Rather dull dilema about car seats!

[Daffodilly]

OK DS is almost 1 year and about to out grow his group 0 maxi-cost seat.

DD is 3 years and in a rear facing seat that goes up to age 4 ish.

Plan is to move DS into her seat and buy new next seat up for DD. However, that seems to be a group 3 forward facing one that goes from ago 4 - 12 years and more like a booster with a back. She is 15kg now so I think her weight is OK to go into that size seat - but it seems a big jump and a lot less protection than her current seat.

Has anyone else had a similar situation - what did you do?

I think you are meant to keep them in the seat with 5 point harness until they are 18kg. Th theory is that in just the booster with a back, held in by seatblet, in the event of a crash a child under 18kg would just slide out until the lap part of the seatbelt IYSWIM.

Bummer for you though. Could you borrow another seat from anyone, perhaps someone whose dc has now gone into the booster style seat?

We ended up using a FF group 1 seat for the 3-4 year stage

Alternative would be something like the evolva 123 which has a 5 pt harness until 18kg

'tis so confusing! I have a degree and struggling to get head around this!

Mothercare website says that 18kg is max weight for forward facing seat, but booster can start from 15kgs.

Would be ideal if we could borrow one for year or so - but can't think of anyone that has a spare at the mo. Seems silly to buy one for less than a year, but her safety is main concern obviously (hence why we have her still in rear facing one at 3yrs).

Then I have my mother helpfuly reminding me "non of you even had car seats". Thanks mum

can totally relate to this. DS3 is ready to move out of rf car seat yet neither dts at 2.9yrs are ready to more to highbacked booster.

But I have thankfully borrowed one of a very close friend - who I totally trust and know the history of the seat.

Now have in car ds3 in a maxi cosi priori, dd & ds2 in Britax duo isofix and ds1 in a maxi cosi rodi

what a performance

daffodilly, why not buy something like the britax 2 way elite.
you could use that for ds or dd (rearfacing) and it can be used forward facing with or without the harness too, when dd is big enough

and goes up to 25kg

DD is 5 and tall for her age but she is still (just about) in a Britax Evolva 123 with the 5 point harness. When she outgrows that we'll just swith to the seat belt mode.
I think it's a great seat.

ooogggs - I don't envy you getting your lots in the car to go out anywhere. You must have to allow extra half hour for strapping in!

Was looking at Mothercare website and thought I had solved problem with a high back booster with harness. Then investigated on Which website and they don't recommend the ones that go from 1 - 11 years (group 1/2/3). Will look into those Britax ones though thanks.

I would go for a Group 123 seat for your DD as these will have a 5 point harness - or have you seen the Kiddy Comfort Pro/similar copycat seats with impact shield? I think that is a great FF seat for this group.

dafodilly - oh yes as ds1 (6) who sits next to ds3 so often struggles to strap himself in as he can't feel for the seatbelt bit and the twins very rarely are co-operative on getting in their seats anyway

Which? don't recommend the group 123 seats, by the way, because they don't offer as good protection in the lower age ranges as a seat for just the one age range. So a seat for age 1-12 is not as good as a seat for age 1-4, for a 1-4 year old. Since your DD is at the higher end of that age group, I think the difference in safety would be negligable - and a seat for age 1-12 is likely to be safer than a seat for age 4-12, I would say. HTH.

Bertie - yes I see your point and that does make sense.

Just wondering though as she is 15kgs perhaps I should just go straight to something like Maxi Cosi Rodi which is Which? best buy, gets great scores and she is at the entry level for weight (if only just). Perhaps I can squeeze DS into his a bit longer and feed DD up in the meantime .

Lordy it is complicated though isn't it? Perhaps it is just too late for this level of brain power!

Daffodily
Contact the Road Safety Officers via this website www.rearfacing.co.uk - they can provide impartial advice on car seats - they do not sell seats, but have a huge database of what seats fit in what make & model of car, and also offer a try before you buy service (if you live in the South East). At the very least they will be able to let you know what appropriate seats are available on the UK market for your child.

FWIW, we have a 4yo in a rearfacing Nordic Multi Tech (the Britax 123 Evolva in rear-facing and forward-facing version - sold in the UK from the Milton Keynes In Car Safety Centre, www.incarsafetycentre.co.uk/shop/special_br_10.html amongst other suppliers). It goes RF to 25kgs (with a 5 point harness) but can go FF from 15kgs as a high back booster if so required. As it goes up to 25kgs, you could keep your LO rearfacing (up to 5 times safer in a frontal collision) for at least another year or two. Our 4yo is 18kgs now, to give you an idea of weight of an average sized child of that age. Hope this helps.

FWIW, Which reports include ease-of-use for the consumer as well as actual crash test data when they review car seats. As RF seats are deemed too complicated for UK parents to cope with (although those brainy Scandinavians manage OK), they don't figure as highly as the wellknown FF seats in their reports. However, if you look at crash test data, RF seats outperform them, even the ones that are Group 1-2-3 such as the Britax manufactured Nordic Multi Tech.

We have a britax evolva 123 which is a 5 point harness one that goes from 1-12 years.

We put ds2 in it when he was 3, he now weighs 15.8kg (at 3.8yrs) and we have just gone from it being the 5 point harness to the 3 point seat belt.

It is a more "upright" seat in terms of how it looks compared to the more bucket like seats but our son needed that at 3.

I will say that it is a bit of a faff to get into the car but once in it was firmly anchored and we didn't need to change it between cars. Other than that it is a great car seat.

I bought a cybex one - when DD was 3.5 as DS ready for the stage 1 car seat. It does use adult lap belt but has a lot more protection (including headrest that means that head does not roll forward), and side impact - than the other stage 2/3 seats - its from 15kg - and there is no danger of child slipping out, and will last for ages.

I am very happy with it, and thing its very suitable for 3 year old. They do say up to age 12 but my niece a very thin 10 year looked quite big in it, (head rest goes up) and a big 10 year old would be uncomfortable.

re: the five point harness, I found it impossible for DD when wearing skirts from around 3.5 anyway was happy to go to adult seat beat.

I bought it 3 years ago but this seems similar - I specify bought the most solid stage 2/3 I could as DD was only 3.5 at the time:

cybex-online.com/site/uk/products/car-seats/solution.html

BTW read "superfreakonomics" - they commissioned a safety trial from 3 year old in adult seat belts (no car seats) compared to proper forward facing car seats and the outcomes were similar.

Also you might be able to keep your DS in his car seat for another few months.

Just looked at the rear facing website...

Our infant carrier was quite big, and used it on holiday until 13kg, around 2 years old - and DS complained where did his legs go (he was used to forward facing seat by this point) just wondering how these rear facing seats work with older children - do they have to fold up their legs?

We have exactly the same problem so am reading this thread with interest. Although DD is only 14Kg so not quite suitable for the stage 2 seats.

We have looked at the Britax Evolva, Recaro Young Sport, but are most interested in the Jane Montecarlo Plus. This is because we have isofix in one car, and it has an impact cushion to extend the weight range from 9Kg - makes it something like the Kiddy Infinity Pro.

DD is currently in Akta Graco Duologic II rear-facing (up to 4 years), and DS is only 3 months, so maybe another year before he needs to move up. However DP wanted to get the next seat now so he can have it in his car and not have to move the very heavy Duologic. Seems like it might be a good idea to wait though.

I will also look into some of those other rear-facing seats that last longer, that others have mentioned.

some of the rear-facing seats sit further back (ie, the besafe izi combi) or can be adjusted so that there is more legroom (the britax 2 way elite)

as their legs grow however, they just bend them, or cross them...

some pics

here

and here