Hi first baby on the way , looking to catch something in the up coming sales hopefully , being a hapless man didn't know prices are $750 for some seats ,But I guess that is the reality after being told about 2 grand prams! Have heard of maxi cosy before ,but that's near as far as my knowledge goes .
Looking for good quality seat that will last a few years , easy to lift the little critter in and out especially for a 5ft 2 wife , we've a hatchback at the mo.
Any recommendations on seats would be very much appreciated ,thanks 🙌
Best car seat 0-4 years
Francis82 on 22/11/2021 - 21:47
Comments
We have the same car seat and everything seems good so far. Choice magazine recommend it based on the ratings and versatility that Jenus mentions. Can be picked up for a very reasonable price. It's $280 right now on Amazon. Not sure if you have to have Prime for that price with free delivery.
I did a lot of research and settled on the Mothers Choice Adore AP.
Great car seat with amazing safety ratings for less than $300.
Highly recommend the Infasecure brand. We've got two of these, very affordable and long lasting (8 years now)
Infasecure is good, even better when I got it from 40% sale @ babybunting. Easy to adjust and clean.
Another big +1 to Infasecure stuff. We have two of them (one 0-4 and another "1"-8)
We love our Britax Graphene.
https://www.babybunting.com.au/britax-safe-n-sound-graphene-…Unfortunately it's one of the most popular car seats so rarely goes much cheaper than this. However, if you buy the baby card at 15% off it will make it slightly more affordable :)
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/664735The Graphene is one of the most compact seats as well, easy to install, easy to adjust. It also allows for extended rear facing which is miles safer than turning your baby as early as you can. If you use a capsule too much and leave the kid in it all the time, don't be surprised to see a bit of a flat head. You'll easily get a solid 4 years out of the graphene, unless you and your partner are giants who have giant kids.
You probably want a capsule for 0-3months, so you can move the baby without disturbing him/her.
After that, the other ones mentioned seem like reasonable choices.
In my OP capsule is a waste. It's only for short term and baby don't usually wake up during the transit from and to. Didn't had a issue without a capsule.
baby don't usually wake up during the transit from and to
I guess every baby is different.
In my OP capsule is a waste
Yeah, it is a bit of a waste, but It's not that expensive either, if you get a good deal on one, then you can probably sell it for break-even. If you buy a used one, you can break-even or maybe make a small profit.
The other use-case for a baby capsule is to attach it to your pram, instead of a using a bassinet attachment.
Didn't had a issue without a capsule.
I wont dispute that - plenty of people without cars too :) Just giving the OP another point of view.
I know just bit of over spending for 3month usage, but I do like the luxury feel to it with the.e.g: Maxi-Cosi stroller, so you can move the baby from stroller to the car seat. Lol
Oh yeah, next item, bassinet is also a useless item , specially when kid is fast growing lol
Apparently baby not supposed to be in the capsule for so long, position is not ideal for the baby.
bassinet is also a useless item
Yeah - but it does have some uses, like if you've had a c-section and can't bend over to pick up your baby from a cot. Being able to wheel baby from one room to another, without picking him/her up.
I know just bit of over spending for 3month usage
That's parenthood …
There is no such a thing as best, it's all based on the user case.
It's about what stroller you gonna use it with, and the car you have, isofix (only 0 to 4 in Australia) or without 0-8.Make sure go to babybunting or something, try fit one in your car and check if it's fits nicely.
Or as mentioned above, use of capsule.
Can't recommend this enough. Definitely go to a physical shop that will let you try the seat in the car to see how it fits, how much room there is to get them in/out.
The more expensive often have more 'features' but are not necessarily safer, all seats have to comply with Australian Standards.
Great idea - but take a friend who has already had a baby! They will give you much better suggestions.
My sister took me when I chose a pram (ended up with a stroller that worked brilliantly)!
I took a friend and she loved that I could point out little things like the foot switch on the pram she liked - way too small for her husband to be able to use.
Husband's cousin was at our place when our baby was in a capsule (these babies are around 22 years old now, so capsules were 'bigger' then) - ours was in the middle of the back seat, she got into the car to move it and couldn't move the seat far enough back as she was very tall… just little things that most of us don't think of.
Other things I forgot to mention, once you got your self a car seat, check with kidsafe, they in every state. They check it for you for free.
They also give tips on how to set up correctly.
Though I consider a capsule essential for the first 6 months, they can take up a lot of room in a hatchback and limit how far the front seat can move back.
Britax Graphene. Fits in smaller cars too and is some how more roomy than infasecure seats (which are quite wide). Unfortunately not cheap and hard to get on sale. We were lucky to get floor stock at the baby expo for a 20% discount. 100% recommend over infasecure. When you use it every day saving a few dollars is pretty secondary.
Infasecure are the best. Used mother-choice and maxi cosy before, but Infa is the easiest to install and also tighten and loosen.
Recommend getting the 0-8 year ones.
We have two Britax Millenia's in our main car (medium SUV) and found them easier to use than the Infrasecure (still a good seat) we have in our other car (small hatch). Where the Millenia wins out for us is that they are more compact so even when placed in a read-facing manner, there is still a lot of room for the front seat for either car its in.
The Millenia, for us, also has very good latching and unlatching mechanisms so baby/kids are in/out of car quite quickly.
So apart from baby safety, consider other impacts such as front seat position (to accommodate rear-facing baby seat), mechanism and ease of getting baby in/out, cleaning (babies will vomit or make mess), locking mechanism to your car (eg. isofix or not)
Mother's Choice Adore AP.
Yes, it's the budget brand of Maxi Cosi, but there is nothing that even comes close to versatility and safety:
https://www.childcarseats.com.au/find-and-compare-child-car-…
This seat can be used rear facing till the kid is 2.5 years old. Not many seats can achieve that, and score the same safety rating. It is also advisable to keep the kid rear facing as long as possible, so this ticks that box.
The seat can then be used in front facing till 4 years old. Yes, the safety rating drops to 3.8, but nothing I have found that costs double the price and with the same dual function comes even close to these ratings.