Advice needed - baby car seat questions (merged)

shirlgirl2004

My_Fathers_Daughter wrote: »

Ladies - as a first timer who will be making this decision very soon (due in March) can I ask what research you are looking at?

The only research I can find was done back in 2001, following which the guidelines changed and all baby seats were redesigned to offer greater head support and a more reclined position...
The only thing I can find in the current guidance is that using a car seat as a buggy or allowing baby to sleep in a car seat (as long as not for prolonged periods) should be of no harm to baby...

Prolonged periods is not defined from what I can see...but one would imagine that it would mean more than a few hours???


Can you point me at what you are looking at? My baby brain is struggling with mundane tasks at the moment so trying to research this is sending me loopy!!

Can't find the research at the mo but even the car seat manufacturers tell you not have bubs in the car seat for more than 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I think it's in pretty much every handbook.

Try looking at the next newborn you see being carted around on a travel system in it's car seat and you'll see they slump and have the chin on the chest almost all the time. It is this which causes low sats and therfore the concern. If you do a search you should find the research.

foreversomeday

This is the car seat sleeping safety research, I can't find the one about car seat bases though.

http://www.bmj.com/content/vol333/issue7580/press_release.dtl

More info here too:

http://sids.org.nz/site/content/newsShow/87/

becs

I must confess my comments were aimed more at the damage this does to their spines. Babies have rapidly developing bones and surely to leave them in these carriers for long periods scrunched up can not logically be good for them. I suspect in 20 years time we will begin to see the effects of these carriers when babies reach adulthood. I for one would not want to take the risk for the sake of a few minutes swapping them into a carrycot where they can lie flat. I completely agree that shorts trips it may be useful. However I would imagine there are not many shopping trips that would be much shorter than an hour and a half. By the time you have put baby in the carrier and loaded up your bits in the car and put them in, driven to wherever, parked up and unloaded everything and then gone shopping and done it all again in reverse an hour and a half is not long at all.

My_Fathers_Daughter

Right - I think I am getting somewhere(ish).

The only recent research was done in New Zealand which has different designs of car seat so whilst the theory could still be applied at least one paper is a promotional paper for a company marketing its foam inserts :rolleyes:

The guidance on baby centre and baby world refers to prolonged periods but basically says a healthy baby should be fine.
The guidance on the Maxi Cosi website says that baby should be taken out after a few hours.

Got my friend to ask her health visitor this morning and she says that as long as it is not where baby usually sleeps then there shouldn't be a problem - although I should say that this is aimed at my friend and her baby and their circumstances only.


So in short I think the answer is it depends on your lifestyle but for short trips it would seem okay for the seat to be used as a buggy. Ideal scenario for first 6 months would seem to be car seat in car and lie flat carrycot/pram when out and about.


Sorry to keep waffling on about this but this is MSE and I am sure I am not the only one who was considering not buying a carry cot option for their chosen buggy.
The maxi-cosi is widely acknowledged as the safest car seat and also markets itself with several of the leading brands of pushchair as being compatable for use on their frames...it never really occurred to me that they would be able to market something which is deemed dangerous...

I'm waffling again

barnishroader

we are just upgrading our first car seat as our 9 month old is getting too big.
we are considering isofix but wondering is it much more of a benefit if it will remain in the car at all times?
he is heavy enough to carry in his current seat so can't see us carrying him in a bigger one!!!
probably looking for a seat that will do him until he is 4 so recommendations would be most welcome.

ps it maybe goes without saying but we are looking for the most "economical" suggestions!

chivers1977

I would definitely recommend the4 isofix group 1 seats. They are absolutely rock solid. I had a britax duoplus and it worked when I crashed last year. Shame it had to go to the tip and not be saved for any prospective other children.....

onlyroz

Isofix is definitely much safer - our Britax clips in place very easily and stays firmly in place. Using a non-isofix chair while on holiday a few months back made me feel distinctly uneasy because the chair slipped around all over the place no matter how much I fiddled with the seat belts.

BTW I'm after one of the maxi-cosi chairs for my secondborn (due in a month) but kiddicare only have the green one for £164, and I'd like the yellow one....

fernliebee

http://www.springerlink.com/content/nx1j011314341252/

Its only the abstract of a journal article but it seems to state that isofix is no improvement to strap fastening, however there is no room for misuse, so no way it can be strapped in wrong etc. It does also mention that there were problems during testing, with increased chest acceleration, I would guess this is because car seats generally have a bit of 'play' in them to absorb some of the impact, and isofix keeps them locked in place so some of this impact would be absorbed by the child! I might be completely wrong though!

I think it also only talks about forward facing, as rear facing is much safer anyway.

IMHO it doesn't seem to matter which you use as long as you read the instructions on how to fit your car seat effectively!

Edit: If you have a car safety centre near you it is well worth the trip to see what seat works best in your car- even if you don't buy the seat from them in the end, it shows you what fits and what doesn't!

dealrocker

Someone in my family is going to have a baby very soon and we need a nice baby car seat.
Just want to now where to find stylish yet cheap infant car seats.


Pass on your suggestions.

Hell_Dans_Un_Handcart

https://www.kiddicare.com usually has the best prices.

It should be noted, though, that you really do get what you pay for with baby car seats and it's worth skimping elsewhere to get a decent one. I think Britax and Maxi Cosi usually come out top in the Which? safety awards. Also be very wary of second hand seats - you don't know whether they have been in an accident and therefore have been damaged, or if they are faulty in some fashion. You don't want to find out the hard way!