The best toddler car seats, tried and tested by parents

The Nuna Pruu car seat is an ISOFIX-compatible i-Size car seat suitable for birth to 19kg (about four years old); in the rear-facing position, it’s suitable to 105cm, then transitioning to forward-facing, it’s suitable from 76-105cm. This car seat is another with the game-changing 360 degree seat rotation, making it much easier to get your little one in and out of the seat; M&B tester and Contributor Sophie Knight said: “The rotation on this car seat is so smooth, one of the easiest ones I’ve tested. It’s intuitive to use, with side handles to click and swivel the seat around, and the movement glides with ease. There’s a button to slide when you want to swap from rear- to forward-facing.”

There are also small innovations to help make your life a little easier, with magnetic buckle holders to keep the harness straps out of the way while you’re getting your child in and out. Sophie said: “It’s the small things that make the difference, and while you might not notice if your car seat doesn’t have these innovations when you get a car seat with magnets to keep the harness out of the way, you really notice it. It might not be a ‘must-have’ when you’re shopping for a car seat, but it does make a lot of sense."

This car seat is full of safety tech, with side-impact protection pods that are easily slotted into place; there are coloured indicators to make sure the seat is installed correctly; it’s ISOFIX compatible; the base is integrated so there’s no need to buy it separately; and there’s a sturdy leg with more coloured indicators.

With five recline positions and six headrest heights that are easily adjustable with one hand, there’s plenty of room to make your little one comfy. Sophie continued: “The fabric is super soft against my daughter’s skin, and the padding is very snug and comfy. This car seat is great, and the only downside I could think of is how heavy it is when you’re installing it, but that’s because the base is integrated, and it’s not an issue as this isn’t really the sort of car seat I’d swap between cars.”

It is important to note that unlike some car seats, this one is only suitable up until four years old, so you would need to purchase another seat when your child reaches this age, which disappointed some parents who prefer to have a car seat that can transition to a high-backed booster seat for older children.

We really liked this car seat's safety features, particularly the side impact protection pod, which can be fixed to the side of the seat to create an additional safety zone. Surprisingly, testers didn't think this impacted the space in the car, but they were impressed by this feature. We also liked that it is compatible with ISOFIX and offers rear-facing travel until four years of age.

The Maxi-Cosi Pearl 360 Pro and FamilyFix 360 Pro base was awarded Silver for Best Baby/Toddler Car Seat (Stage 1/2) at the Mother&Baby Awards 2024.

If you've had enough of the bending, backache, head bangs and other general struggles that come hand-in-hand with car seats, you'll want to take a look at the Pearl 360 Pro and FamilyFix 360 Pro base. Not only does it feature 360° rotation, but it also has SlideTech™ - which, for many parents, is a game-changer. It works by the car seat base rotating and then sliding toward you using Maxi-Cosi’s patented SlideTech™ technology. M&B tester and Contributor Sophie Knight said: "Having a car seat that not only rotates but also slides pulls out is something I've not seen before, and made getting my daughter in and out of the car so much easier. The rotation movement of the seat was smooth and not jerky at all, unlike some car seats, and the buttons were instinctive and easy to use."

The Pearl 360 Pro car seat must be used with the FamilyFix 360 Pro base, which is an additional cost—£219.99 at the time of writing. You can also buy a bundle that includes the car seat, base, and newborn car seat Pebble 360 Pro—the 360 Pro bundle costs £779.97.

The Pearl 360 Pro is suitable from about three months to four years (61-105cm tall). The straps are reported to be easy to use, and our tester says they didn't twist or get tangled like some other car seats. Another parent tester says the car seat was so easy to use and install with the base, and their son seemed comfortable and content. They said it was reassuring to hear about the safety features of the seat, too, especially for a car seat that potentially lasts for so long. Another of our testers said that they would recommend this product to a friend because they feel like their little boy is really safe in the car seat because it is so well-padded.

One of the main complaints about this car seat is the higher price point. However, our tester liked that the car seat lasts for a good few years rather than having to upgrade it too often, as car seats aren’t a cheap product to buy, they say. So we think that this may make up for the high price tag for parents with a bigger budget.

Another comment was that the instructions weren't that easy to follow; Sophie Knight said: "The instructions - which you access through a QR code with your phone - are primarily just with illustrations. Personally I learn best when there are written instructions, so I did find it a bit more complicated - we all learn differently so this won't be an issue for everyone."

Read our full Maxi-Cosi Pearl 360 Pro and FamilyFix 360 Pro base review.

For parents seeking a budget-friendly product that still ticks all the right boxes, here is a fantastic i-Size ISOFIX car seat with that all-important 360° smooth rotating feature. Despite the exceptional price there is no compromise on quality safety features, making the Graco SnugGo a brilliant choice for your little one.

As far as cheap car seats go, this is one of the best, thanks to its numerous features. First of all, you get easy and instant installation with the intuitive rearward/forward-facing locking system and the added reassurance of an integrated colour-coded indicator. It's quick and easy to set up; M&B tester and contributor Sophie Knight commented: "I fitted this car seat, along with the SnugTurn ISOFIX car seat base, without any assistance from my other half, and it didn't take long. The base is quite bulky and heavy to move, but you'll only need to fit it once, so it's not a problem. The seat is easy to click into place, and the security of the sliding button to rotate from rear- to forward-facing gives lots of peace of mind and means you can't move it unintentionally."

Having the 360-degree rotation really makes getting your little one in and out of the seat supremely easy, especially if you had a C-section or if you suffer from a bad back. The rotating movement is smooth and easy to operate, using the two grab buttons on either side of the seat. Sophie continued: "It's so quick to rotate the seat around and get my daughter out of the seat; I love the safety aspect of having to click and slide the buttons before being able to swap from rear- to forward-facing modes. It means there's peace of mind if anyone like grandparents uses the car to take her anywhere but can't unintentionally change the position."

Let's not forget that side impact protection ensures powerful head/body protection at each stage—there are individual side-protection 'pods' that attach to either side of the seat. Plus, the no-re-thread harness guarantees a proper fit as your child grows.

The newborn insert is thick and comfy for babies, then the seat grows with your little one as they enter the toddler stage. The seat is suitable from birth to 105cm tall, which is about four years old. There are five recline positions and six headrest heights. An added bonus is being able to remove the car seat covers and bung them in the washing machine when drinks or snacks inevitably get spilt or dropped.

The SnugTurn ISOFIX base is an additional cost, so remember to factor this in when sorting your budget.

Won Bronze in the 2020 Mother&Baby Awards in the Best Rear-Facing Car Seat category.

This Axkid Minikid car seat allows your child to travel rear-facing up to 6-7 years of age, making it long-lasting, excellent value for money and one of the main reasons our mum tester Gemma would recommend it to other mums. Our other mum tester, Katherine, wasn't convinced that the seat would be practical for older kids as it only rear-facing that are up to 25kg. She personally couldn't imagine many six-year-olds being happy to rear-face but adds that this isn't a fault of the seat as it is clear that this is a safer option.

The car seat has easy installation, comfortable positioning and excellent protection from all angles. The harness can adjust easily to your baby's size and height, and the seat features self-tightening straps to ensure they ride comfortably and securely. Our mum tester, Mhari, likes that as well as feeling very sturdy and being so comfortable, the seat sits quite high so that baby can see out of the window. She says this made the process of going out for the day much easier, as her little one was more than happy to use the car seat. Mum Carys also likes the lower sides that allow her son to just about climb in and out himself, as well as the self-tightening tethers, making her life much easier.

Carys says that she found fitting the seat to be a bit complicated. If you're worried about this, though, you can get a demonstration by an Axkid professional when you buy the product in a shop. Carys says her demonstration was great and that they offer plenty of help and advice to ensure your car seat is fitted safely. Mum Katie adds that the company offers great support to its customers, with representatives who are clearly passionate and knowledgeable about their products available to contact for help and advice by various methods.

Based on the plus testing, mum Jennie said she would happily recommend the car seat to other mums. Some of our testers have noted that this product is quite pricey. We think that knowing if you were in an accident, your child would have the best possible chances for survival is priceless, and our other testers agree, but obviously, it's always best to shop within your budget. Mum Jo says the rigorous testing at both higher speeds and shorter stopping distances really does give her peace of mind that her daughter is safe as well as comfortable. Carys also said that this stopped her from worrying, and Katie agreed that this would be her main reason for recommending the car seat.

For those of you concerned with practicalities, Katie says she appreciated that the seat has a layer of removable padding, allowing for easier cleaning.

The Axkid Minikid 2 is the latest model of the car seat.

Read our full Axkid Minikid review

This rotating car seat from Joie is suitable from birth as a rear-facing seat to about four years or 105cm in height; once changed to forward-facing, it can be used from 76cm in height to 105cm (about 15 months to four years). The rotating seat turns 360 degrees, making it a breeze to use and saving you from months of backache; it’s a game-changer for baby car seats, and once you’ve used a rotating car seat, you won’t go back to static. The rotation is easy to operate and feels smooth to move.

There’s an easy-to-use button that allows you to switch from rear- to forward-facing positions; the seat won’t rotate to forward-facing unless you’ve switched this across. The handles for reclining the seat are on either side of the seat and are easy to grab and engage; there are six recliner positions, meaning plenty of options for getting your baby comfy.

Once the baby is toddling, and you want to progress to forward-facing, there’s a simple pull handle at the top that then allows you to extend the height of the head cushions, making the seat grow as your child does.

The ISOFIX connectors are pretty simple to use and install with a couple of clicks; the seat is weighty and bulky, however, and we found this one of the fiddliest to manoeuvre into the car – we had to move the driver’s seat forward to get in properly, which we didn’t have to do with most other seats – but it’s not difficult. It does require a bit of yoga while you press the front button and extend the connectors at the same time – we would recommend having two people if possible, for real ease. There’s a support leg to keep the seat stable and sturdy in place, with 19 settings to make sure it’s perfect, and green light indicators to show you if it’s fitted properly. There are also green light indicators for the ISOFIX fittings too.

There’s a five-point harness for ultimate safety, which is easy to adjust, tight, and loosen once you need to get the little one out.

The seat itself feels comfy and well-padded. The newborn insert comes in two parts for extra comfort, and it’s easy to remove the padded parts as the baby grows. They clip together with poppers to keep them in place.

This seat has high eco-friendly credentials, as it is made with 100 percent recycled materials, including 33 recycled plastic bottles.

This car seat is available in four different colours.

The only downside we could find was that there’s no way of the safety leg being stored when you take the seat out of the car, meaning it falls open and makes carrying it a bit clumsy. However this isn’t really a problem given the small number of times you’d probably be moving the seat in and out of the car. We did also find the instruction manual very short and minimal, but then the fittings are so intuitive that it didn’t matter.

Reviewed by mum Uanfin: "I like the fact that the safety buttons change from red to green when it’s installed correctly, and my son and I both love the rotating feature. He can climb in and out of the seat himself and as I’m over 35 weeks pregnant, rotating the seat to buckle it was great. The headrest was easy to adjust, and I like the reclining option for both rearward and forward facing."

Read our full Joie Baby i-Spin 360 review

While the rest of the options on our best-of list here are rear-facing or 360, the CYBEX Anoris T i-Size is truly innovative as it offers forward-facing travel from 15 months to six years. CYBEX has achieved this safely with an integrated full-body airbag on the front through the belt that secures your child in place. This is great if it's a bit of a battle to convince your toddler to face rearward; they'll feel very grown up indeed. You can also interact with your child a lot easier, and if they have older siblings they can face the same way.

Fitting the car seat into your car is easy, thanks to the ISOFIX fittings. Using the airbag harness means there's just one clasp to fasten, just like a normal seat belt clasp; it does feel strange at first not to have a five-point harness. The brand claims this full-body air bag design - the first in the world - gives up to 50 per cent more protection to your child than comparable seats. Such safety ratings are not to be sniffed at.

The car seat is of excellent quality, the materials are soft, and the range of colours is much more diverse than most car seats. However, the front 'bar' containing the airbag is quite bulky, and some parents reported it restricted the movement of their little ones; M&B tester and Contributor Sophie Knight said: "The innovation of this car seat is undoubtable, and the extensive safety features are amazing - there's no other car seat like this on the market. However, consider whether your child will be happy being restricted by the air bag. I have to admit I don't think this car seat will last my daughter until she's six - although the airbag harness section is very adjustable, it is, by nature, restrictive. I just don't think she'll be happy in it when she grows, unfortunately."

It is one of the pricier car seats on our list, but as it lasts from the age you'd be moving your little one out of their newborn/baby car seat all the way to six years old, it's quite good value considering they can safely face forwards for all that time.

Here's how mum-of-two Emily, one of our Mother&Baby testers, got on when trying out the CYBEX Anoris T i-size with her two-and-a-half-year-old son Theo: "Overall, I thought this was a fantastic product, the materials are excellent quality, and the car seat was easy to install with simple to follow instructions. We had zero problems moving it between our two cars and putting it in the grandparent's car, either. My son has long legs, and I felt bad squeezing him into rear face, though I know it is the safest option. It's a relief for both of us that this CYBEX is perfectly safe, a reassurance for me, and he feels much happier to be forward-facing. Especially because he has an older sister, he can now interact with her a lot easier when in the car. I did think his arms looked a little bundled up, but aside from on longer car journeys (when he'd start to get fidgety anyway), it doesn't seem to bother him too much."

The Dualfix 5Z car seat is suitable from about three months up to four years—that's up to 105cm tall or 18kg. It is secured in your car using the Britax Vario Base 5Z, which comes at an additional cost, so do remember that when you're budgeting.

This Britax car seat is a rotating option, smoothly rotating 306 degrees to help you get your child in and out of the seat easily. The rotation operates easily with side buttons, and coloured indicators show if it's been fitted correctly. The leg anchor on the base also has coloured safety indicators. This seat means your child can stay rear-facing for longer.

There are 12 recline positions for the seat, ensuring your little one stays comfy on car journeys, and the V-shaped headrest gives extra comfort and security. M&B tester and Contributor Sophie Knight said: "The base is easy to set up with ISOFIX anchors, and the coloured buttons made it easy to see if the seat was fitted correctly. It was quite light to carry and easy to install. The rotation wasn't quite as smooth as some car seats I've tested, but worked well and was easy to figure out thanks to the efficient instructions - which you access by scanning a QR code and then downloading the manual to your phone. My daughter was comfortable in both rear- and forward-facing positions."

This Britax car seat is available in a range of colours, including two Luxe options which feature a quilted fabric; Sophie continued: "It's good to see so many colour options rather than just black or grey. I like the Luxe options as they give the car seat a bit more of a luxurious feel." The covers are also removable and washable.

The Graco SlimFit R129 is a two-in-one car seat that will be suitable from birth to about 12 years – meaning you only need to invest in one car seat to last you for years, growing and changing as your child develops.

It fits into your car using the existing seat belts rather than an ISOFIX connector, which makes it easier if you’re planning on swapping car seats between cars, either between parents or even if grandparents are travelling with your child. It’s also slimmer than most car seats, making it great if you have a smaller car and less space.

For newborns, the rear-facing position keeps them safer for longer, then changing to forward-facing when they’re old enough; the seat then adapts into a high-back booster seat as your child grows. It’s suitable from birth to 105cm tall, about four years, in the rear-facing position; for forward-facing, it’s suitable from 100-145cm, about 12 years old.

When you extend the headrest height, the side wings also expand, meaning extra room for your child all around. Our tester and contributor, Sophie Knight, said, “I found it really easy to extend the height of the headrest, whereas some car seats can be clunky and heavy to alter.”

For extra safety, the seat has side-impact protection pods that are individually attached to the sides.

The harness is a five-point design, which is easy to use and connect. Sophie continued, “Some car seat belt connectors are tricky to get aligned, especially when your child is wriggling around refusing to sit still, but this one was quick to align and easy to click in.” When you move to the booster seat position, the harness tucks away neatly behind the seat padding so you can use the car's seatbelt.

The car seat features six recline positions – two in rear-facing and four in forward-facing positions – plus the headrest can be altered to 10 different heights. An added bonus is that you don’t have to re-thread the harness belts when you alter the headrest, unlike some car seats.

The car seat cover is quilted and feels luxurious; plus, the cover is removable and washable. Sophie said: “The car seat seems brilliantly comfy with a gorgeous quilted fabric, and the newborn insert was really thick and supportive. The thickness meant it was a fiddle to fit into the car with the seat belt initially, but once I got the hang of it, it was straightforward. I’m always a bit wary of car seats that are fitted using the seatbelt – only because I worry that I haven’t fitted it properly – but it was easy to understand the instructions and I also followed a video explaining the installation, which made things easier.”

Some parents might prefer to have an ISOFIX car seat, but for £150, we can’t complain.

This rotating car seat is suitable from birth to 150cm in height (about 12 years), meaning it’ll last a really long time – you probably won’t need to buy another car seat if you invest in this one.

The i-Size standard means you can use this seat for baby in a rear-facing position until they are 105cm, about four years old. After that, switch to forward-facing until they’re about 12 years old.

The seat isn’t too heavy to carry and manoeuvre into place and fit safely; this was pretty easy to fit by yourself, rather than needing two people. It did require a bit of trial and error to figure out the combination to get everything fitted correctly; the leg support must be fully extended out horizontally before you can rotate the seat. We found the instructions less than clear, with lots of numbers and references that were not totally transparent. But once you’ve got everything in the right combination, there are coloured indicators to make sure everything is fitted safely and correctly. The ISOFIX connectors are independent, so you have to fit them one at a time, adding a bit of fiddle time.

The rotating function is a game-changer for car seats, and we thoroughly recommend a car seat with a 360 rotation. It makes getting your child in and out of the car seat so easy and without any pressure on your back. The rotation in this car seat is smooth and easy to operate with a button at the front.

Once your little one grows into the forward-facing seat position, you can adjust the headrest height with a simple-to-use pull ring at the top.

There’s a newborn insert with extra padding for babies, which is easy to remove once they grow. The fabric cover is removable and washable, which is a bonus. There are different recline modes for both rear and forward-facing, making sure nap times can be comfy.

The only downside we really found was that this is only available in one colour.

Read our full Ickle Bubba Radius 360 Spin Car Seat review - which is the previous version of the new i-Size Plus that we've tested above.