Buying guide: How to choose a child, toddler or baby car seat
Find out everything you need to know about buying the right car seat for your child’s weight and height with Tinies & Co.
One of the absolute must-haves as a parent with a vehicle is a safe and legal child’s car seat. Whether you’re upgrading or exploring your options for the first time, it’s a purchase that will change your working weekdays as much as your happy holidays as a family.
It’s also a purchase that requires more than a couple of clicks and a credit card—you need to be sure you’re buying the right seat at the right time for your child, so research is key.
To make your life a little easier, Tinies & Co has got you covered with this comprehensive guide. From birth to early adolescence, here’s everything you need to know about buying a car seat for your child.
What is a baby car seat?
A baby car seat can be any one of a range of restraints designed to safely secure your baby when in a moving vehicle. Toddler and child car seats are also available for children up to the age of 12 and can be fixed to the seating via either a seatbelt or an in-built ISOFIX base, depending on when they were manufactured.
This means there’s a wide selection of baby car seats to choose from, so it’s important to understand the rules and regulations to ensure you’re (1) buying the right one for the safety of your child and (2) not breaking the law.
What are the rules and regulations for baby car seats?
You’ll find that all genuine, EU-approved car seats have either R44 or R129 safety standards on their labels (as well as a capital ‘E’). The reason there are two codes to choose from is due to a change in the law to introduce tighter safety standards for newly produced seats.
ECE R44 is the original safety standard in the UK that’s based on weight, while ECE R129 is the newer UN regulation that’s based on height, which was introduced in 2013. The latter includes the i-Size safety standard, which is a subset of the regulation that concerns the manufacturing of baby and child car seats for newer vehicles.
These standards are categorised into groups or phases to help you choose the car seat that’s right for your baby’s stage, but bear in mind there is a lot of crossover between them:
ECE R44
Group 0: 0-10kg
Group 0+: 0-13kg
Group 1: 9-18kg
Group 2: 15-25kg
Group 3: 22-36kg
ECE R129, including i-Size car seats
Phase 1: Birth-105cm
Phase 2: 100-135cm (when a child reaches 135cm or 12 years old (whichever comes first), they must use an adult seatbelt in a moving vehicle)
Some car seats are made for children up to 150cm tall, but compatibility depends on vehicle make and model
Recent legislative changes have been phasing R44 seats out in some countries. In fact, retailers based in the EU will no longer be able to sell R44 seats after September 1st 2024, but this doesn’t yet apply to UK-based retailers and they are still deemed safe and legal by the UK government.
It’s possible that ECE R44 will eventually be phased out entirely and all new baby and child car seats will need to be approved using ECE R129, but this needs to be a gradual process because not all cars in the UK have the necessary ISOFIX base connectors for i-Size car seats approved under the new code.
What is an ISOFIX base?
An ISOFIX base is an attachment built into your vehicle’s seating by the manufacturer that enables the secure connection of an EU-approved R129 car seat. It’s built for compatibility with the new, internationally recognised safety standard for baby and child seats.
At Tinies & Co, we’re here to help you find the right car seat for you and your family, so let’s start by walking through the various options available to you.
What are the different types of car seat?
Lie-flat car seats
A lie-flat car seat or a reclining car seat is made for newborns—the design is typically that of a rear-facing car seat that can be adjusted to a lie-flat position. It’s lightweight and can be clicked into place on an ISOFIX base and also used as a carrycot for parents on the move.
Rear-facing car seats
A rear-facing seat positions your child so that they’re looking toward the back of the vehicle, which is widely considered to be the safest orientation for infant car travel. It is ideal for babies and children up to the weight of 13kg or the height of 105cm, but some seats can accommodate from birth up to 36kg or 150cm, depending on their design. i-Size seats for children up to the age of 15 months are required by law to be rear-facing.
Rear- and forward-facing (combination) car seats
Some car seats are designed to be both rear- and forward-facing to allow flexibility for parents. They are sometimes referred to as combination car seats and can be adjusted for purpose as your child reaches the weight and height limits specified by law.
High-backed booster car seats
Booster seats are recommended for smaller children, usually around the age of four years when they have outgrown certain rear- and forward-facing seats. A high-backed booster seat offers extra safety with a higher back support and a headrest for your child.
Backless booster seats and cushions
Backless booster seats and booster cushions are designed for older children of around 4-12 years old. The current regulation, which was updated in 2017, states that backless booster seats are only suitable for children over 22kg in weight or 125cm in height. They were previously made for children as small as 15kg, but manufacturers must now comply with more stringent safety laws for the protection of young children.
This doesn’t mean that booster seats that were on the market before 2017 are now illegal—it is a regulation change that applies to the manufacturing of all new seats or cushions only.
What to look for when buying a child, toddler or baby car seat
When you’re in the market for a new car seat, you need to make sure you get one that’s been approved via either ECE R44 or ECE R129. Check the product descriptions and labels and pick one based on your child’s weight or height to make sure it’s fit for purpose.
Seats in group 0 (R44) and phase 1 (R129), for instance, will be suitable to use from birth right up to the weight of 10kg for the former or the height of 105cm for the latter. This can be anywhere between nine and 15 months old, but some i-Size rear-facing seats are suitable for use up to four years old.
You can use the table below as a rough guide to choosing the right car seat for your child:
| Type of seat | Weight | Height | Approximate age |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lie-flat | Group 0: 0-10kg | Phase 1: 40-105cm | Birth-9 months |
| Rear-facing | Group 0: 0-10kg Group 0+: 0-13kg |
Phase 1: 40-105cm | Birth-15 months |
| Combination | Group 0: 0-10kg Group 0+: 0-13kg Group 1: 9-18kg |
Phase 1: 40-105cm Phase 2: 100-135cm Specialist vehicles fit up to 150cm |
Birth-6 years, depending on weight and height |
| High-backed booster | Group 2: 15-25kg Group 3: 22-36kg |
Phase 2: 100-135cm Children over 135cm |
4-12 years, depending on weight and height |
| Backless booster or cushions | Group 3: 22-36kg | Children over 135cm | 4-12 years, depending on weight and height |
Some seats can fall into multiple categories, so it’s important to compare and contrast a range of options to find the one that suits your child at the right growth stage.
When to buy a child, toddler or baby car seat
Knowing when to buy and, of course, change a car seat can be difficult, but that’s why we’re here to help at Tinies & Co.
You’ll need your first car seat ready to drive your newborn baby home for the first time or perhaps to take them out for their first adventure if you don’t plan to give birth in hospital. This means it’s a good idea to start your research early so you can get the right R44 or R129 car seat during your pregnancy.
After that, you’ll need a new car seat at each milestone of development to make sure you’re not putting your child in danger and inadvertently breaking the law, too.
How do I know when my child needs a new car seat?
A child might well hit the weight limit of a car seat before they are too tall for it, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right time to upgrade. This is the reason for the law changes outlined above—it’s more dangerous for a child to be too long for a car seat than it is for them to be too heavy, so be sure to keep that tape measure to hand so you know when it’s time to get a new seat.
That said, it is a good idea to keep an eye on your child’s weight to compare different car seat options at each stage, as many will have upper weight limits as well as height limits. Use them as a guide to buying a new seat at the right time instead of going by your child’s age.
Where can I buy a baby car seat?
We hope you’ll find the best car seat for your child from our carefully curated selection of seats from our affiliate partners at Tinies & Co - here’s a helpful chart to get you started.
What to do when you’ve got a baby car seat
When you’ve selected a car seat for your child, be sure to check out the manufacturer’s instructions for securely fitting it inside your car. If you opt for an i-Size seat, you might need to check in the gaps between the seats of your car to find the connection points for the ISOFIX base—again, you can consult your instruction manual for more details as needed here.
As always, keep hold of your receipt for any warranty or guarantee that might come with your child’s car seat and, most importantly, happy travels when you do find the right one for you!
Car seat FAQs
When can babies face forward in a car seat?
It’s a legal requirement for any child using an R129 car seat to be rear-facing up to the age of 15 months. It’s been deemed the safest position through crash tests, so there are also many options for extendable car seats to use beyond this 15-month timeframe.
Can I use a baby car seat on a front passenger seat if there is an airbag?
No, it is illegal to use a rear-facing baby seat in a passenger seat that has an active airbag. It is strongly advised that you don’t use a front-facing seat in this situation either—travelling in the back seats is much safer for your child.
Will any car seat fit my car?
No, some car seats are only suitable for certain makes and models, especially if they require an ISOFIX base, so you need to check the product descriptions and manufacturer’s guidelines to ensure compatibility.
How do I put a car seat in a car?
How you fit a car seat depends on the regulation it was approved under—if it’s an R44 seat, you can secure it to your seat using the seatbelt; if it’s an R129 seat, you can secure it to the connectors fixed to the base of your backseat. Car seats will come with their own instruction manuals and you’ll also find advice on manufacturer websites as well as YouTube for secure fitting according to the car make and model.
What are the benefits of ISOFIX?
i-Size seats for ISOFIX bases are specifically designed to be strapped to the vehicle chassis itself, making for a more secure connection than you would get from a seatbelt for an R44 seat. That’s not to say that R44 seats are unsafe, but simply that R129 seats (i-Size) are a good alternative for parents who need to frequently travel by car with their young children.
How long can a baby be in a car seat?
When it comes to travelling with your new car seat, your baby should be sat in it for no longer than two hours, according to NHS advice. Be sure to take breaks every two hours if you need to make long journeys with your child.
