Car Seats

[ck1]

My daughter is now 9 months old and we are ready to get her a forward facing car seat (she is too big for her standard rear facing car seat), but her weight is not yet 20 pounds (only 16, she is on the 9th percentile for her age), based on her previous weight gain she is not expected to be 20 pounds for another 4 months or so. She is very strong and can sit around unaided for hours, crawls around quite happily and can pull herself up into a standing position from seated. So even though it is recommended for babies to be 20 pounds before using a forward facing car seat is there any real necessity for this weight to be met? Appreciate any comments, Thanks

[MrsJo49155]

Do you have a large Halfords store near you? They have staff who are experienced in ensuring two things:

a) the seat fits correctly in your car

b) the seat is the correct type for your daughter.

They WILL NOT SELL you a baby seat unless both of these are to their satisfaction which I feel is a very admirable stance to take.....it is also a very helpful thing too as my sister has twins and was quite happy to buy two of the more expensive seats but on trying them both in her car it was apparent that they didnt sit correctly in the seatbelts - if she has got these from another store it would have been tough luck (thats If we had even realised they didnt sit correctly!).

I think the weight thing is more important than anything else to consider - the accident protection people say you shouldn't move them up to a forward facing seat until they exceed the 20lb mark or their heads are above the end of a rear facing seat.

Good luck!

[Fish the Mod]

Great answer from above. The local council should have road safety officer. Here in Enfield, the guy will ask you take your baby and car to him and he will suggest the right car seat. Its free and they will not sell or take commission on any car seat.

[crazychic]

I had the same problem with my son, he had grown out of his by the time he was about 7 months old. So we bought a forward facing one because he couldn't stretch his legs out. He was fine with it at the end of the day the child has to be comfortable aswell as safe.

[ck1]

Just bought a Concord seat which you can use both rear and front facing, looks and feels a lot better than the other makes I had looked at so I think that should solve the problems, thanks for your comments