sasbear

I am going to buy a car baby seat for my first born -due in 20 weeks and my step-daughter pointed me towards this link

http://shop.target.com.au/mother-s-c...tible-car-seat

As I have never purchased on of these before -is there anyone who has recently purchased a car baby seat that can give me a few pointers?

What to look out for/ Anything in particular I should/need to know?

Thanks

roaringmouse

Choice might be a good place to start. Check out ratings & reviews for different car seats and pick a good one in the safety ratings - much more important than looking at price. Your states road authority website (e.g. VicRoads, RTA etc) might have details too.

Also if there are licensed restraint fitters in your state, pay to get it installed even if you or whoever thinks they know how to fit them and have fitted them previously. Costs about $40/seat around here, but the cost is insignificant when it comes to the safety of a child.

sasbear

Thanks for taking some time out to rely :-) will check out all of this

elice_in_oz

You can also hire a baby capsule for 6 months or so from your council or local baby hire place. They are quite expensive to buy outright and only last for about 6 months, hence the hiring, but they are the safest restraint for newborns. Call your local council and ask them if they offer the service. It is definitely worth doing. I dis it for both my children and it was really useful.

Choice is also a great place to go for advice. It is worth paying for a membership for a while so you can get the best comparisons and safety advice on baby gear. I found it invaluable.

sasbear

Tahnsk for your input here :-)

They only last for 6 months? I thought they could last from th birth through to a 4 year old?

lonndongeek

If you get a convertible seat (i.e. starts rear facing, then goes to front facing) they will last a while. Baby capsules (only rear facing) will last until the baby grows out of it. In our case, we got 13 months of use out of the capsule before our little one grew out of it. The manufacturer will say that it's usable up to 12kg, but this doesn't take into the size of the occupant.

We looked at renting a capsule, but for anything over 6 months, it's cheaper to buy something new and you know the history of it/don't have something that another baby has puked on. If need be, you can always sell it on later.

We went for the Safe N Sound Unity capsule (http://www.britax.com.au/car-seats/t...fant-carrier-4) as we could take it out of the car and attach it to the stroller. In hindsight, this wasn't a well-used feature as our little one preferred being in an Ergo baby carrier so he could see what was going on.

Welcome to the world of baby products and the endless choice that's out there!

Cheers

LG

Lisa and Martin

For the first seat (which is always quite small and rear-facing), your choices are between a capsule (TBH easiest to rent as the fitter comes and puts it in for you, job done) or a small seat that comes as part of the pram set, ie you can take the seat straight out of the car and drop it on the pram frame, so you don't have to worry about waking the baby. There are a few makes of these, shop around at the baby stores and practice folding, releasing etc. It may then be worth buying a nice set second hand as many people only use them for 6 months before transferring to a light stroller.

The 2 most important pieces of advice are about rear-facing for as long as possible:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjRiuqGWJas

and the likely introduction of Isofix as a standard in Australia early next year. I suspect the the older seat-belt secured seats will start to be sold off in advance, then the Isofix seats will come in. Isofix will not only be safer, but enable you to easily move your seat from one car to another if need be. If you can get by with a rental in the meantime and wait for Isofix that would be my advice.

http://www.caradvice.com.au/165625/i...lised-in-2013/