Car seat advice please?

GlasweJen

My neice has outgrown her old carseat and I've offered to buy her next one. Her parents aren't fussed on aesthetics.

She's only 8 months old but is already too big for her rear facer which should have fitted for a year (she's a long baby). She travels with her 2 sisters who are both in booster seats (age 5 and 7). My sister would prefer something she can get a good use out of so something she can grow with would be preferable. I'm also looking for something with a high safety rating, I don't mind paying for a good car seat as I know they can be life savers.

Can anyone give me any advice?

pigpen

no use here I'm afraid but what car seat did they find which would fit between 2 booster seats??

GlasweJen

the one she's in just now is a mothercare one, she's not between the boosters though she's at one door and the boosters are in the middle and at the other door but her car has 3 individual seats in the back rather than one big long one with 3 seatbelts.

Curious_George_2

my son has an armchair one... sort of like this one from Toys r us (well.. babies r us and if it helps they are MUCH cheaper than mothercare and have a sale on at the moment!)


i know they can be pricey but he has been in it since he was about 10 months old and it will last til he is about 4

alleycat`

We have the same one as CG (in red and black).

Got it online from Mothercare but tried it out in the store first (online it was on sale - go figure?)

They also have an online check to see if it should be ok with your car.

The spec is here:-

http://www.britax.co.uk/car-seats/first-class-plus

It can still rear face if necessary and be flipped around as required.
My son was using this from about 7 months on as he is also a bit of a bean pole.

pigpen

CG.. that is the one we have too!

thanks Glas

fernliebee

I also have the britax first class, as I wanted DD to travel rear facing as long as poss as it is much safer. She fit's fine in it rear facing still and she is 19 months old, however can be used as a forward facing seat from approx 9 months, and lasts until 4 years.

When I was looking at car seats on which (2 years ago now) it had a very high safety rating due to it's rear facing capabilities. It is a great seat I find, and am planning on buying exactly the same one when baby no.2 comes along in June.

I bought on kiddicare as it was cheapest at the time.

code-a-holic

Hi, what a nice aunt you are!

I recently was shopping for a seat and also needed it to fit alongside 2 boosters.
That britax one pictured was one of the widest i found. The best fit was the maxi cosi priori xp. I have britax boosters which are also the narrowest i could find so they all fit comfortably in the row.

shellsuit

We got the baby a Britax Prince the other day, £69.99 in the sale at Halfords.

It's got good reviews and is lightweight too, so doesn't weigh a tonne if you're moving it in and our of cars.

It will fit our Vectra, OH's Cavalier (his baby lol) and my Mum's RAV4, so looks like it will fit most makes and models.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_711793_langId_-1_categoryId_165763

If you go on the Britax site, it has a fit finder and will tell you which seats will fit your car.

fguk

Not my usual place to post, but we recently looked at all this for our son (8 months).

We came up with this, a rare rear facing isofix 0-4 years seat

manufacturers website (the brand is besafe)

http://www.hts.no/en/products/izicombi_isofix.php

plenty of online supply of this brand. Apparently new research suggests that rear facing seats are up to 5 times safer in an accident....so we took that to mean they should rear face for as long as possible. Take a look here for some more information.

http://www.rearfacing.co.uk

So many different products and different advice its difficult to know what to do for the best.

fernliebee

Although the britax is wide in the seat it is high up due to being a rear facing, so the bottom bit which fits on seat (and next to booster seats) is fairly slim. If she drives a fiesta then maybe not great but for a normal sized car would be fine. I fit 2 britax first class' and my SIL in the middle of my old Astra.

ETA; FGUK- you are so right. Rear facing is one of my priorities and DD will stay in hers as long as poss. I would love the law to be changed in line with some other European countries as if the government send the message that forward facing is fine then ppl will listen to that, and babies lives could be saved.