I didn’t have much time to spend at the Mother and Baby Fair this last November, but I did enjoy looking around and I was surprised at how many booths there were.
I went around all the booths with car seats on display, asking for information on Extended Rear Facing (ERF) car seats which can provide rear facing for toddlers and not just babies. When I looked around the local market a year ago, I only found one ERF seat available, and it was very expensive (around €550), so I was happy to see that a few were available at the Fair (they’re listed below).
Of the four models I saw, I think it comes down to the Maxi-Cosi 2wayPearl (€480) and the Britax Dualfix (€420). Both are convertible seats which can rear face to 4 years but can also be turned forward facing too. This feature makes them more expensive than exclusively-rear-facing seats which provide rear facing to 4 years but without the forward facing option. Although it’s safer to rear face to at least 4 years old as is standard practice in Sweden, many Maltese parents balk at the thought, and it’s already a dramatic shift to go from rear facing to 9 months, to rear facing to 2 years. That “2 year” recommendation is coming from the American Academy of Pediatrics but it is much better than the ridiculously low “15 months” mandatory limit that is coming in with the new European i-Size law. I’m glad to see Maltese parents start to talk about rear facing to 2 years instead of 9 months, and they are just skipping over the rear facing to 15 months recommendation.
So for now I think that most ERF seats sold in Malta will be convertible seats which can be switched to face forwards at 2 years, although there may be a tiny market for Swedish seats. Comparing the prices of these two convertible seats, the Dualfix is slightly cheaper, unless you already own the Maxi-Cosi base (compatible with Pebble) in which case the 2wayPearl is a mere €220. However the Dualfix may still win out over the 2wayPearl because of its handy side-rotation feature, which makes it easier to get children in and out of the seat. There are cheaper ERF options out there, of course, but these two were on show and, presumably, available to buy off the shelf.
| Shop | Babyline |
| Babyline Swatar | |
| Car seat brand | Bébé Confort |
| Car seat model | MiloFix
|
| Description | Convertible – Rear facing to 13kg, then forward facing to 4 yrs. There’s a height indicator telling you when it’s time to switch, so you should switch when your child reaches that height, or 13kg, whichever comes first. Summer cover available. |
| Comments | The limit of 13kg for rear facing is disappointingly low (1 to 2 years) as I was looking for 18kg (around 4 years), so this seat doesn’t qualify as an ERF seat although it does permit rear facing for a little longer than an infant carrier. Infant carriers that are Group 0+ go up to 13kg rear facing, so this seat isn’t an improvement on that, but it would allow a little extra time for babies who outgrew their infant carrier by height before they got to the weight limit. |
| Shop | The First Years |
| The First Year / Babies Corner | |
| Car seat brand | Jiangsu Lucky Baby Car Seat MFG Co., Ltd. |
| Car seat model | LB 717
|
| Description | Although the page on the website doesn’t explicitly say so, I think this is the model I saw at the Fair, which is exclusively rear facing and cannot be used forward facing. |
| Comments | This is a basic, no-frills model. My only concern would be, since the manufacturer is not a big European brand, whether it is actually safe to use, however the manufacturer is mentioned as having received EU certification. At a mere €58.50, it is by far the cheapest ERF seat I have seen. |
| Shop | Hometrends |
| Hometrends | |
| Car seat brand | Maxi-Cosi |
| Car seat model | 2wayPearl
|
| Description | Convertible – you can use the 2wayPearl rear facing from around 6 months to 4 years, or turn it forward facing when you want to. The height range is 67cm to 105cm, so a tall child may outgrow it a few months earlier than 4 years old. The seat itself costs €260 but also requires a base which is €220, for a total price tag of €480. However the base is the same as that used for the Maxi-Cosi Pebble infant carrier, so if you already have that you’re in luck. Additional features include positive confirmation using sound and light from the base to ensure that the base has been correctly fixed. |
| Comments | Maxi-Cosi is a well-established brand and this looks like a good ERF car seat which has performed well in testing. |
| Shop | Little Stars |
| Little Stars | |
| Car seat brand | Britax |
| Car seat model | Dualfix
|
| Description | This is an ERF car seat which can rear face from birth to 18kg (4 years), but with the option to forward face when you want to. It also features the Holy Grail of car seats, the ability to rotate 90 degrees to the side for easy entrance or exit of the child. €420. |
| Comments | Britax is a brand with a strong commitment to safety, and this looks like a good ERF car seat with features like automatic headrest and harness adjustment. Mothers will especially like the rotation feature. Other rear-facing candidates I saw in the Britax catalogue are the Max-fix II, the Max-way RF (rear facing to 6 years!) and the Multi Tech II (can rear face to 6 years, or turn forward facing at any time). |
