I need a child car seat

Go to Mothercare they will advise on correct seat for your car and will fit it for you.

We bought a seat from Halfords, they fitted it into the car before purchase to make sure it was suitable for our car. We bought an isofix seat with a bar that sits on the floor. A lot more expensive than ones that fix with seat belt but isofix are so secure.

frida there has been a lot of discussion in the national newspapers of late about badly fitted car seats so it is worth doing some research before having one fitted. Even those fitted by reputable retailers are often incorrectly fitted.

I would contact your local road safety team who can advise you about the appropriate seat for your car. They also run clinics in conjunction with local stores and will be able to let you know if there are any coming up in your area.

The sunday Observer had an intersting article as did last weeks Saturday Telegraph. Both can be sourced on the internet - sorry not able to insert the link.

Hope this is of some help. Bet you can't wait for November to arrive.

Best one we had fitted was by Mothercare,Halford's was a bit hit and miss the guy could not get the tension right and it kept slipping so we returned it.

Another thought frida Car seats come in different sizes depending on the childs age and size. Are you going to need one straight away or can you wait until baby is old enough for second size. My daughter was at home for the first year so we did not invest in a car seat immediately, we waited until she moved on to the next size. There were times when it would have been useful to have one but we found our way around it by daughter dropping her off at our house or us visiting them. Saved a lot of money for something which would only have been used a couple of times. Depends on your circumstances of course.

Thank-you for all the advice, the 'other ' gran is buying them a pushchair/buggy type pram with a seat that comes out and can be used as a car seat for a newborn and this is what the baby will be coming home from hospital in, in the car of which ever relative/taxi is available (DD and SIL don't have a car).I think I'll do a bit more research first, will definatley need a 'second size' seat, unsure about newborn seat or if the one from the pram will be ok. Decisions, decisions.....(but nice ones) Newspaper articles very interesting .

We have had three car seats to date. When my GS was born, my daughter had a baby carrier which fitted onto a pram chassis and also onto a base in the car. We also bought a base for our car as we were caring for him two days a week and needed to transport him. It had Isofix mountings. We got his second seat from Mothercare and they fitted it. His current car seat is a Brittax which, hopefully, should fit him until he is nine. All the seats have had Isofix mountings. They clip directly onto lugs inside the back seats. They are more expensive than the belt fitted seats but they are less of a faff to take in and out of the car and are very secure. We bought his current (third) car seat on an internet site, the name of which escapes me. They were a lot less expensive than Halfords and delivery was fast and free. We have looked after our GS two days a week since he was born and the various seats have been very necessary, but they are a huge expense if you don't need to use them very often.

We have two atm - one 0-4 and one 4-9. If we have all 3 DGC then one has to bring their own seat with them. We had to buy a bigger, wider car to accomodate 3 seats in the back. In fact got a 7 seater so that we can take both DDs as well.

Have bought all three seats, (used to have 2 x 0-4) at Halfords when their sale is on and apart from the fact they are so fiddly to put in, and down right painful when you have a bad back, we are very happy with them. Our smallest seat is now being used by youngest DGD and is still in perfect condition after three occupants.

What you need is the first size. We got ours on e-bay. You have to find the 'best/safest' in Which or similar and bid for one of them, but like all branded articles they often have a good price second hand.

The best thing to get is a Maxicosi pearl. It is not cheap but lasts from birth to age four so works out ok in the long run. It is also preferable as the baby stays rear facing for longer (up to 18 months) which is far safer, and is what they do in Europe. It is easy to use and fix, and grows with the baby. I was lucky enough to win one from a gransnet competition for my DD and she has done masses of research into car seats. She was delighted.
If you don't want to do this the other safest option is definitely an isofix seat, that is one that is fixed to the body of the car and not just held by seat belts. Far easier to move in and out of the car. They too are excellent but you have to change them as the baby grows. Please, please do not buy any thing second hand as you do not know if they have been damaged. Also it is far safer to keep the child in a seat that is a little too small than put them prematurely into a seat that they haven't grown in to, which is what so many parents do because of peer pressure.
So sorry to go on about it but it is something my daughter feels very strongly about and it has rubbed off on me. Four grand children later I must admit I do know a bit about it!! Not sure how our DDs survived though.....

Frida
Good idea to share first seat. We did this and it worked fine GS could be carried easily, warm and snug still in his seat from car to house but a couple of suggestions:
Make sure the seat will fit your car before baby is born then practice and practice yet again, wet windy weather and crying baby not the best time for first trial.
If you are using front passenger seat for baby seat check if you need to disable air bag in front passenger seat before travelling with baby.

Hope all goes well and have fun being a Grandma.