After having 6 children you would think we should be clued up on all things car seat wise but in the ever changing world of new laws and new possibilities with regards rear facing/forward facing/5 point harness/lap harness…. well as you can imagine things can soon get over whelming!
We were kindly asked to test drive the new Kiddy PhoenixFix 3 car seat. Both it is now only Amelia that uses a car seat (Evie is now on a booster) and since the PhoenixFix is suitable from 9-18kg or 9 months to 4 years we thought our little monster would be the ideal candidate to put it through its paces! She hates a 5 point harness and always takes her arms out of the straps so this is a worry, it doesn’t matter how tight we fasten them, she always manages to wiggle free. Depending on your travel needs for your child, there are a number of seats you find at AUTODOC.CO.UK
The kiddy impact shield is an ingenious idea as it reduces forces in the event of frontal impact in a Child Safety Seat, Amelia seems to love the fact she has the added cushion and it feels very secure overall which gives peace of mind. The only thing is that Amelia only has a small body frame so her arms seem to be resting high on the impact shield.
Amelia is a wriggler and getting her into a normal bucket type car seat is a night mare, she arches her back, throws her arms around and generally makes it extremely hard to get her in position. This in itself makes any journey troublesome to begin with, however with the Phoenixfix there is no positioning. She simply sits on the seat and the impact shield slides into place securing her until the belt is fastened. There is also a 5 position headrest and the whole seat reclines slightly but not enough to make a huge difference, the fact there is ample head support though means that when Amelia falls asleep in the seat there is no issue as she barely moves!
There are a lot of people who believe rear facing is the best way but I think as long as you have your child in a secure seat with good support then forward facing solves a lot of problems, especially with longer legged children and those nosy ones (which all mine are) that like to see where they are going and what everyone else is doing in the car – You get all of that with the Phoenixfix 3!
