How to buy a car seat

Today I'm about to start looking for a car seat for the new arrival. And these are the questions I hope are answered during my research
  • How should I choose one? What should I look for?
Turns out there are tons of resources online to decide how to choose one. Most of them echo the same ideas. Car seats should be easy to install and use, there should be a 5 point restraint system, should be comfortable, the baby's head should be well supported, they should be washable. I liked the baby center articles on car seats. Here's one of them. There are two kinds of car seats that are suitable for infants - Infant Car Seats and Convertible Car Seats. Baby center has detailed information on each of these as well.

I also liked the website of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). NHTSA has used a five star rating system to rate ease of use of certain car seats. This has made short listing really easy for me. Check this out.
  • Which ones are safest? There are so many in the market.
Every one of them in the market in the US is safe and is available only after stringent safety / crash tests. Buying a second hand car seat is probably not a good idea, especially from some one you don't know, because for one thing you never know if it has been in an accident and second all car seats wear out with time. So new ones are safest.
  • How expensive is too expensive? The price range is very wide
See the ease of use ratings on the NHTSA site, read customer reviews on popular store sites like Target and Babies 'R Us. You might also want to visit the store to touch and see the seat yourself and then rely on your judgment based on all these.
  • Which is better - an infant seat or a convertible one so I don't have to buy a new one a year from now?
The infant car seats are safer for infants. They are better contoured to securely hold infants. They also provide support at the right places. Most resources recommend infant car seats for infants than the convertible ones.
  • How will I know if the baby will find it comfortable?
I read reviews from customers of some of the car seats and some of them are pretty good reviews covering things like head and neck support. I think customer reviews are a good place to start.

Comments

  1. Nita StellingApril 8, 2011 at 11:18 PM

    Oh, thank goodness I came across your blog. My sister and her husband will buy a car seat next week. They don't know what to choose so I've been searching online for it. I'll let her look at your blog today.

    ReplyDelete

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