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Original poster

which is most inportant using child car seats?

22 replies

trace2 · 01/06/2008 16:54

is it the weight, or 9 months for the forward facing seats? have asked in diffrent shops and got diffrent veiws

OP posts:
LadyOfTheFlowers · 01/06/2008 16:55

weight i believe.

jingleyjen · 01/06/2008 16:57

IMO age has nothing to do with it. 9months is the minimum but if your child is still below the maximum weight limit of the rear facing seat and the childs eyes are not higher than the top of the seat then the child is safer in the seat than in a forward facing seat.

misdee · 01/06/2008 16:57

weight.

but there is information out there saying a child is safer rearfacing until the age of 4.

jingleyjen · 01/06/2008 16:58

sorry just thinking of this the other way round...
if you had a small child who was 9 months old but still under the weight limit you wouldn't move a child would you?

LadyOfTheFlowers · 01/06/2008 16:59

m&p instruction manual said my child should fit his seat till so and so weight and over 1 year old.
he had grown out of it by 8 months!
age guides are pants ime.

Original poster
trace2 · 01/06/2008 16:59

thank you we thought it was weight, so dd has a long wait yet then shes on 14lb

OP posts:
Seona1973 · 01/06/2008 19:54

child car seat law. This website says the following:

Child restraints are divided into categories, according to the weight of the children for whom they are suitable. These correspond broadly to different age groups, but it is the weight of the child that is most important when deciding what type of child restraint to use.

Hulababy · 01/06/2008 20:11

Weight, ability to sit and age in terms of physical development re muscle control.

nowwearefour · 01/06/2008 20:13

yes def weight but even if heavy enough then if still not muscle control dont do it. our dds are both small- dd1 was 14 months when heavy enough and our dd2 is now 12 months and nowhere near heavy enough. which is annoying as she is way too long for it now and screams for almost all of every journey but she needs to be safe!

differentID · 01/06/2008 21:59

The minimum requirements for forward facing are to weigh at least 9kg and be at least 9 months old. I would keep lo in car seat until her head is at the top and she is close to upper weight limit of current seat

EdieMcredie · 02/06/2008 11:33

DD was in a forward facing maxi cosi at 7 months because she weighed 9kg and just looked too big for the small one!

MrsAki · 05/06/2008 20:49

Muscle control has nothing to do with when you can turn your child forward. Children have very vulnerable necks and heavy heads. You should keep them rear facing for as long as you possibly can and, as a PP mentions, you can keep them rear facing till 4 years old. In some countries, mainly Scandinavia, it is standard to keep children rear facing till 4 years old. Check out [www.rearfacing.co.uk this] for information about this.

MrsAki · 05/06/2008 20:49

working link

Niecie · 05/06/2008 20:55

I understand the point about rear facing seats being better but where is a 4 yo child supposed to put their legs?

DS1 got moved into a forward facing seat because in the end he couldn't stretch his legs out and wasn't very comfortable. We kept him rear facing long passed the weight guidelines for turning him but ended up doing it because he had no leg room. He wasn't that old, just less than a year.

Pixiepants · 06/06/2008 10:16

Niece, the Group 1 rearfacing seats for older children (approx 1-4 years) have more leg room than the Group 0+ seats because of the way they are designed and fit in the car. Parents of older/longer children have found them fine as the LO's can cross their legs when they need to.

The point you're raising is the most common concern for UK parents it seems, but doesn't bother parents in Scandanavian countries where these seats are the norm, as far as I can tell.

Just a case of getting used to something different I guess, and I imagine car seats in general had this sort of reception when they were first indroduced, until people realised how much safer their LO's were.

Anansias · 06/06/2008 10:54

I have just puchased a rear facing seat from Sweden and I am delighted with it. There is a lot of room for the legs and it doesn't move an inch!

MrsAki · 06/06/2008 19:42

Glad that your seat is good Anansias! I feel the same way about my rear facing seat. It does not move an inch in the car, the road safety officers I have shown it to have been more than impressed and said that it is the safest looking seat they have ever seen. My dd is sitting high up, which means that she can see out the windows, side and rear, and she has plenty of leg room.
Considering that she is 5 times safer in this seat compared to sitting in a FF seat, I am delighted with it and hope that the UK retailers will start stocking them pronto to give all British children the same protection my lo has.

Anansias · 06/06/2008 22:31

I thought if a child could hold their head up they could go in a forward facing car seat. But the statistics show that Rear Facing saves a lot of lives... up to four years old! Can't believe I put my ds in forward facing before he was 9 kilos just cos it looked cosier. Now I looked into it I only want him to travel rear facing.

lljkk · 06/06/2008 22:38

How do you fit 3 rear facing seats in the bck of an ordinary car, though? I can get a mix of 3 seat types in back of most ordinary cars, but those rear-facing ones just look so big. Also thinking of friends who had 3 under 2.5 yo, etc. Surely the legs get cramped if crossed for hours on long drives.

I would have thought the most important thing was strapping the damn thing in snugly enough...

CJMommy · 06/06/2008 23:02

Just been looking at this and doing a bit of research. Had never heard of rear facing seats used up to 4 years but after reading and talking to DH, we shall definately be buying a rear facing for our DS (still only 5 months though). thanks for the info

Pixiepants · 07/06/2008 07:46

lljkk Not sure it's possible to fit 3 RF in the back of an 'ordinary' car, but I could be wrong! It's one of those issues where you do the best you can, which could mean just having the youngest of most vulnerable child RF, and if you feel very very strongly, you re-mortgage/get loans etc and buy a people carrier. (I know this sounds extreme but there is always a way, even if it's not easy and involves many other sacrafices-Not suggesting you do this btw, just showing how it could be done if you felt really strongly).

As for legs getting cramped on long drives. Firstly, if you follow current advice on taking rest breaks the LO's will get to stretch their legs every few hours anyway, and also, children find crossed legs much more comfortable than adults, so although it seems unbearable for us to sit like that, they're fine.

cjmummy I felt the same way as you and think that although manufacturers and retailers have told me that UK parents 'don't want RF carseats', I think that it's more a case of UK parents not knowing about their existance. Glad you're happy to have found this thread and if anyone wants to help raise awareness there's a Downing Street petition to sign here

Pixiepants · 07/06/2008 07:50

Oh, and yes, lljkk, making sure any child seat is fitted properly is so important, you're right. According to the AA 7/10 carseats are incorrectly fitted and therefore not doing their job properly. . But, worth remembering that a properly fitted RF seat is 5 times safer that properly fitted FF one too.

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