Toddler car seats

[doireallyneedaname]

Hi All

My soon to be 1 year old is almost outgrowing his car seat, we currently have the Maxi Cosi Pebble Plus.

I’m looking at various options but wanted some opinions on what you found best.

Our car is quite small, a two door Ford Fiesta - so the fancy swivel ones that turn around are of no use to use at the moment.

I would have thought the swivel ones would be ideal in a 2-door? Ideally you want to keep him rear facing for a bit (or a lot) longer, and I can’t imagine trying to strap a toddler in to a rear facing chair through a 2-door. Thought maybe that’s what you’re doing at the moment anyway? I would have thought a swivel one would work well as you could have it forward facing to get him in the turn it round?

We also had the pebble plus (i think, maxi cosi seem to have a lot of similarly named seats) and had every intention of buying the next maxi cosi which fitted on the same isofix. Only to discover in the 18 months since we bought the seat, maxi cosi had discontinued the next seat up and the replacement needed a different base. In the end we bought a swivel one (Nuna rebel) though which is so much easier so in the end it worked out well.

You know what, you’re right about the swivel one in a two door. I just didn’t even think of it like that 😳 Thanks!

If you do get a swivel seat the joie ispin safe is Swedish plus tested.

If they're already growing out of your infant carrier before 1 they're likely to be higher centile so would be better looking at a seat that rear faces to 25kg like the axkid minikid and move or the britax max way. You could also fit them in the front if you can turn the airbag off. Be careful with spin seats as sometimes in three door cars there's not enough space to spin them as they hit the sides.

Hmm.. he’s not quite outgrown it yet, he’s on the 50th centile, but I expect he will do in the next few months and the spec says birth to approx 12m 🤷‍♀️ First time mum here so just a bit worried and want to make sure what we are using is actually safe for him!

Despite their loyal followers (I am one) spin seats seem to be becoming less popular in favour of up to 25kg rear facing seats for the fact that you will not have to buy another between little one reaching 18kg and being old enough to safely go forward facing. Personally, my DD outgrew (by weight) her joie 360 at 2yrs 8 months, so although I thought she was set until 4 I was much mistaken!
I now have her rear facing in a radian 5 (being discontinued but solid and secure) and will then go into a high back booster once she reaches 25kg. It was worth the in between seat in my opinion due to the ease and convenience of the spin seat but if finances are really tight the are extended rear facing seats (up to 25kg) that little ones can go into from their infant carrier. I would say that a spin would be much easier in a 2 door car as mentioned above.