The Maxi-Cosi Jade is the first R129 compliant safety carrycot to travel with a baby in the car. If you're planning longer car journeys during the first few months, you'll also be reassured that your baby will travel in the recommended 'lie-flat' position. The Jade ensures a 180 degree horizontal lie-flat for your newborn, which makes it a full lie-flat car seat option. Offering ultimate comfort for sleeping babies, Jade car cot is easy to install in the car on the 3wayFix base which provides safe ISOFIX and a convenient Slide and Go installation.
Why do you think this product is so different to anything else on the market?
Alice: I have not seen a product like the Maxi-Cosi Jade before in the fact that the baby can lie completely flat. In essence, it is a carrycot that can be safely transported in the car and allows your baby to remain in a sleeping position. Having premature babies this is something that would have appealed to me in the earlier days as they were very small and had to have inserts in their car seats and I always had the worry of them slipping down and restricting airways. I think this would then have been reassuring for me however, now they are older it is not really something that is so beneficial to me. The style is lovely and I can see that a lot of people would love the design.
Sarah: This Maxi-Cosi Jade car seat is in carrycot style and therefore allows the baby to lie completely flat whilst travelling, and not sat upright as in other car seats. It is marketed at newborn up to 70cm in length babies.
It is installed via a handy 3wayFix base which makes getting the car seat in and out of the car easy peasy with the push of a button you can lift the carrycot from the 3wayFix base. It is easy to install the car seat onto the 3wayFix base and secure it in place.
It looks stylish and is a product that I would be proud to be seen using. The carrycot has the true appearance of a carrycot and comes with a matching sun hood and cover, making it practical to use both inside and outside of the car.
Rebecca: I love the fact that the Isofix base can later be used for more traditional rear and forward-facing car seats as the baby gets older. This does save on future costs as you do not need to purchase another Isofix base. The fact that it can only be used with an isofix base may cause an issue for some. If for example, grandparents are borrowing the seat for the day, the whole unit has to be transferred to their car. You, therefore, need to check it is compatible with all cars within which it may be used. Traditional car seats always have the option of being fastened with a seatbelt if the base is not compatible.
Why does it change your life with your baby?
Alice: When newborn I would imagine that this is more comfortable for them and allows them to sleep. Also, I would have used this Maxi-Cosi Jade when they were smaller as a carrycot and would have had them sleep in the car and then be able to carry them out and leave them in the flat position to sleep once inside negating the need to wake up the babies and carry them inside. I like that this can be added onto a frame so you have a carrycot style buggy so you can take baby out for longer periods as they are lying flat.
Rebecca: You don’t have to wake your baby up to transfer them between the car and pram. You can also make longer journeys with fewer stops, great if you need to do a lot of travelling with a small baby. It is very easy to get in and out of the car, although it is heavier than traditional car seats and having had a c-section, I would have really struggled to lift this for a long time.
The Isofix base is very easy to install and transfer between two cars meaning you don’t necessarily need to purchase a second car seat for your partners/grandparents car (as long as they are compatible).
Sarah: This allowed me to lie baby flat in a carrycot whilst travelling. I used the Maxi-Cosi Jade with my 5 1/2-month-old baby and at this age he has seemed to enjoy it. He does settle quicker than when put into an upright car seat and sleeps well on travelling in it. He also seems to enjoy that we are able to hang a soft toy to keep him entertained (although to be honest he is always asleep pretty quickly). A thought I have though is that I am not sure as a newborn he would have tolerated this carrycot car seat due to reflux. This leads me to wonder about its cost efficiency because I think it would have a relatively short window of use given that at this age he has nearly outgrown the carrycot (he is however on the 91st centile for weight /length).
What excites you about this product?
Sarah: It is a stylish product and is attractive to look at. I tested the grey. If the size and weight are not an issue to you the ability to purchase adaptors and transfer a carrycot to a pram base allowing parents to hopefully disturb baby less on transferring baby out of the car would be a definite positive and is exciting. The carrycot mattress appears comfortable and soft, and baby appeared to be very comfortable on it. The other important and useful point to note is there was very little assembly and the product was ready to go in the car within 10 minutes of arrival.
Alice: I think the fact that this allows your baby to sleep in a safe position and able to lie flat is something innovative and not something I have seen out there on the market. Having a newborn baby can be quite an anxious thing when travelling in a car and this reduced a lot of anxiety around blocked airways when they are too small for any sort of head control. I think also for travelling parents this would be ideal and allow for longer travelling times again without worrying about the position of the baby.
What one thing would you change about this product?
Sarah: I had had high hopes that this carrycot car seat would be easy to use outside of the car and had initially thought WOW this will be great if it is easily transferrable to carry by hand and alternatively onto a pram base. Unfortunately, my initial high hopes for this product were slightly deflated. It is heavy, much heavier than a standard newborn car seat and so unfortunately I did not find it easy to transfer the carrycot. Secondly,unfortunately I was unable to test it on a pram base because it required a different adaptor than I already had for my other maxi-cosi seat (however this is not uncommon for different car seats to required different adaptors so I would not mark down on this alone) but the weight would possibly hinder this transfer.
Alice: For me, this is not something that I would actually purchase. I loved the sound of it initially and the product is really lovely and of high quality. I think, however, that its use is rather limited. If this product could be converted from flat into something of an upright position I think it would make it a lot better. It says it is suitable for up to 6 months but I disagree with the reality of this. This would have been perfect for my babies for the first couple of months when they were newborn and slept in the car but then very quickly they wanted to be upright and able to see in the car. For this reason, I don’t think you would get the value for money as after a couple of months you would perhaps want a different car seat.
Rebecca: The one thing I would change about this product is the price. Whilst it is an entirely new concept, the price will make it unaffordable for many. In addition, the car seat has a limited lifespan (6 months) and this makes it very expensive compared to more traditional car seats which are a similar price but can be used for the first 18 months of a baby’s life.