Would you spend only £24.99 on a car seat?

[Sahkoora]

With DS1 and 2, I got Britax First Class car seats from birth, but have always really fancied one of those dinky seats you can lift out of the car with a handle. It's just that they are a LOT of money.

Friends and family who have used them have all ended up putting their babies front facing way before the recommended age because their babies grow out of them and I don't want to spend £100 on something that will last only a few months.

I have seen one on Amazon (by Delta) that costs £24.99! Would I be mad to buy this for my newborn? They must have the same safety tests?

I feel like I could justify buying two car seats in this case! And keep DC3 rear facing for the proper amount of time. And omg ... The luxury if removing a sleeping baby from a car without waking them!

Not always. But I would research first and make sure if offered best safety within budget.

Can you borrow the one your sister bought and didn't use for long? As long as you know it hasn't been in a car accident it will be fine.

Ds was a big baby - always around 98th percent - he went from an infant carrier to next stage seat at around 6 months but we got one that could be rear or forward facing so he stayed rear facing til about 18months.

They wouldn't be allowed to sell cheap seats if they weren't safe

No, safety doesn't necessarily increase with price, but anyone who thinks that they wouldn't be allowed to sell something that isn't safe is being very naive.

Check out the actual car seat with an expert. I talked to this lady: childseat-training.weebly.com

And she was fantastic. Happy to offer advice on budget options, and give an honest, informed and unbiased opinion on all options.

I agree it sounds as though you have moved your other children out of their car seats too early, which is pretty common.

I got this one for only £35 after being advised that it passed safety tests to the same standards as a maxi cosi pebble. I was warned that the other car seats in this range (Halford's own) hadn't done well and were not recommended.

Please don't buy a car seat based only on cost, please look at buying the safest one you can within your budget. Its the single most important bit of baby equipment you'll buy in my humble opinion.

A four month old does not outgrow their infant seat.

Infant seats are around £100. Not massively expensive.

How much are you spending on a pram?

No I wouldn't. It's the one thing I won't scrimp on. The standards that car seats have to meet in this country are really low - I believe that side impacts aren't even tested and collisions in the tests are at around 30mph?!

Britax and Maxi Cosi test their seats far more rigorously than dictated by law and are worth the extra expense in my opinion. They will both have info on their websites.

And as for putting a 4mo forward facing, I have no words for that . Dd2 came out of her Babysafe carrier at 13 months but she could probably still fit in it now at 19mo, she's still rear facing in an erf seat and will be for a while yet.

I know £100 seems like a lot of money but you've got a while to save up yet and I would buy a cheap cot/pram/clothes before a cheap car seat.

most baby items you can compromise on but car seats have to be the safest item you can afford
with the new i size legislation from July 2013 recommending rear facing to at least 4 years old.
a cheap best is not worth considering in my opinion.

i personally see the car seat as an investment, we are looking at the maxi cosi 2 way fix base with pebble infant seat then 2 way pearl erf toddler seat, this will be around £500, but for 4 years works out around £2.50 per week.
That's a small price to pay for your child's safety and parents peace of mind