Buying a Car Seat for Your Baby

The first step when buying car seats – NO SECOND HAND! Seats which have been in an accident are NOT safe!

For your newborn, you’ll want one of the infant carriers, some of which come as part of a travel system. Consider the following:

a) Is the handle comfortable? You’ll be carrying this increasingly heavy carrier for several months. Try a variety of different brands. Personally, I loved the Graco seats with the “Z” handle. Go to the baby store, and put a heavy package of diapers into the seat you’re considering, then carry it around for a while. Is your hand comfortable with the way it’s facing, or would another choice be more comfortable for you. This is important… you’re going to be carrying that seat around for the better part of a year, and the baby won’t get any lighter.

b) Is it easy to get in and out of the base? Think of trying to move a sleeping baby from a car in the dark; you really don’t want to struggle.

c) Can I purchase a separate base for the second car? This is a great feature, since you can keep a separate base in each car, and just transfer the baby back and forth.

d) The fabric: will it hide stains? This is important!! Cutesy pastels simply won’t compare with durable dark fabric.

At some point before the baby is a year old, you’ll be changing to a child car seat. Think about registering for one of these as well, or better yet, one for each car. You’ll have a choice of one with a padded bar in front of baby and one with a “five point harness.” For larger babies, the five point harness is probably the better choice. On the other hand, some 2 1/2 year olds have been known to shimmy out of the shoulder straps; the only thing holding them in until parents could pull over (on the Expressway, no less!) is that padded bar.