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.
