car seat dilema - petite 3.5 dd needs a new CAR SEAT

[mum199]

some car seat advise needed!

dd at 3.5 only weighs 12.5 kg. I need her maxi cosi for ds who is 15 months. So need to buy her a new one. She doesnt weigh enough for a car seat that uses the 3 point harness. And John Lewis says she wont have much time if i buy her the same again ie. 18months -3.5 yrs car seat. Her head is almost at the top, about cm left?

Mothercare and britax both do a 'hybrid' car seat ie. from 9 months (with 5 point harness) to 8 years. But the britax one did not score very well in the which reports and mothercare have let us down badly with ds's infant carier. (no replacement parts)

Are there any other good ones on the market. I am a bit paronoid (sp!) about car seats

Do you know anyone who could lend or give you one - somewith a new born and a 5 year old may well have any unused 5 point harness type they are saving for the baby and would loan for a year ? Our first 2 were close so both in 5 point harnesses but ds3 only needs one so the other was given away to a mum at school.

To judge height for buying a new Maxi Cosi she is too tall if her ears are level with the back of the seat if that makes sense.
Thes hybrid seats the straps don't last forever but you do get longer out of them than a usual stage 1 car seat. I would go for something like the Evolva they are the best in their class and you do have the added bonus that when she is heavy enough it is easily converted to the next stage. If you were going to go down the new Maxi Cosi route or similar then choose a new one for your ds and buy the safest model that you can afford because just about all car seats have changed slightly in the past few years so his will be the newer model as it will be getting the longest use.

LizP has a good idea and if you know someone that has a good car seat that you know the history of well that it has not been in an accident then it might be an idea even in the short term until you can go have a touch and feel. Does your Mothercare have a car type seat instore for them to fit the evolva or you and you can actually try dd in it?

have you looke don kiddicare, they have a sale on at the moment with thwo seats

adath - why is it that their ears are level with the top? shouldn't it be the tip of their heads?

bambi06 - kiddicare do have good discounts, i got my pram there. but i like the car seat to be fitted by John Lewis, there is a lovely lady there who really knows her stuff.

LizP - all my friends have little ones! I will try to think of someone

Nope it is the ears I would imagine it is because they still have good neck support even when the top of their head is at the top of the seat but anything beyond the ears at the top means no neck support.

oh...then she has ages to go in her car seat!

That's the thing most children could go in their car seat for far longer than they do and are shifted onto the next stage far too early.

Right, for anyone else as paranoid as me about car safety, I've done the which free trial so I can e-mail you the list of their 'best buys' if it's of any help. Email me at [email protected]

top of head for rear facing iirc, ears for foward facing.

Have had same dilemma with 5yr old dd who isn't yet 15kgs. We have the Evolva 123 Ultra and she has plenty of room in - you can adjust the width of the seat sides as well as the head rest - far more than the Stage 1 only ones. You use the harness up to 18kg or 15kg if taller than 122cm (iirc) then the adult seat belt as a high back booster. She's very comfy in it.

oooh....not sure about the ear business. i googled road safety and spoke to my council's road safety officer. They thought the whole head should be in the car seat. Maxi Cosi also thought s. - though the guy there also suggested that a 12.5 kg child could go in the rodi xp (from 15kg), and everyone else said her weight is v.imp!

should say "maxi cosi also thought so"

i was told by britax that they're fine unril their top of ears is level with the top of the seat. was told this for first size car seats and 15kg plus car seats.

my two are 4 and 5 nd are quite tall and are in britax ranger's but i would recommend keeping your child in the same type of carseat that she's been in as it will protect her more in a crash than a booster type seat.

places have good offers on a ot of seats especially halfords. i also found that at the age of three they wouldn't sit still in a boster style seat, even with the saefty clips that go on the shoulder!

good luck

lizs, its good to hear someone else also happily using it. what did you mean by "You use the harness up to 18kg or 15kg if taller than 122cm (iirc) then the adult seat belt as a high back booster". Can they not use the 5 point harness when they need thet back raising?

I have just been through this dilema with my dd. We had to replace her Maxi cosi priori as we changed our car and it didn't fit properly. She's 2.8 and was just a tidge too light for the next stage seats.
I chose the 123 ultra in the end even though 58%sounded low as it was vastly better than any alternative I could find. The man in Halfords was very unimpressed with the 123 as it does not have a 'lock off point' at the top of the seatbelt and so can work loose if you don't keep checking it. It has however stayed firmly fitted so far in our car.
The wing things do look very comfortable when she's asleep.
On balance I reckoned it was either the 123 or a next stage seat and that the 123 was the safest option

Sorry didn't explain well. The shoulder straps of the harness can be raised, with the headrest, to a certain height limit which I think suits a child of around 122cm max. So if your child is particularly tall you can change the seat at 15kg to a high back booster by removing the harness and using the 3 point adult belt, otherwise you can wait until 18kg , the maximum that the 5 point harness is safe to carry. The highback booster goes up to around 36kg.

I was also told by a car seat manufacturer that they are ok until the tops of their ears and also by a road safety officer last year applies to first rear facing seats and stage 1 forward facing. Think it is also in one of the daft Bounty pack books or something I was given by mw/hv type person.

Weight is THE most important factor to consider and whoever gave you that informayion mum199 is giving extremely dangerous information. Although I will admit there is a differenc between a 12.5kg 18month old and the same weighted 3 year old because of bone development etc you should always choose the right car seat by weight before age.

I am a bit car seat obsessed actually because when I was choosing dd's car seat because of my location I was restricted on where I could buy it from and really researched them as I didn't have access to trained fitters etc.

glad to know i am not alone in being a car seat geek!

sorry..that was meant to be self-depricating (sp?) . I don't mean to offend u!

Lol no offence taken I know what you meant.
I am a bit of a geek about a lot of things actually....totally self confessed.

well the tale continues....

i went to enfiled council fitting service (they sounded vey knowlegble and sure) and the guy said my existing maxi cosi xp - fitted by john lewis - didn't fit my car as it had buckle crunch. (he recommeded britax first classs as it has an alternative belt routing).I was actually worried about buckle crunch before this and had taken it back once to john lewis. they had said it was just ok.

So back to john lewis to tell them! they had another look and said they could see why he said it wasnt safe as it was borderline but it actually is ok.

very confused! I did learn some things like a better fit is better than ratings in which. but this confuses it further!

thats astonishing! mothercare in brent cross are awful...i could go on and on. John Lewis staff are lovely and make a lot of sense when they explain things. Maybe its a regional thing?

Apparantly its a classic case where it appears to be, but if you check carefully there is a bit of strap going "down" so on impact would not snap. Not sure who to believe!