The guy at Halfords told us that if we put DD into stage 1 carseat at 6months we risk her neck being broken??! Is this right?

[StreetcarNamedDesire]

OK, we went out today to buy the next stage car seat as my brother needs our 1st stage carseat as his first baby is due in March.

Halfords state that the next stage is from 9 months, but weight is 20lbs upwards. DD is a big baby at just under 20lbs at 6 months so we thought we'd be ok.

But the guy at Halfords said it's done on age not weight, and she needs to be capable of sitting unsupported before going into the next stage (forward facing) otherwise if she's in an accident her neck could get broken if she couldn't support it?

Am I being a bit dim here, surely it doesn't make a difference whether she can support her head or not (she can, but still needs some support to sit upright) as in an accident it's not like she'll get time to brace?

Would appreciate anyone's thoughts on this, my brother is travelling 400 miles to visit and we were planning on giving him the pram & carseat complete, if not we're going to have to make another journey to visit him in Feb!

my ds was in a forward facing seat at 6 months. he could sit up confidently and was huge, i couldn't wedge him in his tiny infant seat anymore. i should perhaps have got a rear facing one but we couldn't afford it at the time so my friend gave me her dd's old one which only faced forwards. i agree with upwind, depends on the car/ driver etc. at 6 months my ds weighed more than most 12 month olds.

hers

If his baby is due in March, then you have another 3 months' use for your DD, by which time she will be 9 months. Or am I missing something?

also you need to bear in mind that carseats have a limited life (i learned only recently that they are date stamped) so your brother is likely to need to replace it in any case. It may be damaged if you courier it too.(knocks in the van, heavier objects placed on top of it splitting the polystyrene for eg)

is this NCPAS test available to view online?

oh and a lot of cars have an astra "body" in them but are actually other cars...our daewoo tacuma (when we had it) was a car built around an astra body

The Matrix gets slated by which regularly as lie flat whilst doesn't compress their breathing just isn't good enough in a crash.
HOwevere so do the Britax first class seats, basically they aren't the best on the market for either rear facing or forward facing.
All car seats get bashed around by couriers from the manufacturer to the shop, then the shop to the customer if bought online.
The truth is you probably will not have an accident.

Do not put her in a forward facing seat. In the US I believe they are told not to put a baby in this position until they are at least a year old. I'd keep them rear facing longer than that.

Internal decapitation is a very real risk with a forward facing baby.

And you may very likely have an accident, no matter how careful you are. It is not a risk that is worth taking.

Some people will never have accidents, but when I worked in the office of an insurer's repair firm, we had 20-30 cars in every day and that was in a relatively small area.

Have a look at this

www.new.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1577108&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=5082203682&aid=-1&id=5016 67492&oid=5082203682#/photo.php?pid=81148&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=5082203682&aid=-1&id=1067428535&o id=5082203682

Loads of photo's of 3.5 year old rear facing.

Update re carseat dilemma:

I looked at the crash test video of the Jane - pp was right, I won't use it again.

I bought the new Britax Cosy Tots Premium yesterday. It scores 2nd in the Which? test (the 1st choice seat wasn't compatible with my car). The salesman thought I was mad as it will probably only be 4/5 months before she outgrows it, but my eyes have been well and truly opened on the safety issues and there's no way I'll risk it!

THANK YOU to everyone who replied, MN is fab

and jooleejoo thank you for your kind offer - my brother has since been given another carseat so he's sorted too

SC - just wondering if you have used it yet? If not you are better returning it and getting one like i linked to below. they can then stay RF up to 25kg as opposed to the 13kg of the britax car seat and you will get a lot more use out of it for the money. At nearly £200 it is expensive but probably only a similar cost of the Britax one you bought yesterday and a decent stage 1 car seat put together.