I wasn't going to... but I can't help myself. Car seats.
Ok so I was determined to get through car seats on my own... no posting... I'm a big girl now, I can do it! But... as always... I have questions!
So had a look at all the safety stuff & older threads... and sounds like Safe'n'Sound is the way to go. LIked the look of the convertible seats (birth to 18kg) and ultimately came down to Meridien versus Compaq Deluxe. The Compaq actually seemed to do slightly better in the safety testing last year, so I'm leaning towards that. While the Meridien raves that it has more, I'm not sure how much difference it makes..? Happy to be enlightened tho!
But I'm still confused about something else. I've read that some people hire a baby capsule to start with... easier to travel with bubs & not disturb sleep. So that sounds logical... but... all the sites say don't buy a car seat that's second hand/history unknown/coulda been in a crash etc. So if you were to hire a capsule, how do you know it's been looked after? Which way would/did you go? straight to a convertible seat, or get/buy a capsule first?
Thanks!
I recommend a new capsule
I hired a capsule from the red cross (a bargain $50 for 3 months), which was fabulous for the purpose of not disturbing bub when asleep- especially in that first month when they sleep heaps and are little enough to carry in the capsule easily. However it was an old model and rather awkward- therefore we took bub out of it before he reached 3 months and put him in his safe n sound car seat. He is much more comfortable in his car seat, but I quite regret not spending the extra on a new plush capsule. My sister-in-law has one and they are fantastic. Of course they also double as a mini-rocker/seat when you visit family and friends houses.
We try really hard not to wake bub when getting him out of his car seat- but to no avail. Then of course we have to go to the hassle of getting his pram out of the car as he needs something to fall asleep in when we visit others. For the next bub I will definitely be buying a new capsule and will utilise it for as long as possible.