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Next car seat?
Hiya all,
Just wondering if anyone has given this any thought yet?
With the rate that Alfie is growing, he's already bunched up in his Group 0 car seat, I imagine we'll need to be getting the next group/size up quite soon! He has to bend his legs a fair bit when we put his seat into the car and his head is only an inch or 2 from the top of the car seat, he's just soooooo long! I know this is early to be considering the next size up but in the interests of safety I want a car seat that fits him. Plus it would be nice to have a forward facing seat so I can turn round and grin at him when he does his gremlin inpression!
We've been looking at the Maxi Cosi Tobi (on offer on Amazon at the mo for ??144) but I will welcome any feedback or recommendations.
Shell & Alfie xx
Just wondering if anyone has given this any thought yet?
With the rate that Alfie is growing, he's already bunched up in his Group 0 car seat, I imagine we'll need to be getting the next group/size up quite soon! He has to bend his legs a fair bit when we put his seat into the car and his head is only an inch or 2 from the top of the car seat, he's just soooooo long! I know this is early to be considering the next size up but in the interests of safety I want a car seat that fits him. Plus it would be nice to have a forward facing seat so I can turn round and grin at him when he does his gremlin inpression!
We've been looking at the Maxi Cosi Tobi (on offer on Amazon at the mo for ??144) but I will welcome any feedback or recommendations.
Shell & Alfie xx
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Replies
We're getting Alfie weighed either tomorrow or Weds so I can see if he's anywhere near 9kg yet. He wasn't too far off last time he was weighed which was about 4wk ago! There is absolutely no way he would last until 9months old so we're going off the weight aspect!
He keeps trying to sit up and lean forward so as the Maxi Cosi Tobi is quite high and enables them to look out the window, hopefully this'll stop him doing this!
One thing I read about the Tobi is that there were problems with the straps on the older models, a problem which has now been rectified. Just make sure if you do go for this seat that it's the newer model.
A ride out to Halfords for a nosey is on the cards for us tomorrow.
Shell xx
[Modified by: floss78 on January 03, 2010 11:15 PM]
Re the Tobi, in case anyone else is thinking 'bout it, some more info I found out about how to recognise the newer models that have the better straps, is by the 'strap tightness indicator'. The newer models has an indicator that is straight whereas the older models has more of an arrow shape.
We called to Halfords in Leigh and saw a Tobi for sale at ??90. It had the arrow shaped indicator so I'm steering clear. Plus the colours were a bit too funky for my liking!
Anyone else looked & seen any seats they like yet? Hubby liked the look of this Recaro Young Sport one but I'm not so sure...
http://www.recaro-seats.co.uk/child-seats/young-sport.php
Shell xx
The 1,2,3 group car seats are s much better value that getting the three stages seperately, I cant think why anyone would do that. The man in John Lewis said its down to the comfort but the reviews on the recaro sport say its very comfy so that should be fine.
Regarding the weight this concerns me a little bit as Bertie is also too big for his maxi cosy, his feet are hunched up and hit head reaches the top. He just doesnt look comfy but when he was weighed on Thurs he was only 18lb 2oz wereas he needs to be 20lb to go into it.
Hubby says Bertie will be much happier facing forwards but I am not sure whether to wait a month before using it or not, until his weight catches up a little. What did you do in the end?
Gxx
We haven't yet got a new car seat due to a shortage of funds after hubby bought a Wii instead so hoping to get one next month.
We're still unsure which we're getting at the mo, it's a toss up between the Tobi (I like this) and the Recaro Sport (hubby likes this for the same reasons as yours!). We're off to Mothercare & Babies R Us tomorrow to peruse the car seats so think I shall harass an assistant and ask their opinion.
I've still to get a recent weight for Alfie, not been able to due to the snow. I reckon he's gonna be about 18 lb -odd. He has got good head/neck control and so if he's not far off the 20lb mark I would probably use the next new seat. I'd say if Bertie has good head/neck control then give it a go.
Maybe get the new car seat fitted at the otherside of the car to the current car seat and if you find it's not yet suitable then at least the first one is still installed to revert back to. Just try a short 'round the block' journey to see how he gets on in the new seat before relying on it completely. I think that's what we'll do.
In the meantime I'll have another look on the Halfords website, ta for that.
Shell xx
Any recommendations are most welcome.
Lisa x
I've just benn trawling the net for reviews on car seat plus going into shops & getting all touchy-feely with them!
Some examples of reviews are:
http://www.reviewcentre.com/fi1112-f2-3.html
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Car_Seats_9036_3
http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/child-car-seat/
Shell xx
my friend has recommended the britax duo plus isofix as she said it came out top in which magazine. any opinion on that seat? Ideally id like an isofix one.
xx
I'll be giving it a wash and clean, then putting in the loft until Orla is big enough for it.
Cat xxx
http://community.babycentre.co.uk/post/a4216275/wyoo_car_seats_for_9_moths_up?cpg=1&csi=2014477099&pd=-1
The post Im talking about is the last one, the long one with the pictures. What are your thoughts?
I dont know what to make of it, my initial thoughts were not to get any front facing seats but we do have a range rover which is a very safe car and I think Bertie will be much happier in a front facing car seat as I was going to turn off the air bag and have hit sit next to me in the front. Had a bit of a panic after reading this and not sure what to do.
Any thoughts? Front facing v's rear facing?
I've had a quick look (sleep is now beckoning so not looked in full detail) and get the general gist. Surely if FF seats were that dangerous they would be illegal and there wouldn't be so many available? Off the top of my head I haven't really seen any rear facing seats (other than group 0).
It's a question I could raise tomorrow on my shopping trip. I'm only window shopping though for the time being.
I realise studies have been done about safety & they talk about particular high speeds & head on collisions with oncoming cars - usually the only place we'd be doing that kind of speed is on a motorway and generally there is a central reservation in this country so therefore the frequency of these type of collisions would be lessened?
God, I'm waffling - tiredness does that to me. I'll give it more thought in the morning.
Shell xx
Gx
I think we will still go for a forward facing seat and after today and after looking at more reviews, the Tobi is coming out favourite. We don't have isofix in either of our cars so that isn't an option for us unfortunately. The Tobi, I've read, scores highly on the safety front and so despite it only going up to 4yr old, safety is paramount and so like you Georgie, looks like we'll be getting 2 car seats.
I've found the following website good for reviews:
Tobi - http://www.babyworld.co.uk/information/reviews/product.asp?id=372
Recaro - http://www.babyworld.co.uk/information/reviews/product.asp?id=356
Any thoughts on other (non-isofix) seats welcomed though.
Shell xx
as for rf seats not really sure, I know these seats do tend to be much more expensive and there arent many models available. ff seats have protected millions of kids so far?!
Rach
I'm going to keep Alfie in his current seat as long as I can as it's the safest option for him. She had said he's too young to go in a FF seat now as his neck isn't fully developed and so in an accident it would be very dangerous as he wouldn't be able to support his head with the force. She told me until his head comes to the top of the car seat, he's fine where he is despite his legs overhanging. They can overhang loads,it doesn't matter, he'll just adapt the way he sits with his legs.
We asked her in particular about the Maxi Cosi Tobi & the Recaro Young Sport. She said the Tobi has the best reviews & saftey test results and that she wouldn't recommend the Recaro. Plus the Recaro hardly reclines. One of the downsides to a Tobi though is that as it's quite a high seat, this is good for when they are younger as can see out the window but as they get older they will end up quite high so you need to conside the height of your car too.
With regards to RF seats, after we told her we had a Ford Focus, she said that it's very difficult to get a rear facing seat to fit in, but FF seats are fine, anything FF will fit in a Focus.
We also discussed the 123 seats (aged 9months - 11yr old). She said the concept is a good idea but you should consider, will you be getting a new car before your child is 11yr old and if so, what's to say the car seat would still fit in a different car. Plus after so many years, what will the fabric be like?!! It'll have some degree of wear and so inevitably you'd possibly need to get a new seat anyway (although this could be overcome if you were to buy covers for the seat to prevent some wear on the actual seat fabric).
She did say that the Britax Evolva 123 was a good seat too.
I also found out that if we buy the car seat instore rather than mothercare online then you can have a discount applied. Or if it was cheaper online due to a special offer, you can buy it online and then so long as you take a proof of purchase receipt/invoice they will still fit it for free. She also said there is no time limit for fitting it even if we bought it well before he needed it. All we'd have to do is go down once bought and get a fitting form from them and then when we do need it fitting just take it along with the fitting form and they fit it & go through safety checks etc.
In a nutshell, we're hanging on for the time being but have decided on the Tobi (in Tango red) and will probably get it from Mothercare based on the quality of service received today. They spent a lot of time with us and were really nice and informative. Alfie enjoyed himself too and kept crooning to the lady!
Shell xx
[Modified by: floss78 on January 22, 2010 10:26 PM]
K x