[Closed] What do I need to know about baby car seats?

We got a Recaro Young Sport.  It's not isofix,  but you pull the belt tight enough,  it's not going anywhere, and once it's on place,  it rarely needs to come out again. It doesn't turn to face outwards for easy access,  but little one is just over two now and has started climbing in by herself so that's no longer an issue. It's relatively cheap I think, it's pretty sturdy,   it's supposed to last all the way until she no longer needs it.  I think the limiting factor will be how much she's sick on it to be honest. Try not to overthink it,  once it's in the car you'll never think about it again.

When you say “baby” do you mean baby baby or toddler baby? Either way it almost rivals mtb for standards!

Baby due in January... Which will hopefully then grow into a toddler and beyond!

Currently thinking that a dedicated baby seat (that can be carried out the car) is probably the best starting point.

For a baby, look at a MaxiCosi Pebble or similar. Seat transfers quickly from buggy to car on a base.

(Should really get round to selling ours!)

Maxi Cosi are pretty much the standard for baby car seats.  They do a base that you attach to the car with a seatbelt, look for them second hand, there's nothing to deform on them so you'd be able to see any crash damage.

Then you need to just choose the appropriate car seat for the base, the last thing you want to do when you've got a sleeping baby that you need to either get into the car seat, or out of the car is to wake them up faffing about with seatbelts. When it's attached to the base it's very secure as it clamps onto the belt, when you just have the belt on the car seat it all feels a bit flimsy.

To get past age 5 you'll probably need 3 car seats. A baby one (0-1), then a toddler one (1-4), then a booster seat (5+).

We've gone maxi cosi throughout and although fairly expensive have been pretty happy.

The baby car seat had a isofix base and you dropped the car seat into it. Super handy. It also dropped onto the pram base.

The toddler one we had was an axis one (rotates to face the door for easy entry/exit. It's a belt job though which feels a bit crappy. Otherwise a pretty solid cat seat.

The booster seat secures via isofix and the kid wears a seatbelt as normal, that's really great.

Advice? I prefer isofix but it's a pain if someone needs to give your kids a lift and they don't gave it.

Maxi Cosi is the popular choice and what we had . Loads of adapters available for different bases.

We did not have isofix either. Not an issue. We looked I to the safety issue and the safety is only increased due to to people improperly installation of seat belts if they don't have isofix. So the system it's self is not safer but it removes the idiot factor. We just take care when installing the seat, just like you would with a climbing rope or any other safety critical equipment. If you are prone to being slap dash that is a different matter..

+1 for a Pebble, and the bases are worth the money.  You can’t retro-fit isofix to a car (if I understood the OP) but the bases which fit with a seatbelt are fine.

For the next size up, there’s more rear facing options which are (apparently) safer: we got a britax 2-way elite.

think about second cars too and if you need second seats eg different nursery drop off and pickup logistics!

It can be expensive!

We had a maxi cosy pebble but with the isofix base that was separate. That did baby duties and just lifted off and slotted onto our prom/ pushchair base. That was really handy.

The next maxi cosy toddler seat then also fitted onto the same base and was the one that allowe3 you to rear face the child until approx 4 yrs. this was also good and lasted well. Really easy to use. It didn’t swivel but we didn’t ever feel that we missed that. Depends on your car I guess. Ours was in a t5 California or a golf estate.

We now have a maxi cosy isofix post 4 yrs thing - called a rodifix airprotect. You’re a few yrs off this though. This should last ours 7ntil she’s good to sit in the seat by herself.

I was also going to say get to John Lewis if you can as they will book a slot where you can get some seats and try them in your car. They’re pretty knowledgeable and don’t do the hard sell. Also they price match is good.

Another vote for the Pebble. We had an O-Baby thing for Funk Jr and it was a bit crap. Funkette has the Pebble and it’s great.

I have 2 of those MaxiCosi isofix bases going spare, if you’re interested in collecting from SW London. Offer extended to other forumites too.

Pebble with Family Fix base here, now a Pearl in one car and a Cybex Sirona spinny thing in the other car.

All of the above about safety is true, however don’t underestimate a new/ expecting mums attitude towards safety

Cheers all, some really useful info there and definitely a bit more to go on now. Apparently (and I need to look more into this) you *can* retrofit Isofix to our car (Mk2 Focus). But actually if grandparents cars don't have Isofix then a seatbelt fit might make more sense anyway. And I can be pretty diligent about safety when I need to (also done a bit of climbing in the past).

Sounds like the Pebble is definitely one to investigate.

Cheers for the offer @HungryHungryHippo, it's much appreciated but we're up in Hull and I'm not sure when we'll next be in London (my sister lives in Brockley so not a million miles away, but we're not likely to be there for a while).

I wish I'd looked under the seat covers, ours has loads of places for sick to get stuck in, otherwise it spins and it fits. Spin is good for when they can't get in and when they don't want to go in.

forget all the recomendations. Go to a shop and try them We found that some of the maxi stuff wouldnt fit in our focus. The base would straddle the lower seat. Same on the RX8. Only 2 actually fitted well.

Fit them and give them a wobble. If you can move it try another.

Isofix isnt necessary and is more expensive. a proper fitting one is!

If it fits the car, the maxi cosi isofix base with a detachable seat is the way to go. For those 'popping into a shop' 2mins or when you've got a sleeping baby that you don't want to wake, they are great. Lots of prams / buggies have adapters that allow you to take from a car and drop straight onto the frame to be able to push. Absolutely great. you'll then have to get the next seat sized up which hopefully will fit to the same base but that'll stay in the car permanently as nipper will be getting in and out by then. By the time they've outgrown that, they wil be making the decisions for you!

I'm sure other manufactures also have the same systems but I did find that the maxi cosi stuff was fine for both my kids and then got passed to my brother in law for his to use so I dio rate it.

We didn't really think the Pebble looked that good, although they're certainly very popular.

We got the Be Safe Izi Go, which is a fair bit more expensive than the Pebble (was £400 including the base IIRC), then at 1ish he swapped to the next model up, which was another £200 or so, but it's superb. I've got a Maxi Cosi Tobi in my car because swapping between cars was a pain, and no use if there was a sudden "can you pick the boy up from nursery?!" moment, and don't think it's half as good.

You can still get all the adaptors for the Be Safe - we have a Bugaboo Buffalo, and the adapters were the same as Maxi Cosi IIRC.

We had a Maxi Cosi CabrioFix with isofix base in the "big car" and held in by a seatbelt in the front seat on the small car (air bag switched off)

When little one got two big for this we bought an "Joie Every Stage" held in by seatbelt. It's a group 0-1-2-3 and is reward facing until 18kg or something.

We need another seat for the 2nd car so we'll just get a cheap group 1-2-3 seat I think.

I also found it all a bit confusing tbh. How come some of these seats cost 30 quid and some are 400 or so. Are they actually safer? Has anyone indendently tested it? How safe is safe enough?

And what about the "Impact shield" things instead of 5-point harness? Are they any good?

Why can't these things just be built into the car as standard? I'd far rather that than 500bhp electric turbo hybrid GTI sports car etc..

sockpuppet

You can’t retro-fit isofix to a car

Yes you can, some just bolt in (factory option) and the parts to retro fit are available to buy from Ford. MK2 Focus kit is available online for £18ish, need to remove the rear seat and the isofix kit bolts on.

Others would be more complex (welded in).

I also found it all a bit confusing tbh. How come some of these seats cost 30 quid and some are 400 or so. Are they actually safer? Has anyone indendently tested it? How safe is safe enough?

And what about the “Impact shield” things instead of 5-point harness? Are they any good?

Why can’t these things just be built into the car as standard? I’d far rather that than 500bhp electric turbo hybrid GTI sports car etc..

This ^

Our wee boy has been in a maxi cosy cabriofix with isofix base (in wife's Alfa MiTo) but is now getting a bit big for it (15 months) so we need a new one. Sticking with that car for now probably means bigger rear facing seats are out. I'd prefer to buy from the cheaper end of the scale but a bit worried I am compromising safety by doing that.

Edit: nothing to compare it with but I would recommend the maxi cosi cabriofix as can be popped out and put on the prambase we have. Also used it in another car with just the seatbelt and it is fine.