Advice needed - baby car seat questions (merged)

laurasbump

I bought my used silver cross pram and car seat from eBay for £100. Would have cost £400 ish new.

You should take a look there are some really good deals and mine was spotless.

Laura

alison6692

Hiya x

I am expecting our first baby in feb and I have not been at all MSE when it comes to my buggy - we have gone for the MUTSY 4 rider light CLICK - It
has cost us £500 for everything but its just what I wanted.

I would reccomend going to mothecare /john lewis and asking a sales person to show all the options and then try and decide what you want out of your pram.

The maxi - cosi car seat came out top on safety with Which ( you can have a months trial for £1 on the Which website and read the reviews for yourself - they reviewed pushchairs and carseats).

I also use baby chat forums to get real life reviews of buggys' etc.. HTH

Alison x

chivers1977

We bought the Maclaren XT Techno and the Maxi Cosi Cabrio (isofix infant carrier not available then) and I am so pleased we made that decision. My friends have had about 3 buggies each and have all ended up with a Maclaren after having fancy travel systems. Also the car seat is the most important so needs to fit car - not just look pretty!

chivers1977

I am having to get a new car seat due to an accident.

My son is 17kgs so needs either to get a group 2 or the Britax Elite (now discontinued) which goes up to 25kgs. He is only 2.5 so I would like to keep him in a harnessed seat if possible but was wondering whether it was considered safer to buy an isofix group 2 seat or buy the harnessed group 1 seat to be fastened with lap and diagonal belt.

Britax have confirmed that the Juniro Traveller (special needs seat) has been discontinued and is not on their fit finder so they would not allow Halfords to return it if it did not fit my still to be bought car (Zafira). They said that the Elite was the same seat without the extra "special" bits which we would not need anyway.

Cost is not an issue as safety is the main concern. I suffered whiplash from the accident and would not want J to get injured if he was incorrectly harnessed.

THanks

chivers1977

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_263707_langId_-1_CarSelectorCatalogId__CarSelectorGroupId__varient__categoryId_60959_crumb_33949-33953_parentcategoryrn_60959

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_233139_langId_-1_categoryId_82414
This were the options I considered

heather38

my mum has the 1st one in her car for when she has my DD. the seat is ok but the head rest doesn't come down low enough for her so it's useless for her head support. my dd is only 14 months so not the same as you i know, but just check the hight of your child in the seat.
i have this one in my car http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_233137_langId_-1_categoryId_89376
and i have found it to be a very good seat that came top in the which safety tests last year.

chivers1977

Thanks Heather the problem is that on most group 1 seats like yours, Jacob will only have 1kg to grow before he is out of the weight range, This is my problem - apart from whiplash and no car!!!

wotnext

I agree with Chivers.

From a practical point of view, and after having 3 children myself, they are only in a pushchair/pram for a very small amount of time. You soon tire of lugging it in and out of the car and they are heavy to push. Nearly everyone ends up buying a Maclaren when their babies are 6 months old as they are light and easy to push, plus very well made. (Hence why you see a lot of immaculate travel systems for sale on Ebay). We've bought cheaper buggies in the past but they were hopeless - Maclaren is by far the best.

That said, I am very old-fashioned in my thinking and think it is important for young babies to lay flat. Laying in a sitting position in a carseat is bad for their backs and I am sure years ago it was concluded that babies laying in that position for long periods of time could cause long-term problems. It was when it became fashionable to have pushchairs that just had moveable seats rather than reclining to a flat position. (I am noticing that this style is returning like the Bugaboo seat etc - I don't like them).

We have an older style pram (it's nearly 10 years old now) but it has a carrycot and that is what we will use to start with. Plus all my babies have slept in the carrycot at night. OK, it doesn't look up to date, but as long as baby sleeps comfortably then that's all that matters. We will probably then move straight to a Maclaren and it'll save us hundreds.

chivers1977

That's why i picked the techno as it does lie flat for newborns. I tried a second hand real pram and almost did my back in!

natalie1974

Ah so you have a chunky monkey as well then ! :rotfl: My DD2 is 2.5 yr old and weighs 20kgs now , I have the Britax Junior Traveller , got it on offer from Boots and then my mum's staff discount on top took it to £95 , it really is the only option you have for your child as he is too young for just a seat belt .