Rear facing car seat advice needed!

[Eyelashwishes]

Hiya! My 2.5 year old is still rear facing and I want to keep him that way for a long as possible, however he's big for his age. I currently have the joie 360 which goes up to 18kg, and he is 15kg already so want to check out my options for when he outgrows it.

Ideally I'd love another 360 as I have a really bad back and this makes it easier for me to get him into the car seat and do the straps etc, but I can't seem to find one that rear faces longer than 18kg. If I can't get a 360 I will still go for a rear facing one but would like one that's as easy as possible to get him into due to my back. Not fussed on the cost if its more expensive but going to make my life easier!

I've tried doing my own research but am finding it very confusing and am not entirely sure what I need to be looking for safety wise, so would really love some advice!

We use the britax romer max way, which has a higher weight limit.

Axkid Minikid 2 or the Britax Maxway Plus. Both go up to 25kg which should theoretically get you to age 5-6 if you wanted. Axkid also do a Minikid 4 which is up to 36kg. All Swedish Plus tested.

You could also try the Facebook group Extended Rear Facing Car Seat Safety for advice on spin versions - I just resorted to teaching DD, just turned 3, to climb into the seat by herself when she was about 2.5 ish 🤷🏼‍♀️

You won't get a spinning one with a higher weight limit unfortunately. There are a couple up to 19/20kg but they still have the 105cm height limit, so no use for bigger centile children.

Axkid Move/Minikid have lower sides so easy to get children in and out. Britax Multi-Tech 3 is also supposed to be really good for this.

As PP says also it is easier once they can climb in, which they can do earlier with a non spin seat because the spin ones are really high up. Certainly from 3 most children can get into their own car seat.

The other 25kg+ seats are:

Axkid Minikid 3/4
Besafe Stretch
Besafe izi Plus
Klippan Opti 129
Klippan Century
Avionaut Sky (but this is meant to be short in the shell so not good for you)
Joie i-Prodigi
Axkid One2
Britax Max Way Plus
Britax Max Safe

At 15kg he likely has a while longer in the seat, so you don't need to be in any huge rush to replace it, but it probably will be outgrown before age 4 so definitely worth doing your research and seeing what is available before you get there.

If you do a search for Axkid retailers on their website, you should be able to find someone local to you who you can contact and see what different ERF seats they have and potentially try them out or compare them.

Thanks so much for those recommendations. I've started to teach him to climb in himself and he can mostly do it now so hopefully my back with survive one that doesn't spin! Will take a look into all of those 25kg+ ones, thanks so much!

Check out the Car Seat Advice UK group on FB lot of extended rear facing seat recommendations. I don't think you can get a spinning one that goes over 18kg though. Your son still has a way to go though being only 15kg as weight gain usually slows down.

My 4.5 year old is still in the joie spin 360 but he is small for his age.

I've just switched my 2yo from a Joie 360 to an Axkid Modukid and we're so pleased with it, loads more legroom and so much easier to get child in and out, even without the spin function. Definitely worth looking at!