Car seat advice please!

[mrszookeeper]

Hi, this is my first time posting to mumsnet forum.
I have a very lively nearly 1 year old who needs to go into the next stage car seat.
A local car seat specialist shop have scared me into the idea of an extended rear facing seat and I am poised to shell out mega bucks for the Cybex Sirona. Lots of people seem to say they are so much safer in a crash, although I can't seem to find anywhere that clearly compares their safety with the safety of a modern forward facing seat. The cybex seat looks a good one, it has good reviews and the fact that it rotates for easy access is appealing.

ERF activists say that children are quite happy being rear facing but I have to say I am not convinced. Once my boy had to go in a forward facing seat for a short journey and he was so excited to watch me driving the car!

So do I go front facing? 'Which' rates some of them very highly on safety. I like the look of the Kiddy Guardian Pro 2, that is cheaper and could last him till 12 years old. Apart from the safety of forward facing my main hesitation with this seat is that my boy is VERY active and I am worried he would find the impact cushion too restrictive and get upset at being in the seat.

I would be grateful to hear anyone's advice and experiences! It's a lot of money to spend and I don't want to regret my choice.

Does any one know of a store you can trial these car seats?

Thanks :0)

[glorious]

I'd ask for this to be moved to the Car Seats topic in Products, you'll get more answers there. Just click report on your own post and ask.

You can try ERF seats in your car through a few of the specialist shops, e.g. In Car Safety Centre.

My DD hates the car regardless so I'm not best placed to advise you on that!

[mrszookeeper]

Hi Glorious,
I gave asked for my comment to be moved as you suggest.
Thanks!

[FlipFlopWaddle]

We tried the Sirona - they stock them in Mamas and Papas if you want to try one - and dd2 hated the impact cushion. I am also not convinced by the claims that impact cushions are safer (Britax, who I trust on car seat safety issues, stopped making them because they no longer consider them safer than a 5 point harness; I have also read too many stories of children sliding out of them ) so we bought a Dualfix - it also swivels, is cheaper, has a longer shell so will last longer and has a harness when it ff, not that I have any intention of turning it just yet! Dd2 has got to the age of 21 months and has never forward faced, it hasn't been a problem at all. I have a mirror to see her and she seems perfectly happy

Mothercare now stock a few erf seats, Halfords stock the Joie range. Otherwise there are specialist shops, where are you based? Securatot are in Swindon, and very helpful via email.

[ThinkIveBeenHacked]

Look on You Tube for crash test dummy videos which show the effects of a baby in a crash in both rear and forward facing seats.

Once I saw them, happy baby or not, I was rear facing.

[AliceMum09]

If (or preferably when!) you buy a rear facing seat, just buy a mirror to attach to the headrest and then your baby will be able to see you.

I noticed that my DD2 was fine in the car (in her rear facing seat, she is 2) when my older two children were in there too with her, but when they were at school and it was just her in the back she got a bit unhappy. I bought a mirror and that solved the problem.

I agree with the previous post, once I had the facts about ERF there was no way I was putting my baby in a forward facing seat. At the rate she's going she'll be about 8 before she reaches the 25kg weight limit for rear facing in her seat (she's 10kgs at 2 years and 2 months old)!

[FatimaLovesBread]

We were going to buy the Britax Dualfix as we like the rotating but I got a fab deal on the Britax Maxfix which is rear facing only.
DD is 18 months and has been in it two weeks, she loves it. She chatters away telling me about all the animals she can see out of the side and rear window even seeing things I don't notice.

[crashbangboom]

If you Google neck loads rearfacing v forward facing you can find info,

The cybex sirona is expensive and quite small shell there is a hugry range of other ERF seats out there.

Forward facing will always be safer even a cheaper RF seat compared to most expensive FF seat. You cant alter basic Physics