It must be the right stage seat for your child

There are many different group stage child car seats available, and quite often, there is a crossover of the weight categories. Children are safest staying in the lower stage seat for as long as possible – don’t be in a rush to move them up a stage.  Our child car seat selector tool can help you work out what stage seat your child should be in.

We also see a lot of children at checking events using the wrong stage seat because it’s a short journey, or they’re allowed to use an older siblings booster seat for a treat – the wrong stage seat will not be able to protect your child adequately, and could have fatal consequences.

It must be compatible with your car and every car the seat will be used in

Not every child seat fits every car, even ISOFIX seats are not automatically compatible.  It is essential to ensure your child car seat is a perfect fit to your car, and also to other cars it may be fitted into.  If you have an ISOFIX seat, you can visit the manufacturer’s website for an up to date vehicle fitting list.  Some companies, such as Britax and Maxi Cosi have developed fit finders, to help you find what seat fits your car.

Avoid buying your child car seat online, or from stores who fail to offer trained members of staff who can give you fitting advice.  Our store finder tool gives you a list of Good Egg approved retailers.

Your seat must be fitted correctly

Once you have the correct stage child car seat, and know that it is compatible to your vehicle, it is important to fit it correctly.  It isn’t always obvious how your seat fits, particularly when using the adult belt.  Our blogs on fitting the seat with the seat belt, or ISOFIX can give you great tips to help you to fit your seat safely.

 Use your child seat correctly

Once your child car seat is strapped in, it is important that your child is strapped in safely.  Although this sounds obvious, it is the second most common error on child seats.  A properly fitted seat will stay put in the car, but a poorly fitted child will not be restrained or protected correctly.

When securing your child with a harness, the following steps will help you ensure they are safely restrained:

TUV approved child restraints

As of the 21st May 2014, below are the TUV airline approved child car seats.  This list may be updated and if you are in any doubt, phone the manufacturer of your child car seat.

• Maxi Cosi Pebble

• Maxi Cosi Citi

• Britax Baby Safe

• Britax Baby Safe Plus

• Britax Baby Safe Plus SHR

• Guardian Pro

• Guardian Pro 2

• Concord Ion

• Kiddy:

• Comfort Pro

• Discovery Pro

• Cruiserfix Pro

• Energy Pro

• Phoenix Pro

• Phoenix fix Pro

• Phoenix fix Pro 2

• Guardian fix Pro

• Guardian fix Pro 2

• Britax Eclipse.

Remember:  the final decision to allow a child restraint to be used lies with the airline.

If you have any questions about flying with young children that our blog didn't address, please ask us and we will do the best we can to answer :)

TUV approved means that the seat has been tested and approved by TUV Rheinland to be suitable for use on an aircraft.

  Go to part 1                                                                Go to part 2

When flying with young children, what do you need to know to help you decide if you are going to take a car seat with you for the plane? That is what we are going to explore in this 3 part ‘Flying with young children’ mini blog series.

Using UK seats abroad

All child car seats within the European Union (EU) are tested to ECE  R44.04 or R129 i-Size.  Child seats carrying the ECE approval R44.03, R44.04 or R129 (i-Size) may be used within the European Union.

If you wish to use your child car seat when you reach your destination, it is worth noting that an EU approved child restraint cannot normally be used in countries outside of the EU.  This is because different countries have different laws and testing that European Union seats may not meet.  The same is true for any seat outside of the EU that is brought over to Europe.

As an example, a parent flying to the USA may be allowed to use their child restraint on the aircraft, but once they land, their seat cannot then be used in a car or taxi.

If you are from the UK and flying to a destination within the EU, then you can use your UK car seat when you are on holiday.

If you are unsure check with your holiday provider, the local road safety department or the British embassy in that country.

Using a child car seat at your destination

If you hire a car when you get to your destination many hire companies will also hire out child car seats at an additional cost. If you decide to do this ensure that you are completely happy with the child car seat’s quality and that you have fitted it correctly.

If you are not happy with the seat you can also choose to purchase one whilst on holiday. This could potentially work out cost effective if you were using the hire car for the whole duration of the holiday.

Even if you are not hiring a car, some countries require children to travel in a suitable child restraint in taxis. Some taxi firm’s will have specific vehicles with restraints fitted, however it is wise to check with the taxi firm or transport company you will be using to reach your hotel.

Travelling by coach transfer also needs to be confirmed, firstly to see if you need a child restraint, and also if your child restraint can be used, should you want to use it - even if you don’t have to.

As always, when you are fitting the car seat in the car or on the coach, make sure that it is a compatible fit and correctly fitted.

Go to part 1                                                                  Go to part 3