Only freedom will do

Karmacat

edinburgher wrote: »

They looked truly vile. It was odd how the presenters were making the exact same comments that I had moments before. For example, I described the nasty sausages as 'paste fillled balloons'. Let's stop beating around the bush, they were Richmond sausages, weren't they?

They did talk about that area of anatomy quite a lot, didn't they :rotfl:

turtlemoose wrote: »

Ed, ref your baby budgeting. Can I just point you in the direction of some info around car seats? It's *much* safer to keep your child rear facing as long as possible. Obviously as a newborn they rear face, but many seats in Mothercare/Halfords et al face forwards at quite a low weight/size.

I'm glad Mrs Ed already knows, Ed, I've always assumed its for the same reason that rear-facing seats are safer in an aircraft. My sister told me that military planes that service families use always have rear-facing seats (might have changed now, it was a long time ago).

turtlemoose

further tip, do NOT trust Which's "best buys" for car seats. Nearly ALL erf seats score low for "ease of fit" which is pretty ridiculous. My Britax Two Way Elite (rear facing and 5 point harness until 25kg - approx 6 years old) takes me 4 minutes to fit correctly. Yes it took me longer the first few goes but that applies to ANY car seat.

Anyway their low scores for things like "ease of fit" and "colours available" mean that ERF seats score lower then FF (forward facing) seats.

If you want advice from a professional, I highly recommend you contact the In Car Safety Centre in Milton Keynes. They're always happy to answer questions via phone/email and not pushy on a sale at all.

PS nobody gets hurt in the youtube video, it's just crash test dummies

Right I'll stop banging on about car seats now and go back to lurking

edinburgher

Turtlemoose - do you have a conflict of interests to reveal - you seem incredibly well versed on car seats? :rotfl:

turtlemoose

Hahaha, nope, I work for a maintenance company

I just feel really strongly about the whole car seat thing after doing my own research. Especially so as many high street retailers give out incorrect and/or false information which ultimately could lead to the difference between life and death (or permanent disablement) of someone's child.

RoaringTwenties

The woman who owns my local nursery supplies shop told me that when she did her car seat training ROSPA told her that their research showed that people drove more carefully when they had a wedding cake in the car than their own children

Another thumbs up to Isofix Ed. When we bought our first car - a Corsa - I recall the Vauxhall dealership telling us that they were the first to have Isofix as standard & they were seen as a silly gimmick across the industry. Thank goodness times change!

choccielover

Popping out of obscurity to agree wholeheartedly on the rear facing car seat point.

We have the cybex sidona and it's great, much safer, was easy to fit and our daughter loves it. Our friends have the besafe and speak highly of that too.

Once you have read the research, it's hard not to spend the additional money tbh.

Good luck with it all, babies aren't that expensive, it's the parents being suckered into unnecessary gadgets that costs so much (yep I did this too, we all do )

Chocs

skint_spice

I remember my ex driving us home from hospital after DS was born - he was terrified and had been driving about 12 years at the time, quite sweet really

I bought a lot of stuff I didn't need, DS never required a seat for the bath and hated baby walkers which other kids loved. So buy the minimum and try other folks stuff out before buying if possible. And if you have a barfy baby like I did you can never have too many babygros!

patanne

I still drive more cautiously (not carefully - do that anyway) when I have DS in the car. He is only 33, so older than you I think. It is what we do as parents. It's an instinct that most of us have.

ETA didn't have a barfy baby - but wind - I could write a book - he took after his Dad according to my MIL. He was so bad I even had a neighbour complain about his screaming - wind and teething never a good mix.

This too passes .... and then they grow up and you worry even more about something else entirely. As they say the more things change the more they remain the same. I am totally convinced that being a parent shortens your life expectancy. Although my mother (90 next) tends to disprove this theory.

Alchemilla

DS is just coming out of his "be safe" car seat at nearly four.

It is rear facing. He has never known any different so no problem.

edinburgher

Zonked!

Had a much appreciated lie in this morning and then got to it:

• Shopping at BandM; £stretcher; L1dl and Mr M
• Cooked vegetable bolognaise; a SC lamb hotpot for dinner and a loaf of bread
• Spent a rather grim 2.5 hours MBing on the horseys this afternoon. c. £75 profit though, so all good
• Mrs E picked up some more baby clothes
• Caught up with just about everyone's diary

Right, time for a whisky and a cup of tea, in that order.