Changing my baby's car seat

[Isabella20]

I have a 6month old baby girl and was wondering how old your babies were when you changed their car seat from the standard new born on to the next stage? I’m struggling to find anything anywhere that tells me when to change it over x

Don't bother with Mothercare, they're clueless and don't sell anything that's ERF to 25kg

7 months but DD is incredibly tall. She is still rear facing though. The Facebook group car seats for mummies and daddies has fantastic information.

Agree with PP, Mothercare and Halfords are not places to go for car seat advice. An independent car seat retailer is a much better choice.

Or use the Facebook group making suggested - although it has recently renamed as 'Car Seat Advice UK'

I think our daughter was around 15 months. She then stayed rear facing until she was over 3.

It really depends what size car seat OP has; a new born car seat Group 0 is only suitable for up to 10kg (approx 9-12 months) Group 0+ car seat then that's suitable for 13kg (12-15 months). OP that's based on of you have a Group car seat anyway (assuming you do if it's "newborn" sized)

I actually found Mothercare really helpful. I asked them at 6 months if car seat was still suitable for DS as I thought he looked squished and they explained to me it's weight based and as long as his head doesn't creep over the top of the seat then it's all good. They pointed me to the car seat law website too. Went back at 9 months as he hit 9kg and was creeping over the top of the car seat and they actually weighed him to ensure I was correctly staying his weight. Perhaps o was just lucky? Anyway DS is still rear facing but in a car seat that should grow up with him till he is 4.

Twittle If you got good advice at Mothercare, that's great but their advice is very hit and miss. They don't stock any ERF 25kg seats (they used to have the Diono Radian 5) so they clearly don't have a full understanding of car seat safety and cannot be giving the best, impartial advice.

18kg seats are fine but the age 4 guideline is just that. Any child who is over the 50th centile for weight or who carries their height in their torso will not get anywhere near 4 years old. For my 91st centile DD, she would outgrow that not long after her 3rd birthday and for my 98th centile DS that would be 2.5 years! So Mothercare/Halfords/any other high street retailer are not giving the safest or most economical advice to offer me or any other parents with children over the 50th centile an 18kg seat.

As a guide, a child who outgrows an infant carrier before 12mo would need a 25kg seat.

You can get much better advice on the Facebook group mentioned before.

teaandbiscuitsforme wasn't any "if" about it for me, certainly did get good advice Although I can appreciate I was clearly lucky on this as a few people have criticised them on here.

I am very happy with the Joie Spin 360 car seat they suggested and it can remain rear facing till 18kg and so DS will surely remain rear facing until 15 months as recommended by the AAP. Came in way under what we budgeted for as well and we plan to have another baby soon which will no doubt move into this car seat at around the 9 month age and so DS will move into a bigger one again.

OP check that facebook website out as teaandbiscuitsforme suggested, does seem good and might help you make sense of the law on www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-the-rules a bit clearer

My Ds2 was on the 99th centile for height and I managed to keep him in the infant carrier for quite a while after he was 12 months.

AnneWiddecombesHandbag which one did you have? We are considering looking at a new one for baby #2

twittle we’ve got the maxi cosi cabriofix which is probably quite old now as I first used it for DS 1 who’s now 6 and a half, but as I said up thread, none of ours grew out of it before about 18 months and DS3 is still in it at 14 months and will have a good bit of growing yet I think.

this one

PotteringAlong thank you for the suggestion, our DS out grew that one at 9 months, his head started peaking at the top and we really struggled to get the straps round him!

Maybe we will just get another Joie 360 Spin from the start

PotteringAlong thank you for the suggestion, our DS out grew that one at 9 months, his head started peaking at the top and we really struggled to get the straps round him!

Wow, what centile was he? DD2 was 98th centile for height and weight and she didn’t outgrow it until 15 months.

He is only on the 50th centile for weight (idk about height as they don't measure them in that anymore). Maybe I am just being really thick? Is there a way to expand it?

Don’t think there’s a way to expand it! Just different builds I guess.

Maybe I'll post a pic of DS in it, if DP can be bothered to get it out of the loft. Starting to question that maybe that isn't the car seat we have either - do maxi cosi do a smaller version?

I think the maxi cosi pebble is slightly smaller.

Twittle Are you pulling his nappy right down to the buckle? My 15mo DS is also 98th height and weight and outgrew the Joie I gemm at 12mo but a friend had a cabriofix and there was loads of room left in that. We moved 91st centile DD out of her Be Safe Izi go at about 9mo because the shape of it made her head squashed but she still technically had loads of room in it. The Maxi Cosis are massive in comparison!

teaandbiscuitsforme his nappy?

Yes, often people think infant car seats are outgrown because their head is at the top, but when the child is put in, they're not being pulled right down into the seat so that their nappy area is right down in the buckle. Infant car seats are loads bigger than people realise.

My DS is 13.5-14kg now but I reckon he'd still fit into a cabriofix by height and he's in 18-24mo clothes. It would be really strange for a 50th centile 9mo to outgrow a Maxi Cosi unless he's got a really odd body shape? Really long torso but very short legs?? What size clothes was he in at the time?

Sorry I am being thick again, not sure what his nappy has to do with this?

Pretty sure we had him in it as far as he could go? Tbf though he does have a really long and wide torso (family trait in a family of rugby players lol) he was in size 12-18 month tops at 9 months.

I'll find a picture later to explain. It's just about pulling them right down, the easiest way to explain is to say pull their nappy (area!) right down into the buckle.

He may well have been getting uncomfortable, I'd just be surprised with a MC. My DD was only just too tall for it when we were messing around last summer and she was 2.5yrs and 91st centile! She adopted it as a rocking seat for the house though!

Not a Maxi Cosi but it shows the difference

Thank you for that! Certainly looks like I had my DS positioned wrong then! Although he really did look squished too with his wide shoulders haha

I'll just resuse the maxi cosi for baba 2

The advice is to keep them in the seat until either their head reaches the edge of the shell or they reach the weight limit for the seat. It doesn't matter if their legs come off the end :)

If you're choosing rear facing for the next stage, then there's no harm in moving her now if you choose to. But if you're going for forward facing with the next stage it's much more important to use the infant seat right up until you can't any more.