Our experience with ERF car seat
I started writing a new post (about useful items for babies, coming up next!) and the text about car seats started becoming way too long. So I had no other choice as to publish our experience and my opinion about car seats first, because people tend to have many different questions and opinions about it.
If you have a car and a baby, you need a car seat. There are no other options these days. (Ok, quite shocking, but I heard that some people are still taking babies back from hospital in their arms. Really, there are people in the modern day Latvia, who think that car seats are just a commercial trick. Ok, well, I guess this doesn't need an explanation. We always use a seat belt and we always use a car seat. We have driven by horrible road accidents, seeing baby car seats at the roadside.. Later reading in the news, that they child was not harmed. Because of the car seat.)
We travel by car quite much. Actually, not on a daily basis. But we take longer drives regularly - to visit mine and Husband's parents. So safety in car is important to us.
Once you have to actually choose a car seat, it's quite difficult. But luckily we found a seemingly perfect option very early on.
I read on muki.lv blog about Extended Rear Facing (ERF) car seats. Everything they said made sense to me, and quite early on I knew that our children will travel rear facing as long as possible. In short - because it is 5 times safer than forward facing. To convince Mr. Husband, all it took was to show him the crash test video:
So, it's quite simple. Travelling rear faced is a lot safer, especially for children. So why not do it, why not to protect your children, where you can? But when it comes to ERF seats, people seem to have all kinds of concerns, most popular are, that:
1) Children will not like it
and
2) It's not comfortable for them/where to put the legs?
and
3) It makes the car muddy
The first reason - people judge after themselves. Some adults don't like to ride backwards on a bus, for example. But this is only a question of habit. Babies all ride backwards and they are fine. (Most of infant first car seats are rear facing.) Why couldn't they just continue riding that way a couple of years longer? They can look out the back window instead of the side windows (actually better!), I have read that children like it. So this is a weird reason, some parents swear by it.. Well, ok, I don't know yet, but from ERF car seat enthusiasts I have read that this is only a question of (parents) attitude.
The second reason - people again judge after themselves. Yes, maybe adults wouldn't be comfortable sitting in a lotus position (some are). But children are different than adults! Children are comfortable in the weirdest positions for hours. It's again a question of habit. And again - ERF enthusiasts say that their children are more comfortable this way, as they can choose how to place their feet themselves, instead of the legs just hanging down.
And the third reason is silly. Children make everything dirty and muddy anyway. You can take muddy boots off before entering the car. And there are special covers for the car seats to protect them.
I actually didn't want to answer anymore, when people asked us, what car seat did we get.. Because every time I answered, I had to explain it a bit, and they seemed to get defencive. Hearing about riding backwards and right away assuming it's not convenient and not comfortable, and I guess in some way feeling that I'm judging them by saying that this way is safer.
I don't judge other people's choices, but we have chosen what we think is best. I don't have much of personal experience with ERF car seats yet, but I will make sure to keep updating. And doesn't matter, when will we switch to forward facing - when Adelaide is 4 years old or 2 years, or 1,5 years - the longer she rides like this, the better.
We have a Klippan KISS car seat. It seemed like the perfect choice, because it's usable since birth until 18 kg (even 4 years), which is rare. Klippan is a Finnish company, that specialises in ERF seats, so the quality should be very good.
Some were saying that what's good for all is good for nothing, and I agree that usually it's true. But I asked and found out, that not in this case. Klippan KISS is actually really good and ergonomic both for a newborn baby and for a big toddler. It has 5-point seat belt, it provides 3 different positions, the most horizontal one ideal for a newborn (better than in newborn car seats that I have seen), the padding is removable and so on.
So far we are really happy with it! I heard of other people finding their car seats not suitable for a tiny couple of days old baby, but Klippan KISS was totally fine! Here we are, coming home from hospital, Adelaide's first time in a car seat:
While other people are starting to look for the next car seat as their baby grows out of the first one, we will be fine for couple of years still, hopefully.
For a fair review, the minuses of Klippan KISS: it's not so comfortable to carry around, as it has a different handle than others, but it is still possible. And you are not supposed to carry it around much anyway, as baby should spend possibly little time in a car seat. (Maximum of 30 minutes is suggested in the first months, and to make stops during longer trips.) So putting a car seat on wheels and going shopping is a total no no. Baby should be in a stroller, on a flat surface then. (I have observed people not taking a child out from a car seat for really long periods of time, even when possible. That is really wrong and bad for health and development of the baby.)
Other minus is, that it takes up more room in the car than other car seats. It fits in our Ford Focus behind the passenger, but then the passenger seat has to be put in quite a forward position. It wouldn't fit behind the driver's seat if my husband is driving. So theoretically, if we would want to put two of these seats in, we would need a bigger car. For now it is fine.
So.. As I said, I will make some posts later, telling, how do we like this car seat later, as Adelaide grows bigger. But I hope our experience will be a good one.
I believe everyone wishes their child would be as safe as possible, so you should at least look into ERF chairs with open mind and give it a try.
If you have a car and a baby, you need a car seat. There are no other options these days. (Ok, quite shocking, but I heard that some people are still taking babies back from hospital in their arms. Really, there are people in the modern day Latvia, who think that car seats are just a commercial trick. Ok, well, I guess this doesn't need an explanation. We always use a seat belt and we always use a car seat. We have driven by horrible road accidents, seeing baby car seats at the roadside.. Later reading in the news, that they child was not harmed. Because of the car seat.)
We travel by car quite much. Actually, not on a daily basis. But we take longer drives regularly - to visit mine and Husband's parents. So safety in car is important to us.
Once you have to actually choose a car seat, it's quite difficult. But luckily we found a seemingly perfect option very early on.
I read on muki.lv blog about Extended Rear Facing (ERF) car seats. Everything they said made sense to me, and quite early on I knew that our children will travel rear facing as long as possible. In short - because it is 5 times safer than forward facing. To convince Mr. Husband, all it took was to show him the crash test video:
So, it's quite simple. Travelling rear faced is a lot safer, especially for children. So why not do it, why not to protect your children, where you can? But when it comes to ERF seats, people seem to have all kinds of concerns, most popular are, that:
1) Children will not like it
and
2) It's not comfortable for them/where to put the legs?
and
3) It makes the car muddy
The first reason - people judge after themselves. Some adults don't like to ride backwards on a bus, for example. But this is only a question of habit. Babies all ride backwards and they are fine. (Most of infant first car seats are rear facing.) Why couldn't they just continue riding that way a couple of years longer? They can look out the back window instead of the side windows (actually better!), I have read that children like it. So this is a weird reason, some parents swear by it.. Well, ok, I don't know yet, but from ERF car seat enthusiasts I have read that this is only a question of (parents) attitude.
The second reason - people again judge after themselves. Yes, maybe adults wouldn't be comfortable sitting in a lotus position (some are). But children are different than adults! Children are comfortable in the weirdest positions for hours. It's again a question of habit. And again - ERF enthusiasts say that their children are more comfortable this way, as they can choose how to place their feet themselves, instead of the legs just hanging down.
And the third reason is silly. Children make everything dirty and muddy anyway. You can take muddy boots off before entering the car. And there are special covers for the car seats to protect them.
I actually didn't want to answer anymore, when people asked us, what car seat did we get.. Because every time I answered, I had to explain it a bit, and they seemed to get defencive. Hearing about riding backwards and right away assuming it's not convenient and not comfortable, and I guess in some way feeling that I'm judging them by saying that this way is safer.
I don't judge other people's choices, but we have chosen what we think is best. I don't have much of personal experience with ERF car seats yet, but I will make sure to keep updating. And doesn't matter, when will we switch to forward facing - when Adelaide is 4 years old or 2 years, or 1,5 years - the longer she rides like this, the better.
We have a Klippan KISS car seat. It seemed like the perfect choice, because it's usable since birth until 18 kg (even 4 years), which is rare. Klippan is a Finnish company, that specialises in ERF seats, so the quality should be very good.
Some were saying that what's good for all is good for nothing, and I agree that usually it's true. But I asked and found out, that not in this case. Klippan KISS is actually really good and ergonomic both for a newborn baby and for a big toddler. It has 5-point seat belt, it provides 3 different positions, the most horizontal one ideal for a newborn (better than in newborn car seats that I have seen), the padding is removable and so on.
So far we are really happy with it! I heard of other people finding their car seats not suitable for a tiny couple of days old baby, but Klippan KISS was totally fine! Here we are, coming home from hospital, Adelaide's first time in a car seat:
While other people are starting to look for the next car seat as their baby grows out of the first one, we will be fine for couple of years still, hopefully.
For a fair review, the minuses of Klippan KISS: it's not so comfortable to carry around, as it has a different handle than others, but it is still possible. And you are not supposed to carry it around much anyway, as baby should spend possibly little time in a car seat. (Maximum of 30 minutes is suggested in the first months, and to make stops during longer trips.) So putting a car seat on wheels and going shopping is a total no no. Baby should be in a stroller, on a flat surface then. (I have observed people not taking a child out from a car seat for really long periods of time, even when possible. That is really wrong and bad for health and development of the baby.)
Other minus is, that it takes up more room in the car than other car seats. It fits in our Ford Focus behind the passenger, but then the passenger seat has to be put in quite a forward position. It wouldn't fit behind the driver's seat if my husband is driving. So theoretically, if we would want to put two of these seats in, we would need a bigger car. For now it is fine.
So.. As I said, I will make some posts later, telling, how do we like this car seat later, as Adelaide grows bigger. But I hope our experience will be a good one.
I believe everyone wishes their child would be as safe as possible, so you should at least look into ERF chairs with open mind and give it a try.
Thank you for posting the great content… hopefully you will keep posting such blogs….Keep sharing
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