Car Seats..what should I be looking for?!

[ThinkPink71]

No idea where to start or what to look for so tips would be helpful please :)

Best bet is to head somewhere like Halfords and ask their advice. However, something compatible with your pushchair, that can attach on will change your life.

Most important thing... It should fit your car. The slight differences in seat shape and belt routes in cars, coupled with the differences in car seat design, means that some seats don't fit some cars.

Please don’t ask somewhere like Halfords for advice. They don’t stock a very wide range of seats and some of the ones they stock have only had minimal safety testing.
I’d recommend joining the group ‘Car Seat advice UK’ on Facebook and reading/asking on there.

Or go to a specialist retailer if you have one near you, eg. In Car Safety Centre.

I got a travel system with a car seat for the newborn stage

Sorry - baby sat on phone!

Then I got isofix rear facing until about age 4. Just had dd so reused the travel system and have bought extended rear facing (up to age 6) for DS now dd is using the next size up.

Any current car seats will all have passed strict safety regulations, none are 'safer' than the other (as long as it's brand new. buying second hand is risky as you don't know the age and condition of the seat or whether it's been in an accident) so look into what you can afford, isofix vs seat belt fitting, compatible with your pushchair if you want that ease while they're still small etc

Some car seats are safer, those that have passed the Swedish Plus test (like the new joie safe spin) which has higher regulations to pass than the usual safety regulations.

It all depends what you want OP, it is handy having a car seat as part of a travel system but it depends on how often you’ll use it as part of that, especially as the current guidelines recommend a newborn being no longer than 30 minutes in a car seat at a time. So you’d still need to transfer to carrycot/pushchair if you’re planning on going shopping etc.

We didn’t use the car seat as part of the travel system past 6-8 weeks, partly due to not wanting DD in it for too long (as per the recommendations) and partly because it got too heavy to lift. In hindsight I would have bought an I-size Isofix from the start. We moved DD over to an extended rear facing seat at around 12 months and she will be in that until around 4 years.

Look for rear facing up to 25kg. Check the safety rating on which? I have the axkid minikid would highly recommend.

I would suggest that you buy an infant seat which meets the following criteria:

1. Meets stringent test criteria eg ADAC test
2. Growing room for baby (some have removable newborn inserts, some have taller and/or wider than others)
3. Reasonably light - not an issue with a newborn but once the baby gets heavier you will be glad of a lighter seat!

Then once baby has outgrown the infant seat (which hopefully won't be for a while!) you could consider buying a 9-25kg seat (if baby is >50th centile for height and/or weight) or a 9-18kg seat (if baby is

@MsChatterbox

The Axkid Minikid is not suitable for newborns.

And unfortunately Which? have very strange criteria in their car seat reviews, so despite using which? for everything else, I wouldn't recommend it for car seats!

Hmmm interestingly this article says the ADAC test isn't perfect (albeit better than the standard UK tests)
www.carseatadvice-uk.com/car-seat-testing.html

Looks like the swedish plus test really is the gold standard! I don't know if they test many infant seats though?!

@NameChange30 even so I would still recommend it and use a car seat that comes with a travel system for the beginning. Noted Re which? - won't recommend it anymore.

I'd also consider getting one of the car seats that you can extend out so that the baby can lie flat (once it's out of the car) - we got the Cybex Cloud Z which means if she's sleeping we don't have to wake her up (they're only supposed to be in a car seat for up to an hour, apparently).