car seat advice

[fizzyanddizzy]

Hello

I have a 10 month old ds with down's syndrome. He is starting to grow out of his newborn carseat although he is not yet 9kg.

What do you do about next stage car seats? he can't sit up by himself and although his head control is good, he gets distressed quite quickly sitting upright for any length of time.

Are there any off the shelf car seats that you have used that have been good? or what do you do, who do you go to?

TIA

Here is my very similar thread from a few months ago.
HTH x

We ended up getting this one and DS is very happy in it.

OH MY GOD

Could these things cost anymore???? am in shock not least as I will have to get one for the childminder as well.

Is your ds (who is v cute by the way) able to sit up by himself? am worried that my ds whose upper body strength isn't very strong will just get tired and uncomfortable

No, he cannot sit unaided, he sounds quite like your DS in that his head control is good, but his trunk control is a bit dodgy. He is very secure and comfy in the seat, even at its most upright, tho we keep it at the most reclined for any journey over 5 mins! As you recline, the seat becomes a bit more elevated each time, giving your baby a good view out of the window.

We have a Mamas & Papas store nearby, so we were able to try it out before buying it and we could see straight away that it'd be fine. Anything too upright and our lazy little oik will either start arching his back trying to get out, or will slump and refuse to sit up. When he sat quite happily in this seat we knew we were onto a winner.

Yes, the prices are shocking, aren't they? I almost fainted when I started looking at the SN ones.

Does your DS have physio & OT? I asked both their opinions before buying and they were certain he would be OK in a well padded standard seat, rather than a SN specific one.

thank you feelingbetter.

yes, he does have a physio and OT who we are seeing in the next week or two so will ask what they think as well. They have been very good at getting him chairs to sit in at home and have ordered him a highchair so maybe they will have a solution to me not spending over £300 on car seats

Good idea about going and trying out first - something we never did with his older brothers!

Hi fizzy - we have had two Britax's from the In Car Safety Centre (as mentioned on the other thread). We've been perfectly happy with them tbh - and the fact that they were priced competitively with normal car seats was particularly appealling (I balked at the price of a Recaro SN seat ). We especially found the rear facing seat good, as dd had very poor neck control at the time.

Good luck

Remember that even if his legs are getting longer as long as he is within the weight limit for his seat he will be safe. Many first stage infant seats go up to 10 or even 13 kgs.

If he has poor head control and trunk weakness he is much better rear facing. There are some second stage car seats that go rear and forward facing. We put DD2 in a Britax one that went rear facing and only moved her forward facing once she was sitting up well, by which time she was about 18-20 months.

This looks like a good seat and if I remember does well in the Which? safety tests

oh thank you, you lovely people, you!

Yes, you are right - whilst he is still in the weight range he will be safe. I also think he will be better off rear facing for a while yet. Feel a bit bad that he is in the same car seat we bought for his oldest brother 6 years ago . So maybe we will treat him to his own sooner rather than later.

Right, plan of action - speak with his OT / physio for some advice, then will go researching with him as my partner in crime (obviously am not implying that the pair of us are going to nick a couple of car seats! although at those prices...

Thank you.

I have dd2 (NT) still rear-facing. she is 2.6 now.

dd1 (ASD, and has low muscle tone making it hard for her to sit up properly in seats) was rearfacing in the car until she was 3.6ish (she is a big girl - dd2 at her current rate of grwoth won't be out of her RF seat until she is about 6 !)

Anyway, dd1 had a Britax seat - think it might have eben the Fixway (sorry, i am hopeless at remembering the names of carseats) - it was ok, but not brilliantly supportive, tbh.

dd2 is now in a BESafe Izikid seat. Hers is an Isofix version which we had to import, but the non-isofix ones are soldover here in a few places. It is a great seat - very supportive, does very well in European tests (more stringent than ours) - has great head and neck protection/support. It also has a really good recline on it - at it's most recliend dd2 is really laid back - and she almost always falls asleep so it must be comfy

WooHooooo!
I must have done something right, sometime, somewhere.

Got the results of our DLA application this morning - we have been awarded middle rate with a back payment of £370 - so thats the car seats sorted