Car seat rear facing in front seat

[LolaBumble]

Just after some opinions! We are expecting our second child and our first will only be 2 when the baby arrives.

I have a VW Polo and we won’t be able to fit 2 x rear facing car seats in the back. Our options are facing our daughter forward in the back or rear facing in the front with the air bag off.

A bit of googling and I think putting her in the front rear facing is supposed to be safer, but just doesn’t feel right!

Any opinions welcome!

I would be surprised if you couldn't get two rear-facing car seats in a Polo. I have two in a Hyundai i10 which is smaller (though admittedly DP and I are short). One thing to consider is that you don't have to use isofix seats with a bulky base; it's also safe to fit with a seatbelt as long as you've done it properly.

Speak to an expert seller but ive also been told rear facing in front is safer so i plan to do that if we are blessed with siblings

We used a cybex anoris. It's FF so better on space but it has an airbag built in which makes it much safer than normal FF seats

www.cybex-online.com/en/gb/anoris-t2-i-size-platinum.html?

You would also need a 55cm 'survival gap' from your childs nose to the seat back in front of them if you FF. So you might not have room to FF if you don't have room to RF. I'd definitely go for RF in the front as at 2yo they are well below the safety of 5-6yo that is recommended before you turn them FF.

Please dont FF your 2 year old, it is dramatically less safe than RF as PP said before the child is 5. I know you probably already know this but i personally didn't realsie untill i educated myself and was quite shocked by the difference!! An infant carrier RF in front seat is perfectly safe as long as the airbag is turned off 😊 there are some very helpful car seat pages on Facebook that can give great advice for seat combinations depending on car and child's age and size. Chances are you might need to get a bigger car by the time number 2 has out grown then infant carrier .

Yes RF in front is safer than FF in back, as long as you can disable the airbag and see the wing mirror. It's a good way to fit in 2x rear facing seats one behind the other.

Would also second that the isofix spin type seats can be more bulky front to back than the Axkid and other 125cm limit seats because they are able to be fitted more upright, so it's worth trying this out as well. If you have a local ERF specialist (usually the best way is to check Axkid's site and look for stockists near you) they will often be happy to try out various seat combinations in the car to figure out what works and what is practical, safe and comfy for all.

Thank you all! Will have another look to see if I can find a RF car seat that will fit in the back, if not I’ll RF in the front 😊

Look up “Car seat safety UK” group on Facebook - the admins there really know their stuff about RF and ERF and will be able to suggest seats/ways of keeping your 2yo rear facing in your car. It is so much safer, 5 x, I believe to keep keep kids rear facing, it’s worth doing everything you can to enable this.