Found some old posts of mine at https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1718086?author=hanishoney and thought I'd share here too.

Getting your kid used to being in the car seat

The best way to train your kid not to cry in the car seat is to start short and sweet. EVERY day, strap your baby in the carseat according to instructions and drive at MOST 10 minutes away, to a fun place the kid will like, e.g. nearby playground, nearest mall, candy/toy shop, swimming pool, whatever la. This way, even if your kid cries, he/she is only crying for 10 minutes, and he/she will learn that after getting strapped in carseat, he/she gets to a fun place! Make sure to also strap in properly on the way home!

Once your kid stops crying for the 10 minute daily ride in the car seat, you go to a different place 20 minutes away, just as fun and exciting. Then if kid is ok with 20 minutes away, go 30 minutes away! Work your way up slowly until kid can go 2 hours. But please don't go for more than 2 hours unless asleep, ya. Sitting still for more than 2 hours when not asleep is not good for your health (see my long-distance traveling section below). Always take frequent journey breaks. That's why our highways have lots of rest stops. When you have kids, your lifestyle has to change and your driving style also has to change, but at least when your kids are properly strapped in, you can drive at normal speeds, not slowly (which is not safe either), so the stops shouldn't affect the final time of arrival.

This method best works if you ALWAYS strap your kid in. If your kid thinks that as long as he cries long/hard enough he'll get out of being strapped in, then he will cry the whole way. If he knows that you WILL let him cry himself sick rather than let him be out of the carseat, he will give up eventually.

For more tips and tricks on keeping kids happy in their carseat, I love http://thecarseatlady.com/keeping-your-kids-happy/.


Sitting in the car beside your child

Anyone sitting BESIDE a carseat should be strapped in as tightly as the baby in the carseat. Let me tell you, I know of one mother who died in a car accident because her head smashed into her child's carseat.

Car safety is designed to work assuming that everyone is following all the rules. Airbags work safely IF you're strapped in but can kill you if you're not wearing your seatbelt. Same thing with carseats. They can kill you if you're not wearing your seatbelt. And by wearing your seatbelt, I mean wearing it properly with your shoulder belt on. WHEN SITTING NEXT TO A CHILD'S CAR SEAT, ALWAYS USE SHOULDER RESTRAINT AND SIT UP STRAIGHT AGAINST THE BACK OF YOUR SEAT. Also try to always put the seatbelt over bone, because that's the strongest part of your body. Lap belt over your hip bones, and shoulder belt over shoulder bone.

More info on how to buckle up adults properly and safely: http://www.800bucklup.org/bucklingup/teens-and-adults.asp

If the seat beside your child's carseat only has a lap belt, DO NOT USE IT.


Long distance traveling

It's recommended to stop the car every 2 hours, and have everybody get out and stretch/move their body for 15-20 minutes, then only get back into car and continue journey. It's better for everyone's health. Even sitting at work, in the office, you should get up and walk around every 2 hours. Sitting too long actually shortens your lifespan.

Waze app for smart phones is a genius thing. When you select your destination, it tells you how long your journey will probably take, taking into account current traffic. And it even updates on the spot if there's an accident ahead on your journey, or whatever. Waze will also direct you through routes that are faster than the jam area, if any.

So whenever I see on waze that my journey will take more than 2 hours due to terrible traffic, I immediately cancel the destination and pick a nearer destination, somewhere that is less than 2 hours, so I can stop and take my child out to play sekejap. Then we get back into the car and I set waze for my actual destination.

After all, if my trip is going to take more than 2 hours, what's just another 15 minutes?

If you don't have a smart phone, google maps is incorporating waze technology now. Don't know how much is in yet, but the current traffic part seems up already. You can check your computer for how long the journey will take just before you put your baby into your car.

This post has been edited by hanishoney: May 20 2015, 05:50 PM

Found this detailed article on selling and buying used car seats

http://thecarseatlady.wordpress.com/tipsheets/used/

Make sure to read it before you buy or sell any used car seats, for the sake of all children out there.

Where did you bought the Maxi cosi opal?
I paln to buy as well.
You got a good price.

An interesting group in Facebook promoting use of rear facing car seats. But looks like a lot of them are installing a rear facing car seat in the front passenger seat. It's dangerous if it has airbag, yes?

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3...11907625&type=3

any of hear or using car seat from Ailebebe KURUTTO NT2 ?

base on video from youtube, it's a briliant product, but ain't cheap.
Can you share your opinion for getting at car seat > RM1500, does it worth just for new bornt to 3 yrs old usage? :hmm:

This post has been edited by 4evernelson: Dec 26 2014, 03:51 PM

Halford is good only if you're on a budget ler, once you've tried other reputable brands, you will know Halford is like giving your child at least something when you can't afford the branded ones. I would rather buy a lower end combi, graco, etc than an halford. Got a graco, bought a Halford for a secondary spare, give me hell of a nightmare in terms of adjustment, the fit, comfort quality.

We discussed this on page 4, from post #64 onwards.

For convenience, if not feeling up to reading the whole discussion, I just quote back myself:

I don't know much about products not offered in US or UK, because I don't understand the language. That is the number one concern when installing a carseat; you must make sure you can read the manual so that you can install the carseat correctly. A wrongly installed carseat can KILL. Might be safer to just fly out the window!

If you can see the carseat in person, and confirm that the manual is in a language that you understand, then you can consider the carseat. Japanese carseats follow European carseat standards, as far as I know.

I have been looking for reliable car seat for age 0+ until 4 years old (3kg to 18kg approximately). Budget not more than RM500.
Any suggestion?
Thank you very much.

Dear all parents, if you want to save some money to buying a well-know safety car seat ( Brands like Maxi Cosi , Britax , Combi Coccoro, Inglesina, etc ) for your baby /kids ,why not go for those lightly/gently used or almost new PRELOVED (2nd hand) car seat?

I've lot of Car Seat and baby/Kids stuffs available. You can contact me as follow:

TEL : 016 - 7488 SIX SIX ZERO (Whatsapp /SMS/ Call )
FB page : https://www.facebook.com/PrelovedBargainMy
BlOG : http://bundle-of-toys.blogspot.com/

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any question on Car Seat !


Attached image(s)

can get maxi cossi

last time i bought quinny stroller it came with maxi cossi
after 2 years..now im waiting my daughter to be born early next month

luckly not selling it

Make sure to read this article: http://thecarseatlady.wordpress.com/tipsheets/used/ before selling or buying preloved carseats.

Let me tell you, I have a car seat in my living room that was in a car accident only ONE WEEK AFTER I bought it. It looks brand new. But it HAS been in a car accident and it is NO LONGER safe to use. If I were the lying kind who don't care about other children's safety, I could sell it and get at least some of my money back, because it cost me RM1.3k. But I'm honest, and I refuse to sell it. But how do you know if everyone selling their old carseats are as honest? You cannot know for sure if a car seat has been in an accident or not unless you know the car seat owners, you're the neighbour watching that car seat go in and out of the house every day and you know that car has never gotten into an accident!

Remember, a car seat CAN KILL if it is no longer working correctly. Why even pay RM50 for something that can harm your child instead of save your child? Might as well have no carseat and risk harm for free.

This post has been edited by hanishoney: Jan 12 2015, 12:05 PM

Maxi Cosi's convertible seats (that can last until 4yo) are NOT under RM500.

For carseats under RM500, you can look for an Aldo or a Halford, but make sure to get the versions that are certified ECE R44 (European crash standard). The cheaper ones are cheap because they are not made up to standard and may not be safe to your child in a car accident. I've never used either brand, however, so I don't know if they're easy to install. If you find under RM500, certified ECE R44, do share with us your review!
Aldo under RM400 at Fabulous Mom

Oh Fisher Price Safe Voyage is also under RM500 now on lazada.com.my. My FIL bought his at Aeon 1Utama children's dept, though I don't know if that's still in stock or selling under RM500 there. I can say that it is a PAIN to install rear-facing, and very easy to get the installation wrong.

This post has been edited by hanishoney: Jan 12 2015, 10:25 AM

Yup I learnt that info from here. Just sharing that the Facebook group seems oblivious to this risk. My car (Mazda CX5) even has a sticker on the front seats to warn parents not to install a rear facing car seat due to the air bag danger.

As I mentioned earlier, while the back seat is ideal, if for some reason the back seat doesn't work, the front seat IF it doesn't have an airbag, is safer than not using a car seat at all. Some cars allow you to TURN OFF the airbag.

Safety Relativeness of Carseat Positions
Rear-facing with airbag WILL KILL. DO NOT DO.
No carseat. Safer than rear-facing in a seat with airbag.
Front-facing in front seat, with or without airbag. Safer than no carseat. (Unless no head control, then the baby can die just from being unable to breathe. Babies without head control cannot use front-facing seat at all.)
Front-facing in back seat. Safer than front-facing in front seat.
Rear-facing carseat in front seat, no airbag or airbag turned off. Safer than front-facing! Yes, even front-facing in back seat, ESPECIALLY for babies under 1yo. NEVER front-face babies under 1yo. In the USA, the new rule is NEVER front-face under 2yo.
Rear-facing carseat in back seat. SAFEST.

HOWEVER, rear-facing carseat is NOT safe, if your child has outgrown the weight limit, or has less than 1 inch of carseat over his head. DO NOT USE REAR-FACING CAR SEAT IF YOUR CHILD IS TOO HEAVY/TALL FOR IT.

So, if you're driving around 4 kids, where 3 of them are too big for rear-facing car-seat, you should actually put your rear-facing baby in the front seat, airbag OFF, because your rear-facing carseat is the safest of everyone in the car, and your front-facing kids will need the extra protection of being in the back seat. BUT if middle seat is a LAP BELT, then put your front-facing carseat with 5-point harness or your rear-facing carseat there instead, because lap belt can injure the person wearing it. Lap belt should only be used to install a carseat. Everyone big enough not to need a carseat should use shoulder belts.

By the way, airbags can also kill people not wearing their shoulder belts. So always wear your shoulder belts in front of an airbag.

This post has been edited by hanishoney: Feb 23 2015, 09:57 AM

How's your feedback on this Joie Stages car seat?
So far so good?
Tempting to get this one too

tq for the link
a lot of brand and cheap selling there


my maxi-cossi i check at littlewhiz is rm950++

Just remember to confirm the ECE R44 standard before you buy. If you walk into a shop selling car seats, you can find the ECE R44 sticker on the back of the car seat. I just went into Tesco Extra Mutiara Damansara last weekend, and only 2 out of the 10 car seats had the sticker, but both were just over RM400.

Click here for what ECE R44 sticker can look like

I just came across something seemingly new with ECE R44 certification which are below RM500.
http://www.koopers.co/cat-car-seat.cfm
Apparently most comes with 4 years warranty and infant insert.

Anyone have come across this car seat?
Actually I wonder how to verify the ECE R44 certification as well...

Found this as well..

http://www.lazada.com.my/sweet-heart-paris...lue-832966.html

Anyone uses it before?