Car Seat

[Dexy2020]

Hi
Just looking at car seats for my little boy who's almost 6 months old and has nearly grown out of the one that fits into the pushchair, the ones that I've seen for him are Isofix and Front Facing, however on gov.uk it says babies should be in rear facing seats until they are 15 months old, surely they wouldn't be allowed to sell front facing seats if they were not legal, I'm confused can someone please help? 😂 Xx

They are legal, just not safe. Most group 0+ seats last until 12-15months so you probably have a little while yet to research what you need.

If you're on Facebook there's some very good groups explaining what's safe, what's not safe etc. Worth a lookx

Those front facing seats can be used after 15 months. This is the very legal minimum and not the safest option.

It would be very usual to grow out of a first stage car seat before 1 years old. Double check you have removed all the new born inserts.

Infant carriers are normally OK up to 13kg. What weight is your baby? Your baby is too young to forward face so you'd be looking at another rear facing seat

They sell cigarettes legally but you wouldn’t say they were safe would you?

A 6 month old baby absolutely must be rear facing.

I highly recommend the Joie 360 seat which is suitable from birth until around age 4 and can rear face. If you choose to forward facing him once he is much older then it spins round for you to do so.

Front facing is perfectly legal BUT extended rear facing is far, far safer.

Rear facing is the safest option until a child is around 4. I forward facing from 2.5 years because my little one would scream the car down for hours on end unless I turned him round!

It is very unlikely your baby will have properly outgrown an infant car seat. They usually go up to quite a high weight or until their heads reach over the top (properly fitted). Even my quite chunky baby was not at that point before 12 months.

That said, if he's really outgrown it by weight or height, you need a rear facing car seat. There are loads that are extended rear facing. You will just need to pay a bit more than the cheaper ff ones. But it's your baby's safety at stake, so worth finding a way to do it. We bought an extended rear facing seat, which has lasted us from 12 months to 4.5 years with our first and is now going on 2 years of use with our 2nd (will also last him til 4+ years). So very worth the cost. It also becomes a high back booster so could use it to age 12 (or until he outgrows it by height).

forward facing has a minimum weight of 9kg but that's not to say its safe at that weight if your baby is too young and has a head that is still heavy in proportion to its body.

Perfect thanks everyone, I have no idea when it comes to car seats so new I could rely on here for some answers :D also thanks for the recommendation will have a look into it :D xx

I also recommend the joie 360 spin for moving from smaller to bigger seats. Best car seat I’ve ever had.

Maxi cosi also do a newborn to age 4 car seat that can be both front and rear facing. Do you use the seatbelt or isofix base?

P.s his seat goes up to 28 pounds and he's 20 at the moment so got a good 8 to go 😂we use an isofix base at the moment @Lucky08 xx

He will have only outgrown the seat if there is less than an inch from the top of his head to the car sweat or he is over the maximum weight. I would think this is very unlikely at 6 months. My 98th centile height and 75th centile weight baby was in one until 14 months. Once he has outgrown his baby seat then by far the safest option is to get an extended rear facing seat so he can rear face until at least 4. This takes pressure away from the child’s neck in the event of a crash. The seats available either rear face to 18 or 25kg so if he’s big then you might want to look at a 25kg one.

We switched over to a bigger car seat (still 0+) at around 6 months because as soon as she could sit up she went BATSHIT when reclined. We live in a village so driving is a necessity.

Have a look at what happens to the childs neck in tests with both forward and rear facings seats. You will find some videos on youtube. I would be surprised however if they have outgrown their first car seat at 6 montns though.

There is a fabulous Facebook group called Car seat Advice UK - they have trained moderators and can give you loads of suggestions based on your child's measurements. It really helped me pick the next car seat for my son. I'm aiming to rear face until at least 4 too

Sorry when I say nearly outgrown I mean within the next few months, just doing some forward planning because if they go as quick as the 1st 6 months it will soon be here 😂thanks again everyone for all your help and advice xx

If he's chunky or tall (assuming he is as he's outgrowing his infant carrier early) then he is likely to outgrow any 18kg seat (which will include all isofix seats) before 4 years old. You've then got a tricky decision whether to put him in a booster seat before he's developmentally ready to lose the harness or incur more expense and get a bigger seat. My DD is tall and at 8 months we've just moved her into a 25kg seat which should easily get her to 4/5 or even older. There aren't a huge selection of 25kg rear facing seats as it doesn't seem massively popular to rear face this long but it's absolutely the safest option. We have the axkid minikid which is fab but there are a few other 25kg seats in different price brackets. As the PP said, the car seat advice uk Facebook page is brilliant and reading the advice there helped us settle on this seat :) I was worried about losing the isofix and going for a belted seat but it's no hassle at all, the seat belt is clipped out of the way and it's really easy to get her in and out.

Surprises this hasnt been said already but the reason they still sell forward facing for under 15 months is because it's a new law introduced recently, in effect there are two laws running alongside each other. They are not allowed to manufacture brand new front facing car seats for under 15 months but ones they already exist or are on the market are allowed to be sold and used.

I researched for hours and shortlisted the join spin and the cosatto all in all or the cossato rotate. A cheaper option is the joie tilt which my mum has in her car. That's because they all can rear face until 4 but can be turned if needed (maybe i was thinking age 2.5 but starting to want to keep him rear facing)

Sorry so many typos

We recently got the iSafe 360 car seat and love it. So easy to fix rear facing with the isofix and will take her all the way up to booster seat since it covers all stages, including 0

@TrashKitten10 he is chunky and tall, will definately have a look at that Facebook page, thank you
@Russell19 thank you that info is very helpful
@xsamix86 will have a look at that seat thank you :)
Just having a look at the car seat I've got online and apparently there is an adjustment thing on the back which I had no idea about 😂🤦‍♀️will get it out the car shortly and have a good look ooops!! Like I say oblivious when it comes to car seats hehe xx

@Karwomannghia

I also recommend the joie 360 spin for moving from smaller to bigger seats. Best car seat I’ve ever had.

I have this for my grandson, he’s been in it since he was about 6 months and is now using it front facing as he’s very long! I’d highly recommend getting a swivel one. So much easier for getting them in and out.

15 months is the absolutely minimum, not a goal. Rear facing is significantly safer.

You’d be better off investing in a rear facing car seat that goes up to at least 18kg (approx 4 years old).

Our car seat (Axkid Minikid) goes up to 25kg rear facing so I’m hoping to get our DS to 5/6 years old before turning him around.

You can definitely buy larger rear facing seats :)

Do you have an idea of budget and do you have isofix in your car?

To the previous poster who has shortlisted a joie and cosatto seat - I'd scratch the cosatto off your list as their other seats which have been safety tested past the minimum requirements have done really badly. The Joie does much better. You can compare to Britax Dualfix for the same sort of price :)