Smarty Infant Car Seat Tips

By Ashley H, Charlotte Smarty Pants

The key to an infant carrier is its safety, of course, and how lightweight it is. If you are a new mom-to-be reader, trust me you do NOT want to lug around a newborn plus tons of extra weight with the infant carrier itself!

Infant car seats are rear-facing seats designed for infants up to around 22 lbs and 26" in height. Infant car seats normally have a five-point harness to secure the baby in the carrier, which is then snapped into the base in your car. This way, you can snap the carrier in and out of your car without disturbing your newborn much. On average, infant seats last most parents about 6 months, depending on the weight/height of each child. Be sure to always check the sticker on the side of your infant carrier of choice. By law, the manufacturer has to list both height and weight limits. Once your child exceeds either, move him/her to a convertible car seat (see note below on height).

Another important safety note to new moms (thank goodness for child birth instructors that tell you these things), when you snap your carrier into the base of your car to run an errand make sure you push the infant carrier handle back down (towards the headrest as if you were moving it back to get your newborn out). This is the correct position for traveling in a car with infants, in the event of a collision if that handle were still locked upright (as if you were carrying the infant) it would prevent the seat from being able to absorb the shock of impact and cocoon your baby as designed to do for safety.

It is always best to try to buy a new infant car seat. But if you choose to go with a used seat (i.e. your girlfriend lets you borrow her's) then make sure:
* It is not more than 6 years old (look for a label on the seat to indicate the date it was made).
* It has never been in a crash, it's important to know the history of the seat.
* It has not been recalled. You can check at www.recalls.gov.
* It has labels explaining proper installation and the weight/height limits.
* It has the instruction manual.

Other top tips for the infant car seats include:
* Read the owner's booklets for both the car seat and your car before installing the seat.
* Install the seat rear-facing.
* Check the strap adjustments for your baby's size (they did this in the hospital for us as we were being sent home with the twins so we made sure we had the appropriate fit).
* Get your car seat inspected!!!! We followed our booklets for correct installation, line by line, and it still wasn't quite right when we had our's inspected. An inspection can also serve to make sure your car seat is secured at the correct angle, though many come with level indicators those aren't trusty given the variety of backseat designs in cars (the seat may not be correctly installed even if the level indicator reads fine). Many places offer this as a free service, we got lucky one day and had our's done while shopping at Babies-R-Us, they were offering them free that day in the parking lot. You can also check www.nhtsa.gov for an inspection station near you.
* In terms of height limits, it is generally safe to use your infant carrier until your child's head is 1" below the top of their seat or their shoulders exceed the top harness slot (even if their height is slightly above the stated limit).

With twins, we got on board the Double Snap-N-Go fan bus early on. It was our lifesaver! That lightweight frame was SO easy to get in and out of the car and a breeze to push through stores. So we went about selecting our infant car seats a bit backward, by choosing our travel system first and then finding carriers to fit it. Most infant carriers are supposed to work with the Snap-N-Go, meaning most should fit the frame and be able to be strapped down. However, I often hear moms prefer the Graco SnugRide for this frame; we chose to go with Graco for our 6 months in infant car seats as well and were happy with the brand. This was also the top choice in my version of Baby Bargains based on its ease of use, lightweight carrier (7 lbs) and adjustable base.

Tell us about your infant car seat flavor of choice and why. We want our new moms-to-be out there to be Smartified!”

Posted by Triad Smarty Pants at 5:00 AM