Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Carseat help!

12 replies

SunSparkle · 10/09/2020 14:30

Hi

Me and my partner don't drive and even if we learn soon, we won't be immediately purchasing a car. We can access most things we need easily by public transport or walking and both work from home. All baby groups, nurseries etc are less than 10 minutes walk away.

We're thinking about what to do for a car seat as we've been looking at prams etc. The only cars we would be travelling in (infrequently) are the grandparents (3-4 different cars) so I'm wondering whether to just buy one carseat suitable from newborn to 4 years and move it between cars. All the cars have ISOFIX.

Do you need to get a 0+ infant carrier, then a bigger car seat? We are looking at getting a lie flat stroller so not sure we would miss an infant seat for that as I know they aren't supposed to be used for long trips.

The only downsides I can see are constantly moving it in and out (but that would be the same for an infant carrier and base) and also having to remove a sleeping baby from it rather than carry the whole seat in with them in it.

Advice from others who don't drive very much welcomed! I don't want to waste money on multiple carseats for infrequent use.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
ForeverBubblegum · 10/09/2020 14:53

You can get an extended rear facing seat that does birth to 4 (or longer), I quite like joie stages. It seat belt attached, but quite easy to get in and out. You can use it with an insert for birth, then rear face without the insert up to 18kg (3/4 years) or turn it sooner to forward face with harness (also to 18kg, but less safe then RF). Over 18kg you can take the straps off and it becomes a high back booster.

I found it fine transfers out of the car seat, and can get DD from seat to sling without waking her (takes practice). It doesn't take any longer then getting the seat out of the car, and you don't have to worry about getting them been in the car seat for to long (most car seat are only suitable for 30 minutes for newborn, or 2 hours for older babies, and knowing my look baby would fall asleep 5 minutes before I had to get them out)

SunSparkle · 11/09/2020 10:41

Thanks @ForeverBubblegum! I took a look at the Joie seat. Seems the Every Stage is similar to stages but I think you can get it with Isofix. I like the idea of only having to buy one seat that lasts for so long! I'd be nervous about having to seatbelt one in every time as I know that not that many people can do it properly and it be properly fitted.

Has anyone else gone straight to a 0+/1/2 carseat instead of an infant carrier?

OP posts:
AegonT · 11/09/2020 11:43

We had a car seat that went from birth to 4. My daughter actually fitted it rear-facing till she was 5 as she's small. It was a Britax Dual-fix but there are other similar seats including the Joie 360. It was very heavy but easy to fit in multiple cars (isofix). I wanted my daughter sleeping on a flat surface so didn't mind taking her out to put in her lie-flat pushchair or moses basket, or the sling. She didn't always stay asleep though!

kkr168 · 11/09/2020 12:01

I've gone for the Joie ispin 360 isize, it's suitable from to 4 years.
I can't comment on using it though because my baby's isn't due until November

Superscientist · 11/09/2020 13:38

We have the maxi cosi mica. It is a 0 to 4 yr extended rear facing seat. It fits with isofix only and has a 360 swivel.

My partner uses the car for work so a travel system wouldn't have worked that well for us and we didn't want to buy 2 seats when we could by one.

The seat it quite heavy and the fixed isofix makes it difficult to store when not in the car. It's not problem for us as we keep it in the car. We haven't had any issues moving from the car seat to the house though. It's not advised that you let them sleep for too long in the car seat anyway.

SunSparkle · 15/09/2020 16:40

Thanks everyone for your suggestions of seats. I think I've whittled it down to the Britax Dualfix iSize or the Joie ispin 360. Both look like really good seats and have good reviews on Which for crash tests.

OP posts:
Alarae · 15/09/2020 16:44

If you are planning on moving the seat from car to car I don't recommend the Joie ispin 360.

I have it and the seat and base are fixed together. So as well as being clunky, it is heavy and I would not want to be moving it around.

BertieBotts · 15/09/2020 21:21

To be honest I didn't drive with my first and the carry type seats are a million times more practical than the ones which last until age 4.

I know that seems practical, but realistically the worst/most inconvenient stage of car seat for non drivers is the in between one, the "Group 1" or large, fixed in place toddler seat with a harness.

Infant carriers with a handle and (especially) which are compatible with a pushchair are a doddle to deal with, as are high backed boosters if you get a basic one.

So realistically I'd be looking at maximising the time you're using those seats and minimising the use of the toddler one. That means getting a large infant carrier either without a height limit (e.g. Maxi Cosi Cabriofix, Joie Gemm/Juva) or one with a long height limit on it (e.g. Cybex Aton M, Britax Babysafe i-size).

They all say they're compatible up to about a year, but if you don't use the car a lot and you really want to, you can absolutely stretch this out by using the seat right up to its very limit (which is 13kg or the baby's head is level with the end of the seat, or the height limit if it has one, whichever comes first). If you end up with a large baby and have a decent sized seat, this will be about 18 months, average sized baby 2 years, small sized baby up to 33 months (2y, 9m).

At this age you may then feel comfortable to use a seat like Britax Evolva, which is a relatively lightweight, forward facing harnessed seat which turns into a highbacked booster later on. Or if it turns out your child is a giant and/or you are dead set on rear facing for as long as possible, you can get a lightweight 25kg seat such as Britax Two Way Elite, or Cozy n Safe Hudson for forward facing. If baby is average size or smaller, you could get the cheapest possible decent toddler seat (e.g. Joie Tilt for RF, Britax Eclipse for FF, which is also flight approved, so useful to have) and then once DC is 15kg and at least 3 and you're happy with them in a seatbelt, move whenever it's more convenient into Britax Adventure which is a very lightweight, low cost (but safe) high backed booster seat, or Maxi Cosi Rodi which has the advantage of coming apart to store, or max out the toddler seat and then use Bubble Bum, which is an inflatable one that goes incredibly small.

Total cost for Joie Juva, Joie Tilt/Britax Eclipse + Britax Adventure/Bubble bum = ~£150.
Total cost for Joie Juva + Britax Evolva/Cozy n Safe Hudson = £125
Total cost for Joie Juva + Britax TWE + Maxi Cosi Rodi/Bubble bum = £230

Add £20 if you go for the Gemm which has pushchair compatability instead of the Juva. And none of these seats are unsafe ones, although Bubble Bum doesn't really offer any protection.

The Dualfix and Joie 360 seats are both brilliant seats, but a massive pain in the arse to move from car to car because they are heavy and bulky and awkward. You need two hands to carry them - there is absolutely no way you could carry a baby or toddler at the same time. Can your relatives always park directly outside your front door? I struggle to carry ours any longer than a few paces - when we did a test drive, I wheeled it around on the pram! That worked because DH was there to look after DS2. If you needed to take public transport one way and be picked up the other way, this would be extremely impractical too. And disturbing the sleeping baby is a huge one - now we have a car, we can choose to simply stay in the car and wait if DS2 is asleep when we arrive somewhere. This isn't an option when it's somebody else's car if they need to get off somewhere else.

Another issue is that these seats are outgrown before age 3 if your child is 98th centile or higher, by around 3.5 years if your child is 75th centile or higher, around about age 4 for 50th centile. If you aren't comfortable with moving to a high backed booster with only a seatbelt at this age, then you'll be forced to buy another expensive seat which goes up to 25kg, for rear facing at least £160 or forward facing £80 (and they don't fit in older cars). It can make sense to buy an infant carrier and then wait and see whether you can get away with a cheaper seat up to 18kg (from £70 RF, £60 FF) or need a 25kg one and therefore buy it straight away.

IME, isofix is only faster for Group 1 only/Group 123 seats, seatbelt fitting is not very difficult at all once you've done it once or twice, especially now there are fitting videos on Youtube which we defo didn't have the luxury of back in the day :) I actually find isofix fitting a spin seat can be a bit more of a faff because you have to climb right into the footwell of the car and make sure it's lined up to click both sides into place and then sort the leg - seatbelt fitting takes seconds and I'm generally not sweating when I've finished doing it.

Sorry I know that's a bit of an info dump. If it was going to be the same car you'd use every time and you can keep the car seat in close proximity to the car, then I'd agree that the seats you've chosen would work, but for most non drivers in your situation they won't be the best choice.

olderthanyouthink · 15/09/2020 21:34

I can't drive, DP won't drive, no car etc we have a maxi cosi cabriofix and I belt it in every time which is easy (the one exception was a ford galaxy with weirdly short belts). Belt fitted is just as safe as isofix and there's no base to lug about and store.

DD is nearly 22 months and still fits in it and has load of growing room as has 3kg under the weight limit and is more legs than body so has a couple more inches of growing room. (DN will out weigh her seat a lot sooner)

Im dreading when we'll need to swap to a bigger car seat as we generally do part of the journey by public transport with the seat in the pram and then hop in a car. Looking at getting the Nachfolger folding seat next but clinging to the 0+ seat for as long as possible

SunSparkle · 16/09/2020 16:24

@BertieBotts thank you so much for your thorough post and to @olderthanyouthink for reassuring me there might be more mileage in an infant carrier i-size than I thought.

I might change my mind and get the Joie i-gemm as it's beltable and isofix (with base) so it will fit in all the cars it needs to regularly and can whack the isofix base in the grandparents who sees us most often's car.

Fingers crossed for a petite child to put off that awkward Group 1 stage for as long as possible!!

OP posts:
olderthanyouthink · 16/09/2020 16:30

@SunSparkle our cabriofix isn't I-size so it's just a weight limit but I noticed the other day there's a height guide on their website and DD is way over the height (by 7cm) with room to grow (again leggy!)

BertieBotts · 16/09/2020 18:55

Oh yes, how odd! 75cm is very very short for the cabriofix, most children fit it until about 85/88cm easily.

I wonder if they are using this as marketing against their new lie flat one maxi cosi marble? If you look at the Joie range for example they have their budget i-size one with a lower height limit and I think that's deliberate so that if you want more length you buy the premium product.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread