Whatever you buy it needs to fit in your car properly, though.

rear facing

have a read of this

and this

and this

we were told by the in car safety centre that any rf seat is safer than a ff seat. we have the britax two way elite as it was the best fit in our cars and didnlt have a support leg-i had underfloor storage in my car. have been really happy with it and is very easy and light to move between cars. i couldn't buy a ff seat when i found out about rf as if anything happened i would always have wondered, what if...and it wasd cheaper than the ff seat i was looking at. you should check it fits in your car too. you could post on the rf website and maybe someone can advise if they have fitted it in a car like yours.

def rear-facing

I believe the minimumn weight for forward facing is 9kg/20 lbs and when ds1 was only slightly under this (8.9 kg), mothercare actually wouldn't sell me a forward facing one!

In the end we bought him two of the rear-facing ones (one for each car) that can later become forward facing (Britax First Class and Concord Ultimax). Both were good and we kept ds1 rear facing until he was well over 18 months. DS2 is still rear facing at 19 months as he is tiny for his age at only 20lb 6oz. The Concord one was quite difficult to install but very good once it was in. The Britax one is quite bulky rear-facing, but otherwise really easy to use, but better suited to car which has lots of headroom.

Rear facing.

Thanks for all the recommendations.
Great info Ivykaty44 - am wading through it now.

Does anyone know if Essex is the only place with a try before you buy centre for car seats?

no the in car safety centre in milton keynes(or belfast) will try them all for you too and then you van buy from them too. they have loads.