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Home > Baby Gear > Car Seats > Infant Car Seats   OVERVIEW Unless you plan on using a convertible car seat from birth (and they can't be easily removed from the car and toted into Target), the infant car seat is your baby's first (of many) car seats. Infant car seats, also called infant car seat carriers, have a plastic handle that allows you to carry baby like a (very heavy) purse, transporting baby from house to car to mall and back again with (relative) ease. The most important features of any car seat are safety, installation ease and vehicular fit. There is no perfect seat for all children or all cars. Pick one that best suits your child and your vehicle. And because not every car seat fits perfectly in every vehicle, you should save all packaging and receipts until you are sure you have a good fit. Since all car seats sold in the United States must meet stringent government safety standards and are closely regulated, more expensive models don't necessarily mean a safer buy. In many cases, the extra money is for luxury conveniences like fancier fabric, and extra accessories like foot muffs or wind breakers. But thanks to a higher class cache and deeper product development pockets, the more expensive car seat brands have historically been ahead of the curve for offering extra safety features that go above-and-beyond government requirements, like side impact protection. Children are our most precious cargo, so if you can afford it, we recommend getting a seat with the most safety features available. Thankfully, the newest safety features trickle down to the less costly seats rather quickly, as we've recently seen with side impact protection. Infant car seat carriers are made of hard, molded plastic and feature two parts: the actual seat and the base. Most infant car seats can be used alone in a car or with their base, although a few require the use of their base at all times. Used alone, you simply strap the car seat into your car using the car's seat belts. The downside is you must safely re-strap the seat each time you remove it. (Incorrect installation is the cause of most infant car accident injuries). Or you can strap the car seat base into your car (using seat belts or LATCH), leave it attached, and snap your car seat on and off its base every time you leave the car. While using the car seat base is the most foolproof and convenient method, there were some models that snapped off their bases during accidents in government crash tests when the baby rider was near the weight limit. While those seats were recalled, we highly recommend you pay close attention to the weight and height limits on infant car seats, as they differ among manufacturers. So, aside from safety, installation ease and vehicular fit, what features should you look for? Check the harness type: three-point harnesses are available, but five-point are considered better because they cut down on a baby's ability to wiggle free. Also look for a chest clip that actually snaps together rather than just loops around the straps, as little Houdinis have been known to free their arms from the latter. And we find sun canopies are especially useful to shield poor baby's eyes, both in and out of the car. Finally, since carrying infant car seats causes more repetitive strain injuries to new moms than any other activity, make sure you choose a model that's easy and comfortable for you to carry. Most seats range in weight from 6 - 10 pounds, which doesn't seem like a lot, but that doesn't include your 18-pound baby. Experts recommend you carry the seats in front of you rather than over your forearm like a purse, but be warned, the awkward positioning takes some getting used to. Great Car Seat Safety References: American Academy of Pediatrics Car Seat Safety Guide     http://www.aap.org/family/carseatguide.htm Safe Kids Child Passenger Safety     http://www.usa.safekids.org/skbu/cps/index.html National Hwy Traffic Safety Admin "Ease of Use" Ratings     http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/CPS/CSSRating/Index.cfm A NOTE ON SAFE INSTALLATION Because the safest seat in the world won't do its job if it's not installed correctly, we highly recommend stopping by child passenger safety seat inspection location to check your seat. Think you've got it down? Think again! The NHTSA estimates that eight out of 10 children riding in car seats are incorrectly buckled in. For a listing of inspection locations near you, visit: http://www.seatcheck.org/. FEATURES TO CONSIDER: Safety Rating (#1 feature) Vehicular Fit Weight of Seat Weight & Height Limit Ease of Installation Harness Type Size of Seat Fabric Carrying Comfort Graco SnugRide Two Infant Car Seat, Lotus Britax Companion Infant Car Seat - Onyx Compass I-420, Fuoco Chicco KeyFit Infant Car Seat & Base - Explorer Peg Perego Primo Viaggio SIP infant car seat Toffee RSS

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