Car seat query...

[lola0109]

Hi,

DD2 is 5mo and weighs 16.5lb. She is too big for her group 0 car seat, long limbed and her wee legs are all squished when she is in the car.

I have a car seat that says from 9kg which I think is just under 20lbs. But someone mentioned it was 9kg or sitting up unaided. DD is sitting up unaided and her head/neck control is fantastic. In fact her whole back is very strong, IYKWIM.

So is it 9kg or sitting up unaided?

I have sat her in the larger car seat (in the living room :) )and she seems really much more comfortable in it.

Basically, can I use it?

Presuming you are talking about a forward facing car seat, then the ansewer is No. It's 9Kg AND at least 9 months before they can go forward facing. However rear-facing is much safer until they are 3 or 4.

Both as far as I'm aware.

Ds was in his rear facing until about one and he was just over 98th percentile for height so he was tall. I'd go for safety over comfort personally.

Oh really, as old as that? DD1 is still in her car seat but has been forward facing from 9 months but she was always average length/weight for her age. I didn't realise it was safer, just faced her forward from 9 months!

DD2 is just so tall. I think I may be able to borrow a combi seat that does from birth - 4 years and see if that has more leg room.

Thanks for your reply lionstar

It doesn't matter about the squished legs, you don't die of broken legs like you would a broken neck.

It's 9kgs and being able to sit unaided - for one of my huge dds that was 11 months!

Yes rear facing much safer until 4 years of age.

x posted there.

Thanks, feedthegoat. I'll keep her in the rear facing one just now, try and get something in the mean time for next 4 months.

You can get 0+ car seats that are larger - some brands are bigger than others so look around. They are too tall for a car seat when their eye level is above the top of the back of the car seat.

Definitely at least 9kg. Don't worry about her legs, as long as her eyes aren't above the top of the seat she's fine. And rear facing for as long as possible.

However strong her head control is in the living room, if you were to be in a bump that gave you whiplash, what would that do to her? Better to have broken legs than the alternative IMVHO.

sorry, x posts cargirl.

Thanks cargirl I'm going to see if my sister can dig out her old seat and see if that is bigger.

I can't really afford to buy a new seat so if I can't borrow one it'll be squished legs for a while.

So just to clarify, its 9kg and sitting unaided, not 9kgs and 9 months. or is it all 3, 9kgs, 9 months and sitting unaided?

9kgs and sitting unaided

I think 9 months is the average age for both that weight and sitting unaided so that' given as a guideline. Ask around friends and family I'm sure someone will have one you can borrow.

Please look at this before you make any decisions.

Please do not move your child to forward facing so early. Also check that the stage0 has really been outgrown. Often babies look like they have but they havent.

Thanks all, I'm on the scour now!! I'm sure I'll get a lot of responses from my texts at 10:30pm on a saturday night :)

You could also get a britax first class that fits rearfacing for a while longer if you do decide to go forward facing.

Ask for money for Christmas towards getting her the next stage seat? There are several rear facing until 4 seats now. Milton keynes safety centre sell most of them.

And to add; the sitting unaided is for at least 20 mins. It's considerably safer to be rear-facing, there have been a number of long threads on here about it. In Scandinavia, children are rear-facing until four.

My DSs were squished into their 0+ seats until 17 and 16 months respectively.

That is interesting. We were given her next stage car seat as a gift, its from 9kg to 40kg (9months to 4 years) but it doesn't rear face at all, so if the guidelines were to change to come alongside everywhere else all these car seats would be pointless!

Hmm, I wonder if we still have the receipt.

My 2 yo DD is quite comfy in her seat that does her till she is 12, but again it doesn't rear face!

What seat were you given and where from? Maybe seat if you can take it back?

Its a mothercare one here

I don't have any packaging as we got it months ago and it was in a massive box.

I expect you will be out of luck with a return. Did you get it fitted to check its suitable for your car. If you do decide to use it PLEASE make sure you go to mothercare and get them to check.

Hopefully one of your friends will have a rearfacing seat you can borrow or larger infant carrier. I felt sick to the stomach when I heard my sisters 6mo was being put forward facing and even worse when i saw the FB and his straps were never tight.

Yes, got it checked! Have had all seats checked so far as the original group 0 seat we were going to get didn't fit. So annoying as I think it was bigger, we went for the smaller one not realising I'd have such big babies :)

I'm now even paranoid to have DD1 in her forward facing seat! I just followed the guidelines.

Hurrah my sis just got back to me and still has DN's car seat. I know it fits as I'm driving her old car she had when DN was a baby!

My DD is nearly 1, but only just over 6kg. Her legs are a bit squished but she is still in her 0 car seat as she just isn't big enough for forward facing, at this rate she will be 18 months before moving.

We have a Graco Junior Mini car seat. It goes rear facing then turns around to be forward facing. The big plus is that it's really wide (as has to fit 4 year olds) so lots of width for chunky babies. We got it for DD when her shoulders outgrew the MaxiCosi Cabriofix I was a bit unsure about it at first but it's brill as it also has multi recline positions when forward facing.

To clarify, we were able to keep DD rear facing until she reached the weight limit in the Graco when we simply couldn't fit her in the Cabriofix.

DD (2nd percentile) was 18 months before she reached 9Kg and 4.5 years before she reached 15Kg (with shoes on!). We got good value for money out of our car seats!