Confused about car seats!

[Dove88]

Hi, so I know this may not be the best place for this thread but I don't know where else to put it and my own googling is leading me in circles!
We are going to hopefully be buying a car seat at the weekend. We already have a stroller chassis (oyster 2) and a buggy for when the baby is older thanks to family hand me downs. The thing is which car seat to buy. I know opinions differ but I'm not planning on buying a carrycot as I dont really want to have to cart it around with me in the car, and I don't think I will be going anywhere where I will be walking around for longer than an hour anyway so I was planning on using the car seat on the chassis. We have our own land so walking the dogs with baby ect, I'll probably use a carrier.
However, my family live just over two hours away and I'd like to continue to go see them as regularly as possible. So in this case the baby would be in the car seat for too long, and I would have to get her out as soon as I arrived, meaning I couldn't use the car seat on the chassis whilst there. I've looked at lie flat car seats but I don't know if baby can actually stay in these longer or if it's still recommended two hours max. I also read somewhere that the two hours is within any 24 hour window. So I couldn't just take her out of the car seat for an hour or so then put her back. Nor could I drive to and from my parents house within the same 24 hours, and even driving one way to their house is pushing it! I know the first few weeks are the most important with limiting time in the car seat so I will not be going to visit in the first several weeks.
With already having the chassis am I really restricted on what car seat I can get?
Should I just such it up and buy a carrycot aswell?
Sorry for the rambling, I'm a very confused ftm!

With already having the chassis am I really restricted on what car seat I can get?

I don't think so. We had/have an Oyster2 as well and you can clip on different adapters for different brands of car seats.

Should I just such it up and buy a carrycot aswell?

Possibly yes? We had it as I would have never left my child for longer in the car seat than necessary.
Maybe have a look second hand?

However, I wouldn't spend too much on the Oyster2, I wasn't really happy with it.
Wheels can not deal with any kind of uneven surface. Carry cot very far down. My son sat terribly in the seat unit. There was a lot more I wasn't happy with.
It does fold small, this is really good about it.

It is very confusing and stressful. I was having a nightmare picking anything til I went to a baby adviser person who helped me choose everything. I'd recommend a baby appt with John Lewis - they're free and they can talk through options with you. they don't work on commission so don't push you to anything but will be able to advise you on compatibility etc

Ok first thing first is compatibility. I'm not familiar with the Oyster but usually there are a few makes that are compatible so you're not limiting yourself that much. go into a store and ask which ones are compatible. They are usually really helpful. It may also say on the Oyster official site (is Oyster a brand, if not what brand is it?)

In relation to the time in the car seat - yes it's meant to be max two hours PER DAY. If your parents are two hours, ten minutes i doubt the ten mins will make much difference but you shouldn't really do there and back in a day on a regular basis.

In relation to lie flat car seat you cannot have them lie flat in the car, it still has to be upright in the car so doesn't add on. Some of them say they allow an extra 40 mins if lying flat on the chasis but it's fairly controversial to be honest and whilst it's fine occasionally I wouldn't be doing it on a regular basis.

If you are planning on lots of walking rather than car driving i'd invest in a bassinet as it allows baby to sleep more easily and safer. You can even have them do their day time nap in there rather than buying a separate moses basket and then just take them out walking or when you come home from a walk you don't have to immediately get them out of it and put in the moses basket etc

I hate to see babies scrunched up in car seats. It’s bad for the spine. They need to lie flat. A car seat is necessary in the car, but it should stay in the car. Get a proper lie-flat pram. And a group 0/1/2/3 car seat that stays in the car and will be suitable until your child turns 12.

I am following with interest, my family live 5 hours away (on a good day) and only knew the 2 hours was a thing recently. I would have liked to have visited my family every couple of months but now I won't be able to do that...

I currently have my 4 week old sleeping in the pram bassinet on the floor, as she settles in there much better than in her crib - so it’s basically doubling up as both Moses basket and cot at the moment! We have an Uppababy Vista and the bassinet is labelled as suitable for overnight sleeping- not sure if the Oyster is the same but worth checking.

Even if you don’t use it for sleeping the rest of the time I still think it’s worth having a bassinet- I wouldn’t leave a baby in a car seat outside of the car for longer than a quick scoot round a shop. Also if your DC does sleep well in the bassinet then they might have a nice long nap in there while you go for a walk- I usually wanted the sling off me after a while whereas I’d stay walking for much longer with the pram.

Infant car seats are all quite similar in terms of safety, so as long as you can fit it to your chassis for short journeys out and about you should be fine. However, if you are going on walks and things you will need to lie them flat to avoid them being in the car seat for too long.

Once they have grown out of the infant seat they should ideally remain in an extended rear facing seat until they are at least four as the bones in the neck don't fully form until then and toddlers who are forward facing could be very seriously injured in an accident due to this. Rear Facing Toddlers has some good information and advice about this rearfacingtoddlers.com/pages/why-rear-facing-is-safer

Car seats that last until 12 have poor safety ratings, are not crash tested at higher speeds, and usually have a low weight limit for rear facing, so I would avoid them.

Car seats that last until 12 have poor safety ratings, are not crash tested at higher speeds, and usually have a low weight limit for rear facing, so I would avoid them.

Very true. They protect no age really well.

What you need is a baby car seat (maybe up to 86 cm length?) that lasts your baby longer than 12 months.
Then switch straight away to a belted Swedish plus tested rear facing seat until 25 kg weight.
After this (age 5 or 6), you can switch to a high back booster.
Don't get any car seats that swivel. They won't last your child longer than 3.5 to 4 years and then you're looking again at said 25kg rearfacing seats to keep them safe. So go for these straight away, saves you a lot of cash.

Thank you all for the replies and advice! There's just so much info out there and friends with babies all just keep telling me I'll 'figure it out and just do it' which is reassuring in some ways but also not very helpful.

@Bells3032 ill definitely look into John Lewis baby appt, thanks!

@Trixabelle84, it's a pain isn't it?! Not sure theres a way around the 5 hour drive which is such a shame.

Think I will probably get a carrycot too, although it will only be for short trips around the shops ect as like I say walking wil mostly be on our own land which isn't very pram friendly

You can get lie-flat car seats. We had one with DD and used it on the pram all the time. It was brilliant.

Off the top of my head, Maxi Cosi Marble is lie flat on pram and in car and you'll almost certainly get adapters for it to fit the pram as Maxi Cosi seats are a very common brand.

We used a maxi cosi jade flat car seat and it doubled up as a pram, Moses basket for daytime sleeps and over night trips.

We live in London with family 3 hours away so was invaluable.

However only goes on maxi cosi buggy frame so bought a comparable second hand one which we will be selling now he is too big.

What I loved was taking him out of the car asleep and not disturbing him

@SylvanasWindrunner @welshladywhois40 this was my original plan but I'm worried about the time limit. Can they stay longer in a lie flat car seat?

Yes. We did frequent journeys to my parents 2.5 hours each way without stopping. And I used it on the pram all the time and never bothered with a carrycot. The issue with car seats is the recline - once they lie flat you remove that issue.

Hi, in my view - we effectively ignored the time limit as the jade seat is complexity flat so I can't see any difference between the seat and a normal pram bassinet thingy.

When they are tiny it's actually quite snug with the insert. My little son would sleep for long periods in it. When we were not driving I would release the seat belt and he is flat.

Worth seeing one in a shop if you can?

Completely not complexity

I used the carrycot all the time. Not just on the pram but for daytime naps taken off the buggy chassis and in the very early days overnight when visiting so not needing to take a separate travel cot.

The car seat which I could transfer to the chassis was pointless. I used it once ever across two babies. Other than that it never left the car. So I would definitely go for the carrycot option.

I slightly regret getting the car seat that went with our pram tbh... I never managed to transfer dd without waking her, and a car seat with a baby in is very heavy and bulky to carry.
pram bassinet attachment is pretty good for out and naps, but only for 4/5 months. Mine said to 6 months but dd was almost touching the ends at 4.5 and she's not huge

IMO it's invaluable being able to lift car seat out and put it straight on to pram without having to try to transfer a sleeping baby at the side of the road into a carrycot, etc. We were out and about loads and it made life so much easier just being able to lift the seat onto the pram and go. Takes seconds. Others' mileage may vary of course but I'm expecting DC2 and will be doing the same setup again for sure! All about making life easy!

Definitely seems like a lot of it is personal preference. Hopefully I'll get things clearer on my head once I've been to a store!