Car Seats

[razzle]

Hi all

We have just fitted a Mother's Choice carseat and it seems really, really loose. It's in the rear-facing position at the moment. Is this normal for all car seats?? :confused: We were concerned and took it to a registered fitter to get it checked out and apparently it's fine, the straps are all in the right place and tight enough, but it just seems to be wobbly.

Anyone else got any thoughts??

Cheers

[Lachlan's Mum]

Hi Boomtish!

I was told that they need to be loose (a bit) so that any sudden jerk will activate the seat belt (the retractable ones in most modern cars) - if it's tight there is nothing to "activate" this....I hope that makes sense!! :p

[jakobsmum]

I have been told the same thing. We have a Fisher Price newborn - toddler. It was quite wobbly whilst in the reverse facing position. It does make sense when you think about it though. Being able to move a bit more freely in a colision (God forbid) wouldn't have as bad a jerking movement on the seat. If that makes sense :confused: Now that it is turned around the other way it barely moves (more of it is braced by the back rest). Hope this helps :)

[razzle]

Thanks for your input guys. We had it all installed nice and tight in the rear facing position, but then realised it had to be taken out to get the straps adjusted. :rolleyes: So we took it all out again, adjusted the straps, and then thought that maybe Eloise was heavy enough to be put in the front facing position (fingers crossed because it was a real pain in the bum to put the seat back in backwards) so we weighed her and at 8kg is definitely big enough to face forward. She looked SO cute :p . We drove down to Adelaide for the day and she promptly fell asleep!

[Eleni's Mum]

HIya,

Just a thought, we have the mother's choice car seat also and bought a stabiliser to go with it - it stops the seat moving around so much. It came from the fitters and it definitely feels safer.

Jenni

[razzle]

Hi Jenni,

I haven't heard about stabilisers before - where do you get them? Although I must admit, the seat is a lot firmer now that it's in the forward facing position. I also think that the Mothers Choice seats are a lot lighter in weight than others (more expensive) I've looked at so maybe that has something to do with it. :confused:

Cheers

[Eleni's Mum]

Hubby tells me the stabiliser is like an extra buckle cost about $20 and it was offered as an extra when we went to the car seat fitter.

J.