Car seat headache

[Anjied]

Hi
Anyone else think finding a car seat is sure a headache?
Just trying to work out which one fits in your car can take forever
Any tips I would love them as it's driving me made
Thanks

I found it a total bollocks and in the end just got a travel system with a car seat included- thankfully, it’s a good one (Which Best Buy).

Most infant car seats will fit into most cars, unless you're looking at bases, then it gets a little bit more complicated, but not that much more so. Unless you have a car which is especially difficult to fit car seats into for some reason, anyway.

IME the infant seats with carry handle are very similar to each other. There is not a lot that can be "wrong" about them, because the safety of them is very simple and difficult to get wrong. It's the toddler stage which is a much bigger headache TBH!

Do you want one which is compatible with a pushchair? If you do that can help narrow down your choice quite a lot. I found it easier to choose a pushchair first and then choose a car seat from the ones which were compatible, because it seemed like there were more differences between pushchairs so that seemed much easier to choose from. However I would be wary of ending up with the ubiquitous Maxi Cosi! There is nothing wrong with Maxi Cosi, they are excellent seats, but they are also not the only seat on the market despite how some sales people act about them.

The system IS really complicated but happy to help if I can. I've been looking at car seats for over 10 years and I find the whole topic weirdly fascinating XD

Other questions I'd look at -

Are you on a low budget? Don't mind spending out a bit more for better features? Feel no expense spared for the best is the best policy?

Do you plan to have more DC in future or is this baby likely to be your only one?

Are you interested in the possibility of a base to click the seat easily into your car?

Are you worried about the baby being too upright in a car seat? You can get some with padding which make the seat a bit flatter for newborns, and you can also get some (more pricey) ones which are totally/true lie-flat which means you don't need to worry about car seat time limits.

I felt the same when I was pregnant but in the end I was over thinking it!

I wanted a car seat that would go on my buggy which narrowed it down to only 2 makes. I then chose the bottom of the range with the bottom of the range isofix base as u also wanted that convenience.

Now that LO is 6 months, I don't usually tend to use the isofix. I keep it in the car and put her in out. I'd therefore use a nine isofix one for the next stage.

Get isofix, don’t let them sleep in a car seat too long when little

We got a cossatto with iso fix port base. Their website has a section where you can search the make and model of your car and it’ll tell you what base/seats will fit from their range.

The one we got (the Wow), can be fitted to a base or secured with a seatbelt. So we have a base for our car but my DM’s won’t take the base so she can use the seatbelt hooks. (She’ll be taking him when I go back to work)

My DH fitted it in the car last week and he said it was really easy. (He’s the least ‘handy’ person ever too so this was a glowing rec!). There are great how to fit videos on their site too.

It’s a minefield when you start researching, you realise how much you don’t know about all these travel systems! Good luck 😀

First stage car seats are all pretty comparable.

They are usually 'bucket' type seat and all rear facing.

Personally I've never had one to fit on the buggy as it's not recommended for infants to be in them longer than necessary. (Just pop new born in a pre tied sling or carry cot on buggy as at that age they will mostly sleep through being transferred from one to another).

Infant carriers generally take a few seconds to fit with a belt and are no safer with Isofix than fitted correctly with belt so no need for bases etc

I have used a Maxi Cosi Pebble for both my previous two (can get them new for £100 online) and will be using the same again this time.

It gets more complicated when they outgrow their infant seats (usually around 16 to 18 months old) as there's such an array of seats available especially with so many on the high street which allow you to still forward face from 9kg which is so unsafe.

If your confused look for an independent car seat specialist (In Car Safety Centre if there's a branch near you) as these people are impartial across the brands and won't try sell you based on brands they supply or what they have in stock as have a much wider availability of seats / brands.

I have a Cybex Cloud with isofix base. It fits on our pram with maxi cosy adapters. I liked it because it has the facility to lay it flat when not being used in the car which will be really handy for popping out as can lay it flat whenever we take it out of the car.

I would recommend taking the car somewhere you can try it before buying. We checked the website and it was listed as compatible with my car. We fitted it fine but had to move the front so far forward neither myself nor my partner could fit in front of it. I was planning to buy a new car anyway so wasn’t a huge issue but something to consider.

What an absolute headache it was for us!!! I drive a 3 door A1 (not in a financial position to change right now) so felt an isofix bad would be easiest, but because of the shape of my back seats the car seat would be almost upright using an isofix, leaving the babies head dangling.

I wanted to buy a silver cross travel system so badly after saving up so hard for the one we liked but, low and behold; folded with wheels removed it still wouldn't fit in the boot of my car...nightmare.

So this completely ruled out the pram and car seat I so badly wanted.

In the end we opted for the Joie i-level isize which slides back in its own isofix to allow the baby to lie completely flat (no chin to chest) even in my "anti-baby" car. We also got a beautiful Oyster 2 Max pram and some adaptors to allow the Joie car seat to fit into the chassis.

Was unbelievably stressed but the store assistants in Mothercare were so helpful & tried everything!