What am I to do about a car seat?

[SunnyRain]

My bub will be 6 months old soon. We've extended our lease on the hire capsule from QLD ambulance for another month for free, but Jude's only 6.5kgs (if that). According to his growth chart he won't be 8kgs until about 9 months old. I doubt QLD ambulance will keep letting us extend the lease.

What am I supposed to do in the interim between hiring a capsule and putting him a forward facing car seat? I had no idea that this would happen, Jude being my first baby and all. I didn't know car seats had such inconvenient weight limits so I had no way to plan for this.

I think our little hatch back is too small for a convertible seat which is part of the reason we hired a capsule, the other reason is financial.

What am I to do??

[mbear]

WHy dont you get a convertible car seat - newborn to 18kgs.....I would recommend Safe N Sound.....
A convertible car seat can be used both rear-facing for infants and forward-facing for babies.....we have the SNS meridian. Its been used for all my girls - rear facing and forward facing.
ETA - we had a hatch (pulsar) and SNS car seat rear facing did fit in there.....

[alioops]

I think they would be happy to extend the lease for as long as DS needs it, they would rather he is safe than demanding it back.

[*Belle*]

Surely there are other places that rent car capsules in QLD? there are in Sydney. If not I would buy a convertable carseat. We have always just had a convertable carseat for our kids.

[Patooties]

I had to extend our lease a couple of times, as Hannah hadn't reached the 8kg mark.
They were happy to do it. Perhaps give them a ring if you think it may be more than a couple of months that you will need to extend it by - i'm sure they will help you.

[*Belle*]

If they wont extend for you, I just looked up the net and there is a place called hire for baby that hires them in Burleigh waters.

[mako]

I would purchase a convertible carseat. I have a Safe & Sound Guardian and it fits in my little Charade hatchback. My MIL has a Safe & Sound Compact reversible seat in her little Mazda hatchback too. I should point out that its now recommended that bubs face rearward upto 12 months of age. Hope that helps

[ACJ]

My SIL had one from QLD Ambo's for 9 months and they just kept extending it!!

[SunnyRain]

My SIL had one from QLD Ambo's for 9 months and they just kept extending it!!

Did she have to pay extra? I was trying to save money buy renting.

[Patooties]

I didn't have to pay extra for the couple of months over i had it for. Worth a call to them anyway.

[Taurean]

Have a look at the Safe n Sound Compaq (they have a Compaq Deluxe too). It's designed for smaller cars (such as hatchbacks), it's convertible (birth to 18kgs), it ranked number one in Australia for safety and usability last month (owner of a babyshop showed me the report she received) and it's well priced - about $300 for memory (the deluxe model is a bit more). We don't need a compact car seat but I'm actually considering getting it for our first bubs due to reviews it receives and of course the recent ratings for safety.

[SunnyRain]

Taurean: I found the report on the RTA web site:

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety...restraints.pdf

This was just the report I wanted to see because safety is very important in my choice of car seat. It's interesting though because the seats rate differently depending on whether they are in back or forward-facing use.

[AwesomeFoursome]

We have the same problem. We have a 2 door hyundai excel and there is no way we can fit in a convertible seat rear facing even the Compaq designs won't fit. We have to get a capsule. I think the ambulance ser would be happy to extend the lease for as long as Jude needs it.

[widdly]

I it were me I would just keep trying to extend the rental period, Im sure they wont a have a problem with it.