I wasn't going to... but I can't help myself. Car seats.

[SamiH]

Baby should be rear facing for as long as possible as it's much safer, ideally until they are 12 kgs which can be depending on the bub well after 12 months of age (my 20 month old isn't 12 kgs yet)!

Laughing - my son was 13kgs at 1, and my daughter has just turned 3 and weighs 11kg!!!! She will be glad for her fathers slim build in another 10 years.

I have a SnS reversible bought for DS - DD still in it forward facing of course - I am going to hire a capsule for this little one hoping when he grows out of it my DD will be big enough for DS seat with harness .... wishful thinking I think at this stage, but I don't wanna buy another car seat ...

[Lolli]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I wanted to ask a question about the 12 kilo thing. I went to change our capaule to the rearward facing carseat this morning at the restraint fitters and was having a look at the book that came with that and my rearward facing only seems to last up to nine kilos, not twelve. Is it safe to leave him rear facing for longer, or should I turn it round at nine kilos? He's only 7 kilos at the moment so we have at least two months to go but I'd still rather have him facing rear after that and we really can't afford another car seat.

[belfie]

Hey Lorimae - good question! I dunno which brand you've got, but I know the SnS Baby Safety Capsule says: Suitable for a child from birth to 9kg in weight.

I'm now toying with buying a baby capsule, as i hope to have a second bubba (eventually!), so I think the price to use it for two wouldn't be that much different to hiring a capsule twice.

Also (yes, yet another question ), do ppl end up finding that they need more than one sort of seat for those early years - i.e. to cater for both yours and his cars? Later I'd get the booster seat... but at the stage they could be in a baby capsule or a convertible? I guess i'm thinking that given I'll need the convertible seat anyway evenutally (well once bubs is 9kg), and both the Compaq and Meridien say they're rear facing until 12kg in weight. So would it be worth putting the baby capsule in my car (for e.g.) and then just buy the convertible one early and put that in his? I imagine you could make do with just one seat/capsule in my car - i.e. just never go in his car with bubba, but I can see situations where it might be useful for some reason or another.

Ok so I've just finished bawling at that video (darn hormones! ) - jolly good watch (and no, it's not really that sad!). Janie thank you so much for linking that.

[MantaRay]

LR, if it says rear facing only until 9kgs, then you will have to turn it around then. Most of the ones on the market can be turned around any time between 8 and 12 kgs. But always follow the limits in the instructions.

We only one have car, but you do need two seats - the convertible ones only last until they get to a certain size. In QLD and some other states they need to be in boosters until age 7, so you do need a booster seat as well. The best ones of these can be used from 8 kgs I think right through. So you can generally with 2 kids get by with 3 seats in total - one convertible, one booster like the maxi rider, and then another booster when baby 2 outgrows the convertible (or depending on the age gap just two seats might even be fine).

[Lolli]

Hi again,
MR- that's what i thought. If only I knew all of this before we went baby shopping- 20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing!
Belfie- We ended up with two, a capsule and convertible, and used one in each car. It is a good idea to have one for each car. When I was talking to the restraint fitting place today, they said they sell their ex hire capsules starting at $80, and they can guarentee they are well cared for, sterilised after each use and have never been in an accident, so maybe you could find something similiar? They were also telling me about a Safe'n'Sound maxi seat, taht converts from rear to front to booster. Pricey- about $400- but cheaper in the long run.

[leebee81]

The S&S Unity is good to 12kg. The Fisher Price Capsule & Base is exactly same as the Unity, rebranded.

I love our capsule, its so easy to get Oliver in and out of the car. I can load him in the house, tuck a blanket over, then load the capsule in the car. Also, when he was a newie he was so lost in mum's convertible seat. He has really only fit into it properly in the last couple of weeks, before that he was just tiny and it didn't seem safe.