Ever since I can remember, the thought of taking my youngest anywhere in the car has filled me with dread. The constant, and I do mean constant, screaming from the second the car engine starts until we reach our destination and I pick her up make for very unpleasant journeys. It is not the car or the driver neither of these too factors seem to make any difference or for that matter the seat for she would happily sit in it, unless she was in the car.
She has started to outgrow her existing car seat. Her head was coming over the top and it was a real squish to get her in so I started looking into a new seat. My eldest has a Kiddy Energy Pro, which I have to say is one of the best car seats I think I have ever owned. Its light weight so easy to transport between cars. When I say lightweight I can pick it up with one hand with no effort. Incredibly easy to install, you simply sit it on the seat. My daughter finds it comfy and she loves the impact shield for resting her head on when tired. Better still it wins Which awards. An amazing seat. I started looking into seats for my youngest.
I read some reviews, and watched some videos and after weighing up evidence decided I wanted a rear facing car seat, with the option of forward facing. The option of forward facing was more in case the screaming in the car from my daughter was because of the direction of travel. I put a question on Babyhuddle and was amazed at the response. I really would have loved another Kiddy Car seat but unfortunately they only have forward facing.
I settled therefore for the BeSafe Izi Combi similar to this one. It arrived really quickly and I set about today installing it. I spent the best part of the morning, pulling levels, turning ratchets, extending poles and clipping clips onto various points of the car. I finally managed to install it and then came the part of getting my daughter in. Well I pulled levels and belts and finally managed to get her straps on. I could only get one of the magnetic clips to work to hold the straps out the way. It is no where near as easy as the Kiddy, and no where near as light weight. I have told my husband it is never coming out of the car because I cannot do with the stress of figuring out how to install it again.
I started the engine expecting to hear screaming but all I got was some mm noises. That's never happened before. We only went to pick up some milk about a 20min drive and when I stopped the car still silence, the unthinkable had happened, sleep. Now she was trying her hardest to get comfy to fall asleep, her head kept flopping forward even on the most reclined position, but eventually she did and off she went. I was in shock.
For all the stress it took me to put the seat in the car and its large size and weight non of it matters because, not only is my daughter safe, she also appears to be happy. This is the first time in 8 months we have got in the car and no tears, no screaming. I love that she is high up so she can see out the window and she even loves that she can see her sister. The padding on the seat does feel lovely and soft so I think it is comfortable to sit in, shame it does not recline more, although it does recline more than most. I am hoping with time the shoulder straps become easier to adjust as they are really stiff and that the buckle becomes easier to clip on and off as it is really fiddly. It is by no means as easy to install or move from car to car as the Kiddy but she seems to like it.
This day I love the new car seat
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