Rear-facing Car-seats in UK

[Pandora II]

Just wanted to throw this out there for any UK mothers who lurk or post... I tracked down a new car-seat for Daisy as she's almost grown out of the Maxi-Cosi Cabriofix and I've given it to my sister.

I did loads of research and went with the BeSafe Izi Combi Isofix which I got at a company called Securatot. I also checked out the Recaro Polaris as they had it at John Lewis. The Izi is a fair bit smaller and looks much nicer - I wasn't keen on the velvety fabric on the Recaro.

It looks really comfortable, can be used rear-facing with Isofix or forward facing with a seat-belt - I try it out in the car on Friday and I'm hoping Daisy is as impressed with it there as she is in the house! She's using it as an armchair in the sitting-room at the moment!

It's Norwegian and gets the best safety scores of any car-seat out there.

I've got an awful lot of stick from people for getting another rear-facing seat - telling me that Daisy will hate it and feel stupid when all other children her age are in a forward facing seat... bizarre. My take on that was that she won't know any different and I don't care - her safety comes first.

 

[TravelingGal]

Your kid your life. Good for you, is what I say.

I rearfaced Amelia until she was 2 years, 1 month and I wish I had kept here there longer. She's coming onto 3 years and has 4 pounds before she actually hits the rearface limit. I got a lot of questions about me keeping her there. Both the ped AND the police officer (who checked her carseat) said I should go ahead and forward face her (this was at about 16 months). Honestly, she looked ridiculous rearfacing even at that age but I still kept her there. If she was shorter, I think she'd still be rearfacing. She is the size of some 4 year olds, so this kid is really big (her preschool teacher just told us the other day that no, we weren't imagining it, Amelia IS very very tall.)

Hope Daisy loves her new seat!

 

[Jennifer W]

We have a rear facing seat for Amelia too. It's the Recaro - the only rear facing model that would fit DH's car. I'm not crazy about the fabric either, but that thing is huge, and fixed to the chassis of the vehicle. I think it's probably as safe as you're going to get in a moving vehicle.

She'll rear face until she's 4 or at the weight limit. Comfort and cool-factor don't get a look in. I'm surprised that anyone has commented on Daisy and TGal's Amelia rear-facing. No one has ever said anything to me. I'm not terribly approachable though.

One of our neighbours lost her little girl in a car accident and I'm obsessive about car seats and car safety now. Such a tragedy.

 

[Pandora II]

I'm also obsessive about it - one of my school-friend's brother was in a car-crash recently with his 3 year-old daughter in the car. She was in a forward facing car-seat and was flung forward enough to get whiplash and break 3 bones in her face. She's going to be fine (grandfather is a surgeon and has got her fantastic treatment) but awful to see your child like that.

One of the biggest critics has been my SIL - but I have a feeling in her case that she feels attacked by my choosing to rear-facing and sees it as a judgement on her choice not to. I had a bit of a fit at my brother when she bought the initial car-seat for their baby second-hand on eBay because it was cheap - they both have cars and drive a lot and my brother is not someone I'd chose to be driven by! I'm fine with second-hand IF you know the previous owner extremely well and the seat has never been in an accident and is still in date - I've given ours to my sister and I would never do that unless I thought it was 100% safe, but buying one of eBay off a total stranger would really worry me and unless you are totally, totally penniless then I just don't think it's worth the risk.

The others I honestly think just find the idea of a larger child rear-facing totally weird.

TGal - the Izi Combi takes kids from birth up to 18kg and the new X3 version has a height-adjustable head-rest which also moves the straps up at the same time so they're always at the right height. Daisy's small (at 19 months she's 21lbs and just under 30")but even so she's on the absolute lowest position and this is a seat designed to take them from birth so with any luck it should last a long time.

Knowing what I know now I would probably have opted straight for this rather than getting the Maxi-Cosi and saved some money (although I only had to buy the Isofix base for the MC - still over £100 GBP) as I only used the carseat on the stroller about 3 times!

It is more expensive than most carseats in the UK - I had to pay £290 GBP whereas something like the Maxi Cosi Priori Isofix is £250 GBP and the Recaro Polaric is about £200 GBP.