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Car seat advice

11 replies

Lucky2023 · 18/03/2024 12:00

Hello lovely people
Currently pregnancy with my first ever baby and we are looking into car seats.
We don't need a car seat that clips on to the pram. I am anticipating to have a chunky/long baby and would love recommendations for a car seat that can grow with the baby for a few years for as long as practical. Would love a second baby soon after, so we can re use the car seats.
We won't be driving much day to day, our car is not small but not a 4x4 so space isn't an issue. I am eyeing the joie 360 any thoughts please?

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Chamalala · 18/03/2024 12:08

Look at the avionaut sky 2.0, it's a tethered seat (but really not that hard and you can get it fitted from specialist dealerships). It will last 4-7 years as 25kg rear facing. The joie 360 doesn't give a great fit from birth, usually from 3-4 months (even though it's advertised from birth). The inserts can also be bulky. There are some car seat safety groups on fb which can be helpful.

ProjectKettle · 18/03/2024 12:17

If you have a long baby, then the Joie 360 might get outgrown quite early on. Look at Car Seat Safety UK on FB - run by independent car seat retailers and give really helpful advice. If i remember their advice, with the exception of the Avianaut pp has mentioned, they mostly recommend an infant carrier for as long as possible (even if you arent putting it on the buggy) because its better designed for a newborn / infant. Then switching to a 25kg or 36kg seat to take you through to age 7ish.

Peppageorgepeppageorge · 18/03/2024 12:19

Get the joie 360 I have used it with all of mine and it easily lasted from newborn to 3.5

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BertieBotts · 18/03/2024 12:45

The Joie 360 Spin is great in terms of price and it does have good safety and is well designed compared with the other more "budget" spin seats.

It doesn't typically last long enough for tall/chunky kids - this is less of an issue if you're planning to pass it down. You can move your first one into something like Axkid Move when the second is born, or when they outgrow this.

Some people find it hard to get a good fit from newborn. The inserts, and the pads on the straps are bulky and can be confusing. In theory, they provide a really great, gradual transition from a lot of support to less support. In practice it can be tricky to get the right combination.

The Joie i-Spin 360 is a little easier for this, but IMO the price jump is enough that it loses the budget "pro" and a lot of the cons start to outweigh this.

It doesn't have good leg room for rear facing because of the lack of a rebound bar. Most children look very scrunched up from about 2 years old. 18 months for taller children. Although it can rear face up to 18kg, the vast majority of people don't rear face that long in this seat. If rear facing is your goal, then you need to be quite committed to it to make it work in this seat. And OTOH if you aren't so fussed about rear facing all the way up to age 4, I don't think it's the best safety rating for a forward facing seat. However, again, this might not be such an issue if you are planning to pass it down, and you're just planning to use it like a longer-lasting first seat.

In terms of practicality of skipping the baby seat stage, it means that you get stuck in the car when they fall asleep. Whereas if you have a carry seat, you have the option to take it with you. You can transfer a baby from their car seat to something else e.g. a sling, a pushchair, some babies are fairly chilled and will go right back to sleep. Some babies are less tolerant of this and will wake up. Younger babies nap on and off all day, so you can get stuck in the car a bit with this which is a pain.

The other thing with skipping the carry seat is that if you have a baby who is still quite young over winter, this becomes a pain as you can't put bulky winter clothing on them in the car seat - it makes the straps too loose. It's easy when you can strap them into the carrier and then bundle blankets on top of them and then just pick the whole thing up and click or strap it into the car, compared to either faffing around with taking coats on and off or wrapping them in a blanket. This might be less of an issue if you have e.g. a connected garage. Thinking even if you have a summer due date, you want to reuse the seat for another child and they might be born in winter. This is an issue for anything from late summer babies right up to about April birthday. It's (maybe?) less of a problem for babies born March-June. But I know for example my August babies were still pretty tiny when it was freezing cold and rainy a lot of the time.

IMO the best multi-age seats for a good fit from newborn are:

Axkid One2 - you need the + version.
Avionaut Sky
Besafe izi Turn (or Twist) - you need the B version. This is especially good if you have sloping seats in your car, as most multi-age seats are too angled in this scenario.
Besafe Stretch - again B version.

And worth looking at:

Joie 360 Spin / i-Spin 360 - just for the cost factor but you need to be fairly confident to get a good newborn fit.

Recaro Salia Elite - has a carry out thing for the tiniest newborns but also converts to a full sized spin seat with a good safety rating. Worth a fit check in your car, as the angle is very steep in some cars, and the seat very high making it hard to fit the child through the door opening in some cars.

Britax seats - Dualfix or Max Space Pro - to be totally honest, I don't know what the newborn fit is like for these but some of the promo photos with newborns look good. One issue we had with Britax was that the stage where baby is too big for the newborn insert, but too small to use the seat without is awkward, so I recommend also getting (or at least bookmarking!) the "Britax Comfort Insert" for this in-between stage.

Cybex Sirona Gi i-size - for a combination of cost and I used to find the newborn insert great in GB Vaya, which is a sister company of Cybex, but TBH I haven't seen the insert in the new Sirona.

In terms of the usual argument of getting a carry seat first so you can see whether you need a 105cm/18kg limit for the next stage, vs a 25kg/125cm limit for the next stage, I think this is somewhat negated when you plan to hand the first seat down. Because if you have two tall children, fairly close in age then you are eventually going to need two seats in the middle stage (5 point harness / ERF stage). So it does actually make logical sense to opt for a 0-4 years (ish) seat which can be used from birth to maybe 2.5 / 3 (for the tallest children) rather than an infant carry seat which might be outgrown before a year old.

If you do decide to look at infant only/carry seats anyway, the Cybex ones tend to be the longest lasting. Ignore height limits, unless it's less than 80cm, physical size of the seat is more relevant. What you want to do is go into a shop, take a tape measure, measure the seats from the bottom where the baby's bum would go, right up to the shoulder height under the headrest or where the straps come out with straps/headrest in highest position. The longest one will last the longest. Check if there are newborn inserts under the cover to remove. Ask a shop assistant to help if you like (I once got this request and I was so happy to do it!)

Cybex Cloud tends to be good, and has a swivel base meaning it's practical to use it as an occasional carry type seat and leave in the car most of the time, but it does cost more than some of the 0-4 years types of seat. Cybex Aton S2 is a cheaper option which is I think similarly long lasting (check this).

Joie i-Level 2 is another good option again with swivel base option, slightly cheaper, still more than the most budget 0-4 years seats. Britax also tend to be larger in the shell, but I'm not up to date with the current models. Some of these have a swivel base too, but at a similar price point to Cybex.

Good luck, happy shopping! Happy to answer any further questions.

mindutopia · 18/03/2024 12:59

Is there a reason you don't want one that clips into the pram or is removable with the handle sort? I actually found these to be hugely convenient with both of ours. Babies sleep A LOT for the first few months and you will want to be able to lift baby in and out of the car without removing them from the car seat, be able to take them into restaurants, without waking them. Do not underestimate how important 20 minutes to sit and drink a coffee with two free hands and some headspace will be to your sanity.

In the long run, you will ideally want an ERF seat, something that can be rear facing til 4/5. I would not worry about sourcing a seat that can do both right now. ERF seats are very much about what fits your car (and you/your passenger) and you don't know what sort of car you may have in 2 years time. A seat that fits a baby well is not going to fit a 3-4-5 year old well (or your car), so prioritise a safe well-fitting convenient infant seat and re-visit what you need next when your baby is a bit older.

Lucky2023 · 18/03/2024 15:20

Wow thank you so much for your advice! I am so grateful and I will definitely look into your recommendations.

Once they are 4, am I correct in that they will just need a booster seat? Or do they need a car seat + booster?

The reason I'm not fussed about a car seat pram attachment is that I 1) live on a second floor flat so can't carry the baby up anyway. 2) I will not be driving on most days, probably only on proper outings on weekends with DH and we will need the carrycot anyway. Most of my errands can be done locally by walking and I can wear a sling or use the pram. I don't envisage needing to use that function at this point unless I am missing something!

OP posts:
Lucky2023 · 18/03/2024 15:48

Lucky2023 · 18/03/2024 15:20

Wow thank you so much for your advice! I am so grateful and I will definitely look into your recommendations.

Once they are 4, am I correct in that they will just need a booster seat? Or do they need a car seat + booster?

The reason I'm not fussed about a car seat pram attachment is that I 1) live on a second floor flat so can't carry the baby up anyway. 2) I will not be driving on most days, probably only on proper outings on weekends with DH and we will need the carrycot anyway. Most of my errands can be done locally by walking and I can wear a sling or use the pram. I don't envisage needing to use that function at this point unless I am missing something!

Sorry I meant I can't carry baby + car seat up two flights!

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BertieBotts · 18/03/2024 16:57

There are basically three (four) stages of car seat.

You have the first stage which is reclined and rear facing. Most often this is the carry type seat, but you can get multi-stage seats which incorporate this stage too. Usually you need a newborn insert in these seats.

Next is a rear facing toddler seat. It sits upright but it faces the back of the car for more safety. (Sometimes called ERF).

And/or you can have a forward facing seat with a 5-point harness built into the seat.

Some people go straight from the carry seat to a forward facing seat, some people keep children rear facing for the whole of this stage. Most people tend to keep their child rear facing for at least a couple of years. It is safer to keep them rear facing. But essentially, ERF seats and the 5-point harness stage cover the same age/weight class. All children must rear face up to 15 months minimum.

Last of all is the booster seat stage but you can break this down again, into high back boosters, and backless boosters/booster cushion.

A high back booster looks like a full car seat, but it doesn't have its own straps. Instead the car seatbelt loops through little holders to keep it in the right place on the child. Picture attached. This is the kind of seat that a four year old would have after they grow out of their rear facing seat or harnessed seat. Or they might still be in that kind of car seat at four, and only move into a high back booster at five, or six.

Car seat specialists tend to mean a high back booster seat when they say "booster seat" but sometimes when people say booster seat, they just mean a booster cushion. These days, booster cushions are no longer advised because they don't offer any side protection at all and they don't moderate the diagonal belt so it might sit too high on younger children. They are still sold and legal, but they are only for children over 125cm and 22kg (which is about 7 years old). It's also recommended that you use a high back booster when possible, with booster cushions being a "better than nothing" solution e.g. for travel, lifts, or older children who are too tall for a high back booster but not tall enough for no car seat.

Lucky2023 · 19/03/2024 21:17

BertieBotts · 18/03/2024 16:57

There are basically three (four) stages of car seat.

You have the first stage which is reclined and rear facing. Most often this is the carry type seat, but you can get multi-stage seats which incorporate this stage too. Usually you need a newborn insert in these seats.

Next is a rear facing toddler seat. It sits upright but it faces the back of the car for more safety. (Sometimes called ERF).

And/or you can have a forward facing seat with a 5-point harness built into the seat.

Some people go straight from the carry seat to a forward facing seat, some people keep children rear facing for the whole of this stage. Most people tend to keep their child rear facing for at least a couple of years. It is safer to keep them rear facing. But essentially, ERF seats and the 5-point harness stage cover the same age/weight class. All children must rear face up to 15 months minimum.

Last of all is the booster seat stage but you can break this down again, into high back boosters, and backless boosters/booster cushion.

A high back booster looks like a full car seat, but it doesn't have its own straps. Instead the car seatbelt loops through little holders to keep it in the right place on the child. Picture attached. This is the kind of seat that a four year old would have after they grow out of their rear facing seat or harnessed seat. Or they might still be in that kind of car seat at four, and only move into a high back booster at five, or six.

Car seat specialists tend to mean a high back booster seat when they say "booster seat" but sometimes when people say booster seat, they just mean a booster cushion. These days, booster cushions are no longer advised because they don't offer any side protection at all and they don't moderate the diagonal belt so it might sit too high on younger children. They are still sold and legal, but they are only for children over 125cm and 22kg (which is about 7 years old). It's also recommended that you use a high back booster when possible, with booster cushions being a "better than nothing" solution e.g. for travel, lifts, or older children who are too tall for a high back booster but not tall enough for no car seat.

Thank you so so much for the advice! I really appreciate all your information which has been godsend!

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J18 · 07/05/2024 21:42

Interested in what you went for @Lucky2023 ? as I'm also considering whether to get a carry infant seat or skip to a longer lasting seat.

Lucky2023 · 07/05/2024 22:05

J18 · 07/05/2024 21:42

Interested in what you went for @Lucky2023 ? as I'm also considering whether to get a carry infant seat or skip to a longer lasting seat.

Hiya. We decided to go for the joie 360 ispin isize. We actually found one at a really discounted price because it has the Liverpool football club logo on it lol. But due to the staircase to my flat I decided I won't be needing to carry baby up and down in the seat so won't need one that can be taken out of the car. I will carrying baby up with in my arms or a sling until we hopefully move in approx a year's time.

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