Who knew?
(I did do a little research into car seat safety, though, and, for our price range, the Graco SnugRide and Graco SafeSeat were both given great safety ratings, so those were the seats I looked at. But, as I alluded to, overall, I assumed most car seats were created equal).
Our first infant carrier car seat expired in December 2011, so when I was pregnant with Zoe, I went on the hunt for a new one. I knew exactly which features I wanted, and I found a seat that I'm very happy with:
Behold the Graco SnugRide 35.
Now let me tell you why I picked this car seat, and hopefully I can help out some future car seat buyers. There are a few features that my first "sheer luck" car seat had that (I learned later) aren't standard on every car seat.
First - and probably the most important: the pull strap.
This strap is for loosening and tightening the car seat straps. YOU WANT THIS. Trust me!
I see so many babies riding in seats that do not have this feature, and their harness straps are way too loose. This is dangerous!! You should not be able to pinch your baby's harness straps. If you can, they need to be tightened. Seats without a pull strap require you to loosen/tighten the harness from the back, meaning that you have to do some inconvenient disassembling and reassembling.
I know why your baby's car seat straps are too loose! It's because it's a pain in the neck to make them fit right!
So it's worth it to get a seat that has the pull strap. Not only will you be able to get a snug fit every time you put your baby in the seat, you will also be able to loosen the harness to get your baby out of the seat (and that is helpful).
Next thing: slots so the seat can be installed without the base.
I'm pretty sure that all infant carrier car seats come with a base these days, but what do I know? I am but a humble consumer. Regardless, there may be times when you need to install the car seat without the base. For me, this time came when I was babysitting my nephew. He was dropped off at my house in his carrier, and a few hours later, my mom called and asked if I could pick her up from the tire store. Turns out my nephew's seat didn't have the slots to install it with a seat belt (which I assumed all infant carriers had), so I had to call my mom back and tell her I couldn't come. Most of the time, you will use the base, but there are little emergencies that pop up once in a while where you might need to be able to buckle your car seat in the car without it.
The third thing: a visor that goes all the way forward and all the way back.
The sun shines at all angles, so it doesn't make sense to have a visor that stops here:
I looked at a few car seats that were less expensive than this one from another brand, and I was *this close* to buying one online. Then I went to Target and looked at the display, and I realized that I hated the harness (it had a puzzle lock system), and I didn't like the position of the lever that releases the seat from the base (it was on the front by the baby's feet instead of on the back behind the baby's head, so I would have had to cram my hand between the seat of my car and the car seat base to undo it).
So, a word of advice: go to the store and find the seat with the features you like. Then spend some quality time with it. Move the handle back and forth. Remove the seat from its base, and put it back on. Do and undo the harness several times. See if you like the way it all feels. I will admit, the buckle and the lever on this model are a little stiff, but not so bad that I wouldn't have bought it.
Hopefully you, too, will be able to find an infant carrier that works for you!
4 comments:
I completely agree with all of these! I had a Graco snug ride as well and loved it! It was expired before my youngest. A very well trusted friend gave me her car seat and despite being expensive, it only had the pull strap. All the other features were missing and I hated dealing with it. Especially the horrible canopy that was small and would never stay up! I appreciated not having to buy a new one but I sure did miss my old one. Some features are just worth it as a parent!
Yes, the pull strap! We had two carrier seats -- the one we registered for (nice!) and a hand-me-down from some friends that we used in Tim's car (where the baby doesn't travel as often). Our primary seat had the pull strap, and the other did not, and we grew to hate the other seat with the heat of a thousand suns. Why would the pull strap not come standard? It's such a necessary feature!
We also used the seat belt slots pretty frequently. Obviously we had the base installed in our car, but when we flew out of state to visit Tim's parents, it was really nice not to have to lug the car seat base across the country with us. Not to mention, the seat belt slots enabled Tim's sister (who was our nanny) to bring the baby to lunch dates with me after I went back to work without us having to buy a whole second base for her car. So convenient!
We have the exact same carseat and it has been great. Your tips are spot on. Finn is 9 months old now and I am dreading switching to a big boy car seat when we can no longer transfer him from car to house (still sleeping when possible.) Not going to lie, I also really liked the color scheme of this Graco carseat as well. Seeing that a pro-mom chose this one makes me feel even better about our choice!
My biggest piece of infant carseat advice is to go see it in the store so that you can pick it up and imagine a baby in it. Our infant carseat was heavy without the baby in it, which ended up being a huge issue as my baby was HEAVY.
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