Travelling to Canada from UK

Samian · Mar 5, 2016

Hi all

Wondered if someone could help me. We are soon to visit my sister who lives in Canada. We want her to purchase a car seat for us. Our son is 3 (about 9 centile so smaller than average for his age) - I need to weigh him but here in the UK he is still doing well in his up to 18KG car seat. We require rear facing as long as possible - are they all to 18KG in CAnada too then some switch to forward facing? I also want our equivalent of ISOFIX - where it fixes to bar of car. Is that LATCH in Canada and is this the safest?
I know you have so many choices there. We would like a reasonable priced seat $100-$150 if possible, rear facing and LATCH. Convertible would be good as we will be using again when he is older. My problem is that I do not know which are compatible with my sister and brother in laws cars. They have a 2010 colbalt chevrolet and a 2003 Cadillac deville. It is more important that it fits the Chevrolet. When we visited previously we had a Evenflo Sureride DLX convertible I think. For those of you wondering - we are using the CARES seatbelt for the flight.

Thanks for any advice.
Sam

jacqui276 · Mar 5, 2016

In Canada, our equivalent to ISOFIX and LATCH is UAS. All of our convertible car seats come with some version of a connector for this (just some older cars do not). Using a seat belt or UAS are equally as safe as long as the child is within the allotted weight restriction of the UAS anchors and the seat is properly installed using either method. Our convertible car seats rear face anywhere from 35lbs to 50lbs and forward face from 40lbs to 65lbs. With your child being quite small, he shouldn't have an issue fitting into the majority (if not all) of our rear facing convertibles.

Your budget will limit the car seats that you can look at as seats are quite expensive here (assuming you are looking at Canadian $s for your budget) but there are still a few within the price range. We also having rear facing height limits on a lot of our seats (some quite low) so be watchful of that when choosing a car seat. I don't have experience with those particular vehicles, so hopefully someone else can chime in with some advice.

brightredmtn · Mar 5, 2016

I know it can be a pain to lug a car seat through the airport but for the long flight your son will likely be more comfortable in his current car seat on the plane than the CARES harness. I'm pretty sure if you're a visitor you can use a foreign seat in Canada for your stay.

Samian · Mar 5, 2016

Thanks to both of you. Some very useful info. Last time we used the car seat our son was very uncomfortable on the flight home due to the v upright positioning. He definately will not stay in it the whole flight either - it's 7 hrs.
Last time we used the cares on way across and prurchased a car seat in Canada as even as a visitor they wouldn't allow a non USA/Canadian approved seat. It's not something you can get in the uk (seats marked as suitable for aircraft) and it seems uk is v far behind and nobody uses them in aircraft. I even got in touch with Canadian aviation about the car seat and they said it had to be approved for travel in Canada. anyway we do have that seat so may take it with us and leave it in Canada. We were hanging onto it in case we go to USA and need one.
I know we seem to be limiting the budget but only because he will probably get 6 weeks use total out of it over next few years. As long as it's safe.
Thanks again.
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Samian · Mar 5, 2016

Ps - rear facing seats in uk that are isofix are more than £300 which is >$500 Canadian I think. we also have less choice - again it's not that big here and only mandatory until about 1 yr old I think. Of course we are rear facing until there is no other option but I know of some mums that moved them to FF at 2-3 years - some probably sooner.
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jacqui276 · Mar 5, 2016

Assuming your little one is under 40" tall, the Scenera Next is probably your most budget friendly seat. I'm not sure how easy/challenging it is to install in those vehicles though.

biddyk8 · Mar 6, 2016

Next or a sureride would probably be my suggestion. The sureride would last longer when it comes to ffing as you are visiting family you will probably be back several times in the next few years.

Sorry just seen you used a sureride on your last trip, any reason you aren't using it this time?
We just flew from Canada to UK and back last week and my 3 year old sat in the sureride for all flights, we had a few connections and was comfortable(well she slept most of the the time so I'm assuming she was). You may find now your son is older that he doesn't mind the upright position on the plane.

Travelling to Canada from UK

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