Car Seat Recommendations

daleigha

Hi all,

My little boy is 2.5 months old, and already weighs 18lbs!! :eek: I now have to consider the next car seat to buy him as it won't be long before he is too big for the group 0 and group 0+ seats we have, plus it's getting very heavy lifting the seat in and out of the car.

Ideally I would love a car seat that is suitable from birth - 6 years, rear facing, isofix and that swivels 180 degrees so I can have it forward facing to put him in, and then turn it to rear facing for travel. It would also be lovely to have one which could go rear and forward facing so that when he is older he can face forward. Does such a car seat exist? We only have a three door car hence the need for 180 degree swivel.

I'm happy to pay quite a bit of money for a seat like this, as not only will it save us having to buy a new 5 door car, but we can use it for any subsequent babies that come along.

I would also appreciate your recommendations on car seats which are rear and forward facing which swivel 90 degrees in the event that what I want doesn't exist and we have to buy a new car!!

Thank you

Nicki

:eek::eek: 18lbs! Are you sure? That's more than double the weight of babies on the 97th percentile for that age range. How could he possibly weigh so much? My 16 month old baby is about that weight!

shelley_crow

The was a car seat called the Renolux 360 which was forward and rear facing and swivelling, to allow you to put the child in without breaking your back. Which? safety tested it and found that it scored ZERO, yes ZERO out of ten, it was marginally better than placing the baby on the backseat. The tests showed (at 30 mph) the seat spinning off the back seat and slamming into teh drivers seat, even when fitted and installed correctly. If you google it you should find the outline of the report, it was horrific. Renolux grudgingly discontinued it last year but some shops may still have stocks, avoid it like the plague. I don't understand how it was able to pass the safety tests before it was sold.

I'm sure there is a similar type of seat called the Axxis, please check safety reports before purchasing. I've gien swivelling seats a miss completely.

daleigha

He was over 13lbs four weeks ago, when the HV weighed & measured him, but is entirely in proportion - in the 91st centile for both height and weight. He is a massive baby - already starting to grow out of his 3-6 month clothes, in both length and width.

According to my red baby book he is now on the 99.6th centile - babies on the 98th centile @ 10 weeks would weigh about 16lbs so I'm not sure why you would think he was double the weight for his age at that centile??? Half of his his current weight would only be 9lbs - lots of babies are already that weight when they are born!!

daleigha

shelley_crow wrote: »

The was a car seat called the Renolux 360 which was forward and rear facing and swivelling, to allow you to put the child in without breaking your back. Which? safety tested it and found that it scored ZERO, yes ZERO out of ten, it was marginally better than placing the baby on the backseat. The tests showed (at 30 mph) the seat spinning off the back seat and slamming into teh drivers seat, even when fitted and installed correctly. If you google it you should find the outline of the report, it was horrific. Renolux grudgingly discontinued it last year but some shops may still have stocks, avoid it like the plague. I don't understand how it was able to pass the safety tests before it was sold.

I'm sure there is a similar type of seat called the Axxis, please check safety reports before purchasing. I've gien swivelling seats a miss completely.

OMG, that's quite worrying :eek: Thank you so much for that info - I'll definitely google. Maybe the best way forward is a new car then!! Just with him still being so young it will be difficult to get him in and out as he doesn't have full head control / can't sit up yet etc.

Nicki

18lbs is about 8.2kgs. The 97th centile for boys at 2 months is just over 4kgs. So only 3% of boys (less for girls) weigh more than this, and most weigh 3.5kgs or below.

13lbs is 5.8kgs so still a little over the 97th but much more likely. I should have thought its unlikely he will have put on 6 lbs or 2.5kgs in 4 weeks though. I was told about 200g per week was the expected amount in the first few weeks. The car seat manufacturers themselves don't expect a baby to reach 9kgs ( the minimum change over weight for a stage 1 seat) until they are about 9 months old.

Sagaris

Group 0+ seats are up to 13kg (29lb) and the longer you can leave babies rearward facing, the safer they are. Don't worry about his legs being too long for the seat, it's his head that's the important bit - he's ok until his head starts to come above the back of the seat.

He shouldn't be going in a forward facing seat until he can sit up confidently - for about 20 - 30 minutes withough wobbling or falling over. You can get rearward facing seats that last until they are around 4 years of age - not many places stock them, but they are a lot safer - more info here: http://www.rearfacing.co.uk/

More information here: http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/

daleigha

Nicki wrote: »

18lbs is about 8.2kgs. The 97th centile for boys at 2 months is just over 4kgs. So only 3% of boys (less for girls) weigh more than this, and most weigh 3.5kgs or below.

13lbs is 5.8kgs so still a little over the 97th but much more likely. I should have thought its unlikely he will have put on 6 lbs or 2.5kgs in 4 weeks though. I was told about 200g per week was the expected amount in the first few weeks. The car seat manufacturers themselves don't expect a baby to reach 9kgs ( the minimum change over weight for a stage 1 seat) until they are about 9 months old.

I am actually looking at my book right now, and my figures are correct. I am in Northern Ireland so don't know if we have different centile calculations.

I weighed him myself this morning, weighing myself first, then getting on the scales with him in my arms. Where do you get 6lbs weight gain from - 18lbs less 13lbs (and he was actually about 13 1/2 lbs) is 5lbs, more likely to be about 4 1/2lbs gain. I do appreciate that this still seems like rapid weight gain, so will do it again tomorrow to check, but am certain he will be well over 13lbs as this is what he was four weeks ago.

Anyway, I would prefer if this thread didn't go off topic into a discussion about my son's weight if that's ok

daleigha

Sagaris wrote: »

Group 0+ seats are up to 13kg (29lb) and the longer you can leave babies rearward facing, the safer they are. Don't worry about his legs being too long for the seat, it's his head that's the important bit - he's ok until his head starts to come above the back of the seat.

He shouldn't be going in a forward facing seat until he can sit up confidently - for about 20 - 30 minutes withough wobbling or falling over. You can get rearward facing seats that last until they are around 4 years of age - not many places stock them, but they are a lot safer - more info here: http://www.rearfacing.co.uk/

More information here: http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/

Thanks Sagaris - this is what I'm concerned about - keeping him rear facing for as long as possible, especially given the fact that he is most certainly going to be in a stage 1 car seat long before the recommended 9 months for forward facing. We do have a group 0+ car seat so hopefully that'll do him for a while longer while I do my research!

Sagaris

You are welcome - in my job I see lots of parents who are almost in a race to see who can get their baby forward facing as soon as possible - I even had one mum tell me her 2 week old didn't like his rearward facing car seat so had put him forward facing! :eek:

You can always ring the In Car Safety Centre at Milton Keynes http://www.incarsafetycentre.co.uk/ for advice - they sell all sorts of seats and are very knowledgeable (and no, I don't work for them!)

daleigha

Sagaris wrote: »

You can always ring the In Car Safety Centre at Milton Keynes http://www.incarsafetycentre.co.uk/ for advice - they sell all sorts of seats and are very knowledgeable (and no, I don't work for them!)

I'm from Northern Ireland and I see they have a branch in Belfast - will definitely get myself down there for some advice very soon - many thanks!!