Car seat recs for toddler please 🙏

[EJ85]

Hi, my 14-month-old is rapidly outgrowing his first car seat and I would love recommendations for something to move on to.
I’d like rear facing and safe as possible. I believe that the seats that supposedly go up to age 12 are a bit of a waste of time but I could have that wrong. If anyone has any recommendations, it’d be much appreciated!
Thanks

We've got a BeSafe IZI Flexi plus which rear faces until 25kg. It is superb although a tad expensive.

The Britax range is also recommended.

We’ve got an Axkid Move, which I really like. It’s ERF to 25kg. There is also the Axkid Minikid which is very similar but with more extras, eg headrest and straps adjust automatically, I think. I personally didn’t feel those extras were worth paying for but it depends on your budget and whether you may use the seat with any subsequent babies as well.

Most of the ERF seats use tethers as well as the seatbelt. If you plan to move the seat between cars, I strongly recommend an extra set of tethers!

We also looked at Britax (specifically the Max Way Plus) but I preferred the Move.

I would probably not buy a seat designed to take you through to age 12 for my own car (as opposed to buying it to use in a relative’s car) - and I say that as someone who did with DC1. My experience makes me feel that if you can afford a seat specifically designed for the stage you need it for, these seats are probably better rather than a seat trying to do multiple things at once, if you see what I mean.

We had a Joie Every Stage for DC1 for my parents’ car, which we’ve been happy with, but it’s a big bulky seat. We also had a Joie Stages for our own car for DC1 (bought before we owned said car and only previously used FF) - it is enormous in RF mode and we can’t fit it in our car. The Minikid is much sleeker.

In your position, I’d buy a good ERF seat to 25 kg and move them into a good HBB once they max out the seat.

Oh, and I would also recommend going to/talking to a reputable retailer such as the In-Car Safety Centre. They know all the cars and what will fit your particular car.

Surely it depends on what car you have? Some seats will fit better than others.

Thanks so much all! Should say we have a Volvo V50.

We loved our Axkid minikid so much we bought a second one

I suggest that you go to the In Car Safety Centre or your local specialist retailer:
www.carseatadvice-uk.com/specialist-retailers.html

I advise you to look at the Britax Max Way Plus, the Axkid Move and the Axkid Minikid. You can't really beat looking at them and trying them out in your car, plus trying DC in them. I thought I wanted an Axkid seat but when we tried them (at ICSC) we much preferred the Britax Max Way Plus. That's what we have and we're very happy with it. It's often on offer too, for £215 which is v good value IMO for the quality of the seat.

I love DS’ joie 360 spin. It does take 2 ppl to fit it but once in it’s a dream. I’ve moved it between cars so easily; but it’s not great if you use taxis a lot because you can’t really carry it around easily.

*ispin

The Joie 360 spin is an 18kg seat so it will be outgrown before the others which are 25kg seats.

Another vote for the Axkid Minikid.

Another Minikid fan here.

Swedish plus tested seats are among the safest you can buy.

And if your child is high centile you'll need the extra7kg to get past the age 4 milestone. If they are lower centile it will last even longer.

We have an Axkid Minikid as well; I’d considered a spinning seat but the seat sides are low on the Minikid so it’s easy to get the child in without having to spin. It’s also pretty easy to move between cars as long as the tether straps are already in - getting them in between the seat rails is the fiddly bit. We use it in a Landrover discovery sport and a VW golf with no issues, although the front seat on the golf has to be quite far forwards.

Where is your dc on the percentile charts? If you want rear facing as long as possible then a 25kg rear facing seat such as the axkid minikid is the safest option. You could go for one of the 18kg seat which are advertised as 4 years but this is an average and if you child is particularly tall and/or heavy then it wouldn't last that long.

I have one 25kg seat and one 18kg seat. The advantage of the 18kg seat is that it reclines/sits up without refitting and it's very quick to move between cars as it's isofix. The disadvantage is that it will be outgrown by 3.5 for my tall children but I have the 25kg seat too. Dc1 is in the 25kg seat at almost 5 (plenty of room still) dc2 will outgrow the 18kg seat in about 6 months and dc1 will go into a booster then.

@Paddingtonsmarmlade Thanks, that’s really helpful. He’s on the 65th centimetres so I don’t want him outgrowing anything too quickly.

@NameChange30 Thank you, I’ll definitely look into that!

Very happy with the Britax Maxway plus that I bought recently. Rear facing to 25kg, Swedish plus tested, simple to use

Besafe izi plus, Axkid minikid or Britax Max way plus.

With Volvo's you've already got the tether loops in so easy peasy to fit!