Walk into any baby store and you will find an endless number of infant car seat options. Every color is available, with a variety of accessories, head-rests, and sun shades, even different modes of installation. But how do you know what to buy?
A car seat is supposed to keep your baby safe in an automobile. All models claim to have a variety of safety features. But not all are created equal, and much depends on your own vehicle, not the car seat brand.
We started our search with a handy book (yes, a book – does anyone use those anymore?) that rated all baby equipment. This allowed us to determine the seats that are highly rated on ease of use, durability and accessories. We then visited carseatdata.org, where we searched for the best car seat from those compatible with our automobile. By cross-referencing between the book and the recommendations at carseatdata.org, we narrowed our options to a few. We then made our decision based on aesthetics. After all the legwork, the final decision was easy.
All of this sounds simple, but we have an extra step because our second car is a wheelchair van, which we use to transport my stepson. This vehicle is modified to meet my stepson’s needs and is not listed at carseatdata.org. For the car seat in this vehicle, we will visit a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST) to determine which seat will be best. Locating a CPST is easy – simply visit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website at nhtsa.gov to get a list of locations for technicians in your area. You can look it up on your Smartphone and then use your Smartphone to navigate to the nearest CPST.
Believe it or not, this was much easier than deciding on how to decorate the nursery!
Laura Hernandez
Hello, my name is Laura, and I am a wife and working mom who has been with AT&T for 13 years. I am a mom who is about to be a mom for the first time – sounds confusing. I have a stepson with a disability who lives with us, and my husband and I are expecting our first child together in May. My stepson is completely dependent on technology to communicate, so if we want to communicate with him when we are not at home, e-mail and texting is the way to go. I use technology in every aspect of my life. Aside from using my Blackberry to stay connected to work issues, I use Navigator to get around my new city of Dallas, and I use multiple smartphone applications to manage grocery lists, get restaurant reviews or find important locations, like the shoe repair, tailor and, yes, even clean bathrooms. As two working parents juggling the demands our stepson presents us, we use technology to coordinate social schedules and yoga classes and to keep our friends and family up-to-date on happenings in our lives. More recently, I have used the internet to track how my pregnancy is progressing.
Jenn says:
February 18, 2010 at 8:03 am
The wall of car seats at the mega baby store can be quite intimidating. Your research made what could’ve been a stressful purchasing decision a calm and cool experience. What technology can you use to pick out the perfect bottle?
Cory says:
February 18, 2010 at 9:15 am
Amy and I can empathize with the car seat hunt. We didn’t pick out a car seat (or the accompanying stroller) until about 2 weeks prior to her due date. We read numerous reviews online, scoured Consumer Reports, contacted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for more information, and made multiple trips to a number of stores before ultimately deciding on what was our first choice about 6-months prior.
Sean says:
February 18, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Great information on choosing a child safety seat, I was unaware of how simple it was to find a CPST location!
Felicia says:
February 25, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Thank you for the great info! I remember when I was choosing car seats for both of my little ones I went into great detail to find just the right one. You can’t be too careful with your precious cargo!!!
Thien-Kim says:
February 25, 2010 at 3:49 pm
We did it the new way I guess. I went to the Consumer Reports website and also asked friends for referrals.
Susan says:
February 26, 2010 at 12:47 pm
I wish someone had told me to get a 5-point harness car seat that would grow with my child. I started with an infant seat/carrier combo but my daughter outgrew it quickly (she was a big baby!) and then I made the mistake of getting a Britax carseat that only went up to 40lbs. My daughter outgrew that quickly too. I thought she’d graduate to a booster seat not knowing the dangers of boosters for younger children. So we had to invest in three more car seats (one for my husband’s car, one for my car and one for my mom’s car).
I wish we had gone from the infant carrier directly to the larger Britax!!
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