Baby capsule/infant car seat question

Hi all :)

Lots of questions today.

Can anyone tell me whether there are any capsules/seats for newborns which just strap into the car with the seatbelt or do they all have to be anchored somehow?

The only carseats I have experience with were in the UK and for my stepson who we didn't have with us as a newborn so I'm a bit lost.

We are going to pack the carseat we bought up and send it back to England so my MIL and FIL can install it in their car ready for picking us up when we arrive there (if you haven't seen my other threads we're moving there thus sending ours over still in the box and not hiring). BUT... we need one here for the 6 weeks or so we're still in Australia, plus we're travelling to QLD and will take ours with us and then leave it there with my parents, but the idea of installing a baby seat/infant carrier in the airport car park is actually quite daunting especially as my dad is useless at such things and DH will still be in Melbourne tying up loose ends at the house we will be moving out of.

Thanks! :)

All Australian Car seats anchor with an anchor point AND a seatbelt. They MUST be anchored with both for them to be safe.

So with capsules, the base is anchored in and seatbelt goes through the back of them. The capsule itself clicks in and out and is removed from the car for use, the base remains anchored in place.

With car seats (reward/forward facing) the seat itself is anchored in and a seatbelt runs thorough the back.

You can hire capsules all over from various places, usually the ambulance service, but if you contact your hospital they should be able to point you in the direction of the service in your area.

Installing the car seat is really very simple, they all come with instructions. I would suggest you install it in your car before you go over so you know how to do it. You will need to make sure your ILs car has the anchorage hook attached, some older cars only have the hole for the bolt, not the actual bolt installed.
You can also have them fitted at places like the RACV, then they can show you how to do it correctly so you know once you get there. I am sure there must be a similar service in the UK so perhaps your ILs can suss it out for themselves aswell after you send it over.

HTH :)

I think they use a different system of securing for child restraints overseas so you may find an Aussie seat won't meet their standards? It's worth checking out in case you can't use yours over there

I just had a quick look - it seems you can just use a seat belt in the UK to anchor a car seat - you don't need (legally) to use a top tether strap/anchor - you might need to check if they have an available anchor point in their car if you want to use this feature of your Aussie car seat. They are in the process of introducing the ISOFIX system for anchoring seats because apparently so many (70%) are not installed correctly using the seat belt.

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All Australian Car seats anchor with an anchor point AND a seatbelt. They MUST be anchored with both for them to be safe.

So with capsules, the base is anchored in and seatbelt goes through the back of them. The capsule itself clicks in and out and is removed from the car for use, the base remains anchored in place.

With car seats (reward/forward facing) the seat itself is anchored in and a seatbelt runs thorough the back.

You can hire capsules all over from various places, usually the ambulance service, but if you contact your hospital they should be able to point you in the direction of the service in your area.

Installing the car seat is really very simple, they all come with instructions. I would suggest you install it in your car before you go over so you know how to do it. You will need to make sure your ILs car has the anchorage hook attached, some older cars only have the hole for the bolt, not the actual bolt installed.
You can also have them fitted at places like the RACV, then they can show you how to do it correctly so you know once you get there. I am sure there must be a similar service in the UK so perhaps your ILs can suss it out for themselves aswell after you send it over.

HTH :)

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Thanks for that info! Its not so much once its there that I'm worried about - its more the travelling to QLD bit that is an issue. I'll be there for a very minimum of a week and the idea of flying into Rockhampton and my father trying to install a carseat in the car park is incredibly scary. And no, chances are they won't hire a capsule for us in advance. Nice huh?

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I think they use a different system of securing for child restraints overseas so you may find an Aussie seat won't meet their standards? It's worth checking out in case you can't use yours over there

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From the sounds of it our standards are higher than theirs but I'll definitely be checking it out anyway :) DH is English and I sent him the instructions for the infant carrier that goes with the pram we bought and he called me and said "I'm really blown away by how complicated this is... in England you just strap it in with a seatbelt and away you go!". I know for the toddler seats thats true as i remember my stepson's seat, but I figure he has to have it wrong for the infant ones.

I travelled to Europe when my son was an infant and had huge trouble finding a restraint for him which anchored to the car as well as using the seatbelt - all the available restraints were only held in with the seatbelt. Ultimately, I bought a seat brand new on US ebay which had the capability to anchor to the the vehicle and had it shipped to my dad's house in Spain. His car (a BMW) had the point for an anchor, but no bolt attached so I took one over with me.

My point is that your DH is probably correct - the seats in the UK may well not anchor to the vehicle, they may just be held in by the seatbelt! As someone else said, fitting a car seat is not difficult... perhaps if you practice a few times (get someone who knows what they're doing to explain it to you) you will be able to do it at the airport yourself. As for the UK, check whether the vehicle you will be putting the restraint is has a bolt or at least the anchor point so you can take your own bolt if required.

What kind of carrier did you buy? They aren't that tricky, you just need someone to show you it so you can visualise :) Do you have any friends with infants that you could ask to check out how their car seat installs?

If you haven't already sent your seat off, maybe you could practice a few times setting it up in your car? Once you have the hang of it it should only take 5-10mins to sort out, and you can do it yourself rather than rely on your father to do it. Might be a bit uncomfy with a baby bump, but not impossible!