Welcome back everyone, it’s been ages since I’ve written a product post but with a new baby girl coming we’ve had to start making some plans for her arrival.
The first big decision we’ve made is to change Amelia’s car seat; she had previously been using the Maxicosi 2Way Pearl and we had her previous Maxicosi Pebble Plus in storage ready to give to her sister next year. We realised though that we would need to buy a new ISOFIX base and would eventually have to give the baby the 2Way Pearl once she outgrew the small car seat.
You can see where this is going right, not only do we need another ISOFIX base in February but we would later have to buy Amelia another seat when hers had to be passed on. To save cost and energy, we decided to get Amelia her own new seat now that she can keep and put everything else into storage for baby.
Choosing a new chair was actually really simple; we’re not used to this as it’s often a case of too much choice with no one product doing everything you want and you end up tying yourself in knots over which you should choose for the best.
I knew I still wanted an ISOFIX base and we wanted a seat that could be used for as long as possible as Amelia grows, that narrowed it down immensely. After asking my mummy friends for recommendations we headed in the direction of the Joie Every Stage FX, the FX I gather simply means that there is an ISOFIX base attached to the seat as opposed to the normal Every Stage seat that used a seat belt to secure it.
This seat can be used from newborn right through to 12 years old, you just remove sections and adjust the chair accordingly to fit your child as they grow. We opted for the Signature version in the end because the quality of the material was better and we wanted it to stand a chance of lasting as long as the brand claim it can.
Straight out of the box it’s ready to use for a newborn, there’s literally nothing to do other than adjust the straps to fit your baby and figure out how to install it.
Obviously, Amelia is almost 2 now we don’t want it set up for a newborn, removing the insert was easy as it’s all just attached by poppers and away we went.
This is what it looks like currently set up for a toddler.
The headrest is adjustable and moves up and down to suit the height of your child, it can tilt and recline too although Amelia likes to sit upright so we’ve left it in the default position for her. Adjusting the straps is still a little tricky (for me, hubby had no
problem) there is a button inside the fabric at the front where the strap hang out. You’re meant to press this button and then pull both straps down to lengthen them.
I get there eventually with it but I do find it a struggle, I’m hoping it’s just something I will get the hang of and more or less won’t need to adjust too often once we find the perfect position.
Installing it into the car was easy, although the instructions made it a little more daunting than it really was. The ISOFIX connectors pop out at the back to connect with the brackets in your car seat, choose the recline position you’re happy with and then push the whole thing back up against the seat back to secure it.
One feature I’ve not seen before is the top harness that this seat comes with, it’s a strap that comes out of the back of the car, it loops over the headrest and secures to a metal loop in the boot. Assuming your car as this, I didn’t even realise that ours did and definitely had no idea what it was for. The strap ensures that the seat is secure from the top as well as fixed in place at the bottom which I think will be really beneficial when you start to extend it and it gets taller.
We installed it whilst Amelia was taking a nap and when she woke up we told her she had a new car seat, she immediately went to the front door asking to see it. We popped her in and her little face lit up, she was touching the fabric and squealing “I like it” over and over again.
Her unimpressed expression in this photo is because I was sat in the front seat taking photos of her and not sat in the back where she wanted me to sit next to her. She was very excited until I got my camera out which is always the way isn’t it.
We took it out for a spin over the weekend to do the food shopping and to visit my parents, she’s loved every second of it and even had her first car nap in it on Sunday afternoon, her head is really well supported and she didn’t flop her head forward in her sleep like she has done in the past.
I’m really pleased with it, the materials are lovely, it’s easy to use, Amelia is comfortable and safe and that’s all that matters at the end of the day when we’re in the car.
It’s also worth noting that this blue colour is a Mothercare exclusive but they had a sale on when we bought it and that’s the only reason we chose this colour. Normally I would prefer black or grey but I wasn’t paying £70 more for it and I actually quite like this blue now I’ve seen it in real life.
Rachel xx
No Comments