please help me, boring topic, iknow, but need help with car seats.

[misdee]

have decided that i want to get dd2 the briotax elite, dd1 needs a high back booster, and baby needs a infant carrier.
the high back booster and infant carrier needs to be fairly narrow. after the baby reaches 9kg, it'll be moved into a britax renaissance which will fit in the centre of my car.

sop which high back booster and infant carrier do i get? have just been looking at the maxi cosi cabrio, is it narrow, or not? no idea on the high back booster, currently has the graco ones but they are bulky and wide.

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i've heard the m+p car seats sit the baby up too much, does this happen with the maxi cosi?

i have a 2 stage car seat for the girls, so never used an infant carrier.

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sorry lockets, dont like travel systems

just hate seeing babies in car seats too foten. i love the e3 cos of how flat it wil lay for the baby.

Misdee, that isn't a 'lie flat' infant carrier, is it? Only they came out very, very badly in the Which? crash tests - so badly that one was taken off the market immediately. Which? tested lots of car seats and uses more rigorous tests than manufacturers - they only test at 30mph, W? did 40 last time I checked and do side-on as well as front.
The two 'lie flat' carriers basically disintegrated - any baby in them would have been killed.
See here for the 2003 tests - the ones I am talking about were 2004 but can't find them

and

Which but unfortunately you have to sign up to a free trial to get the full report.

also found this: article

Hopefully they don't anymore ? one of the ones Which? tested was taken off the market immeidately, but I don't know what happened to the other model or whether there are other lie-flat ones that Which? didn't test.

e3 is the buggy, phil and teds e3 explorer. i was tempted by the lie flat car seats but 1) i dont have a big enough car, and 2) the reports which makes some unsafe(was it m+p).

I wouldn't touch any lie-flat car seat at all - can't remember which two the Which? test featured but BOTH fell apart so it may be something about the whole lie-flat mechanism. Who knows, but I wouldn't risk it.
My sister crashed her car before Christmas. Fortunately everyone was OK but there was an empty child seat in the other car that was thrown loose by the impact. Thank God the driver didn't have his child with him.

i had a lovely club class wheich we dumped last year after our accident. really eished i had replaced it with a 1st class SI but didnt have the money then.

I thought the Jane Matrix lie flat car seat had come top in the safety tests?? I really really want to get a lie flat one, obviously won't though if they're not safe. I'm ever so annoyed there isn't more choice in lie flats, espectially with all the reports saying the sitty up ones can be bad for baby's back.

the back thing is why i dont like travel systems. but i do need a suitable seat. how wide is the base of the first class SI?

the lie-flat ones that came out so badly in the Which report were actually carrycots that can be secured in the car, rather than an infant carrier per se. Many of the newer infant carriers are designed however so that the baby lies down reasonably flat!
any rear-facing car seat is going to be better than the carrycot type, although having said that, my brother and myself were both put in a carrycot in the car and we're fine!
If you don't want to pay for a Which report then go to your local library... they can print the information out for you.

IIRC, the Britax Cosy Tot Premium came out top for safety, followed by the Maxi Cosi. But that's a bright idea about checking through your library.

I need help with this too as I will be using the car a lot for school runs etc.

DS has a Britax Cruiser Plus. DD has a Britax Eclipse Si. Middle seat is currently free. We have a Ford Focus C-Max btw.

I need a baby seat to either go in the middle or on one of the side seats and leave ds to go in the middle on a booster seat (he's nearly grown out of the Cruiser). Booster is bottom part of a Britax Trio (full seat won't fit in my car according to Britax).

I have tried with our Rock a Tot seat and found that it is really difficult to get it fastened and also to get the seat handle back the way it should go, so my first thought was a Graco Autobaby seat with a base, but they look really big. I'm not a fan of M&P because everything I have bought from them has always been broken or faulty so have ruled out their seat.

Any help or suggestions gratefully received .

I am thinking that the autobas and graco seat would not be that big - seem big but aren't iykwim....

Pamina you do have good taste! .

The Britax is our second baby seat (dh going mad with me) as ds had a Graco Travel System which I sold. I really wanted to use it again but I cannot unclip it without losing the skin on my knuckles! The handle on mine is a bit sticky too which is making it near impossible to fit with any kind of ease. I just can't risk it as we have to use the car for school pickup really so I am looking as buying another Graco TS as it will be the easiest way to get the baby in and out and means I won't have to carry the seat everywhere. I'm hoping that the booster seat can just fit in when needed really.

Eidsvold, thanks for that, I think I will try to go to toyrus and get one fitted to see nearer the time.

dd2 is a large 2 year old and wont fit in the renaissance, which is why i'm looking at the elite for her, as it means i can use the harness for her, rather than her slouching in a booster seat.

think its the junior plus we have, the one with cup holders. but will it fit in teh cnetre of the car? i know by this point its the child weight that holds the seat in place, but am wondering if it will be too wide. argh, just wish dh would put me on the car insurence so i can drive us all over to mothercare to check fitting etc.