Car Seat Recommendations

Nicki

daleigha wrote: »

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

That's fair enough

I only raised the point as it seemed on the face of it that you were worrying about the issue far too early. If you are sure the weights are correct though and that they are within normal albeit high ranges, then I would speak to your HV as she must have come across other babies of this weight who needed to move to the next stage seat early and have some ideas about what is suitable. You could also try an independent baby shop for their advice. The problem you'll have if you go somewhere like mother care or halfords is that they are trained not to sell stage 1 seats until the baby is around 9 months as up to that point they don't have the head stability to make them safe.

There are some combi seats on the market which are rearward facing until about 13kgs, then forward facing, and these might give you a bit more flexibility. Some of them are suitable up to 40kgs so would last until your little one was a toddler. If he is heavy and a fast grower, you probably want one over a large weight range otherwise you'll be changing every few months. The downside is that they don't score as highly in safety ratings as group 0 seats or 0+ but if your baby has grown out of this size, there isn't a lot you can do about this.

daleigha

Thanks Nicki

I definitely will speak to the HV to see if she can recommend any seats, and in the meantime will check out the In Car Safety Centre that Sagaris recommended - you are right that Mothercare etc probably wouldn't be able to help much! At least I'm lucky that the Belfast branch isn't too far from me so I can go in person to see the seats.

The safety issue is a concern to me, but as you say, there is little I can do about it if he doesn't fit the 0 and 0+ seats anymore. He is only taken in the car once or twice a week, and never on long journeys, I know an accident could happen anytime, but at least not taking him on unnecessary journeys helps minimise the risk somewhat.

I will post back when I've got a seat, and hopefully it will help out others who find themselves with big babies!!

go_cat

He is far safer in a rear facing seat and not old enough to be in front facing.

To move to front facing he needs to be minimum be able to hold his head up on his own for about 1/2 hr and heavy enough

At 2.5 months he is about 6-8 months off needing to move up a level

My DS was 9lb 7oz born 98th centile all the way through and i still kept him in 0 stage car seat until 8 months

Your only option is a 0 + 1 stage car seat which you can rear face until baby is strong enough / heavy enough and then forward facing although these car seats are big and not portable like the 0 stage ones but will last until child is around 4 years

i too have had many an arguement with parents who are desperate to get baby into the next stage seat without thinking about safety at all . Some shops will put sales above safety as well.
Good luck but please don't let any shop sell you the next stage up :eek:

Volupturaptor

I have an enormous baby boy too! The car seat was never a problem for us, as we had him rear facing in a stage 0-1 seat from the start. So glad I never bought a carry round type!
His bouncy chair gave up and fell apart by the time he was three months old though, we replaced it with a infant to toddler rocker, wish we'd bought that first, and never bothered with the bouncy one, but oh well...
My advice would be to get a stage 0-1 car seat and a bigger car, as he's probably going to outgrow the car too!

lauren_1

Please dont even consider turning your baby at this stage, the reason why rear facing is safer is in the event of a crash your babies head is still very much out of proportioned with his body and is the heaviest part of him.

You know when you stop the car suddenly and gravity pushes you forward and throws you back....that can cause whiplash in babies (and in extreme cases internal decapitation where the spinal cord seperates and vertebret from the base of the skull)

When rear facing a baby will be pinned back in to his seat so no head flopping about and then although the throwback is still there it is not as extreme (its hard to explain but there are plenty of youtube video's showing a forward facing vs rear facing crash)

A lot of parents are more worried about baby breaking his legs and chose this as a valid reason to turn however this is very very unlikely.

In sweden its the law to rearface until aged 4 and many use a seat called the britax fixway which serves up until aged 4 over there very comfortably so will easily seat him till around 15months but they are bulky. Sweden's and most Scandinavian countries child mortality RTA records are far safer than ours (given that the population is slightly less it may seem like a pointless argument however some are in permanent states of winter so evens it out i guess)

Enough rambling from me, the point is his neck is not ready.

lauren_1

And for those who will ask about a rear end collision, its still statistically safer to be rearfacing.

The_Next_Verse

We have this one:

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.207-5686.aspx?utm_source=GoogleShopping&utm_medium=GSF_NormalFeed&utm_campaign=GSF_TescoDirect&utm_content=Britax%20First%20Class%20SI%20Plus%20Group%200+%20&%201%20Felix%20Car%20Seat

which is fab. Doesn't swivel but is Birth to 4years. Would this be useful to you?

daleigha

Many thanks for all the replies this morning!! :beer:

Can I just confirm that I am definitely, definitely, definitely not planning on putting him forward facing anytime soon!! I would like the option so when he is much older (3 or 4) he can be forward facing. My little man’s safety is paramount and I have read up on the dangers of having a baby forward facing, I don’t understand why parent’s put their babies lives at risk just to have them facing forward.

I’m not too worried about the seat not being portable – the 0+ seat we have is much lighter than the 0 seat, so I’m going to start using that, but he really is getting too heavy to cart about in the seat anyway now.

Volupturaptor – I’m glad I’m not the only one with a giant!! Though I did weigh him again this morning and he is 14lbs, not 18lbs as I originally stated – I also somehow managed to lose 2lbs in 24 hours so not sure if the scales were playing up yesterday!! Even still, he is big and this issue is going to still be there.
I also have sooo many things I wish I'd never bothered buying - it's always the expensive stuff too!!

The Next Verse – that seat looks great, and exactly the sort of thing I’m looking for! Do you mind me asking what car you have? We have a VW Polo, and even if we were to get a 5 door car we would probably be looking for one around the same size, as we have quite a small driveway. Does it fit comfortably in your car or is it a tight squeeze? If I did keep my car I would have to unbelt it and turn it round to get him out everytime - is this feasible or would be be better to have a five door car and keep it permanently belted in?

Thanks!!