Car seats...how do you cope?!

[mamafelix]

We live abroad and currently only have one child (now 1yr). When we first came back to the UK we could easily bring the portable baby seat and stick it in the cab/anyone's car. Now however, we've moved up to the forward facing seat which is much more cumbersome to travel with (on the plane and then public transport, along with all the suitcases and buggies and child!)...what should we do?

If you have experience of this kind of situation, please give me your tips.

And those with several children...how do you cope with more than one child/seat when travelling abroad, or if you need to take a ride in someone else's car? Isn't it a huge hassle?

How on earth do you fit three car seats in if you've got three young children?

It all seems frighteningly complicated to me. How do you all cope?

I have 2 DC and we usually take 2 seats with us

We have hired seats once in Germany and they were pretty rubbish
Hiring can also be expensive, a booster seat for a week was going to cost us >£50 in Sweden and they only cost £15 to buy in the UK

If you are visiting family frequently you could buy a seat and leave it with them or see if anyone has one you can borrow

We often stick seats in our luggage.

We often use minicabs but ask for (and get) a VW Sharan, which has two built-in forward-facing seats (even if the drivers don't know how to work them! we do, though).

We often just do without carseats, manage without for a taxi journey at the other end, then use public transit - or even stick to trains/busses etc.

Some minicab firms in the UK will bring a car seat if you book in advance

On holiday the other week, I saw a mum with a second stage car seat strapped to her back like a rucksack which she took on as hand luggage!