Calling the experienced ones! I am a first timer and have a car seat question!

[Amarilis]

Hello

I am expecting my first and and am starting to think about the whole care seat / travel system issue..

I have decided that I want a car seat from birth until 4 years, not one from birth until 9 months - as this seems really silly to me and not to mention expensive?!

So have any of you bought / owed a great birth to 4 years travel system - I want a car seat that will fit on to a buggy, so I can transfer from car to buggy with ease?

Any suggestions welcome!!

Thanks!

Dindnt know they did a car seat to go on a frame up to 4yrs? I had a travel system and tbh bought a 0/4 car seat they day we came home from hospital because she just didnt fit properly in the baby seat one.

Sorry typos 3 yr old helping me

The car seats that you can buy from 0-4years are not part of a travel system. They are bigger - as they last- and remain fixed in your car... usually rear facing for up to the first year and then turn around.
The stage 0+ car seats (up to 9 months) are the travel system ones that you can cart about and use as seat/rocker indoors.
HTH

I haven't heard of a birth to 4yrs car seat that would work as a travel system - it would probably be massive! My travel system was brilliant and was definitely worth buying an extra seat - DD is quite small-built and still fit in hers until about 15mths(!), although I didn't use it after about 10/11mths as it weighed a ton!

Could you maybe borrow a birth to 9mths car seat from a friend and buy a bigger one later?

Just to add.. all travel systems should see you through to 4 years (although obviously you change the seat bit from car seat/carrry cot to the buggy type seat.
Having said that you will prob end up using a maclaren type by about 18 months anyway

Maxicosi do a Pebble and a Pearl car seat. They both fit in the same cabriofix in the car so it works out cheaper. But only the smaller ones fit on a pram (I have a Quinny Buzz)
Have never seen any that go from 0-4 or larger seats that fit onto a pram but maybe someone else has?

The car seats which are birth to 4 can be used rear facing or forward facing and are very heavy and can't fit on buggies. I bought the britax one (first class) for my MIL's car as I thought it would be good only to buy her one car seat and she'd never want to fit it herself as she'd be worried about getting it wrong.

If you want to save money then borrow an infant car seat and then next buy a car seat that 12 months - 12 years?

We bought jane carrera matrix travel system (newer version called jane matrix solo reverse) - can use the car seat to 13kgs, so around 18 months to 2 years (its bigger than most of the rear facing travel system hence heavier, something to bear in mind).

BTW in response to the comment about the small car seats being useful for seats rockers inside - THEY ARE NOT they are not good for the babies posture - they are designed for car safety not as indoor chairs - and shouldn't be used for more than 1-2 hours at a time.

In responce to MumNWLondon - how long do you put your child in a rocker?!
I just meant if I was taking my baby to a friends house its useful to have somewhere to put baby while you eat lunch for example!

I agree about the cost, but you can try to borrow an 0+ seat.
The maxi cosi as well as winning all awards for safety etc, does seem to fit babies longer than any other, up to about one year, instead of 9 months.
As everyone says there is no travel system version of 0-4 chair.

a 0+ chair is most useful for when baby is asleep in car and you dont want to wake them by carrying them in, but if you have always carried baby indoors in your arms, they accept this as normal and stay asleep, as long as you have somewhere indoors to put them straight back down again. Or leave them in the car and check on them !
But agree about having a chair to put them in at other peoples houses, or restaurants or even to feed them in once weaning.

We had a birth to 4 years car seat, that was rear facing until he was 9 months and then we turned it around and he has just moved into a booster seat with a back at 3 yrs.

I don't like the travel systems as I agree with MumNWLondon that babies spend too long in car seats and it's not good for them. If I went to a friends he could lay on a blanket, in the corner of the sofa after a couple of months with me sitting next to him or I'd hold him, if it was longer I took his bouncy chair with us.

I took DS out of the carseat as our was fixed and 9 times out of 10 he wouldn't wake up or he'd settle again very quickly, they do get used to it if you do it regularly especially if you are putting them in a pushchair and moving straight away.

if you want one that will go on a pushchair then it can't be up to 4 yrs, it will only be an infant carrier

it isn;'t good for trhem to be scrunched up in a car seat for long periods anyway, so I don't think a travel system is necessarily the way to go

it is also worth bearing in mind that rear-facing is safer even beyond 9 months which is the minimum age for turning your child round

so, if it were me I would be buying an infant carrier to start with, that will fit on a pushchair if that's what you really want
then buying a decent rear-facing group 1 seat such as the britax 2 way elite, or the besafe izi combi

Don't most infant carrier seats go up to 13kgs rather than 9 months? I'm pretty sure that's what ours was. (I thought 9 months was simply the earliest you could move children into a forward facing seat?)

Having been told (by a road safety person we had at a post-natal group once) that babies are statistically safer in a rear-facing infant seat, I kept DS in his until he reached the weight limit (about 14mths I think).

Ahh, x-post with thisisyesterday!

My son got too big and his legs where all scrunched up before he weighed too much unfortunately. But I had heard that rear-facing is safer as Jacksmybaby said so you can leave them rear facing until they don't fit or get fed up!!

our infant carrier only went to 9kg and DD had to move into a 0-4 car seat at 8 months. She is very tall now and at 2 years had outgrown both of our Britax 0-4 car seats (her eye level is above the highest point of the seat) so now we have the Britax evolva 123 which is from 12 months to 12 years. In retrospect we should have bought this first and got an infant carrier that would have lasted longer.

Hi
I had been searching high and low before buying our pram/carseat. It had to be practical, all in one, small enough to fit in our little Nissan micra (you will be surprised how many prams dont fit! - always try out the boot before you buy).

So I had one in mind and went to M&P. Once there the very good sales assistant told us to think about the Pramette. It was on sale.
It was the BEST decision I have made regarding baby stuff I bought.

It is absolutely a fab pram and also their car seat fits on top! AND the car seat is facing you. Also you can use the pram from birth as the baby can lay down flat!

REally really good!

The infant seat may seem to be a waste if it only lasts a year, but if you're considering more than one child, you'll need to buy two of the next size if they're less than 3 years apart and that's probably more expensive.

I got a birth to 4 years car seat straight off, on the principle that I'm short and struggled with an empty one of those infant seats, let alone with a bigger-than-newborn baby in it. It wasn't a travel system, though, I actively didn't want that.

I was quite happy and didn't regret it. My son also stayed rear facing for ages longer than others, which is apparently safer. The one I got, with our difficult-to-fit car was only belt fitting, no Isofix.

But when I got a 9months-4 years forward facing Isofix car seat so that the baby I'm now pregnant with can have the old baby seat, I suddenly found how much easier it was, and how much of the driver's visibility was obscured by having the rear facing seat behind the passenger seat.