Car seats for +1's, I need help!

[SmallBee]

DD needs a next stage car seat & I need advice. I've seen loads of info telling me why keeping her in a rearward facing seat is best but there are comparatively few out there. Did you get one? if so which did you
choose? If you got forward facing then why?

I got a forward facing one because I didn't have my own car so needed it to fit in lots of cars. I had a seat made by Kiddy, but not one of their current range, they have updated.

I kept DS in his infant seat until he grew out of it (which is 13kg or their head reaching level with the top of the back of the seat, don't worry about legs) which was about 18 months and it was an acceptable compromise for me. I wouldn't want to turn a child forward facing before about 15 months unless they were seriously distressed by travelling backwards.

I have the Britax Two Way Elite. I love it. In as much as a human can love a carseat

Its about £220, and comes with a set of tethers to bind it to the seat infront, and if you have two cars id recommend buying a set of tethers for the srcnd car. It is easier than my infant seat to belt into place.

My DD is 3, and on the 90th centile for height and she still has plenty of growing room in it, even facing backwards. It rear faces to 25kg which is around 4yo.

I ordered it from the In Car Safety Centre and they posted it out. I fitted it myself using a youtube guide.

Neither me nor DHs car can take an extended rear facing seat. DS (now 2y9m) was off the charts for length and was too long for the 0+ infant carrier car seat at just 9months. No way in hell was I turning him forward that young. So I got a britax first class (I think its that one - its a 0+/1 seat, so rear faces until 13kg and forward until 18kg). This allowed him to stay rear facing until 13.5months when he reached 13kg. At that point I had no choice but to turn him forward. I really wasn't happy about it.

I think if you can't get a normal extended rear facing seat there are now some 0+/1 isize seats that stay rear facing until 18kg and are more of a universal fit.

Also worth mentioning (as ive known quite a few retailers get it wrong) that 0+/1 is different to 0/1 carseat - a 0/1 will only rearface until 9kg, a 0+/1 will rear face until 13kg.

Yes good call WhyOWhy. The cheaper combination seats in particular tend to be 0/1 which is only up to 9kg, which is tiny.

Look at the Joie Stages seat, I think I'd buy that if I was shopping for one now.

We have a Britax Dualfix. We switched DD into it at 9 months. It swivels and I love it. It's ERF to 18kg.

It's a big seat though, but isofix and easy to install. It's also quite dear (£300+), but we bought it through Boots and got 10% off with a code and then 10 Advantage Points per £ too.

Sorry, meant to add, the swivel is great because we wanted to TTC quickly and I knew lifting her into an ERF seat would be hard with a bump, and also we aim to reuse it for the next baby, so the cost doesn't seem so bad when you factor in the extra use.

We got the Britax dualfix from Boots same as the pp!

We really like it, especially the swivel feature and the fact it's fairly easy to move between cars (quite heavy though!) - due to childcare it has to be moved between cars 2-3 times a day.

We probably could have got 3x forward facing for the same price -one for each car - but we wanted to stay rear facing.

Klippan Triofix. Can be rear and forward, isofix and seat belt. Pretty expensive at £400. Reclines too, but takes up a lot of space. Got it at securatot. Lady is very helpful if you ring for advice.
www.securatot.co.uk/klippan-triofix-recline

The joie stages seat is cheap but scores badly on Which. After many, many months of comparing carseat we are planning on getting the Maxicosi 2 way Pearl. It's £200 but the base is an additional £175 so not cheap .

I have a britax dualfix which I rate despite its size. However if you are worried about safety just get an isofix fitted one, ff or rf. We also have ff seats fitted with seatbelts for grandparents' cars and although fine I don't think anywhere near as sturdy as the isofix fitted ones.

When I was researching ERF I kept reading that ERF seats tend to do worse than ff seats on Which because they score poorly on ease of use, particular the belted seats that need a tether. Don't know if there's any truth in it, but it sounds plausible to me.

We have a Cybex Sirona in my car and a Kiddy ff seat in DH's car. Because the Sirona is good from 6m I was able to stop lugging around the infant carrier earlier which made me very happy!

I also like the fact it can go ff (I think most erf can?) so we weren't committed to staying rf if DD suddenly starts kicking off age 3 or something.

Anything yes I think that's true about ease of use meaning they score badly. It's infuriating because if shops showed people how to fit the car seats properly and if there were clear instructions then there wouldn't be this problem! Iirc the Joie one is a Don't Buy due to safety.

Yes get an ERF seat! Definitely! They aren't all huge and they are ISOFIX.

ERF seats are much easier to get hold of now. I think John Lewis stocks some and there are also some specialist suppliers out there.

We had isofix ERF seats and they have worked well for us. A lot of suppliers have detailed measurements for their seats and also are knowledgeable about which ones suit particular cars. If at all possible, I would go for an ERF seat.

Trilby - dos you know the Cybex sirona can be used from newborn? You just add the newborn insert. Meaning much cheaper as no need for first baby seat so lasts newborn-4 years

The Dualfix is birth to 4 yrs too. Cheap when you think about it like that.

Well, unless you want a car seat you can carry into the house or put on a pushchair.

Bertie - why would you carry a super heavy car seat, rather than just baby though. Especially when you shouldn't leave newborn in more than 30mins, so by the time your home they should probably be out of it. Same on pushchair, hence they lay flat or have carrycot

I did used to just put DS into the pushchair but lots of people find it convenient. And 30 minutes is bull, it's 2 hours. I used to leave DS in his when he was asleep to go into the house, you don't wake a sleeping baby!

Britax Dualfix here, too, from the Safety Centre in Milton Keynes.

So convenient with the swivel, and will last till DD is at least 4

30mins for newborn
2hrs for older baby

Artandco - do you have a link to that info? When I was discharged from hospital with my last newborn (autumn 2013) I was told the current guideline was just to use your common sense.

Bertie - not everyone wants to clip a seat into wheels. I'm seriously considering putting current bump in the Dualfix when born and using a sling when nipping into shops.

When does "newborn" magically end?

I already said I didn't have a car seat which clips into a pushchair, but a lot of people DO find them convenient. It's personal preference, really, but it's worth pointing out especially when people haven't actually had the baby yet and don't know what they would prefer to do yet.

Anything - no. But that's what I was told in 2011 and 2012 on leaving hospital. And then when in hospital when ds2 was 6 months in 2013 there was 2. Yes 2 babies out of 8 on the ward who were in due to breathing difficulties after being left asleep in seats. The consultant said to us on leaving that this was recommended. They also said never to let baby sleep in car seat unless it's in the car and necessary.