Stupid question - could i use a Britax dualfix from birth?

[daphnehoneybutt]

Hello

I am a noob and expecting DC1.

I have read some reviews of the Britax dualfix and it seems good and would fit in my car...

But all the reviews seem to be from people who had their child in a 0 / group 0+ seat first. Why is this? Would it be awful to use it from birth.

I have family 3 hours away who I will travel to see in the new born period (they cant come and see us for health reasons). I know this will be a different journey now with one or more stops rather than the pedal to the metal trip it is now... so maybe not lying flat would not be the end of the world...

I was also thinking about getting a baby safe sleeper for this time and then moving up to the dual fix (I may have to sell my body to afford to the dual fix at this point...)

What do you think option A - dual fix from start or B - babysafe sleeper then dualfix? Or C - random O+ carrier then assess options later...

Or am I being all PFB about extended rear facing / lying flat?

[Ihateparties]

Erf no, not pfb imo. If I was starting again I would absolutely get a 0+/1 erf seat that stayed in the car, I wouldn't bother with an infant carrier. I'm not that familiar with the newborn setup of the dualfix though, a quick google implies, through pictures such as this that it should be fine. We had a babysafe for dd2 and it wasn't flat in any way. For that you would have to go for a babysafe sleeper, a jane matrix lite, something like that. I think there is a casualplay infant carrier and a kiddy one that are both very close to flat but are fitted in the car rear facing in the conventional way.

I would probably also look at the other options in this category too, the joie seats, the hauck varioguard etc.

[daphnehoneybutt]

Thanks Ihateparties.

I am very tempted to just go for a 0+/1 and have all the outlay upfront.

I don't know how useful the little carrier would be for popping in and out of house. Not like I am doing a school run / need to run loads of errands.

Ta for the tips

[Artandco]

I would recommend the cybex Sirona if your looking for rear facing from newborn- 4. It has a newborn insert and several recline modes for diff ages

[Ihateparties]

Oh yeah, the sirona, there must be a few more too the ones I mentioned are at the cheaper end as that's where I'm currently hanging out

[NeatFreak]

I have the britax dualfix and it is fab. It's definitely ok from newborn but I used a maxi cosi cabriofix first as I knew we would be for erf but didn't know which one we would buy yet as we were changing our car. As it turned out the dualfix was perfect and could have been used from birth.

[NovemberRainbow]

We're going for the Dualfix, a few independent baby shops we spoke to said that they are the best ERF for newborns as they recline the most.

[CommanderShepard]

I have a dualfix - DD is 2 now but I still tip it back to the 0 setting for long journeys as it reclines so far it's like a bed. It wasn't available when she was a newborn but I'd happily use it for any further children.

[NovemberRainbow]

That's good to hear Commander, do you think it will last ok until 4 years old? Hoping it won't be outgrown too quickly.

[Nightfall1983]

We had the sleeper and it was absolutely fantastic. Like you we knew we'd be visiting family on long journeys and the sleeper took all the worries out of 'how long has he been in the car seat.'

Happy to answer any questions about it.

We now ERF in the Cybex Sirona and it is fab but I think if wouldn't recline enough for a newborn (don't know how the insert works though as never had one).

[CommanderShepard]

I think it should last til 4; DD is fairly petite but I've had her much bigger friend in it and he had plenty of room.

[daphnehoneybutt]

I think someone is going to give me loan of a britax babysafe now (know the family well and it has not been in any accidents) which makes me think I can afford to splash out on either the sleeper for the early days (as in if the baby outgrows it I will have something to move onto without having to rush into a group1 they may not yet fit in...) or save the money towards a better ERF seat...

How long did it last you nightfall?

One thing that worried me about the dual fix from the start was the hospital /MLU I hope to have the baby at insist on seeing the car seat before you leave.

[daphnehoneybutt]

Nightfall - also did you use it with a Britax buggy and was getting it on off easy? And was taking it out of car with the baby in v heavy?

[Nightfall1983]

DS stayed in the sleeper till 5 months. He would have fitted for longer (he's a smallish baby, between the 9th and 25th centile) but he was starting to sit independently by then and wasn't impressed be being forced to lie-flat. It suited us to visit the Milton Keynes car seat place around then so they fitted our Cybex Sirona in the car and we never looked back.

Re the hospital: don't worry, they will send a nurse down to the car with you if needs be.

I didn't have the britax pushchair, considered it but knew I'd want baby to parent-face for a good while and all the britax ones were ff only after the sleeper came off. It would have been very very handy on very few occasions.

I basically never took the car seat out of the car. I can think of 3 occasions when we did. It was far too heavy and awkward for that. But on the upside it meant we got used to transferring a sleeping baby from car to pram and back again and even now in the Sirona at 22 months DS is easy to transfer.

[daphnehoneybutt]

Thank you that's all really useful info.