car seat confusion

March 30, 2009 12:09 PM

Please help me navigate the complex world of car seats for our impending baby.

Wife and I are expecting our first child this summer, and the gearing up has began in earnest. Picking a car seat seems kinda baffling to us - we have no real understanding of what types/models are good or bad.

We've looked at convertible 3-in-1 seats that can fit a kid from infant-toddler. Buying one seat that will last for a couple years seems appealing. We've also looked at the infant car seat/stroller combos.

Any recommendations or anecdotes on what has or has not worked for you and your family? Our car is a 4-door 2005 Civic.

posted by gnutron to home & garden (26 comments total)

We just switched from the infant seat to a convertible seat. We used the infant seat from 0-9 months. The biggest benefit of the infant seat is that it's easily removable. When your baby is asleep in the car, it's really nice not to have to take them out of the seat in order to bring them inside. Convertible seats, though they can be uninstalled, are not designed to do this. You need to unbuckle the baby and disrupt them to bring them inside. Also, though the convertible seat we just got now for our 19lb baby, htough it says it's usable for babie starting at 5 lbs, does not seem like an ideal place to put a baby that small. You'd need to get something to provide head support - babies head flop over in the beginning until they develop muscles in their neck. Infant seats do a much better job of creating a cozy snug environment. The infant seat can also be snapped into a stroller frame.

We got our infant seat used and if you look around on Craigslist or ask friends, there are tons of them to be found for cheap. I know, I know they all say not to use a previously used car seat but if you're sure it's still within warranty and it's never been in an accident, I don't see the problem.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 12:17 PM on March 30

Also, though the convertible seat we just got now for our 19lb baby, htough it says it's usable for babie starting at 5 lbs, does not seem like an ideal place to put a baby that small.

Translation (sheesh):
Also, though the convertible seat we just got for our 19lb baby, says it's usable for babies starting at 5 lbs, it does not seem like an ideal place to put a baby that small.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 12:20 PM on March 30

AND, I see that you're in the East Bay, so if you can hold off for another 3 months or so, you can totally have our infant seat. It's a Graco Snugride with two bases and a stroller frame. My husband is still using the infant seat in his car but by June I think we'll have bought a convertible for his car, too. That's another benefit of the infant seat - you can have a base in each car and switch the seat back and forth between the two cars.

But as I said, if you can wait until after June or so, you can have our infant seat set-up. Just let me know!
posted by otherwordlyglow at 12:25 PM on March 30

We bought an infant seat for our son. It was the kind that you could easily pop out the carrier without disturbing them if they were sleeping. They have the convertible kind that can go from rear-facing to forward-facing. Aside from not being able to remove them without disturbing the baby, some of them are quite large. This means that - in a smaller car - you have to place the seat in the rear middle or push the passenger seat all the way forward. And you still might have to push the seats forward if it's in the rear middle.

Once our child was big enough for a forward-facing seat, we bought a new one. That costs more, but was well worth it.
posted by clearlynuts at 12:25 PM on March 30

We went with the infant seat/carrier (people around here call those 'pumpkin seats') plus stroller until the babies were too big for them (based on the size/weight restrictions on the seats), then with a convertible seat that switched to a high-back booster when the kids got too big for the 5-point harness, and now my nearly nine-year-old daughter is in a small booster seat. She doesn't weigh the required (by our state law) 80 lbs to be out of the booster just yet.

The infant seats really are worth it, even though you have to buy another seat when the baby grows out of it. The seat locked into the stroller that came with it, which was nice (made me feel like the baby wasn't about to fall out of the stroller). The bonus with that is you can still use the stroller after the baby has grown out of the infant seat. I definitely liked that I didn't have to wake the baby every time we got out of the car. Oh, and our daughter preferred to sleep in her infant seat almost exclusively until she started rolling over at about 3 months or so.
posted by cooker girl at 12:32 PM on March 30

We went with the Chicco travel system - infant seat + stroller. I like the car seat because it snaps into a base that stays in the car. No having to take the baby out of the seat to take her into the house. I also liked that this seat goes up to 30 pounds. Most seats top out at 20 or 25. Our baby is almost seven months old and just over 17 pounds, so I think this seat will last until she's at least a year old and then we'll switch to a seat that converts to a booster.
posted by moosedogtoo at 12:33 PM on March 30

"I know, I know they all say not to use a previously used car seat but if you're sure it's still within warranty and it's never been in an accident, I don't see the problem."

I think the safety issue is being sure that it hasn't been in an accident. If you get it from a friend you trust, then you probably won't have any issues. But I'd strongly suggest not getting one used online, or Goodwill, or wherever. The issue is that seat safety can be compromosed without any easily visible effects of an accident.

There are likely local groups that partner with hospitals in your area to do parent education, you might try to find one of those.

One thing to find out is whether your car has anchor points (metal loops near the seat belt clips in the back seat). Those make using the seat much easier than using seat belts, in my opinion. I'm pretty sure that a 2005 car would, but it's good to know.



On the other hand, after all this car seat training I went through, my wife said "I think my mother used to put me in a basket in the back seat, and I turned out OK".
posted by Gorgik at 12:34 PM on March 30

I definitely, definitely recommend the infant seats. Being able to remove a sleeping baby from the car without waking them up might not sound terribly important right now, but I'd be willing to bet it will be :) Also agreed that the convertible seats are not ideal for newborns. Infant carriers are usually more reclined than convertibles, which is better when they can't hold their heads up yet. If the seat is too upright, their head slumps forward when they fall asleep, which can be a safety (breathing) issue.

There are bunches of infant seats available, I chose by looking at the safety ratings and picking one of the top two (at the time that was between Graco Snugride and BabyTrend Flex-Loc, but things have probably changed in the last two years). If you want to try and find something that will last longer, there is a Graco Snugride 32 that last longer - it goes up to 32lbs and 32" tall. Having said that, I personally think its a false economy, because there is no way in hell you want to be lugging around a 32lb baby in a car seat. Honestly a 20lb baby plus car seat is ridiculously heavy. I switched my son to a rear-facing convertible seat once he was at the point that he tended to wake up as soon as the car stopped moving, and when he didn't generally fall asleep easily in the stroller either - which IIRC was at about 9 or 10 months.

I chose to look at this way. If you plan to have more than one kid, then the cost is offset a bit because you can re-use the infant seat for baby #2. Expiry dates are about 5 or 7 years from manufacture IIRC.

If you want to research seats some more, or ask for advice, there are a lot of very helpful and well-qualified car seat techs on the car-seat.org forums.
posted by Joh at 12:37 PM on March 30

We've used the Britax Roundabout for almost four years, and it's served us very well. All of the Britax line is well made. The thing I like most about it is the ease of tightening up the LATCH system. It uses fasteners similar to a car seatbelt (instead of those U-shaped hooks with spring latches. It's hard to explain).

I had the car seat inspected and was shocked to find out I hadn't installed it correctly. The instructor told me that 100% of the inspections had failed that day, and then they spent about 10 minutes showing me the correct way to put the seat in the car (and wouldn't let me leave until I demonstrated it).

For either front or rear facing seats, you'll want to put one of your knees in the seat and apply all of your body weight to it, while simultaneously pulling hard on the LATCH straps or seat belt. I mean hard. The seat shouldn't wobble when you pull it side to side or front to back. When you grab our seat and pull on it, the entire car shakes.

That's where the LATCH system of the Britax is handy. It's super fast to attach the straps to the car, and then it's really easy to pull up hard on the straps while killing the seat with your knee. They're also a snap to remove (you just push a button similar to seat belts).
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 12:54 PM on March 30 [1 favorite]

Nth-ing using the carrier/car seat/stroller combo for the first 9 months or so, then switching to a convertable. With both of our sprouts, we used a Combi stroller/carrier combo, until they got too long to ride in it comfortably (at around 9 months) then switched to Britax seats (Decathlon, Marathon) at that age, which should last them for another 3 or 4 years, at least. The carrier is a lifesaver when they're really little, because as others have mentioned, it's a lot easier to keep them in it when taking them in to the store, or when they fall asleep in the car.
posted by jferg at 1:03 PM on March 30

Based on friends' STRONG recommendations, we just bought the Graco Snugride (with LATCH bases) infant seat and the snap-in stroller frame. We decided we didn't need/want to deal with an unwieldy "travel system" (aka separate stroller with it's own seat) in the short term - I wanted to be able to manage getting the stroller and the baby in and out of the car by myself. Yes, eventually we'll need to invest in a convertible car seat and a "proper" stroller, but we decided it was worth it to be able to schlep the baby around (in a variety of conveyances) without bothering her.
posted by nkknkk at 1:13 PM on March 30

nthing Britax. Can't go wrong. Pricey but well worth it.
posted by pearlybob at 1:19 PM on March 30

I'm very surprised at all the recommendations for infant-only seats. We went with a 3-in-1 from birth with no bothers. A sleepy young baby will go right back to sleep when popped in a sling. I always thought toting babies around in hard plastic cases looked a little weird, and I was relieved to not fall for the unnecessary purchase. Car seats are for cars carps in more detail on this topic.
posted by kmennie at 1:22 PM on March 30 [2 favorites]

Another +1 for the Graco Snugride and stroller frame. A very easy to work with seat (either with the base or without) and the frame is a snap to use and lightweight.
posted by mcschmidt00 at 1:25 PM on March 30

nthing the graco snugride, with multiple bases for cars, and the stroller. i found the carseat/stroller particularly useful when flying.
posted by lester at 1:25 PM on March 30

Another vote for the Graco Snugride and the snap n go. Light and easy and you really don't want to take a sleeping baby out of a convertible seat. Even with triplets, we managed best with three snugrides, plus a single and a double snap n go.

You can use the Snugride (or other infant seat) without the base, which is handy for travelling.

When baby is older, then you can deal with a full-featured stroller and a convertible seat. (And, speaking of convertible seats, if you're sold on Britax, go for the Fisher-Price Safe Voyage seat. Made by Britax for less than half the price.)
posted by pyjammy at 1:39 PM on March 30

I am not sorry I bought the Graco Snugride, but in retrospect it did turn out to be a waste of money.

I hated the stroller part of it, and there weren't many times we needed to remove the car seat, as opposed to just removing the baby from the car seat.

AND, here's the kicker - he weighed 22 pounds by 5 months! And I never ever would have guessed we'd have a giant baby - I'm 5' 3" and my husband is 5' 7". So we had to get a whole new car seat that had to work front and rear facing.

We got the Britax Roundabout. At 38 months, he just outgrew it (his seated height exceeds the limit). We have a 2005 Accord and it fits OK. Other backseat passengers are probably not going to be comfortable, though.

I love love love the Roundabout. We bought a second one for my mom's car. Look around online for deals; weird fabrics and styles are on sale a lot. We had paid almost full price for the first one (229?) then bought one on babyage.com for 179.

Oh, and I just remembered: we flew with our son before he was 2. He was way too big to be a lap baby (according to ME, not the airlines) so we paid for a seat and brought the Roundabout. It fit without issue and I am SO glad we brought it. He was asleep before take-off both times.
posted by peep at 1:42 PM on March 30

Quoting from We Are Not the Only Ones Who Think Child Car Seats Don’t Work Well by Freakonomics author Stephen J. Dubner:

<> There is a very disturbing report in the new Consumer Reports about child car seats. Here’s an excerpt:

You’d think that in a car crash, infants in their cozy car seats would be the most protected passengers of all. But you’d be wrong, our tests reveal.

Cars and car seats can’t be sold unless they can withstand a 30-mph frontal crash. But most cars are also tested in a 35-mph frontal crash and in a 38-mph side crash. Car seats aren’t.

When we crash-tested infant car seats at the higher speeds vehicles routinely withstand, most failed disastrously. The car seats twisted violently or flew off their bases, in one case hurling a test dummy 30 feet across the lab.
>>
posted by harwons at 1:52 PM on March 30

I guess I wasn't done after all. Just wanted to agree that the Snap N' Go stroller frame thing-y, though useful, isn't great if you plan on needing a stroller a lot. In 9 months we've probably only used it 10 times at the most. Compared to a full-featured luxury stroller, it doesn't really measure up in terms of comfort, maneuverability, and smooth-ridingness. But we're not huge into strollers (yet) and have preferred to use a baby sling most of the time so the Snap N' Go was never a big problem.

As for convertibles, we got a Britax Marathon when we moved up. It's only been in the car 2 weeks but so far it seems fine. We got ours for about $100 less than they normally go for since I was willing to have a somewhat ugly print for the fabric. I guess they rotate through prints and at some point, you can find clearances for discontinued fabrics.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 2:00 PM on March 30

otherworldyglow: i gmailed you.
posted by gnutron at 2:25 PM on March 30

Everyone has covered the benefits of the infant seat pretty well. The reason the 3 in 1's aren't recommended is that they aren't super great at any of the 3 functions, and they're really bad as booster seats. You are way better off buying a really good convertible seat (after the infant seat, if you choose) and then buying a dedicated booster when the time comes.

If you buy a seat like the First Years True Fit, it will last until the baby is at least 5 or 6 (depending on their size) and at that point a booster seat should be fine. The shell on that one is very tall and it goes to 65 lbs, which is why it lasts so long. The True Fit is also super great for infants, so if you decide against a bucket you can use that right away too. It has a headrest that comes off while the baby is little so it takes up less room. Then after about a year you put the headrest back on but the seat goes more upright so it doesn't take up as much space. Then after 2-3 years or 35 lbs, the seat faces forward until 65 lbs or when shoulders are over the top slots. After that, booster-only seats don't necessarily cost a lot of money.

FYI, the Britax Roundabout isn't really recommended by people who are into carseats because average babies outgrow it too fast (though people do love them). It can't be used rearfacing as long as recommended because the shell is too short and then it's outgrown facing forward early too (around 3, but other seats will easily work until age 4-6). Then the baby goes into a booster too young because the parents already spent tons on the Britax and don't want to buy another seat.
posted by pekala at 3:28 PM on March 30

You'll get a ton of answers, all based on personal experience, so here's my 2 cents:

-- That Consumer Reports study about infant seats was withdrawn, because it turns out that the methodology was flawed and they ended up subjecting the seats to 2 x the forces they were intended to. However -- a couple seats still passed the test. I believe one was the Graco Snugride, but don't quote me on it. We used the Snugride til about 1 yr. How long the kid stays in there depends entirely on the size of your offspring. Ours was normal sized, I think, but waaaay too small to be in a convertible from birth. The carry-factor is great, for the first few months you can stow the kid under a restaurant table and enjoy yourselves. Just don't forget it after dinner. (Fyi, after the first few months, you'll never go out to dinner again.)

-- We have a Britax convertible (Boulevard, I think) now that the Turduckling is bigger, works like a charm. Nice thick straps that move freely, a joy to use every day. We also have a Sunshine Radian, which is a total f'ing drag to use, but folds to use on an airplane. Weighs a ton, and is supposedly even safer than the Britax, despite its cheap straps and crappy action. (If you travel a lot, and want the kid to be safe, you need to buy him/her a seat of their own. Airline personell have lots of disgusting yet accurate nicknames for lap-children who become dislodged and turn into projectiles during turbulence and worse.)

-- In my opinion, car-seat installers are beholden to lots of rules (their own and car manufacturers) that don't make any sense whatsoever. Though the center (rear) seat is statistically the safest for kids, many cars don't have LATCH attachments specifically for the center; and since most car manuals don't specifically mention you can "borrow" the outboard connectors to install your seat in the middle -- even if it's a rock-solid fit -- car-seat mavens will get all up in arms that you're endangering your little one, and insist you put the seat in an "approved" position, which is statistically unsafer (e.g., the passenger side).

Europe has a much more evolved and commonsensical system for testing and manufacturing car seats, while the US still seems to be beholden to big business and their threat of lawsuits. For example -- I've heard that the Britax seats available in the UK include advanced safety features (and better fabric choices) than the ones sold in the US. And if you check government websites for info, you'll find that the US only tests for "ease of use" rather than safety -- and that the Consumer Reports study, which was so hastily withdrawn a few years ago after complaints from manufacturers and dealers of car seats, has yet to be repeated with new methodology.
posted by turducken at 3:41 PM on March 30

We went with a Graco SafeSeat, which is bigger than the SnugRide and will work up to 30 lbs. (Hubby and I are fairly tall and we figured our baby would likely be, too). We coupled it with a McClaren Easy Traveler (also good for tall folk) as our stroller base. We live in a city where navigating a huge stroller wouldn't be practical, nor would it fit in most cars, so it was a good decision for us. Now that the kid is big enough to turn around, we bought a Graco Turbo Booster that should last until he's done with carseats/boosters forever (unless the guidelines change again and he'll still need one until he goes off to college).
posted by wallaby at 5:21 PM on March 30

I hope this helps: What I did was read Amazon and Epinion and any other customer reviews that I could find, and ignored all the glowing recommendations and focused on the things that people hated. Then I went to a baby store that actually had knowlegeable salespeople, and asked questions. (Same for the stroller - it's nice to take a test ride with one around a crowded store!)

We knew we had a good-sized baby in there (now 5), and decided on the Graco Snugride because when we went to the store, the smart salesperson made me lift all of the removable rear-facing seats and that was the easiest to lift and carry when loaded with a baby. It had a great safety rating, the car dealer retrofit our latch in centre of the back seat (I still worry about side impact collisions, I can't help it), and we knew she'd outgrow it quickly but for the almost-year she used it, it was good for us. The important thing was to have it checked at the police station every time we installed and uninstalled it. We donated it to the Red Door Shelter when we were done. It was worth it - the cover was washable and didn't make her sweaty in the summer. The sun cover worked wonderfully. We never used it in conjunction with a stroller, but a few times it got popped in a shopping cart basket; and in our cold climate (She was born in February), and this was huge for us, it was great to bring it in the house to keep it warm, and then buckle and cover her inside and just pop it into the car. She didn't tend to resettle if woken, and I was glad that she often kept on napping in there. I was sorry to see it go.

Then we went to the Britax for forward facing, because again, good safety record (and btw, Canada is different than the States, but I didn't check to see where you are) and as I read opinions there was one thing that decided it: twisty straps. The twisting straps on the Snugride made me crazy enough; and reading that in many other carseat/booster models the straps twisted even more and annoyed people and they took them back and exchanged for a Britax, I was sold. I have a low tolerance to stuff like that. Also, our daughter is very tall, and the Britax seemed made for taller kids, with four strap height adjustments instead of three. Again, a washable cover, though it wasn't as easy to remove (and non removable washable straps, which was really too bad after a few carsick incidents) - though ours faded in the sun rather quickly and the velour made her sweaty.

Now she's in a booster, and I look back at her and she seems so ...unmoored. And when she falls asleep, she lists so far over that I really miss the five-point harness. I think I might look for a better booster for our car or long road trips, but keep the wee little seat-cushiony type one for when she catches a ride with a friend or grandfolks.


In short though - check online reviews for safety results (though all have to meet them to be on the market - some are "more equal" than others; and complaints; check recalls; and maybe look at this site to see how seats fit with cars: http://www.carseatdata.org/ , and consider how comfortable and functional a seat will be based on your preferences and lifestyle.
posted by peagood at 10:12 PM on March 30

Oh, and sorry - when I said that we focused on what we hated, if enough people mentioned something we'd consider a dealbreaker, we crossed it off the list. Example - the biggest complaint about the stroller we ended up buying was that the cargo basket underneath was a little inaccessible - but I could live with that. And it wasn't a problem for us. What also sold us was that a few mentioned that it was two inches narrower than the model were first considering. I was willing to take that in exchange for a bar-type handle. I'd probably never push with one hand (and didn't often) but did need to squeak through smaller spaces daily. With the car seats, same thing - it was great to read about what worked in daily application. But then, I didn't know about metafilter all those years ago.
posted by peagood at 10:18 PM on March 30

If you have a smallish car, you may need to use an infant seat. We thought we were pretty smart and thrifty when we bought a Sunshine Kids Radian 80, thinking we'd be able to use it from birth until kiddo didn't need a car seat anymore. Then we found that it wouldn't fit rear-facing in our 2003 Kia Spectra, so we bought a Graco SafeSeat, and the Radian sits in storage for now.
posted by tomatofruit at 11:01 PM on March 30