Car Seat Novice

[jackie011]

We're both off for a few more days so we decided we'd do a little pre-shopping and list making for baby stuff. I'm so confused on car seats! First, how many do you need from the time the child is born until age 8? What kind of seat comes home from the hospital? Then, when do you change to the next one? Etc. Also, I keep hearing people say they have expiration dates. How long are they "good" for? 5 years? Can you see the expiration date on the packaging when you buy one or is it a gamble?

Is there some helpful guide (internet or otherwise) to help a complete novice? All of my friends are a few years ahead of us, so I'm sure some things have changed over the past 5 or so years. DH only wants the best (as with everything in life ) but I have a more realistic budget to follow!

Also, how early did you start buying things? We received a ton of Target GCs for Christmas, but I just want to sit on them for a little while until I see some great bargains.

[lizard]

I think most people use three different car seats from the time their baby is born until he or she is 8.

The first is the bucket seat, which is nice because you can carry a sleeping baby from the car to the house. It can also clip onto a stroller--either a snap and go or one of those expensive travel systems. It's good up to a certain weight and we switched around a year old to a convertible seat.

A convertible seat can be positioned rear-facing and then forward facing later. They can be big and bulky so you want to make sure it'll fit in your car backwards.

From there I think people buy booster seats. Our son is only 2.5, so we're not quite there yet. We're planning on purchasing a new front-facing seat for him and putting our daughter in his convertible when she's outgrown her bucket seat.

Britax makes great seats and there are a lot of sales throughout the year.

[darnkatz]

We've used an infant seat, a convertible seat and a high back five-point harness booster. My daughter is four and a half. We would have kept her in the convertible for as long as possible, but it ended up breaking after using it three times. Sunshine Kids refused to replace it, which really pissed me off, but that's a story for another time. She will be in a five point harness for as long as possible and then we will remove her harness and switch to the seat belt.

Buy on an as-needed basis. You won't want to buy a convertible seat until your baby outgrows the infant seat or you choose to switch. You also need to check which seats will work best with your vehicle, because the AAP recommends rear facing your child until age two. A lot of seats can take up large amounts of space and make it uncomfortable for the passenger in front of them.

Start with the infant seat. I wouldn't buy it until you are in your third trimester. That is what you will bring the baby home in. Technically, you could just go straight to a convertible and skip the infant seat if you really wanted, but you would have to make sure that the seat is set up properly for small infants.

Expiration depends on the brand of car seat. It is any where from 4-10 years. You need to check with the manufacturer. I believe that all seats have the date on the seat, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

We're planning on getting a Maxi Cosi Mico infant seat this time around. It's super light, and it can be used with the Quinny stroller line (among others, but we plan on using a Quinny Zapp Xtra).

[statlerwaldorf]

DD was in the infant seat until 5 months when she outgrew it by height. Then I moved her to a convertible seat until she outgrew that by weight just before turning 3. We have a booster with a 5 point harness now and that will be the last car seat. It goes up to 85 lbs. DD has always been big for her age.

I would recommend waiting until the 3rd tri, but Target usually does a baby clearance around this time of year. If I found a really good deal, I might buy it now. I would only buy an infant seat for now.

Baby Bargains was popular when I was pregnant. There are also car seat forums you can search for that have really in depth reviews. I would go with an infant seat with a higher height limit. DD outgrew hers before she was sitting unassisted which made it hard for a couple of months since she couldn't sit well in high chairs at restaurants. I'm not really picky when it comes to infant car seats. I would probably find a stroller I really like and then buy whatever seat is compatible.

[dcn]

The pp have explained the car seats.

Baby Bargains helped me navigate all that stuff when I was registering. I had no idea what a lot of the gear was for and when to use it - I found the book to be really helpful for that!

[jackie011]

Thank you! I've started to keep a list of all of the things mentioned on here and then I'll check them out on my own! I'll check out Baby Bargains, as well.

[pugz]

yup definitely read baby bargains, lots of good info in it about the big purchases!

we got one infant seat w/2 carseat bases and in a few months we'll get 2 convertibles

[redheadbaker]

Lurker here.

In addition to Baby Bargains, I found Lucie's List (a website) helpful as well.

We started with the Chicco Keyfit infant seat and a Snap n Go stroller frame. We switched him to the convertible (Britax Marathon) when he was 8 months old. He's only 13 months now, so I haven't gotten a booster yet.