Team-BHP - "Child Seat" for Babies & Kids

I would recommend the Britax (we used the Marathon). When our son was born we got 3 seats (2 were gifted). A Graco, an Eveflo and a Britax. Our son insticntivly prefered the Britax. Every infant who used the Britax (our son's friends) loved it.

For the Stroller a Mclaren (now which car guy wont want a Mclaren if only it is a stroller) is a great protable stroller but the ultimate was the Per Perego. They have a 3 wheeler one you can jog with (it has all wheel suspension and 12" tyres!). It fits perfectly in the Laura (it fit in my RS).

Child seats, I am a current owner of one. For my first kid, I chose from the finest in the grand aisles of Babies"R"Us. But with the second kid, it was slim pickings in the limited baby shops in Bangalore.:Frustrati

But it is good know some basics when you venture into Bangalore baby shops. The sales men/women you encounter would have never used one to know any better.

1) Pick a seat whose cloth material can be easily removed for washing. The seat can get very dirty in local weather. You wouldn't want to put your bundle of joy in dirty seat.

2) All buckles should be made of metal. Plastic buckles may look cute, but it is said that the buckles experience most stress during an accident. The plastic buckle will simply give up.

In India I haven't come across infant child seat, therefore you may want to wait and purchase the 4+ month baby seat.

Guys,

IMHO buy from Mothercare ONLY! They sell the exactly same stuff sold in the UK and are compliant with every EU and British (BSI) directive/standard.

A booster seat is primarily designed to lift up a short individual (e.g. a child) to the correct height for adult seatbelts. Otherwise, adults belts tend to pass too near their throat and can actually cause strangulation and severe neck/collarbone damage in case of a serious crash!

IMHO, their Indian prices are VERY VERY reasonable. Look at it this way: Most Indians would spend upwards of 12k on ICE for their cars but will happily put their kids on their laps in the front seat of luxury cars with dual airbags and without wearing any belts etc.

Believe me, in case of a crash, the adult will propel the child straight into the path of the exploding airbag thereby causing serious injuries! Even if the adult is wearing a belt passing around them both (quite common), the adult's weight will effectively compress the waist of the child against the belt thereby focusing the effect considerably on the child. This is guaranteed to cause serious abdominal damage to the child.

It's a mindset we have that seatbelts are for ninnie and softies and just a 'Western' thing: AFTER an accident, we blame Indian roads and the 'shoddy' design of our cars etc for injuries.

I believe safety starts at home!

Yesterday we bought a infant/toddler car seat for our 3 months old daughter.
Bought it from Baby Shop on Ulsoor road (Thanks to rahulmd who had mentioned the shop's name on this thread).
It is an Evenflo make - made in Korea and costed me Rs.9250/- after discounts. (MRP was 9950/-)
Later we went to Shoppers Stop at garuda mall (for buying something else), there wasn't a single piece of baby seat yesterday.
Though on rear seat it will be slightly congested for 2 people on my Santro after the insallation, we thougt it will be comfortable and safe for baby on this seat on long drives.
Thanks to all who gave valuable information on this thread.

Folks, for those of you who want to pick up car seats, try the seats at the "Mother Care stores" in shopper's stop, the seats are pretty good and reasonably priced (+/- 5K).

I recently picked up my second seat from mothercare since I have 2 kids, this was a booster seat that has a detachable base which can be used as a booster after age 5-6, and can actually be used upto 8 years. (the actual rating is in weight carrying capacity), but the weight actually translates approx to the age.

The first seat I had picked up was from Australia around 4 years back, am using it for my second child now, but I had paid a bomb for it, 9.5k.

The shoppers stop mothercare stores are a much better deal.

Secondly for all those of you who want to use the cheaper chinese seats, a word of caution... "the seats may be cheaper, may look good, but are really not tested and may not be safe for your child."
My sincere advise is to put in 2 - 3k more and pick up a branded seat with safety ratings.

Last of all, I feel the best thing I ever did pick up for the car was the car seats.... on long drives it really helps you enjoy the same with both kids safely tucked up in their seats behind. Definitely worth spending money on.

As I said in my prevoius post, lLast saturday when we visited Shopper's Stop, amazingly there wasen't a single piece! It was a mad rush there, due to some discounted sale offers.
When we checked at mother care Indiranagar,they had good ones costing around 15K, by the look we felt not worth paying so much, hence we wanted to check at more shops.
Finally we found an ultimate one @ 'Baby Shop', Ulsoor. It was better than the 15k one @ mothercare.
If you stay at Bangalore, before u buy one, I suggest to have a look @ 'Baby Shop' as it is worth the money u pay.
On the last note, the other baby stuffs are also comparitively priced low @ 'Baby Shop' and the quality is pretty nice, worth visiting once.

I am a regular customer of Baby shop in Ulsoor.
Toy Shop in Commercial street main road has a better collection of toys and baby accessories..price is less compared to baby shop, but quality wise baby shop is better...
I do not recommend the baby section in lifestyle as the quality of baby clothes are not good.
My son is 10 months old and i am going to get a baby seat..my concern is whether he will use it as he is so restless.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2theMax (Post 554481)

15k ? ...shyam so how much did you buy that from babyshop finally ? , ive been using a graco rallysport in UK (cost me 60quid in UK , works about 4800 INR) , think should carry it back to india .

I bought it for 9.25K at Bbaby Shop, Ulsoor. (Evenflo brand)

It is worth carrying your Graco one back.

I asked the owner of Baby Shop, why he do not stock Graco or Britax (Navin had recommonded it here) he said those seats are designed to be used for cars used in US and in Indian scenario, they wont fit in so well on most of the cars because of seat's design (mostly thigh support width or so). I am not sure about his view, someone could help to clear this doubt.