The Best Infant Car Seat To Keep Your Baby Safe and Comfortable

Choosing The Most Effective Infant Car Seat: A Buying Guide

Infant car seats are one of the most important purchases for a new parent. These seats offer the ideal fit for newborns and smaller children and are the primary source of safety for your children when traveling with them in a vehicle. It is normal to get overwhelmed while choosing one – especially with the vast variety today.

The safest car seat for your infant will be one that you can securely install into your vehicle, that fits your child’s size and age, and that you can use easily. Just looking at the safety rating is hardly enough; just because it has been rated ‘safest’ doesn’t mean that it will be compatible with your vehicle or your child. You need to look for the best seat, and here’s a guide to help you do just that.

The Upsides and Downsides of Investing In An Infant Car Seat

Infant car seats are the most popular car seats for newborns. They are only rear-facing and have carrying handles and a base to snap the seat in and out of. Most of these kinds of seats are meant for babies weighing between 4 to 30 pounds.

The Advantages

Infant car seats can easily be snapped in and out of the car seat and are designed keeping portability in mind. They are also compatible with strollers to provide new parents with added convenience and ease of use. They are also lighter than convertible seats and much easier to switch between different vehicles.

The Disadvantages

Unfortunately, infant car seats have their limitations as well. They cannot be positioned in more upright rear-facing positions, and because they are rear-facing, they offer very limited legroom. They also have limited height and weight restrictions, which means that your child will grow out of them pretty soon, and you will have to invest in a new one after the child is slightly older and bigger.

Things To Consider When Buying An Infant Car Seat

Your Lifestyle

Again, your car seat needs to suit your needs. If you travel a lot with your child, your car seat must be easy to operate. A frequent traveler should also ideally go for a lightweight seat that can fit on your stroller. However, always purchase your stroller based on your car seat purchase and not the other way around because the car seat is more important for your child’s safety.

Safety and Legality

The most important thing to remember about the car seat you buy is the safety it will offer your infant. That is the primary purpose of this purchase, so you need to ensure that that purpose is being fulfilled at any cost. In most countries, you have organizations to test and evaluate car seat safety and set regulations for the kinds that are permitted. Car seats that are certified by these organizations have been crash tested thoroughly before they are assigned a safety score. Look for certified seats with high safety scores and those meeting the minimum road safety standards.

Size

Ensure that the seat you buy fits your infant’s height and weight. Especially for smaller babies, ensure that the seat buckles around the child snugly and tightly. The right size is essential for ensuring your baby is secured. According to the CDC, risk of infant fatalities goes down by 71 percent for children appropriately secured in a car seat.

Comfort

Your baby should be comfortable and snug enough in their seat to fall asleep. If your child isn’t comfortable, that’s going to make for a terrible journey for them, as well as for you!

Ensure that the seat you buy comes with extra padding and that its material is breathable and lightweight.

Ease of Installation

According to statistics, 46 percent of child seats and boosters are not installed correctly, which leaves children at a higher risk of getting injured or dying in car crashes. Since you’ll probably be regularly installing and uninstalling your infant car seat in your car, it’s important to ensure the seat is easy to install. Ideally, you should pick a seat with a dedicated installation base, making the entire process a lot easier. With this base, all you need to do once is install the base into your car and plug the seat in and out as per your requirements.

Compatibility

For added convenience, your car seat should be compatible with your stroller. However, you should buy your stroller to fit the car seat you’ve bought rather than vice versa. With this compatibility, you can easily unplug the seat from the car and clip it onto your stroller for portability.

Maintenance

Children can be messy, which means you’ll need to clean your car seat pretty often. You want to buy one made of materials that are easy to wash and maintain. The seat should be removable and washable, so you don’t have to worry about not getting under certain spots. Ideally, they should also be dryer-safe, so you don’t worry about drying them up completely after a thorough wash.

Portability

The more lightweight the car seat, the more portable it will be. This shouldn’t be a deciding factor when buying a car seat, but it’s something worth looking into when you’re shopping. Also, look for designs with handles and seat canopies for comfortable and wider usage.

Recline

The recline angle on your infant’s car seat is important because it supports the child’s head. Especially for newborns, this support is critical. Look for a car seat that can be reclined to a safe angle and doesn’t easily shift from that angle to prevent your baby’s head from flopping forward. All car seats can change the recline angle, but not all of them function properly.

Extra Features

You want to make parent life as easy as possible, so having a few extra features without compromising the primary ones can be beneficial. Some features include a 5-point harness, a car seat base, cushion side-impact protection, an anti-rebound bar, compatibility with the LATCH system, and non-rethreading straps.