Car Seats

[MrsSpagBol]

Hello - was wondering if you could all help me by directing me to a place that has all the info regarding car seats - born and raised somewhere where this is a complete non-issue so am feeling clueless, overwhelmed and worried about breaking the law.

Thanks in advance!

[janek]

here you are!

[Clargo55]

What would you like to know?

All children in the UK have to use a car seat until the age of 12 or when they reach 135cm in height. This is for all car journeys.

Children have to be rearward facing for a minimum of 9months. For safety it is highly recommended for children to rear face until around the age of 2years.

Car seats have expiration dates on them as the plastic starts to degrade after time. So please only buy car seats new.

Certain car seats are only compatible with certain cars so finding that out would be a good place to start. Does your car have Isofix points?

[MrsSpagBol]

Thank you for replying!!!

No idea what Isofix points are; will try to find out. Thank you again!

[KatAndKit]

Most relatively new cars will have isofix, feel at the back of the back seat and see if you can feel square metal shaped loops behind the seat.

For a new baby you are best to buy an infant carrier such as Maxi Cosi or Graco. Often you can get one that goes on your choice of buggy. These seats rear face and go up to 12kg usually. By law your baby must rearface till 9kg minimum (about 10-11 months depending on the baby, mine was still 8kg at 9 months and he is fairly average) but it is better to stay rear facing for as long as the seat will allow. An infant seat (usually called group 0+) has a nifty handle for transporting the seat with the baby strapped in between the car and the house.

Your best bet is to go in person with your car to a shop and get a seat fitted so that you know how to use it and you can check it is suitable for your car. kiddicare offer this service, so do halfords and probably plenty of other shops.

I find it easy to use an infant seat that has a base that the seat clips into. Then you don't have to faff with the seatbelt everytime you go in and out of the car.