Choosing a car seat update.

Michelle asked me whether I was still happy with our Chelino Atlantis car seat. I truly want to apologise for my delayed response but as you'll see from my Break in Transmission post life has been tough the last few months. So I've finally put together a response which I hope will help others as I'm sure you've already had to make a decision Michelle (sorry about that).

In her comment on my post Choosing a car seat she says " We have now reached that stage where we need to shop around for seats so I am really happy you wrote this :) When I read it the first time a few mths ago, I was like, "oh well, still some time before we reach that stage" but now, every word typed in the above piece has been uber valuable so thx :) Our little one has not reached the weight to change seats however she is so keen to look forward while I drive that she is forever trying to get out of the straps. That concerns me so I reckon a booster seat is in order. "

November 21, 2011 8:32 AM 

Thanks for your comment Michelle, I'm glad you are one of those responsible parents who straps their child in when driving. Recently I heard on the news that the law in South Africa only stipulates that children from the at of 3 to 14 need to be strapped in when travelling in a motor vehicle. This is completely insane. Children are at their most vulnerable under the age of 3 yet there is no law that says they have to be strapped in. My goodness. I say change the law and fine all those parents who don't strap their littlies in and take licenses away from those who drive with their child on their lap in the front passenger seat. This is the seat the most dangerous seat in the car. OK enough of my rant back to the question.

Curious George is now 19 months old and we have been using the Chelino since he was 9mnths old. He was very sturdy at this stage and was getting very aggravated by having to travel backwards. 

So what are the things I don't like about the Chelino Atlantis now that we have used it for a while.

• The seat doesn't flip forward far enough from the base making it very difficult to strap the seat in. Its supposed to be a super easy mechanism and although the strapping in is not complicated you find yourself hot, sweaty and irritated after strapping the chair in. The result is that I hate to move it to other cars.
• The black leather is very easy to keep clean but it does get very hot. We've solved this by keeping a light blanket in the car which we cover the seat with if it gets too hot.
• The straps get twisted in the buckles. I find this aggravating but it hasn't actually caused any real issues. 

Otherwise the seat has been great. At the last baby expo I went to I saw that Britax has now started selling in this country. If I was buying another seat I might take a serious look at these as they seemed to be in a similar price range and are one of the best international brands for car seats.