[Closed] Which car seat for 1 year old?

Cybex Sirona here, highly recommended. Son is 2.5 and still using it rear facing, it can forward face too if you want to.

We got a Britax one that swivels - it can face forwards or backwards, and the halfway point facing the door makes loading the little lady a lot easier ! At age two her legs are getting a bit long to be rear facing, she's a bit squished up but my wife says it's safer. I'd rather she was comfy.

Maxi Cosi Priori here....forward facing and would much rather have the child forward facing than the minor benefits of rear facing. Everyone has a different view though.

Eldest is just about 3yr old as is still in it. She's even pretty tall for her age group.

Both of ours have gone in front facing Britax seats from about 9 months. Very good quality and had no problems at all with them.
Would definitely go isofix as it's a much more stable fitting. Seatbelt seats tend to work loose after a while.

ISOFIX x10000000 ! Although not all are created equal, the wife's Passat is easy but MiL's Jazz is really fiddly.

Are you sure you've got a Pearl and not a Pebble?

We bought a Pebble with ISOFIX family base & Kiddicare were doing an offer for the Pearl (for when she gets too big for the Pebble) which only cost about another £30 so that's what we went for.

The Pearl is rated 9 months to 4 years.

Do you currently have an isofix base for the Pebble (assuming it is a Pebble that you meant)??
The Pearl will go straight onto the base for the Pebble.
The latest recommendation is to keep the child facing rearwards as long as possible, but you need a different base for that to work.

We got a Britax one that swivels - it can face forwards or backwards, and the halfway point facing the door makes loading the little lady a lot easier !

Also, FWIW my son has to sit rear facing with legs bent but has never once complained about comfort, even on journeys of 3 hours+.
Worth remembering that kids are way more flexible than adults so what looks uncomfortable to adults can be totally fine to a kid.

The only real downsides to me on rear facing has been the size of the seat, they are pretty large compared to forward facing equivalents to not great for a smaller car. They are also pretty expensive. The facts and figures on safety are pretty readily available to research yourself rather than turning this into a debate here, but for me the figures were compelling and offset the downsides.

We had a Cybex when she was tiny, it was brilliant.

Rear facing it safer, it just is - but needing two car seats and finding it hard to find one that would actually fit in our cars it just wasn't to be. We ended up with a pair of Maxi Cosy Tobi's they're well made, get good reviews, and have useful features like an indicator so show belts are tight enough - it's surprising how tight they should be and the straps are sprung to be held away from the base when empty which makes it really easy to get her in and out.

Personally ISOFIX was a waste of time for us, in my car it just made her lean too far forward and her head came down every time I braked however gently, not great. Binned it for a standard fit one - they're just as safe, just not as easy to take in or out - ours never come out so no issue.

P-Jay - Member

Personally ISOFIX was a waste of time for us, in my car it just made her lean too far forward and her head came down every time I braked however gently, not great.

Was the ISOFIX base not adjustable for seat angle?
Ours has a small handle on the front that lets you adjust the angle that the seat sits at, so you can effectively recline it. There's quite a lot of adjustment.
I assumed they all did that, but perhaps not.

About to buy a Sirona. Wee one is quite wee so just going into a GP1 seat at 16 months.

Changing car too... our old Yaris doesn't have ISOFIX. The belt buckles are on straps so buckle crunch is a risk, hence changing the car etc.

We will be keeping her rear facing for some time yet as well.

Worth looking into the new iSize info as well http://www.i-size.org.uk/index-temp2.html

We had a Maxi Cosi Tobi, worked nicely and had a few little good feature above the base model like the spring-loaded straps for easily putting sleeping kids in the car. Lasted ours until they were big enough to move to the Tobi booster+strap lowerer thing (when they were about 3) which will last until they can just use seatbelts.

Was the ISOFIX base not adjustable for seat angle?
Ours has a small handle on the front that lets you adjust the angle that the seat sits at, so you can effectively recline it. There's quite a lot of adjustment.
I assumed they all did that, but perhaps not.

Nope, we had two, both of which Mothercare (who are great BTW) took back, we just couldn't get it to work. It's not like we had odd cars either my Wife's got an Astra, and I've got a Seat Exeo - which is identical to an A4 inside and almost identical to about half the rest of the VAG mid-sized range.

I was dead set on ISOFIX, but in the end they showed me all sorts of stats and tests that it's not safer per-se, just easier to fit and almost guarantees a proper fit, if you can get the angle right - seatbelt mounting is supposedly just as good if you fit it correctly - so we asked them to do it and they've not been touched since other than to check tension - the way the Tobi works, they don;'t come loose easily and might have never needed to be adjusted in a year.

Current recommendation is rear-facing until 15 months. We've just bought a Britax Dualfix with a view to keeping the boy rear facing until he's too tall to comfortably sit that way, then the chair can just be rotated to front facing. Pricey seat, but should be ok until he's 4ish (i.e. outgrows it).

Very much a personal preference, but we've got Recaro Start and a Recaro Young Sport.

The kids have had them since they were one. The boy is eight now and he's still in his "Start". The Young Sport is cheaper and not as adjustable, but my six year still fits in it with room to spare.

As a bonus they look like ejector seats. 😀

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We have got the maxicosi axiss fix as it swivels and can be used rear facing and front facing.
The little man is 8 months and too big for his pebble now

New law about to be brought in that will require all children to sit in a rear-facing child seat until the age of four. As expected, rear facing seats that fit a four year old are few and far between and cost a fortune.

New law about to be brought in that will require all children to sit in a rear-facing child seat until the age of four. As expected, rear facing seats that fit a four year old are few and far between and cost a fortune.

Edit: I think you have got the wrong end of the stick somehow. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/04/04/child-car-seat-confusion-our-guide-to-the-new-regulations-and-products_n_7331866.html

amatuer - Member

New law about to be brought in that will require all children to sit in a rear-facing child seat until the age of four. As expected, rear facing seats that fit a four year old are few and far between and cost a fortune.

Blimey, that's a bit panicky (& not really correct)......

Some good information here:

http://www.madeformums.com/news-and-gossip/the-new-i-size-law-what-it-means-for-you/37718.html

Taken from the article to put your mind at rest:

[i]Does that mean I need a new car seat?

No. The first thing you need to know is that this new i-Size law doesn’t replace the current but now older ECE R44/04 law. They simply run alongside each other.

The second thing you should know is that the complete i-Size laws are still being developed by safety experts, law makers, car seat manufactures and car makers. There's likely to be changes to the law and additional legislations added over the next few years.

So you can still use your old seats and manufactures can still sell non i-Size chairs until at least 2018, as long as they meet the old regulation.

After 2018 only i-Size seats will be sold on the market, but you’ll still be allowed to use your existing seats for a few years afterwards.
[/i]

Sorry it is a pebble not a pearl we have. Thanks for the replies will have a look at the different seats.