Car baby seat - any advice?

[UTH]

I currently have a baby seat on a fixed isofix base that is now too small for my 14 month old.

I'm about to pick up a car on Saturday which doesn't look like it has isofix fixing points, so I'll need to go old school and use the seatbelt. I've read that the seat will still need to face backwards until 15 months, then it can face forward. As the car I'm getting is 2 door, when the seat is allowed to face forward I'll probably be putting it on the front seat.

Anyway, rambling a bit, basically I need a bigger seat that for the next month can be in the back seat facing backwards, then switch to front seat facing forwards.

Came across this, but it seems worryingly cheap: https://www.halfords.com/baby-and-child/car-seats/...

Also, not sure it can face backwards can it?
Any help welcome - I guess I could keep the current seat for one more month, just a bit of a tight squeeze.....

[Defcon5]

What is the car?

Make sure you can turn off the pax airbag if it has one and you are planning on putting baby in the front

[UTH]

2010 Focus RS.

The airbag is only an issue with rear facing baby seats, so it'll stay in the back until she's old enough for the seat to face forward. I have looked into it thoroughly - annoyingly it looks like you can get a switch fitted to disable the airbag, but it hasn't been fitted on this car. But I'm only a month away from forward facing anyway......

[UTH]

sunnyb13 said:

it may be worth retrofitting isofix points...

relatively easy and cheap to do so.

Dumb question, do they fit in the front seat, as that's where I'm planning on putting the seat as of 15 months (which is next month)

[MrSmith901]

While legally it is 15 months, research suggests it is far safer to keep them facing backwards far beyond that. Our youngest is 3 and still faces backwards.

Quote:

The Swedish car manufacturer Volvo is clear that “children should travel facing backwards as long as possible. It is a good idea for children to use rear-facing child seats until they are three years old, although they should use them for even longer if possible”. In fact, this car manufacturer stresses that even if a child cannot sit in these seats with their legs fully extended, their safety is not compromised in any way.

Link:

https://www.fundacionmapfre.org/en/blog/why-should...

[UTH]

MrSmith901 said:

While legally it is 15 months, research suggests it is far safer to keep them facing backwards far beyond that. Our youngest is 3 and still faces backwards.

Quote:

The Swedish car manufacturer Volvo is clear that “children should travel facing backwards as long as possible. It is a good idea for children to use rear-facing child seats until they are three years old, although they should use them for even longer if possible”. In fact, this car manufacturer stresses that even if a child cannot sit in these seats with their legs fully extended, their safety is not compromised in any way.

Link:

https://www.fundacionmapfre.org/en/blog/why-should...

Yeah I do agree, but for my purposes we're talking about a 5 minute drive to childcare each morning, through 20mph streets at 745am, so I just want to make sure what I'm doing is legal.
If I were taking her for a longer journey, she'd be in the back.
That said, can all car seats face forwards and backwards, as that one I linked above looks rather big to be facing backwards.

[UTH]

UTH said:

MrSmith901 said:

While legally it is 15 months, research suggests it is far safer to keep them facing backwards far beyond that. Our youngest is 3 and still faces backwards.

Quote:

The Swedish car manufacturer Volvo is clear that “children should travel facing backwards as long as possible. It is a good idea for children to use rear-facing child seats until they are three years old, although they should use them for even longer if possible”. In fact, this car manufacturer stresses that even if a child cannot sit in these seats with their legs fully extended, their safety is not compromised in any way.

Link:

https://www.fundacionmapfre.org/en/blog/why-should...

Yeah I do agree, but for my purposes we're talking about a 5 minute drive to childcare each morning, through 20mph streets at 745am, so I just want to make sure what I'm doing is legal.
If I were taking her for a longer journey, she'd be in the back.
That said, can all car seats face forwards and backwards, as that one I linked above looks rather big to be facing backwards.

Answered my own question:
Car Seat Direction : Forward Facing

I think until she's allowed to face forward we'll have to make do with the current tight squeeze seat, then she can be in a seat like that Halfords one facing forwards.....

[hairykrishna]

I had my daughter in the front from a young age. We were driving an hour plus each way at the time for her nursery/my work so it was much better to have her where she could see me and we could interact more easily. This is a slight com[promise in safety though - it's recommended that they're backwards facing essentially for as long as possible.

I made sure our seats were Swedish plus tested when they were very small.

Kiddy seats were excellent and they were a great company - sadly they've gone out of business though!

[119]

Interesting as in an old V70 I had, it had the booster seat things built into the back bench seat.

They were a pain as it made the rear passengers uncomfortable by the way they fold flat.

[UTH]

Unless I'm being stupid I can't seem to find a seat for a child 15 month upwards (toddler?) that can face forwards and backwards that is held in place by the seatbelt?

Pat on the bank if anyone can find me one haha

[DaveCWK]

I thought you could forward face from 9 months (possibly size dependent)?

[UTH]

DaveCWK said:

I thought you could forward face from 9 months (possibly size dependent)?

https://incarsafetycentre.co.uk/safety-centre/when-can-baby-face-forward#:~:text=When%20height%2Dbased%20seats%20are,%2C%20they%20can%20face%2Dforwards.

[donkmeister]

hairykrishna said:

I had my daughter in the front from a young age. We were driving an hour plus each way at the time for her nursery/my work so it was much better to have her where she could see me and we could interact more easily.

For anyone facing a similar situation and looking at options; I fitted a large convex baby-viewing mirror to the centre head rest. Whilst it reduced the usefulness of the interior rear view mirror in my particular car, it did mean we could go "single-crewed" whilst Mini D could see us and we could see her. As the rear blind was often closed anyway this was no great loss.

She was too tall to rear-face at 14 months (supermodel legs ) so after a back and forth with the Cybex technical support people to make sure we had it fitted optimally for a long tall Sally, she went forward facing. I have a Halfords suction cup rear view mirror attached in the top right hand corner of my windscreen, more so I can glance as she can see me now.

I actually like the inability to physically interact - it's very easy, especially for a mum, to lose sense of proportion when a baby is doing something it shouldn't, and by having Mini D out of reach it means that when it's just one of us with her we physically cannot do anything without stopping first.

[donkmeister]

UTH said:

https://incarsafetycentre.co.uk/safety-centre/when...

BTW if you are near enough to MK I'd recommend a visit to these people. You do need to have an appointment (as I found when I showed up unannounced - they did accommodate me though!).

[UTH]

donkmeister said:

UTH said:

https://incarsafetycentre.co.uk/safety-centre/when...

BTW if you are near enough to MK I'd recommend a visit to these people. You do need to have an appointment (as I found when I showed up unannounced - they did accommodate me though!).

What did you go and see them for?

[the-norseman]

I thought Isofix was standard in "modern" cars since around 2005?

[Evanivitch]

Does this one meet your needs?

https://www.kiddies-kingdom.com/birth-4yrs/35168-j...

I'd repeat what others have said, to keep rear facing for as long as possible. Small children have flexible legs and really don't mind being in positions that adults might think look uncomfortable.

[UTH]

the-norseman said:

I thought Isofix was standard in "modern" cars since around 2005?

Yeah TBH I was surprised the Mk2 RS needed it specifying at time of purchase, but seems that's the situation. Bit annoying but not the end of the world.

[UTH]

Evanivitch said:

Does this one meet your needs?

https://www.kiddies-kingdom.com/birth-4yrs/35168-j...

I'd repeat what others have said, to keep rear facing for as long as possible. Small children have flexible legs and really don't mind being in positions that adults might think look uncomfortable.

Ohhhh, thank you, that does seem to suggest it would do both jobs.
I guess we'd immediately be putting the inserts for a very small baby into the loft, but then it looks like it'll do the job for the forseeable!
Thank you, will run this by Mrs UTH of course haha.

And yes, I will happily stick her in the back, rear facing, for any journeys longer than the 5 mins to childminder in the morning, but for that job it will make life a lot easier to be sitting in the front seat.

[UTH]

UTH said:

Evanivitch said:

Does this one meet your needs?

https://www.kiddies-kingdom.com/birth-4yrs/35168-j...

I'd repeat what others have said, to keep rear facing for as long as possible. Small children have flexible legs and really don't mind being in positions that adults might think look uncomfortable.

Ohhhh, thank you, that does seem to suggest it would do both jobs.
I guess we'd immediately be putting the inserts for a very small baby into the loft, but then it looks like it'll do the job for the forseeable!
Thank you, will run this by Mrs UTH of course haha.

And yes, I will happily stick her in the back, rear facing, for any journeys longer than the 5 mins to childminder in the morning, but for that job it will make life a lot easier to be sitting in the front seat.

Sod that, I wear the trousers, just bought it.