Maxi-Cosi CabrioFix Group 0+ Infant Carrier Car Seat  

My niece Sarah has recently given birth to a lovely baby girl. Everything is going well but because the baby arrived a little early they’re perhaps not quite as well organized as they’d like to be. Like any proud mother, Sarah is desperate to take her new-born out so that she can be shown to her friends but, due to the early arrival she hadn’t got a baby seat sorted out for the car. Luckily she has the birth at home so she didn’t need a seat to take the baby home from the hospital.

 Because she’s short of time I agreed to review what baby and infant carriers are available and to recommend which one she should buy.

After a pretty thorough review of the types of car seats that are available I thought the Maxi-Cosi CabrioFix Group 0+ Infant Carrier Car Seat looked the most suitable and I recommended this to my niece. I’m pleased to say that she followed my advice and is absolutely delighted with her purchase. She thinks it’s great.

 I thought it might be helpful to other Mums if I listed some of the things that I thought were important when deciding what car seat to buy and why I eventually chose the Maxi-Cosi Infant Carrier.

Word of Warning 

It is the drivers’ responsibility to ensure that the correct child restraint is used for all infants and children travelling in his car. 

An appropriate child restraint is one which: 

·         Conforms to the United Nations standard, ECE Regulation 44-03 

·         Is suitable for the child's weight and size 

·         Is correctly fitted according to the manufacturer's instructions. 

Car seats can appear to be very expensive, particularly when you’re buying for a baby who will soon grow out of it, but never buy or accept a second-hand car seat - you can never be certain of its full history and it may not provide adequate protection in an accident. This is your baby’s safety that is at stake. 

 If you are carrying a child in a rear-facing child seat in the front, the frontal airbag must be switched off. 

What to look for when buying a car seat for your baby  

·         Choose the correct seat for the weight and size of your child

·         Ease of installation

·         Front or rear facing

·         Carrying handle

·         Removable seat cover

·         Colour range

·         Accessories

·         Safety protection things

·         Dimensions

Choose the correct seat for the weight and size of your child 

There are 4 categories of car seats based upon the weight and size of the child. Age can only be used as a guide as it is the height and weight that is crucial in order to ensure that your child travels safely. Because my niece has a new born child she needed either category 0 (for babies up to 10kg 22 lbs) or category 0+ (for babies up to 13kg 29lbs). As its name indicates the maxi cosi seat that I chose is category 0+ which, as a guide should last from birth to around a year old, depending upon how much she likes her food!

Ease of installation 

Child seats can be a nightmare to fit, particularly if you have a small car, or one that just has front doors. This might not be a problem if you intend to leave the seat in one car for most of the time but if you have two cars or if you intend to take the car seat out so that you can carry the baby around in it, make sure that it’s easy to put into and take out of your car.

The maxi-cosi infant carrier can be installed using any 3-pont seat belt. It’s a little bit fiddly but I’m sure you’d soon get used to it. However, Sarah decided to also buy the Maxi-Cosi EasyFix Car Seat .  This isn’t essential, and it does push up the price, but it does make life an awful lot easier as the car seat just clips onto the Easyfix base.

 Front or rear facing 

Babies weighing less than 13kg need to be in a rear-facing seat, so this was a pretty straight forward decision to make. Some seats are available, however, that are combination seats meaning that they can be used in both directions.  They are used facing backwards for infants weighing less than 13kg and can then be used facing forwards for Group 1 infants weighing up to 18kg. This is quite a good idea but I recommended the Maxi-Cosi Infant Carrier car seat to Sarah, even though it is not a combination seat, because she is planning on having another baby quite quickly so it’s likely that the next baby will take over the maxicosi when the first-born moves up to Group 1 . If you like the idea of a combination baby car seat you might like to take a look at the

Britax First Class Plus Rearward & Forward Facing Group 0+/1 Combination Car Seat which gets pretty good reviews on Amazon. 

Carrying handle 

Most, if not all, infant carriers have carrying handles, but make sure that they’re comfortable to use. You’ll find it very convenient to carry your baby around in her car seat but only if the weight is evenly distributed and the handle feels nice. The CabrioFix's carrying handle is particularly good as it allows you to adjust the seat to a number of different  positions--sitting/feeding, sleeping/rocking or carrying/car use.

Removable seat cover 

Babies do have the unfortunate habit of being sick, and if they make a mess of the cover in the car seat it’s important that it can be easily removed for washing.  The Maxi-Cosi CabrioFix has a removable cover that can be washed at 30C. It is also possible to buy an extra cover so that the car seat  can still be used while the original is washed; or in case the original is damaged in any way.

Colour range 

This isn’t something that particularly concerned me but I know that some parents are keen on colour co-ordination. The cabriofix is available in a variety of different colours to match other maxi-cosi and quinny products.

Accessories 

You might think that having purchased something as straight forward as a baby car seat you won’t need anything to go with it, but that isn’t necessarily the case. You’ll probably decide that you’ll need a wide range of extra accessories. The Cabriofix comes with a wide range of accessories including summer car seat covers, footmuffs, travel buddies,  raincovers  and mosquito nets. These are all optional extras that can be purchased separately although you’ll be please to hear that it already comes with an integrated sun canopy which is both easy to get at and easy to store.

Safety Protection things 

So long as the car seat that you purchase conforms with safety standard ECE R44/04 you can be sure that it’s safe to use but inevitably different manufacturers add extra bits that go beyond the minimum standards that are required. All parents will have their own ideas about what particular safety aspect is most important to them, but I particularly like the Side Protection System that features in the maxi cosi infant carrier.

Dimensions 

it’s important to try the baby seat in your car, before purchasing, to make sure that it fits comfortably and easily. As a guide, the dimensions of the maxicosi cabriofix are L 70 cm x W 44 cm x H 57 cm. it weighs 4.8kg.

Other People Comments 

The Maxi-Cosi CabrioFix Group 0+ Infant Carrier Car Seat gets really good reviews on Amazon. 38 people have commented and 30 of them give it 5 stars, with a further 7 giving it 4 stars.  

Some of the comments left are 

·         We bought this car seat as it had the highest recommendation from 'Which?

·         Easy to use with the Easyfix car base (highly recommended), it's sturdy and safe.

·         great product, very high quality and meets all our expectations

·         fab seat, easy to use, looks great

·         our little one loves to rock and goes to sleep while in carseat

·         I am yet to find any disadvantages of this car seat

Amazon is the best place to read independent reviews. Click here to take a look.

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