Baby carseat versus toddler carseat for long trip

[jollybaby]

We are braving a drive to the south of France this weekend with our 9 month old. This will involve some overnight driving (don't ask!) and we are hoping that miss jb will sleep for a good portion of the journey. She is of the size when she would fit into both a stage 0 or 1 carseat. My question is - would it be best to upgrade before the trip? I'm thinking that the front facing toddler carseat may be better for the day (ie she can see us and be entertained) but I'm concerned that she won't sleep in a toddler seat quite so well. She has short legs so she is still quite comfy in the maxicosi.

What do you think - does your baby sleep as well in the front facing seat?

[The Nappy Lady]

Well - check out www.rearfacing.co.uk

Personally even if you upgrade I'd stick with rear facing - especially on those fast French autoroutes.

Our youngest is now 2 & 3/4 and still happily rear facing & it does make me happy to know she's as safe as possible especially on motorway journeys.

Hope this helps.

Xx

[Pickle]

Agree with Molly, check out that website. There's no way I'd put a baby so young forward facing, it's not worth the risk.

[Fuschia]

Agreed

[snowboarder]

If she's comfy/happy I'd def say keep her as she is. My eldest practically had a seizure every time he went in the car as a baby so we put him in his gp 1 fwd facing as soon as we could - and it did improve things - but he was sturdy. Littlest is mostly more chilled and happy in his rear facing so I'm going to keep him that way for as long as possible.

[pebbles]

Sorry to be ignorant but I had no idea that there was a rear facing option when my kids were moving out of their babyseat?

Are rear facing toddler seats a new thing or did i just not do my research very well?

[jollybaby]

Goodness I feel a bad mum for not really thinking about the safety aspect . . Was more concerned about a peaceful and stress free trip! Will probably keep her in her maxicosi for the time being and then do some proper research into seats later.

[bluesuperted]

We are really behind on rearfacing in the UK - in fact irritatingly lots of manufacturers don't even bother selling their brand's rearfacing seats in the UK despite them being much safer. In the US they just changed the guidelines to two years minimum rearfacing and in Sweden it's 4 years (where they have very very low child fatalities in RTA).

The rearfacing site is great and I just hope that UK manufacturers/importers get their act together as at the moment the choice is small and expensive if you want to keep RF.

It's a minefield the carseat world and I think mumsnet is running a RF campaign to make the likes of Halfords and Mothercare offer them as standard.

[pebbles]

My God, that's just dreadful that UK aren't on top of it. I suppose all I thought at 9m old was yipeee they'll be facing forward and finally might be happy in the car and cos they were both right weight and age and i bought supposedly the safest forward facing chair i was happy.

I think i might go and do some researching as daughter not even 2 yet.

[new mother]

I (or my husband when we swapped over) always used to sit in the back with our first child on the basis that if anything happened, at least I would be able to help her. (Sorry to be so negative..)

[cazbee]

We recently braved a drive to Scotland with a Maxicosi hating nearly 6 month old. In the weeks before we left (so too late to book the train or flights!) he took to massive screaming fits in the carseat. I can't tell you how much I was dreading the journey.

Two things seemed to help, although they are probably more suitable for younger babies. The first was a big mirror that I hung over the seat right in front of him. He seemed to enjoy watching/kicking at/chatting to the "other" baby. The particular one was called the BearView Infant Mirror. It certainly brightens up the view rather than the grey upholstery.

The other thing that seemed to help a little bit was teething powder! I think it distracted him/calmed him down at the height of a screaming fit and he would then go off to sleep.

I was also looking into buying a RF 0=4 seat before the trip and was surprised at how few there were on the market and how expensive they were. I'm going home to Australia soon and the carseats on the market there seem to be predominantly in this category.

Have a wonderful trip. We are going to France next week too on Ryanair - we may well wish we had driven!!

[Polmoche]

Hi sorry to hijack thread--but I am selling an Isofix "convertible carseat" as they are called in the US, that is rear-facing up to 35 pounds and can be used from infant (at least 5 pounds) to when they are a 50 pound toddler, though they recommend they go forward facing at 35 pounds. It's practically brand new as I bought it for use during a 2 week holiday in America. The seat itself won a consumer report award (the Which magazine of the US). http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?25,697714