What's a good infant car seat?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brittany Tubb on January 15, 2010 at 9:13pm

with my first i had an eddie bauer model, and lets just say for a woman who's only 5 foot tall on a good day it was way toooo heavy to lug around..even when my son was a newborn. So this time around i bought a baby trend infant carrier. i love how it has three different ways u can carry it..not the normal one way position that leaves u knocking the crap out of ur knees..lol. its also all micro suede...so its very SOFT!!..and it has a back that moves up and down so u can adjust the length of the total carseat..making it bigger for longer babies..or older infants.

Permalink Reply by Bonnie P on January 16, 2010 at 12:11am

Thanks for the info, Brittany, I'll have to check the Baby Trend ones out!

Permalink Reply by Brittany Tubb on January 16, 2010 at 8:03am

they come in all different colors! i got the brown and lime green one..the collection is called everest. they have a jet black collection if yall arent going to find out the sex until baby is born..so that would go with everything.

Permalink Reply by Bonnie P on January 16, 2010 at 6:09pm

I was reading consumer reports on the Baby Trend car seats and a common themed complain seems to be that they're too heavy. You find yours quite light? I read somewhere that they're 10 lbs without the base and that does seem a bit on the chunky side...

Permalink Reply by Karen M on January 16, 2010 at 4:06pm

I love my Graco Safeseat, the one that goes to 32 lbs and 30" (I think).

My Dd used it until she was 18 mos, then moved to a FF seat.

Permalink Reply by Bonnie P on January 16, 2010 at 6:20pm

Thanks, Karen. My son was 30" at 9 months, so that's a whole lot better than only lasting 4 months! Did you find your Graco quite light? I'm thinking that all the seats that can hold bigger babies might be on the heaver side? At some point, I'm just going to have to get out shopping and test them all out!

Permalink Reply by Karen M on January 17, 2010 at 9:19am

I felt it was only a little it heavier than the Graco Snugride (the 22 lb one) but only by maybe a couple pounds. It didnt really FEEL heavier until I was carrying a heavier child in it, but even then it was balanced quite well and was easy enough to carry. I didnt carry the bucket with me everywhere, but it was nice to have the option of taking it in if she was asleep, or to have her in a warm seat in our cold winters in Canada.

But you're right, going in and testing them out is really the best way to get a feel. I always figure that its worth the money to get a seat with higher limits on it as each step you go up (ie from rearfacing to forwardfacing, then to a booster) they get a little less protected. Our 5yo is in a 5 point harness in the Graco Nautilus (jeez you'd think I was a walking graco ad! lol) but she is 95% for height and weight and STILL has room to grow in it.

Permalink Reply by Brittany Tubb on January 16, 2010 at 8:26pm

i find that my baby trend is lighter than my eddie bauer. i just held up both at the same time..and the baby trend was lighter..even with the base attached. it might be the older verisons that are heavy. the one i just bought just came out on the market. so that might have something to do with it.

Permalink Reply by Bonnie P on January 17, 2010 at 9:47am

So, in doing MORE research, I have discovered that most seats that can carry up to 22 lbs weigh between 7-8 lbs and the ones that can hold up to 30-32 lbs weigh in around 9 or 10 lbs. That goes for both the Baby Trend and the Graco SnugRide 32. So I think I'm going to take weight out of the equation, (since they're all pretty similar) and focus on other features. Thanks for the input so far, ladies! Oh and Karen, I hear ya regarding the cold Canadian winters! Last year it went down to -40 here! Brrrr!

Permalink Reply by Chelsea on August 23, 2010 at 1:56pm

So what did you decide, Bonnie? I'm in the same position now, needing to buy an infant car seat and not wanting to invest a lot of $$ in something that won't last very long. And of course, want something that is rated well for safety.

Karen M: 18 months is pretty good life for a car seat, eh? I like that.

Permalink Reply by Karen M on August 23, 2010 at 4:29pm

It was great! She could have been in it for longer but we were going on a road trip and thought she would be more comfy and it would be easier if she was forward facing in a bigger seat (Britax Marathon.

my son at 6m is closing in on 20 lbs and I still cart him around in the bucket on one arm.