{
  "blog": "real-parents-real-stories",
  "articles": [
    
      {
        "title": "Bianca: My daughter hates her car seat and I hate the crying",
        "handle": "real-parents-real-stories\/bianca-car-seat-for-fussy-toddlers",
        "url": "https:\/\/pramfox.com\/en-ae\/blogs\/real-parents-real-stories\/bianca-car-seat-for-fussy-toddlers",
        "published_at": "2020-11-09",
        "body": "Some kids love being in their car seat that they refuse to get out of it, but others cry and throw a fit once buckled in. Bianca’s daughter happens to fall in the latter category. At her wits’ end, she contacted us to help make her daughter a happier traveller. In today’s article, Elise advises Bianca on the ways she can help her toddler, Georgina, get accustomed to her car seat. \n\nGeorgina's relationship with car seats has never been amicable. Now three-and-a-half-years-old, the little Houdini is onto her fourth car seat. She’d throw tantrums and attempt to bust out of it because she doesn’t want to be restrained in her car seat that makes her sweaty and stuffy. To help Georgina have a more positive approach towards car journeys, Bianca’s looking for another car seat that is perhaps more conducive to our tropical climate. \n\nIf you’re looking for ways to keep your little Houdini comfortable in their car seats, read further for Elise’s car seat recommendations and advice. \n Hey Bianca, Elise here! Thank you very much for sending me through that information. I’ve spent the day thinking about your conundrum and I’m going to give some unsolicited opinion and advice. It’s not something that I usually do. But I’m going to tell you two things, one of those is in my capacity as a car seat technician, and the other is in my capacity as a mother of three. All kids and moms are different, and so you’re welcome to disregard everything that I’m about to say. This is not something you had specifically asked me about and you might not want to hear them, so I want to apologise for that in advance. The general message here is: yes, I’m going to show you a car seat recommendation because that’s what you asked for, but I don’t think that will solve your problem. I’m sorry for that but I think that your little girl is going to keep crying in her car seat regardless of which car seat she’s got. I truly believe that your time would be better spent working out how you can make that a bit more liveable for you.\n \n \nWhy do some kids hate their car seats? \nBefore we get started with the car seat recommendations, let’s look at the (possible) reasons why kids dislike\/cry in their car seats. There can be a few reasons for that, with developmental leap being one of the biggest culprits. When children undergo a developmental leap, they feel an urge to use their newfound physical abilities. Being restrained in a car seat just doesn’t align with that. Another reason could be that the car seat is too close to their faces, which may trigger sensory discomfort. Car seats can also be painful in places and of course, kids may cry in their car seats because they need to vent, and that's the avenue that they’ve chosen to vent. Lastly, some kids may hate their car seats for reasons that we might never understand. \n\nHarnessed vs impact shield car\n\nHarnessed car seats like Britax Advansafix III SICT uses an integrated harness\nIn terms of specific car seat recommendations, I think it’s very important that Georgina stays in a harnessed car seat (ref: image above). If you were to transition her into a booster seat—where it has the shell of a car seat without the harness—and she’s restrained only by the vehicle’s seatbelt, it is likely that she can bust out of the seat. \nI recalled that you asked me specifically about my opinion on impact shield car seats and my answer is that they don’t perform well in rollovers because there is nothing to restrain the child down and in the seat. They do perform very well in standard crash testing and in frontal collision, and I’ll acknowledge that they help the body diffuse some of the crash forces. However, if you were to make some errors in installing an impact shield car seat—perhaps the shoulder straps were too low—then it can do significant damage to a child’s spine. Hence, I tend not to recommend them and I would personally go for the harnessed car seat.\nThe Britax Advansafix III SICT is one of the best forward-facing car seats on the market. It installs with ISOfix and a tether, which is awesome and super safe. It’s got additional side impact protection—again, super duper safe—but the rationale behind my choice is that it has less in the way of faff (bulky padding etc) around her face. This may help if she didn’t like her car seat because of the sensory discomfort triggered by the faff around her head and face. (Side note: This has been replaced by the Britax Advansafix iSize which is cooler). \nChildren and their emotions\nNow, I put my professional credibility aside and I’m just Elise, a mother of three boys, talking to you. Like I alluded to before, all kids are different and all parents are different. Children can be quite good at self-regulating their emotions. In my experience, they’re like a kettle: when the steam builds up, they find an excuse to let that steam off. They can throw a tantrum because they got the orange ball instead of a blue one, or—my personal favourite—because I stop weeing on the toilet. He wanted me to keep weeing! They’re just going to find anything to get upset about because they need to have a good cry, to let those emotions self-regulate. \nI’ve had a really hard time with their emotions at the beginning of my parenting journey. Our pediatrician recommended Janet Lansbury’s respectful parenting approach, which helped me immensely. Peter, my firstborn, is now five and the words I’d use to describe him are: sensitive, intense, clingy. He has significantly bigger meltdowns and emotional release than his brothers combined. Sometimes, it can be difficult for him to trigger those emotions and meltdowns. It could perhaps be the same for Georgina; she may also require more opportunities for emotional regulations than other kids, and she could be using her car seat as a trigger for that. The same goes for my kids! Some days they’re fine in their car seats and some days they scream for the entire journey and it’s— well, I don’t need to describe to you what it’s like. Anyway, suffice to say it, I know what it’s like and I’m sorry that you go through that each time you hop in your car.\nFinding an alternative narrative for the meltdown has really helped me; I’ll try and see all these emotions from my kids in a positive light. I’ll tell them that what they’re doing is healthy, it’s going to make their nervous system more relaxed and when this is over, they won’t be in such a state of anxious flux. Sometimes, after spending a day at school and holding it together in front of his teachers and friends, my son lets go when he gets home around the people he feels safest with. He dissolves. All his seams come apart, and all of that studding that he’s been holding onto so tightly throughout the days just pours out. I know that he needs that, so I try to think to myself, “wow, you feel safer with me than anybody else and it’s a gift that you’re willing to share these dark, ugly, twisty emotions around me when perhaps you don’t feel comfortable and safe to share them with others”. I’ll try and acknowledge and accept their feelings, without feeling the need to fix them or make them go away because the feelings are what they are, and they will come and go. You’re doing an incredible job at keeping her in a car seat, especially in such trying circumstances. Your job is to put her in a car seat, but perhaps it’s not your job to fix the crying that happens when she’s in her car seat. \nWe definitely have our bad days as well, and when that happens I’ll think about the message that I want to send across to my boys. I want them to know that I’m not going to judge them and instead I’m going to accept their emotions. So when they’re older and something bad is happening—maybe they’re bullied or depressed about something or they’ve relationship issues—I want them to feel like they can come and talk to me. I want them to feel that they can share their dark, twisty, ugly, uncomfortable emotions with me and I won’t try to make them stop. I won’t say, “I don’t want to hear that. I get really uncomfortable when you show me these emotions so I’d like you to stop and I’m not going to be here to listen to them.” This is something that works for me, I try to build a new narrative where this is my training ground for the future—teenagerhood. If I’ve helped in anyway, hurray, but I’m sorry for taking up your time if I’ve just given you a bunch of unwelcome and unsolicited advice. I hope you've a good night. Bye! xx\n\nBianca went along with Elise’s suggestion and bought the Britax Advansafix for Georgina. She's been loving her car seat since then and no longer cries in it anymore. Car rides to school with her sister are no longer dreadful and challenging! And also, Bianca sent a heartfelt message to Elise:\n \n“Elise, I just wanted to say that you’ve reached out in such a way that I’ve been incredibly overwhelmed and touched. I’m very grateful that you’ve spent most parts of your day thinking about my conundrum, and how you moved beyond just the requirement for a car seat recommendation to the nuts and bolts of my situation. You really put your neck on the line. I think it’s so endearing in the way that you’ve put everything across to me and how you have so gently and so gracefully considered me, and made the recommendations for Janet Lansbury. Your message really resonates with me: I love, cherish and want to always instill in my children the sense of belonging and significance. Sometimes as a mummy, we become unstuck and I think that it’s only then that you have the opportunity to have your greatest awakening. You’ve really helped me more than you’d probably ever know and I'm very grateful.”\n \n \nCheck out our car seat buying guide and stroller buying guide or simply let us select the ones we think you’ll love! We’re all about the personal touch, so why not book an appointment and we can walk you through the various car seat options and chat about exactly what can work for you. \nFor more information, you may contact us at hola@pramfox.com or @buckleupforfoxsake on Facebook or Instagram."
      },
    
      {
        "title": "Sue: Car seat and compatible stroller with adjustable handlebar and parent-facing solution for a newborn",
        "handle": "real-parents-real-stories\/sue",
        "url": "https:\/\/pramfox.com\/en-ae\/blogs\/real-parents-real-stories\/sue",
        "published_at": "2020-08-20",
        "body": "Today, we address another soon-to-be mama’s car seat and stroller conundrums. Getting ready for a newborn can be stressful, but don’t worry, we’re here to navigate choppy waters with you! Read as Elise recommends strollers and car seats for Sue and her bub, Furry. If you know any mummies who are preparing for their new arrival, please share this article with them! \n \n\nSue's preparing for the arrival of her baby and she’s overwhelmed by the significant amount of choices available in the market and thus turned to us for advice. She’s looking for a stroller that has an adjustable handlebar—baby’s dad is tall—and a parent-facing solution, and a compatible car seat. Ideally, the car seat should fit in her 5-seater Subaru, baby’s grandparents’ car and should be easy to use in GrabCar and taxis.\n\n \nHey Sue! After considering your requirements—an infant car seat that compatible with a stroller, and installs with an ISOfix base\/seatbelt for your car and Furry’s grandparents’ car\/taxi use—I’ve come up with a matrix (below) for you that fits your budget of approx. $1500. I’m an engineer so things can get really nerdy really quickly, so bear with me! I’m going to talk about prams on the left column (green) of the matrix and your car seats options are on the top row (navy). I’ve also thrown two extra options at the bottom, which I’ll talk about as well.\n\n \nOkay, let’s start by talking about prams because that’s where you have the most difference in features. I reckon you can perhaps look at a compact stroller since you’d like something convenient to use, easy to fold, light to lift, with adjustable handlebars, and given that you don’t want to run with it\/take it off-road. Compact strollers perform better in Singapore—they generally get around a lot better, particularly on the train and bus. I’ve done the legwork and narrowed it down to the 1) Bugaboo Ant and 2) Cybex Eezy S Twist. Normally I’d recommend the Mountain Buggy Nano but I’ll not recommend that in this case because A) you want an adjustable handlebar (almost none of the travel strollers have that) and also B) you’d like a parent-facing seat. You can put a Mountain Buggy Cocoon on the Mountain Buggy Nano to allow bub to face you, but I think that the two prams that I’ve shortlisted better meet your needs than the Nano.\n \nPram #1: Bugaboo Ant\n \n\nImage credits: Bugaboo\n\n\n\nThe Bugaboo Ant is not just a cool-looking compact stroller, it packs quite a hefty punch and you’ll figure that it actually ticks all of the boxes on your requirement checklist. Suitable for use from birth up to twenty-five kilograms (which is really a lot for a travel pram), the Ant stroller is a good value pram considering that it’s long-lasting and that it’s decently priced at $799. It’s the only genuinely compact stroller that has an adjustable handlebar and it’s incredibly adjustable—you can adjust the angle of the handlebar and also fully change the height of it as well! Plus, the Ant offers a parent-facing solution—just as you wish—and it’s achieved easily by turning the seat around (watch the Bugaboo Ant demo video). Another plus point is that it features a lie-flat mode for babies and so you won’t have to use extra accessories like a bassinet or a carrycot with the Bugaboo Ant stroller. Although this might have its pros and cons, but it’s mostly good in Singapore because the Ant is not a fussy pram that’s going to have the baby being really warm and sweaty. This pram accommodates only infant car seats (with the use of car seat adapters that cost about seventy-five dollars) and again this is one of the reasons why I’d recommend this pram over the Nano. The Nano really shines as it accommodates both infant and toddler travel car seats, but you’ve got a car and you won’t necessarily need that flexibility. But if you do require that flexibility because you’re going to take a taxi etc, you can perhaps consider the Urban Kanga or Maxi-Cosi Nomad because it doesn’t require a stroller to be compatible with it, it comes in a carry bag and you can hang it over the handlebars of the stroller. \n \nPram #2: Cybex Eezy S\n\nImage credits: Cybex Facebook\n\n\n\nThe Cybex Eezy S Twist costs $350 on Amazon and that’s really the only way it made it onto this list—it’s because its half the price and that’s a compelling argument. This stroller doesn’t have an adjustable handlebar but hear me out first: I know your husband is fifteen centimeters taller than you’re, but depending on the angle of the handlebar and how much foot space there is for you to bring your feet forward, he may not need an adjustable handlebar. The only determine that is to head to Mothercare and test it out. But, for half the price I think it’s worth testing out, plus all of the other compact strollers—to my knowledge—don’t have adjustable handlebars. For $350, this stroller definitely has got a lot to offer: it has a parent-facing seat that can spin very easily to be a world-facing seat, it’s got independent suspension, which is a new thing that’s coming into compact prams and that’s pretty cool. The Eeezy S Twist is also ready to ride from birth with its lie-flat feature, which I think is pretty good to be honest given that it’s kind of like a hamax seat (watch the Cybex Eezy S Twist demo video). There are other accessories like a cocoon footmuff for newborns, but I reckon it’ll be too warm for Singapore’s weather and I don’t think it’s good enough to warrant the extra money. You can easily convert this stroller to a travel system with the use of adapters, and they cost about sixty-five dollars. Other than the fact that it lacks an adjustable handlebar, the Cybex Eezy S Twist stroller does meet most of your requirements and it’s a strong competitor to the Bugaboo Ant. Maybe the fact that it’s half the price may make up for the absence of an adjustable handlebar, but you’d have to decide that.\nThe above two prams are really high-end prams and as you can see from the matrix, if you go for the most expensive pram and the most expensive car seat option, you’re pushing your budget a little bit but you don’t have to. I’m going to throw in a third pram in the mix just to disrupt things a little bit, not because I think it competes with the other two prams.\n \nBonus: Silver Cross Jet and Doona\n\nImage credits: Doona\n\n\n\n\nThe Silver Cross Jet is usually about $669 but for some reason, the orange Silver Cross Jet plus the adapters bundle is on sale for $199 in the Mothercare sale. The handlebars are also not adjustable and it doesn’t have a parent-facing feature but for $199 you may be compelled to forgo those features and so I just wanted to throw this stroller in here. Next, the Doona, which you’re completely familiar with, and I’ve put our pricing (at the moment) on the matrix. \n \nNext, we’ll look at your car seat options: 1) Mountain Buggy Protect and 2) BeSafe iZi Go Modular X1 i-Size Infant Car Seat. Both of the car seats that I recommend are European and they both have separate bases, which have load legs and rebound bars (excellent safety feature!). They can be easily installed in a similar manner in taxis or your parents’ car without needing the base.\n \nCar seat #1: Mountain Buggy Protect\nThe Mountain Buggy Protect is an incredibly lightweight (just 3.2kg!) and narrow infant car seat, and I personally used it for my third baby. As you can see from the matrix, the car seat itself is $183 and the base costs $153. It’s a mid-range car seat, it’s got a nice fabric, it’s easy to use and most importantly, it has everything that you’d expect from a safety perspective. It also converts to a travel system easily—it uses the Maxi-Cosi\/Cybex adapters so it’s compatible with the pram that I listed—and it’s a convenient travel solution for when you’re taking a taxi. The Protect is really a good value car seat and all of its features combine to make it very unique and that’s why we recommend it quite a lot. Besides, the protect capsule also offers multiple intuitive and convenient installation options—it can be installed using the vehicle’s seatbelt, the Mountain Buggy ISOfix Base or the Mountain Buggy Universal Base (both ISOfix and seatbelt installation).\n \nCar seat #2: BeSafe iZi Go Modular X1 i-Size Infant\n\n\n\n\nIf you prefer something with a few more safety features but also a lot more luxury and convenient features then the BeSafe infant car seat might be the ticket. It’s the same price point as the Maxi-Cosi car seats but the BeSafe car seats offer a lot more, in my opinion. BeSafe is a Scandinavian brand from Norway and they’re known for having some of the safest seats in the world. The BeSafe iZi Go infant car seat is sort of like a plusher car seat, it’s got Side Impact Protection, which is a feature that you’ll see on the high-end car seats now. It’s slightly heavier than the Mountain Buggy Protect car seat, at 4.2kg, but it’s still lighter than the mainstream car seats. It also uses the Maxi-Cosi\/Cybex adapters, so they’re all compatible with the prams I’ve mentioned earlier. It comes in a variety of colorus, and it’s just a fancier, flashier option. I should also note that the BeSafe base (sold separately) is ISOfix only, which is fine for you because you’ve got ISOfix anchorages in your car.\n \nIf we’re going to look at pricing, then yes, the Bugaboo Ant and BeSafe car seat bundle amount up to $1700, which does blow your budget. But if you’re looking at the Ant with the Mountain Buggy car seat or the Cybex with the BeSafe car seat, then we’re significantly below your budget. Lastly, if you go with the Cybex pram and the Mountain Buggy car seat, it’s half your budget. For the Doona, it costs about $940 and do keep in mind that you’ll still be getting a pram after or at the same time Furry has outgrown the infant stroller. Plus if you’re just going for a walk in a park and you don’t want bub to be sitting in a car seat, then the Doona stroller car seat is not what you’d want to be pushing around the park. Have a look at the options, discuss with your husband and let me know what you like\/dislike and I can either help you narrow down the options further to I can show you some other ones that might work for you. Alright, see ya!\n \nCover image credits: Bugaboo \nNot sure which baby gear suits your lifestyle? Check out our car seat buying guide and stroller buying guide or simply book an appointment with us today! For more information, you may contact us at hola@pramfox.com."
      },
    
      {
        "title": "Giselle: Car seat \u0026 stroller for newborn in an older car without ISOfix",
        "handle": "real-parents-real-stories\/giselle-car-seat-stroller-for-newborn-in-an-older-car-without-isofix",
        "url": "https:\/\/pramfox.com\/en-ae\/blogs\/real-parents-real-stories\/giselle-car-seat-stroller-for-newborn-in-an-older-car-without-isofix",
        "published_at": "2020-08-20",
        "body": "Preparing for bub’s arrival can be quite stressful—you’ve got to prepare everything from clothes to strollers and car seats that fit your lifestyle. Giselle, like almost every new parent, has begun her research on baby gear in Singapore but is met with a bottleneck; she’s got a hard time figuring out which seat is compatible with the cars she and her husband own. Read to find out what Elise recommends!\n\nGiselle has just started her research journey and is still unaware of the category of the car seat she wants for her baby. She’s looking for a car seat that will keep bub safe from birth and beyond. The car seat should also fit in Giselle’s Subaru Impreza car (has top tether anchor) and her husband’s BMW 335i Coupe (has both top tether anchor and ISOfix). \n\n\nHi Giselle! A lot of times when we do consultations like this, parents already know the category of car seat that they want but, I noticed that you haven’t decided on your preferred category of car seat yet since you’re quite early in the research journey. That’s totally normal! I don’t think that this consult will necessarily help you pinpoint the exact solution that you want—I might, but I suspect otherwise—but I reckon this will help you narrow your research down. Once you’ve more clarity around the kind of car seat that you want, I’m happy to have another chat with you where I can go into more details into some of the models I’ll be recommending and identify which one’s the ticket for you. For now, I’m just going to give a few models to look at for now but I’m not necessarily going to go into details about the pros and cons of the different models in each category. I’m just planting some seeds and you can see which ones grow, then we can talk more about it. \nSo you’d like a budget-friendly car seat that can fit into both cars and something that will help with your husband’s fear of dropping the baby (totally normal fear). I’m sorry to say that there’s no one standout solution but I’ve got three options for you: 1) one infant car seat + two bases, 2) two different car seats and 3) a convertible car seat. \n \nOption #1: Mountain Buggy Protect + two bases for each car\nYour first option is to use an infant car seat. I know that you’d like something that’s a little longer lasting but the rationale behind my recommendation is that it’s pretty much the only one on the market now that can be used with both ISOfix and the vehicle’s seatbelt. This brings us to one of the biggest problems you’re going to be facing because your Subaru Impreza doesn’t have ISOfix anchorages: most of the European car seat manufacturers only make ISOfix car seats and not car seats for seat belts anymore. There’s nothing wrong with seatbelt car seats but they’re actually not in production anymore and it can make it really difficult for you to get one through safe and authorized channels. The car seat I’m going to recommend is the Mountain Buggy Protect infant car seat (image above). Mountain Buggy is a Kiwi brand and they’re still manufacturing car seats for seat belts (excellent news for us!). The Protect capsule is compatible with the City Select pram that you’ve got—with a Baby Jogger adapter (~$37, great value) you can click the capsule on your pram and there you have it, a travel system. It will keep bub rear-facing until 13kg, which is somewhere in your child’s second year of life and then you’re going to be moving off to the next car seat.\nThe Protect is on par with the Maxi-Cosi Cabriofix, which costs $300+, and the Mountain Buggy Protect only costs $183. It’s incredible value! I suggest that you get a car seat, buy the Mountain Buggy universal base ($153) for your car and the Mountain Buggy ISOfix base (also $153) for your husband’s car. The universal base installs with a seatbelt and the car seat goes on top of it, while the ISOfix base attaches to the ISOfix anchorages in the vehicle. Both bases feature a load leg, which is a fantastic safety feature. You’ll notice that there’s no rebound bar for the ISOfix base because it uses rigid ISOfix, so there’s some anti-rebound property. Whereas the universal base has a rebound bar, which is also an awesome safety feature. If we’re looking at the likes of Maxi-Cosi, Cybex, Britax, BeSafe, they’re all awesome car seats and I’d really love to recommend them but none of them have a seatbelt base anymore and so, I reckon that the Protect and the two bases can be a great option for you.  \n \nOption #2: Two different car seats\nAlright, option #2 is kind of like a no holds barred kind of scenario—I’ll recommend two different car seats, a rotating car seat for your husband’s car and an extended rear-facing car seat for yours. Now, both of these options are good options even after you do option #1 if you want to. It’s a shame that your baby will be in your car more often that your husband’s, because the rotating car seats you can get for your husband’s Coupe are awesome! I’m recommending swivel car seats for him because he can spin it to face whichever angle he needs to put the baby in—that’s probably not going to be from the side for the Coupe but diagonally from the front and he can put the baby in and rotate the seat back. There are three models that I’m going to suggest for your husband’s car and they’re: 1) Mountain Buggy Safe Rotate, 2) Joie i-Spin and the 3) Maxi-Cosi Mica. \nPersonally, I like the Mountain Buggy Safe Rotate because it’s got a really nice balance of value and features. It locks in by itself (which is a really great feature) unlike other the Joie i-Spin, which you’ll need to manually lock it. The Safe Rotate has got a pretty high price tag ($686) because you’re paying a lot for the feature and other luxury features. The Joie i-Spin costs about the same as well. It’s pretty self-explanatory—you can put your baby in any angle you like and it’s got additional Side Impact Protection for optimal peace of mind. If bells and whistles are your thing, the Maxi-Cosi Mica's the one for you. All of these seats will keep your child rear-facing until 18kg.\nNow that we’ve looked at the options for the Coupe, let’s look at the car seats for your Subaru Impreza. In terms of long-lasting, more luxurious car seats, I’ll recommend either the 1) Axkid Minikid or the 2) Diono Radian. In my opinion, I like the Minikid for your car. It’s a Swedish car seat which goes rear-facing longer than any other category of car seat; it stays rear-facing until 25kg, which is approximately 8 to 10 years old. To be honest, putting newborns in car seat can be awkward. Period. However, using the Minikid can be slightly more awkward during the first 3 or 4 months compared to an infant car seat. Don’t worry, the Minikid is rated from birth—I was just talking from a functional perspective and not from a safety perspective. The Minikid comes with an infant insert to provide some core stability around the baby’s torso and it features an auto adjust harness and headrest system where the headrest and shoulder straps go up to the top when you undo the harness! Then, as you tighten the tail strap, the whole headrest and harness comes back down and stops at exactly the right height. With this feature, buckling and unbuckling your baby into the car seat will be an easy feat. As far as safety goes, the Minikid is in the very top category worldwide—the Swiss has the safest car seat in the whole world because they stay rear-facing for very long. In fact, it stays rear-facing forever and doesn’t have forward-facing functionality, and thus warrants the best marks from a safety perspective.\nYou can also consider the Diono Radian, which is an American-certified car seat. They’ve got a 2020 model (twice the price) but I’m not as big a fan of it to be honest. The only reason why I don’t love it is that there’s just too much going on; it’s too fussy for me, aesthetically. But I supposed I shouldn’t let my aesthetics influence which car seat you choose. So that aside, this is a good long-lasting car seat that keeps your child rear-facing until 50 pounds (~22.7kg). Personally, I’d not rear-face an American car seat pass 18kg, but it does convert into a forward-facing car seat and a high-back booster after that. It’s got a similar lifespan to the Minikid, just that you’d turn it forward-facing.\n \nOption #3: Budget-friendly convertible car seat\nYour third option is a budget-friendly option, which is somewhat easy to install in both your husband’s car and yours. He could always buckle the baby into the car seat and then put the entire baby and car seat bundle into the car. In this category of car seat, you can either go for the 1) Cosco Scenera NEXT or the 2) Joie\n\n \nAlright, here’s what the Cosco Scenera NEXT looks like. It’s great for fitting three car seats across the back seat of the vehicle so you won’t have to worry about your growing family in the future. All three of my kids have used the Cosco, albeit at varying stages. My second son, Jack, was in the Cosco from birth (ref image below). You’d notice that the Cosco doesn’t have its own infant insert and so if you do require additional stability, you can roll up a muslin blanket like a sausage and pop it alongside your baby. Do note that you’d only do that after baby’s all buckled in. Also, please do not position the blanket around your baby’s head; it can go beside but not under the head as this may push the baby’s chin down and block their airway.\nThe other option I’d recommend is the Joie Tilt. It’s pretty much a European version of the Cosco—totally different and competing manufacturers—but quite similar in terms of what the seats offer and they keep your baby rear-facing until 18kg. They’re both comparable car seats, for me at least. Otherwise, the Tilt has got an infant insert and installs in a different way from the Cosco.\n \nThere you go, here’s my brain dump for you and let me know which category or which of those three options you’re leaning towards and we’ll talk more about them in more detail. See ya!\n \nWhatever you’re looking for, we know comparing products on multiple web pages can really do your head in, so we’ve made it easy for you. Read through our car seat buying guide and stroller buying guide or book an appointment with us.\nFor more information, you may contact us at hola@pramfox.com or @buckleupforfoxsake on Facebook or Instagram."
      }
    
  ]
}