Car seat recommendations please

[usernamexxx86]

My LG who just turned 6 months has nearly grown out of her car seat! Can I have your recommendations for car seats please? Xx

Its quite unusual to grow out so early. Is she very very heavy? If it's height rather than weight you could make sure all the inserts are out (sometimes there's a hidden one under the bum). Then make sure toy are pulling her right down so her nappy is right by the buckle. Usually they're not outgrown til the height is past the top of the shell / they're over the weight limit (varies between about 10-13kg). Feet being past the end is irrelevant.
In terms of next seat she obviously needs to be rear facing. There are loads of seats available depending on budget. Son me last all the way to 25kg rear facing, though the swivel ones are 18kg.
It would be worth a call to the In Car Safety Centre if she really has outgrown her seat at six months, as they'd be able to advise on what might be best next given her high centiles.

It's very very unlikely she's outgrown it.

What are you measuring by?

@OhWifey thank you for your reply! This is all brand new to me, I've taken all the inserts out... she is defiantly no where near the top it's just the feet ... they are touching the chair ( it looks really uncomfortable for her) and also her head hangs forward when she falls asleep ( not sure if that's anything to do with outgrowing it ) x

Check the height and weight limit for the seat, generally speaking they haven't outgrown the infant carrier until their head is above the top of the seat so they might still have a bit of time left in it.
We opted for an extended rear facing seat for DD as she is on a high percentile for weight so we knew she'd grow out of a standard seat quickly, we went with the britax max way and I'd recommend it to anyone it's such a good seat, roomy and comfortable.

Feet don't matter, she can bend her knees. As long as her head isn't over the top you're fine.

I'd get an Axkid One, it'll last til she's 5 or 6.

Don't worry about feet; she wont be uncomfortable. You can Google Images of older children rear facing, crossing their legs or putting them up the back of the seat. The head flop is slightly more of a concern and will likely be to do with the shape of your car seats and the recline of her seat. This can often be rectified by using just your car seat belt rather than the isofix base. Shes just on the cusp of it being a safety issue / not to have head flop. Again id recommend the in car safety centre for a chat as they might be able to recommend a seat which has a good recline for your specific car model.

Don’t worry about her feet. Car seats are meant to be rear facing until 16 months (i think), so she will have to bend her legs at some point.

The head flopping - are you doing the straps tight enough? Also check the seat is reclined as pp suggested.

We have Joie car seats in our cars. I have the spin one as my car is small and it was getting hard to get DS into the car seat - this one turns to the side to put him in, then goes rear facing (or front facing when he’s older).

DH has a joie one that doesn’t spin but does a really big age range and also turns into a booster seat so hoping it will last us until DS doesn’t need a car seat.

I agree with PP that it doesn’t sound as though she’s outgrown it yet. We’ve just bought a John Lewis Isofix 1/2/3 car seat as a second car seat for grandparents etc which is suitable from 9m. However it is forward facing and not I-size (has to be rear facing until 4y to comply) but we’re happy with it and should get a lot of use.

If you're on Facebook there is a page called car seat safety UK where you can post a photo for a fit check to see if its outgrown or not and they give advice on car seats.
Its recommend to rear facing as long as possible and preferably until 4 yo so don't worry about the legs, more the head at the top of the shell. If you forward face to give more leg room, you're more likely to damage their spine in a crash.

As PP have said, she will not have outgrown it. But when she does eventually do so, I'd recommend an extended rear-facing seat. They go up to 25kg. DD is 3.5 and still happily rear-facing.

We actually went for a spin seat first as DD is heavy and my back was knackered after pregnancy. They do up to 18kg but then that means you need to buy another seat if you want to continue to RF to 25kg so it isn't the most economical choice, but I found the spin seat convenient enough that it was worth the extra expense.

In terms of makes, Britax and Axkid would be my recommendations. If you want a spin seat, the Britax Dualfix is a great seat, or there's the Joie 360 which is also a good seat. For the 25kg ones, we have a Britax Maxway Plus which I really like. There's also the Axkid Minikid, which is a great seat.

It’s expected that their legs will end up longer than the seat. They just bend them or rest them on the back of your car’s seat.

Her head flopping forward is a worry though. I wonder if you could get a birth-4 years (or even birth to 6 years) rear-facing seat that has a better recline but saves you purchasing another newborn seat.

If you’re at all near an ‘in car safety centre’ shop I’d book an appointment. They’re experts at finding the right seat to suit the baby’s height/weight AND your car.

The seats on my car are quite sloped so they had to rule out quite a few seats due to them not being reclined enough to offset the tilt made by my car’s back seat.

I meant also to say that at in car safety centres I’ve found that they’ll have a quick check of your current seat to check that it’s not the way you’ve installed it that’s causing the recline to be insufficient.

It's not cheap, but we got the Joie I-Spin Safe. It's one of the higher rated for safety, and it spins all the way around. I had it for one day and it changed my life completely.

Baby looks super comfortable, and it last up to age 4(ish).

Only downside is it's not easy to transport between cars as it's big and heavy, so if you need to move from car to car then don't get it.