Pram, car seat and ISOfix

RaiderHammer

Was looking at a pram travel system that comes with a free car seat that can also be used in the pram travel system. Was thinking about using the sea belt to secure the car seat in the car but having seen Prince William on tv use his ISOfix car seat was thinking thats the way to go now.

But how long do these pram car seats last for until the baby is too big to use them. I assume the ISOfix base is only for the seat it was bought for and not interchangeable?

Any thoughts / comments / advice please?

Thank you.

ema_o

It depends on the size, weight and development of the child, but I think you need to use the first seat for at least 9 months. Having used the seat with the base it made life far easier at first (we had the maxi cosi with the family fix base.

The base is compatible with the next stage maxi cosi seat, however I don't think there is much benefit in using it. The next stage seat is similar in price to the others that don't need to clip into a base, and we almost never take our stage 1 car seat out of the car (only to transfer to another car).

[Deleted User]

Beware ISOFIX - just because your car has the brackets, doesn't mean there's enough space to fit all kinds of car-seats. Try before you buy.

We found this with our Seat Ibiza.. it wouldn't fit the Mammas and Pappas seat with the isofix bracket so i had to use the seatbelt one.

kissablekate

I have a bugaboo cam pram, maxi cosi pebble car seat & familyfix isofix base. In the early days i couldnt live without the isofix, so much easier. Im still using the pram & isofix base at 22months, bought the next carseat up that still attaches to the base

Nicki

We had the maxi cosi with the isofix base and it was great. Our little one was in it for about 12 months. When we bought the next seat up we didn't bother with isofix because you don't usually lift toddlers out of the car in their car seat, and we rarely if ever take the toddler seat out of the car for any reason so once it was belted in place that was it. And now, at nearly 4, little man is almost ready to ditch his stage 2 seat and move into a booster. Where does the time go!

LannieDuck

The ISOfix mechanism is something that newer cars have. Your first step is to check whether your car has it (mine doesn't). It should be some metal hooks inbetween the cushions of the seat and the seat back in the back seat (that's not a great explanation, sorry). The base will attach to those hooks, and the car seat can then clip into and out of the base.

The second thing to say is that ISOfix is no better or worse in terms of safety than a normal car seat fitting. I went to a talk on car seats when we were trying to get our heads around all of this, given by a retired police officer-turned safety officer. He'd just bought his grandchild a car seat that was fixable by a seatbelt.

Most importantly, not all car seats will fit in all cars. Best take your car(s) along to John Lewis/Halfords/etc and try out a few.

The ISOfix does look nice and easy to use, so may be worth chosing for convenience. But the seat belt ones really aren't that much hassle once you get used to them. I had a maxi-cosi seat belt one.

LO will be in a first stage car seat for probably 9 months-1 year, when you'll need to switch to a larger car seat regardless of whether you went for ISOfix or not. And then, as others have said, there's no point buying an ISOfix stage 2 car seat since you won't be taking it in/out of the car that much.

(Not sure if the ISOfix base is interchangeable or whether it works for stage 2 as well as stage 1, sorry.)

bylromarha

You can get car seats that attach to both the pram and an ISOFIX base. You can continue using the ISOFIX base for the next car seat baby needs when they are around 9 months.

Car seats that clip into a fixed base are easier, but I was quite happy safely using the seatbelt for both of mine.

But as has already been said, make sure that it's all compatible with your car.

FWIW Prince George has this car seat, and you can see at the bottom of the page which prams it works with.

Counting_Pennies_2

The only thing I would say is the clip on and go isofix car seats seem have have enormous bases.

That is fine if you have a huge car and not much luggage, but I have seen my SIL struggle getting two in her Golf and any luggage for a holiday, by the time the pushchair and travel cot are in there is hardly any space as you can't rely on any space in and around the back seats to put much, so boot space only

dizziblonde

You can always get a base that belts in and you clip the seat onto as well - they're not just isofix.

For what it's worth we had Her Royal Carseat and it went in and out just fine with a seatbelt - we swapped quite early to a group 0+/1 one that stays in the car - but that's because I always lose my patience lugging the infernal portable ones about when they weigh a flipping tonne.

The seatbelt ones are like anything - with practice you can get it in and out very quickly indeed and you'll fumble about like an eejit to start with... but hospital maternity ward carparks are full of parents fumbling to get carseats into cars and figure out how the heck to fold the buggy down again.