8 best baby car mirrors to keep an eye on your little ones

The biggest mirror on test was also the best. BeSafe’s XL2 makes it easy to see your baby at a glance without any need to fiddle with the angle after you’ve attached the mirror to the headrest with straps. When darkness falls, a remote control designed to be popped on the sun visor makes it easy to check on little ones without disturbing them, and the warm light switches itself off after two minutes. While this is one of the more expensive mirrors on the market, we reckon it’s worth the spend.

Try a car mirror with built-in lights and we bet you’ll never go back to squinting at your baby in the dark again. Littlelife’s model with lights is a good shout – the mirror itself is easy to install and to tilt, and is slightly convex, giving a good field of vision. Remote-controlled LED lights make for easy viewing of your baby in a rear-facing car seat after dark and they only light up baby’s face, so they don’t create distractions. You’ll need to replace the mirror’s AA and the remote’s AAA batteries regularly.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – Axkid’s car seat mirror is slim and simple, but effective. Plastic clips on an adjustable bracket make it easy to get the mirror to stay snugly in place and it provides a decent field of vision, while the black frame doesn’t offer any distractions. We noticed that the non-glare treatment helps with glancing at baby in low light – usually passing headlights can make it hard to look in your rearview mirror. A fuss-free, good quality choice for under £20.

Like Swedish brand Thule’s car seats, this no-frills mirror feels sturdy and well made. You’ll need to get the four straps, which are designed to attach it to any headrest, pretty tight for a snug fit, but once in place this mirror offers a good field of vision and what felt like a cleaner, clearer view than some other mirrors on test. The tilt function is good, and the angle stays put even if the car bounces about a bit.

Most car mirrors are, frankly, quite boring - not so Infantino’s 3-in-1 elephant mirror, which is designed to attached to a car headrest but is also easy to use as an on-the-go toy or to be propped up at home for a bit of tummy time while your little one is gazing in the mirror. Babies will love looking at their reflection as well as playing with the brightly coloured rings, rattles and ribbons attached. As a car seat this design is a bit on the small and flimsy side and won’t tilt, but it’s perfectly functional and works fine for occasional use.

Simple and easy to adjust, Ickle Bubba’s offering fits on any car headrest and the straps were some of the sturdiest we tested. They keep the mirror firmly in place and are easy to unclip when you want to remove the mirror, so it’s quick to swap this design to another car or to take it on holiday. The mirror offers a good view of baby, although it does need angling down a bit to make sure you can see most of their face and body. The minimalist black design provides distraction-free driving.

Our tiny tester loved the cutesy design of this teddy bear mirror, and it does the job well as well as looking attractive – a hinge makes the mirror easy to adjust to the perfect angle, although we found it hard to get the straps tight enough to completely stop the mirror from jerking around when we were driving on rougher country roads. Maxi Cosi crash test their designs, and this mirror certainly feels sturdy and nigh-on impossible to break.

Slim and simple, this car mirror is affordable but still offers a good wide view of baby and can be tilted. Littlelife’s design easily slots into pockets on the back of a car seat when not in use and is equally easy to pack in a backpack, so it’s great for taking abroad or for popping in a grandparent’s car when someone else is picking up your child. At under £13, it’s also an affordable choice that still delivers effective safety at less than half the price of our most expensive pick.