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My Baby is now big enough to be facing forward in her car seat. To accommodate this new “forward facing” era, I was looking for a car seat with superior safety features, slim design, unbeatable comfort and easy installation. I found these features and more in the Safe-n-Sound Compaq AHR.

After unpacking the Compaq from it’s box, I put the car seat in the forward facing position in my car. I could easily thread the seatbelt through the back of the seat with lots of room for my hands to manouvre and then I secured it to the anchor point. The Compaq AHR was really straightforward for me to install.

I was impressed that I could adjust the harness height from the ‘front’ and ‘back’ of the seat. Being able to adjust from the ‘front’ saves lots of mucking around, threading and unthreading the harness. The harness remains installed the whole time – saving time and improving safety. If you prefer to have your car seat fitted by an authorised restraint fitter, these can be easily found in each state, in NSW check the RMS website.

The AHR stands for ‘Active Head Restraint’ and the Compaq has been designed with deep side wings to shield and contain your child’s head in a side impact. These side wings are EPS foam lined, providing additional protection in a side impact crash.

The slim design is perfect for bigger families and the 15mm less depth, makes this compact child restraint ideal for larger Australian families to accommodate 3 seats across the back seat (plus not have a squashed adult in the front)! The Compaq AHR would be ideal for smaller vehicles too.

This reversible car seat may be used from birth to 4 years old. The rearward facing position is made even more comfortable with a gorgeous baby insert and shoulder pads to provide support for a younger baby. My Big Baby was so comfortable in the Compaq AHR that she fell asleep mid-journey! Oh, it is exhausting being one!

There are even 3 recline positions in forward facing mode to make life even more comfortable for your little one. The fabric is fabulously soft and the Compaq AHR is available in four colours – black, grey, cool berry and blue. I think the side pocket for extra storage is great and I’m pleased the cover is fully machine washable.

The Compaq AHR is well designed with safety, ease of use, comfort and versatility all achieved in a neat compact car seat. To find out more about the Compaq AHR and the full range of Safe-n-Sound car seats visit the Britax website.

When Baby was outgrowing her Safe-n-Sound capsule and approaching 8kg, it was time to consider the next step in car safety. After some research I found the National Road Safety Law in Australia for child restraint and booster seat require the following:

Children less than six months to be secured in an approved, properly fastened and adjusted, rear-facing child restraint, such as an infant capsule;

Children from six months to less than four years must be secured in an approved, properly fastened and adjusted, rear-facing child restraint or a forward-facing child restraint with an inbuilt harness;

Children aged from four years to less than seven years must wear an approved, properly fastened and adjusted, forward-facing child restraint with in-built harness or an approved booster seat which is properly positioned and fastened; and

From seven years of age children can travel in a car secured in either: a booster seat; a booster seat and child harness; a seat belt and child harness; or the car’s seat belt.

I have found this link on the Britax website to provide a good summary of the Road Safety Guides for Child Restraints and Boosters for each Australian State.

I found there were two main options for us for car travel with Baby weighing more than 8kg. The first option was to purchase a convertible car seat (capable of rear-facing and forward-facing) for Baby while in a weight range of 8-18kg and then buy a booster seat with in-built harness. The second option was to purchase a forward-facing convertible booster seat for Baby while in a weight range of 8-26kg.

The longevity of the second option and the comfort of Baby travelling in a seat which remains her own, made the choice easy for us – Option 2. Now, I needed to find the right Convertible Booster Seat.

A good friend of mine with twins recommended the Safe-n-Sound Maxi-Rider AHR Convertible Booster Seat. The AHR stands for ‘Active Head Restraint’ for ultimate head protection. Her twins went straight from their capsules to their Safe-n-Sound Maxi-Riders. She explained the Maxi-Rider experience, “It’s like sitting in Gold Class in the cinema, with an adjustable headrest, fitted armrests, soft padded fabric and even has two cup holders – one on each side. The babies are more comfortable than I am.”

I was convinced, safety and comfort were the overwhelming priorities for my baby and with it’s ‘Gold Class’ reputation – the Safe-n-Sound Maxi Rider AHR sounded perfect for Baby. So I visited the Baby Kingdom store in Bankstown to look at the product. Laura the Sales Assistant at Baby Kingdom pointed out all the safety and comfort features I had researched earlier. I must say the staff at Baby Kingdom have great product knowledge and are very helpful. So I left Baby Kingdom satisfied with my purchase of the Safe-n-Sound Maxi-Rider AHR.

I opened the box of the Maxi-Rider and the first step was to determine how to adjust the shoulder rest and AHR Headrest (up and down). This is easiest done by putting the the seat on the floor at home. The second step was to fit Baby in the Maxi-Rider according to her height. So I placed Baby in the seat, which was on the floor against a wall and found that as the seat comes in the smallest setting, it was a perfect fit for Baby, no further adjustment was needed for the headrest for Baby. The third step was to decide whether to keep the seat upright or recline it with the recliner foot at the back. We decided to keep the seat upright. The fourth step was to fit the Maxi-Rider in the car with the seat belt and anchorage point. I thread the seat belt easily through the back of the Maxi-Rider and anchored the seat to the anchorage point in my car. The fifth step was to place Baby in the Max-Rider and adjust the shoulder straps, pressing the button to lengthen and pulling on the strap. It was all really easy.

To make it even easier, a DVD comes with the Maxi-Rider which shows you how to fit the Maxi-Rider step by step. This was far more interactive than an instruction manual – which is there if you need it.

In addition to the ‘Active Head Restraint’ here are some of the other safety features of the Maxi-Rider; deep side wings with EPS liner for greater side impact protection, fully adjustable six point harness, tether strap anchors for better security and stability, push button harness adjustment strap and quick release harness button.

While the features make it good from a safety and comfort perspective – it looks good too! The Maxi-Rider is space efficient, I measured the depth of the Maxi-Rider as 41cm and it finishes before the edge of my car’s backseat. Creating lots of space for the driver and front passenger to move their seats back to enjoy plenty of leg room. The Maxi-Rider comes in three colours: Midnight Grey, Oxford and Pure Black – I chose Pure Black.

Visit the Britax website to find out more information on the Maxi-Rider AHR Convertible Booster Seat and to purchase the Maxi-Rider online from Baby Kingdom click on this link to the Baby Kingdom website.