Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Car seats - indecisive and overwhelmed

32 replies

Carseatstresss · 02/10/2024 08:49

My daughter is 14 months old and needs a new car seat. I've been looking at the Joie 360 spin (not the more expensive I size). Would this be a good choice? I'd rather a car seat that is both rear facing and forward facing in case of car sickness.

Can't decide if I want a 360 spin seat or just a seat that can be rear facing or front facing. I've seen a few that go up to 4 years old, which is fine. Willing to pay around the price of the Joie 360 or below. Thanks in advance!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
WiserOlderElf · 03/10/2024 18:14

doodleschnoodle · 02/10/2024 12:49

And no just RF. Both of mine have/will rearfaced to 25kg.

My 10 year old is 25kg!

Carseatstresss · 03/10/2024 19:12

Noodlesnotstrudels · 03/10/2024 16:24

Dont go to Halfords! They are awful at proper car seat advice. Google your nearest town plus car seat retailer and there will be an independent retailer who will most likely be 1000x better than Halfords. Or if you post your approx area, someone might know where your nearest is.

There's literally just Halfords or Argos. Nowhere else in my town or nearby towns.

OP posts:
Carseatstresss · 03/10/2024 19:15

DappledOliveGroves · 03/10/2024 16:49

Please don't go to Halfords, please do ask questions on Car seat safety UK on Facebook and please find an independent retailer who can advise.

You do NOT need a large car to rear face a child. It is at least 5x safer to rear face children, ideally to at least four, and older as far as possible. Legal standards for forward facing in this country and pretty poor. Sweden has all children rear facing until aged four at a minimum and they have far fewer deaths of children in road accidents.

You should be able to rear face, using a spin seat, until your child is around four or older, assuming she stays on the 20th centile for weight. However, there are excellent ERF seats out there that could last longer and that your child will be comfortable in.

The issue with ERF car seats is if my daughter vomits due to car sickness and I can't turn her around. That's why I'd like the choice of being able to switch. All the photos of ERF car seats are in big cars.

OP posts:

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

SprigatitoYouAndIKnow · 03/10/2024 20:21

I had the joie spin for ds2 in a smaller car. Absolutely loves being able to spin it to get him in and out, so much easier than ds1's not spinning seat. He mostly rear faced, with occasional forward facing on short journeys when his wheezing was particularly bad. He has always had breathing issues, so in those scenario it was definitely safer to forward face than lack oxygen. Mostly though it was just the convenience of spinning it sideways that brought joy.

NameChange30 · 03/10/2024 20:39

"She's just turned15 months so legally she can travel forward facing, but I might keep her facing rear facing for a couple of more months if I can find the ideal car seat."

Please do not forward face your daughter at 18 months Sad

My child was rear facing until age 6 and was very comfy in his seat until then. We don't have a huge car, it's a Skoda Octavia.

You don't have to rear face your child for that long if you don't have to, but please consider rear facing as long as possible, preferably until age 4 but the longer you do it the better.

BertieBotts · 04/10/2024 13:34

If your child doesn't show signs of travel sickness now (if not actual puking then distress in the car) then she is unlikely to suddenly develop it - not all children are travel sick. I was horribly travel sick as a child but only one of my three gets it.

But you don't need to justify your decision to FF if you want to do it. As long as you are aware of the difference in safety, make an informed choice and be confident in it. The younger the child is, the more of a risk it is - 15 months is an absolute minimum, it does not become significantly safer at that age.

Personally, I don't think the Joie 360 is the best for FF - I would prefer a seat by Britax, Recaro or Maxi Cosi or possibly Cybex. The Britax, Cybex and Maxi-Cosi spin seats tend to cycle special offers, so one of them is usually around the £200 mark, which is a bit more than the Joie seat, but Joie 360 Spin is the cheapest spin seat that I would trust (other than Graco Turn2Me which is the same seat anyway) and it is worth paying a little bit more to get an easier to use harness/inserts, since the straps are really important to get right when FF.

Also, if you are highly likely to FF ASAP, e.g. around 18 months, then it may actually be better to just max out the infant carrier and keep her in it until it's totally outgrown, then swap to a purely FF seat like Maxi Cosi Titan i-size - these are also a little bit cheaper sometimes going to £160ish on offer. Because they are only for FF, they are more optimised for it which is beneficial since younger children are more vulnerable in car crashes when FF. The extra distance from the seat in front, the top tether, the fact there is no moving base are all advantages.

OTOH if you plan to see how you go with RF, stay RF until around 2, or alternate for higher-risk journeys, there may be a benefit to a spin seat which includes a RF option. It's just about weighing up what you think you will be more likely to do really.

deliwoman1 · 04/10/2024 14:05

We forward faced at 20 months. Kept DD rearward in her baby seat until she grew out of it (she’s small). Chose a Maxi Cosi Titan which goes up to 12 years apparently but it’s FF only.

Shortly after, we then switched her to a gb Vaya I-size because my nephew grew out of it. (Hence buying the Maxi-Cosi for an investment later on.) That goes up to 4 years, spins and does both RF and FF, so I’d recommend it for that, but it’s heavy (needs to stay in the car) and pricey.

Must say we hardly ever RF though these days. DD hates it (was the same with the pushchair!) and 90% of our driving with her is crawling about at 20mph in London.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page