Car seat confusion

[rachc85]

Sorry if this is really silly of me...& already covered....but I am sooo confused with the whole car seat thing! Have read the reviews etc but I don't get the practicalities! Any advice appreciated!

So my DS is 7 months, was thinking in a few months he'll prob need bigger car seat (have silver cross travel bundle now). But...we have 2 cars & will both need to collect him from childcare & in mothercare they were all £200 plus each! Some £500!! & the staff member was not at all helpful!

& then on top of this what if a family member / friend offers to collect them - can they never do this without his seat?! & this continues into toddler age & up? So how do people give lifts to other children & stuff? & for holidays etc you always have to bring a car seat with you? Like what if I want a short break to see a friend which involves a 1 hour flight & her to collect us....she can't do this unless I pack a car seat as luggage??

Hmm maybe I am being dumb but right now my heads pickled wondering how we'r gonna manage! Also any recommendations would be good for brands as the staff members shrugged when asked was forward facing still popular as the rearward facing he advised were so expensive & when asked could I swap the seat between cars easily he laughed & said 'try lifting that love'. Helpful!!

Ooh Britax Eclipse is cheaper than the Prince currently and it's better - deeper side wings. £53.99 on amazon. If anyone is looking for a cheap but trustworthy Group 1 seat.

We also have two vehicles so get hand-me-down second seat from my sister or trusted friends who we know have not been in an accident with the seat. No need to spend a fortune, second hand seats are fine if they have never been involved in an accident.

When you say collecting them, do you mean from childcare. All the nurseries I've used allow you to leave your car seat there. Not many parents do it so there should be space. But if you regularly have one parent doing drop off and one pick up, you should have two.

Consider the fact they do last for multiple children. They are expensive but I think it's worth it. If you complain about car seats, wait till all the expenses you have to pay once they start school. And the childcare.

We have a 2 way pearl and multiple bases so it just clicks in and out with reassuring beep and I leave it at nursery when granny is doing pick up. Not the cheapest way of doing it but I was more worried about safety than cost.

We have the Klippan kiss 2 in our car which rear faces to 18kg (will be approx 3.5 for our daughter as she's on heavier side). It's isofix or seatbelt install.

To be honest though in your situation I'd buy a seat that rear faces to 25kg. These seats tend to be seatbelt only install as isofix only possibly to 18kg (couple seats have higher limit as sea themselves lighter).

I bought our seat from securatot despite being far away from them as they were really helpful over phone and email. They have a good selection of seats and can give you advice about which seat will be good fit in cars you're likely to use.

As others have said if the seat needs tethers you can keep a set in each car and then only have to move seat.

We also use forward facing britax evolva in grandparents cars which I really like. It's really sturdy fit in their cars (Citroen c1, c4 and VW golf) and should last until seat no longer needed as its harnessed to 18kg and then converts to high back booster.