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Q. I guess you can say we waited kind of late to start looking into car seats since I'm due on the 20th. Since this is our first baby,which is a boy =), my boyfriend and I want to find the safest car seat so I was wondering if there was a website where I could find out and/or compare seats? I also was wondering if you had a particular car seat and/or company you'd like to recommend? We're looking for just the seat,not a travel system in particular but either is fine. Thanks in advance.
Answer
Carseat.org (link below) is a great resource. Here's some things to keep in mind about car seat safety though.
1) It needs to fit in your car safely. Depending on your car, that can limit what you can get. For instance, the Radian XTSL is a great car seat, but is a bit tall and I've heard that it doesn't fit well in every car. Infants need to be at a 45degree angle until at least 8-9 months old so it's important that it does fit the car well. Car-seat.org I've been told will help you find car seats that will fit your car, there's a lot of experts there. Otherwise I recommend people going to a Babies R Us and trying out car seats they want to buy to make sure it will fit.
2) The longer your child can rear-face the better. (second-link)
3) Infant seats are molded to fit the child better than convertibles, but if money is a concern a great convertible that will rear-face a long time is better than getting a cheap infant-seat then turning them around at a year.
4) Babies should not sit in a car seat any longer than necessary because of breathing problems they found with the inclined position (third link.) They should ride in a car seat in the car every time of course, but no putting the car seat on a shopping cart (major safety issues doing that anyway), be allowed to stay sleeping in it when you arrive some place, have it put on a stroller, and so on. Use it for in the car.
Alright, so I like Britax car seats for safety, but I've been told the convertible ones don't really fit infants very well. We have a Graco-My-Ride which rear-faces to 40lbs and forward faces to 65lbs and a Britax Decathlon (they don't make them anymore, but it's still not expired yet.) For my newborn though we got the Graco Snugride-35 which goes to 35lbs. It has a dial that allows you to adjust the angle of the car seat so you don't have to fight that as much, a good amount of side-impact protection, and I absolutely love the hood of it. The Chicco was another I was considering because of it's high safety rating. The Baby Trend car seats test very high in safety, but they are also a pain in the neck to latch up the baby in. Again, go to a Toys R Us or Target and try it out and you'll see what I mean. You have to hold the buckle together to put it in... if the baby is squirming (like mine so far never has...) then you've got an issue.
If you have the money, I honestly recommend an infant car seat, then at 6+ months switching to a Britax car seat (they're releasing a new line that goes 40lbs rear facing and 70lbs forward facing in a harness, which means you'll be using it for 6 years for most kids, which is the expiration right now, so you'll get a full use out of them and they're some of the safest out there. They have a steel frame inside and wonderfully soft padding and are known for being top safety rated.) Britax are expensive, as much as $300-400, but again you're getting a lot of years, and there are some that are less expensive. Plus if you watch Toys R Us and other sales then you can usually get them for cheaper than that.
Carseat.org (link below) is a great resource. Here's some things to keep in mind about car seat safety though.
1) It needs to fit in your car safely. Depending on your car, that can limit what you can get. For instance, the Radian XTSL is a great car seat, but is a bit tall and I've heard that it doesn't fit well in every car. Infants need to be at a 45degree angle until at least 8-9 months old so it's important that it does fit the car well. Car-seat.org I've been told will help you find car seats that will fit your car, there's a lot of experts there. Otherwise I recommend people going to a Babies R Us and trying out car seats they want to buy to make sure it will fit.
2) The longer your child can rear-face the better. (second-link)
3) Infant seats are molded to fit the child better than convertibles, but if money is a concern a great convertible that will rear-face a long time is better than getting a cheap infant-seat then turning them around at a year.
4) Babies should not sit in a car seat any longer than necessary because of breathing problems they found with the inclined position (third link.) They should ride in a car seat in the car every time of course, but no putting the car seat on a shopping cart (major safety issues doing that anyway), be allowed to stay sleeping in it when you arrive some place, have it put on a stroller, and so on. Use it for in the car.
Alright, so I like Britax car seats for safety, but I've been told the convertible ones don't really fit infants very well. We have a Graco-My-Ride which rear-faces to 40lbs and forward faces to 65lbs and a Britax Decathlon (they don't make them anymore, but it's still not expired yet.) For my newborn though we got the Graco Snugride-35 which goes to 35lbs. It has a dial that allows you to adjust the angle of the car seat so you don't have to fight that as much, a good amount of side-impact protection, and I absolutely love the hood of it. The Chicco was another I was considering because of it's high safety rating. The Baby Trend car seats test very high in safety, but they are also a pain in the neck to latch up the baby in. Again, go to a Toys R Us or Target and try it out and you'll see what I mean. You have to hold the buckle together to put it in... if the baby is squirming (like mine so far never has...) then you've got an issue.
If you have the money, I honestly recommend an infant car seat, then at 6+ months switching to a Britax car seat (they're releasing a new line that goes 40lbs rear facing and 70lbs forward facing in a harness, which means you'll be using it for 6 years for most kids, which is the expiration right now, so you'll get a full use out of them and they're some of the safest out there. They have a steel frame inside and wonderfully soft padding and are known for being top safety rated.) Britax are expensive, as much as $300-400, but again you're getting a lot of years, and there are some that are less expensive. Plus if you watch Toys R Us and other sales then you can usually get them for cheaper than that.
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