Advice needed - baby car seat questions (merged)

zoena

hi thanks for all the info, i have three normal seat belts in back just its a bit tight getting all three done up! would rather my 8 year old was sat on a booster as she is on the small side for her age! will go to halfords i think and ask them! good idea about thinking about it as i am sure will find one cheaper online, brand new! i was planning on having my little boys seat behind the passenger seat and not in the middle, but will have to see how i can fit them all in!

emmajane1

Your 7 month old should really be rear facing for as long as humanly possible- he may be the right weight for a forward facing seat but his neck muscles would not be strong enough in a crash if he was forward facing . Is his head over the top of his existing seat ? It doesn't matter if his legs are alittle squashed in his existing seat if his head is ok he will be much safer not changing seats.Can you get a rear & front facing seat ?

We have a focus & bought a britax first class (don't know if this is still manufactured as my dd is 4 now) which goes both ways & enabled us to keep our dd rear facing until about 15 months. If you research this many other countries only sell rear facing seats for young children as it is much, much safer.

You are right that your 8 year old esp if small needs a booster preferably one with a back which will give her side impact protection in a crash

hth

zoena

hi yes his head is almost hanging over the edge at the top sorry i put 7 months and just realised he will be 8 months on third of feb (bad mommy!!) he is very tall for his age (on 98th centile for height) i have a birth to four years one that i used with second dd its a britax first class si (i think!) but its absolutely huge and takes up way too much room in the back of the car (we had an old BMW when it was used so lots of space!!) my other two were in rock a tots till they were nearly 12 months but my boy is very long! its not something that looks like its going to happen right away anyway as i only have weekends to search halfords and then choose on online then get it delivered! he also weighs and tonne in the rock a tot we use and tis dificult to just get him out of it and leave it in the car, i only do the school run really (lead a very boring life!) , thanks for the advice its def looking like halfords is the only option as dont have a local mothercare here , thanks again )

spendapennyortwo

Has anyone heard of 'cozy n safe' as a brand of infant car seat? We purchased one from an independent retailer just a few weeks ago for £40 - it will do baby until 10-12 months depending on weight.

I was not sure at first because of the price but as others have said on this thread they cannot sell infant car seats if they were not safe.

TIA

deanos

spendapennyortwo wrote: »

I was not sure at first because of the price but as others have said on this thread they cannot sell infant car seats if they were not safe.

Yes they can

The Which? child car seat tests reveal big differences between child car seats. Some protect babies and children well, but others expose them to the risk of serious injury or even death.

http://www.which.co.uk/reviews/child-car-seats/page/how-we-test-child-car-seats/

spendapennyortwo

thanks but I'm actually wondering if anyone has heard of the brand I've already stated in my previous post if there are bad reviews on this particular one then obviously it goes without saying we'll buy one that's had more positive reviews. it's not too late yet!

deanos

Its not a known brand, i would rather get a branded one with good crash tests than one ive never heard of with no crash tests

spendapennyortwo

when I was in the shop I was told it was the last one as they have been selling fast - the shop assistant said it was mainly because of the cost. They haven't had any complaints from any customers as yet. Not sure that they'd be able to continue selling them if safety was compromised.

apples1

Depends if you are happy with a basic seat that meets minimum requirements or you want the safest seat you can afford. Not sure how you expect to measure its sucess (or safety) by the fact they have not had any complaints. Imagine what would have to happen before someone questioned whether they made the right decision buying a seat for which they had seen no crash test data.

There are some very well known brands that don't stack up very well in comparison to others in safety tests. There are also less known brands that did well. Often some pretty much unknown brands (in the UK at least) become well known if they design a very safe seat (relatively sepaking that is as none are THAT safe!). I bought a Cybex Solution X seat for my eldest child when "Which" first tested it and rated it so highly. I had to ship it from Germany to get one. That was about four years ago. Recently Mamas & Papas became the UK distributer for Cybex and therefore it's now a well known brand (higher profile) brand in the UK.

spendapennyortwo

thanks apples1 - that's why I'm on this forum to try and get some good advice about whether to use this seat with newborn. DH thinks that it wouldn't be in the shops best interests to be selling a car seat that wasn't safe, otherwise they'd get bad press and it wouldn't do their reputation any good either..he thinks I'm being daft and that they just cannot sell seats if they are not safe. I'm just annoyed that something I would normally take for granted, any other item like a hoover or a food processor would come with manufacturer details yet this seat doesn't. I've never come across this before with an item I've bought. Not sure whether to be suspicious of it or not because it does state it has met the minimum safety requirements on it.