So for those of you with kids (or grand kids) I'm willing to entertain suggestions or hints for car seats, in terms of features you like or annoyances you don't. If you're willing to share, please include what vehicles you're putting the seats in, too.

I've done plenty of research online, but obviously that's no substitute for experience, so I'll seek it from car-minded people.

Thanks in advance!

 

My $0.02. Just having gone through this.

For the infant seats. Get the one with the drop in base. Get one top and multiple bases(one for each car). Hopefully your car has the latches inside the seat makes life so much easier. This way the Car Carrier goes with the kid into any car!

Don't get the combo stroller Car Seat thing. It looks nice/good but mine is now what a year and a half old and still hasn't gone in it all but once. We got a McLaren stroller love it! Worth the $$$. Folds up so small and light.

Bigger seat we got goes from 22lbs way up. It's a Eddie Bauer. Flip up arm rests and converts eventually to a booster I think. It looked good and was on sale.

Didn't try a bunch of different seats just looked for what made sense, was priced right and felt right. Some stuff out there just looks cheap, feels cheap but costs BIG BUCKS!

Seats went into Civic 2 door and Trail Blazer. The latches under the seats are a god send!

I would have to go look at the seats to get more detailed. Mostly it's personal preference. Just remember your going to have to lug this stuff around with you all the time! Oh and go for buckles that buckle separately and don't require you to PINCH the two pieces together first before you buckle. A moving kid will make this task very frustrating.

 

Yeah, the Subaru ('08 Outback) we got has the LATCH anchors and top tethers, which does look like it'd be easier. I'd just never done it.

Thanks for the input!

 

What Jim/Pinky said. Being able to move a sleeping baby without removing him from a car seat is great. Get the "baby in a bucket" thing with extra bases. Buy an extra base for anyone who might transport your baby. If there is a Grandma who will be helping, possibly picking up the baby for you, the extra base makes it easy. Warn Grandma that babies in a bucket are heavy, and get heavier every day.

The carriage/car seat combo is bulky, but some do like the feature of not having to take the baby out of the seat to put in the carriage.

After the first year we bought a car seat that was good for up to 40 pounds, 40 inches. It was about $80.00 when we bought it for the granddaughter. The grandson can still use that one, but I recently found out they now put expiration dates on car seats. Some places won't take the old ones even as donations. We also have a booster seat with a removable back. The granddaughter just stopped using the booster. There have been recent reports as to how safe booster seats really are.......shop carefully when the time comes.

Congrats!

 

Yes I had many a visit to the chiropractor due to the heavy baby in a bucket.

Oh and there is a really cool carriage that you can pickup at a 2nd hand store that is just a frame made for the "baby in a bucket". It's light folds up really flat and was GREAT!

 

And you're young. I can't prove carrying grandkids around is what did my shoulders in, but now I've got two scars I didn't have before.

 

I recently saw an interesting hospital study on the news.

If I recall correctly, they said that they had seen some 9000 cases of infant injuries from carseat/ carriers.
none of them actually occurred in the car, they were all from people dropping the carrier and dropping them or falling off of counters or fenders etc.

 

[QUOTE=boltonblue,Aug 9 2010, 10:47 PM] I recently saw an interesting hospital study on the news.

If I recall correctly, they said that they had seen some 9000 cases of infant injuries from carseat/ carriers.

 

I remember switching the granddaughter from the five point safety seat, which was buckled into the car, to a booster seat, with only the seat belt as her protection.....it felt weird...

If you see some of the video on booster seats, they show an accident where the booster seat slides out from under the kid.....scary!

 

Yeah, the problem there is that the belt holds in the kid AND the seat... that just adds weight to it.

Really, the dead giveaway is auto racing. Nearly every racing series uses a custom fit seat with side bolsters and a 5 point harness. Not to mention a helmet with a HANS device. It's been proven for decades that it's the safest style of retaining the body in place. It's no surprise that car seats are looking more and more like racing seats.

The problem I see is that the industry is making it's own market through legislation. Kids now have to be in booster seats 'til they're 7 or even older in many states. It's a sensitive subject, and there's a lot of fear-mongering and guilt-tripping surrounding it, and not a lot of study to back it up.

I think 3 point seatbelts are woefully inadequate for modern cars. With all the money spend on airbags, stability control, active headrests and all kinds of fancy stuff, 4 point belts should at least be standard... but they won't be, because fewer people would wear them at all, and the net safety would be reduced.