Infant Car Seat

[Bcgardener]

Just been through all of this for my daughters baby. In Pattaya the baby/kids clothes shop in the outlet mall South Pattaya next to Lotus on Sukhumvit. In Bangkok best selection of all baby stuff including g car seats, at reasonable prices, was at Robinson's down near the river, Saphan Taksin BTS station. I think the shopping centre is called Centrepoint.

[honu]

This thread isn't really active now but since the subject is timeless I'll add my own experience related to it, with going through all this twice (and living in Bangkok).  It seems clear enough there are three levels of quality and price of car seats available here:  

 

-Tesco-Lotus level, flimsy and cheap;

 

-mid-level Thai brands, like Cool Kids (and one other I forget the name of), perhaps decent, depending on perspective, costing more but moderate in price;

 

-imported goods, Japanese and German brands and such.  If cost is no issue probably the best way to go, but each step at least doubles costs, so for an infant seat and toddler seat one might be around 50k per device at this level, versus 2-3K for Tesco and 5-8k for Thai mid-range versions.

 

To back up, you need a rear-facing seat for a very small baby, an infant seat, and a toddler seat facing forward, mostly because babies change size too much.  You could put a young infant in a seat that's too big facing forward but that wouldn't be safe for them at all, defeating the purpose.  The nice part of doubling up on devices is that infant seats double as carriers; you can haul the tiny baby around in one.

 

I did try a Tesco version infant seat for my son and it broke fairly quickly; probably a good thing it was never tested in a crash.  It probably would have been ok, but maybe not, which again kind of defeats the purpose.  They look fine but the materials and design just aren't ok.  To make a long story short we went with a Cool Kids version the second time, an infant carrier that also snapped onto a stroller, which was designed to work as a toddler stroller without that seat attached later.  This involved buying a completely separate forward facing carrier, so altogether it ran something like 20k, not much for two seats and a stroller.  The quality really could've been better, probably just fine in even a horrendous crash, but not as bomb-proof as devices that cost three times as much made to higher standards.  It would seem to make sense for people to say "good enough; it's safe" or also "no way it's good enough for my kid, safety first," even though those do directly contradict each other.   Or this being Thai Visa cursing the opposing viewpoint while stating either would seem standard.

 

No matter what infant seat one gets the device needs to attach very securely inside the car using seat belts, to face rearward, to buckle the baby very effectively, and to be designed to support a very small human with appropriate durable frame and padding design.  It wouldn't hurt to be a packaging engineer to assure all that, but it would have to be enough to try to think it all through.  The toddler version really should have a reclining option to help the child sleep, or to just suit their preference, with most of the same concerns addressed.  Bucking a toddler securely is a different concern; good luck with that part, since by the time they're 2 1/2 it's like shackling a little version of Houdini.  By the time the child is 4 or 5 a simple booster to sit on the rear car seat--they design those; no need to go with a throw pillow--may work as a replacement, but those seats are safer, so it will make sense to keep them in it until they're good sized.  

 

About strollers, in my experience it's nice to have the giant, unwieldy, luggage-carrying, rain-proof version for a young child and switch to an "umbrella" type later, or just carry the little person, or make them walk.  My son was into the umbrella stroller until later; my daughter will have none of it at 2.

[chopin2]

Buy online to save time and money. Chicco NextFit Convertible car seat was 20 000B at Robinson Rama9. We bought ours through this website for 14 800B, brought to our door for 200B.

 

 

http://www.2becoolkids.com/store/product/view/คาร์ซีท_Chicco_NextFit_Convertible_Car_Seat_Intrigue_พร้อมส่ง-26844138-th.html

[Lorin]

On 14/09/2016 at 0:00 AM, chopin2 said:

Buy online to save time and money. Chicco NextFit Convertible car seat was 20 000B at Robinson Rama9. We bought ours through this website for 14 800B, brought to our door for 200B.

 

 

http://www.2becoolkids.com/store/product/view/คาร์ซีท_Chicco_NextFit_Convertible_Car_Seat_Intrigue_พร้อมส่ง-26844138-th.html

 

Can use that one for just born baby? And convert later when the baby grown up?

[chopin2]

On 2016-12-14 at 5:49 PM, Lorin said:

 

Can use that one for just born baby? And convert later when the baby grown up?

Yes. Rear facing for infants 5-40lbs (with a newborn insert 5-11lbs). Foward facing from 22-65 lbs.

 

http://csftl.org/chicco-nextfit-review/

http://www.chiccoshop.com/carseats-frequently-asked-questions/carseats-faq.html

 

 

[Rc2702]

Anyone got any experience with this baby brand Farlin?

 

They offer many different products and seem to be the most prominent brand where we are based in NE Thailand.