Car seats

Go on Facebook and find the uk car seat safety group. They have the best car seats for baby’s weight and height.

I’d join a car seat safety group for the UK. I’ve just bought the Axkid Minikid 2 for our son as it’ll rear face him until 25kg but they will advise you on what’s best on that group :)

What car seat is it? It would be unlikely it’s outgrown already, as they usually last until 12-15 months.

@Sarah depends how tall they are and how much they weigh xx

@Courtney yes of course, which is why I said unlikely. Most people think a seat is outgrown when it could actually last months more if it’s fitted properly. Just don’t want the poster to panic buy a new seat if she doesn’t have to yet :)

We got an i size by silver cross as takes her right up to booster seat age! Bulky though if you don't have a big car x https://www.johnlewis.com/silver-cross-motion-all-size-2-i-size-car-seat/glacier/p112393892

You can get an I size group 0/1/2/3 now. My step son has a reecle and I have a cosatto for my girl. By all means join that car seat safety group but be aware that they can be very very very judgemental and down right toxic. It's the reason I never joined it. It's pretty much if you can't afford Swedish you're the worst parent in the world. I love the look of the axkid and that's always what they recommend but there's no way its affordable for us and we do have cars!

Ideally you want a seat which will keep LO RF until they're ready for a high back booster - at least 5½-6 for physical maturity but possibly older for a ability to sit properly at all times. For most children this means you'd need a seat with a 125cm height limit for RF, such as: - BeSafe Stretch (125cm/36kg) - BeSafe Beyond (125cm/22kg) - Britax Safe-Way M or Max-Safe Pro (125cm/36kg) - Axkid Movekid/Minikid 4 (125cm/36kg) - Axkid One 3 (125cm/23kg) The vast majority of seats only harness up to 105cm (and normally around 18-19kg), including all the convertible seats, Group 0/1/2/3 seats, or most that say up to 6yrs or older. LO would likely outgrow the harness limit before they can safely travel without a harness, ao these are a bit of a false economy for most people.

Also look for reputable manufacturers who do their own crash testing over and above legal minimums - Avionaut, Axkid, BeSafe, Britax, Cybex, Maxi-Cosi and most Joie or Graco seats (although some are not great). ADAC and OÄMTC do independent crash testing on lots of different seats (not all) and the results are available to view on their websites

@Katie My step son has LOADS of room in his multistage seat harness and he's 5 and not a small boy. He's no where near outgrowing it so to say they'd outgrow the harness by 6 is a bit ridiculous.

@Bethan the harness on multistage seats is outgrown at 105cm, and normally around 18-19kg depending on the seat. For an average child that's around 4-4½yo, although obviously could be earlier or later depending on the child. The harness may physically fit beyond that but it's not approved for use once either the height or weight limit has been reached and would have to be changed to HBB mode

How much does she weigh? 9 months seems early to outgrow a car seat. They usually last 12-15 months. I have a 91st percentile girl and she’s still got loads of room at 11 months x

@Katie But that would make no sense as to why they make them. What would be the purpose of the car seat law beyond that age as required by law way beyond the age of 4? Also. How could they legally put a higher weight limit on the seat? I know we don't have the same safety as the Swedish but that seems a little bit ridiculous to me.

@Katie Looking this up there are now many harnesses made for children up to 25kg. Which would make more sense. Because if they didn't exist they wouldn't exist on any car seat and no country in the EU would legally be able to manufacture and sell a car seat suitable beyond age 4. R129 is EU legislated and safety tested.

@Bethan under R129 legislation, children need to be rear facing until at least 15 mo, remain harnessed until at least 100cm, then remain in a booster seat until at least 135cm or 12yo, whichever comes first. Unfortunately, those aren't the best recommendations for safety though. The vast majority of seats which say they last until 6yo or 25kg or whatever are combination seats, so the harness will last until 105cm then after that the seat would be used as a high back booster until the height/weight limit of the seat is reached. This is often not very obvious in marketing as they just put the overall limit, not the harness limit. There are a few exceptions including some seats which go up to 125cm RF (Axkid One/Movekid/Minikid, BeSafe Beyond/Stretch, Britax Safe-Way Max-Safe Pro, and Avionaut Sky) and one which goes up to 120cm FF harnessed (Osann Flux eXT). There are also some older R44 seats which are no longer manufactured but still available for sale, which can harness up to 25kg (some FF, some RF).

@Katie right that makes more sense. Thanks for explaining 👍🏻