Kim Arrington Johnson in ParenthoodPregnancy

Baby Registry: Best Infant Car Seat and Car Seat Installation

Car Seat

This is a very important piece of baby gear, so prioritize your budget to buy a new seat, if possible. If you are budget constrained, ask loved ones to pool gifts together. Try to use a newer model car seat, if you are borrowing one from a trusted friend or family member.

Types of Car Seats

Infant seat or rear-facing convertible seat. Infants should ride in a rear-facing infant seat (also called an infant carrier), or a rear-facing convertible seat, after birth. The AAP recommends children remain in a rear-facing car safety seat as long as possible, until they reach the highest weight or height allowed by their seat.
- Infant seat. A convenient handle on the infant seat lets you transport baby from a base that stays in the car to a stroller or to your home without disturbing naptime.
- Rear-facing convertible. This is a larger-sized seat that stays in your car and will accommodate a child for a longer period of time than an infant carrier (until he weighs between 40 and 70 pounds). “Convertible” implies that the seat can start off facing backward and later be converted, or turned around, to face forward. If your baby rides in an infant seat after birth, a convertible is the seat that she will transition to when she exceeds the maximum weight or outgrows the height limit of the infant seat.
Booster seats. Booster seats are for children who have outgrown a forward-facing harness seat in height or weight, yet are not big enough to use an adult seat belt.
Seat belts. Children who have outgrown their booster seats (usually around 4’9″ in height and eight to 12 years old) should ride with a seat belt in the back seat until at least 13 years of age.

The AAP recommends children remain in a rear-facing car safety seat as long as possible, until they reach the highest weight or height allowed by their seat.

Car Seat Installation

When installing a car seat in your vehicle, you can use either the seat belt or LATCH system (LATCH stands for “lower anchors and tethers for children.) Both methods are safe, so choose the one that gives you a confident and secure fit.

Infant Base Installation with LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tether for Children)

Before you begin, read your car seat instruction manual and your vehicle’s owner manual for car seat installation carefully.
Watch a car seat installation video online for your car seat model on YouTube.
Place the car seat base in the back seat of your vehicle, preferably the middle seat (away from airbags). If the middle is unavailable, select the rear passenger outboard side, right rear seat, since a side impact is more likely to happen on the driver’s side (pulling into traffic rather than a right turn).
Locate the lower anchors in your vehicle. These are thick, open hooks, which are typically buried between the seat back and rear seat cushion.
Attach the lower straps with hooks on the car seat base to the lower anchors. Make sure the straps aren’t twisted.
Press down firmly on the car seat base and tighten the straps. I like to get inside the car and press my knee or foot down firmly inside the base while tightening the straps or center-pull strap.
You should not be able to move the car seat base side-to-side or front-to-back more than one inch.
Check that your seat is at the correct recline angle. Babies must ride in a semi-reclined position to keep the airway open. Most seats will have a built-in angle indicator, such as a carpenter’s level bubble, to help.
Attach the infant carrier to the base. Make sure that baby’s straps are at or below shoulder level.

How to Install an Infant Car Seat

Infant Base Installation with a Seat Belt

Before you begin, read your car seat instruction manual and your vehicle’s owner manual. Pay special attention to how to “lock” the seat belt.
Watch a car seat installation video online for your car seat model.
Place the car seat base in the back seat of your vehicle.
Thread the seat belt through the belt path making sure that nothing is twisted.
Buckle the seat belt.
Lock the seat belt (another toddler or child could wrap a loose belt around his or her neck.)
Press down firmly on the car seat base and tighten. You can also have someone else pull the seat belt strap tightly while you put your weight on the base.
Make sure your car seat base is installed at the correct recline angle.
Attach the infant carrier to the base.

How to Install an Infant Car Seat with a Seat Belt (without the base)

Safety Tips

Car Seats

Read the instruction manual, as well as the car seat section in your car’s manual. Watch a video for your specific car seat brand, if possible. If you have any doubt about the installation, find a car seat inspection station.
Many local fire and police stations offer free car seat inspections. The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration reports that three out of every four car seats are not used correctly.⁸⁰
Avoid these common car seat mistakes.
- Are the LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) anchors buried between the seat back and cushions? Few automakers put the lower anchors out in the open. Take a deep breath and keep digging for those small metal bars that will keep your child’s seat secure.
- Is the seat too loose in the car, or able to move one inch or more? Put your knee in the seat with all of your weight and pull up on the straps. Use your arm if your infant seat is too small. Then lock the seat belt.
- Can’t get your infant seat to stay at a 45-degree level? Use a tightly rolled up towel or cut a swimming pool noodle and place it under the seat where baby’s feet rest.
- Is your baby’s harness too loose? If you can pinch the harness fabric, tighten the straps to a snug fit.
- Is the center clip out of position? The retainer clip should rest across your child’s breastbone, although it can move out of position when removing baby from the seat.
Why rear-facing? A 2007 study found that children under age two are 75% less likely to die or be severely injured if they are rear-facing, while another study cites that one-year-olds are five times less likely to be injured in a crash if they are in a rear-facing seat. Children younger than two have relatively large heads and small necks, and the force of a front-facing crash in a front-facing seat can cause spinal cord injuries.⁸¹
Place your car seat in the center of the back seat. Child occupants seated in the center have a 43% less risk of injury than children seated on either outboard side.⁸²
Did you know that car seats can expire? This typically occurs 6-10 years after the date of manufacturing.
Do not use a car seat for all of baby’s naps. The AAP warns that babies sleeping in a seated position can receive significantly less oxygen than babies sleeping in cribs, with some sleeping positions cutting off oxygen to hypoxic levels < 90% (normal blood oxygen levels are 95-100%).⁸³ Babies can also develop plagiocephaly, or flat head syndrome, by spending too much time on their backs in car seats and swings.
Expect a “car seat challenge” for preterm infants (born before 37 weeks) to check for cardiopulmonary stability before being discharged from the hospital. Physiological studies indicate that preterm infants experience episodes of apnea (stopping breathing), bradycardia (slow heart rate), and desaturation (low oxygen levels) while seated in their car seat. Parents may want to limit travel during this fragile period.
For updated safety information and car seat installation videos (for all types of car seats), visit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.

Infant Car Seat Buying Tips

Buy an Infant Seat

I recommend buying an infant seat, rather than a convertible seat, due to better fit and convenience. Many rear-facing convertibles also have a five-pound minimum weight limit, and baby’s shoulders must be at or above the lowest harness slot. A convertible seat may be too big if you deliver early or have a small baby. Also, infant car seats are convenient since most brands detach from the base and snap directly into strollers, although some may require a special adapter. With a convertible, the seat stays in the car and you must wake baby to transfer him to a stroller.

Buy a 30-pound model

I recommend a 30-pound infant carrier, especially if baby’s parents or caregivers are petite.

Why not a 35 pound model? A 35 pound seat may seem like the best value at first. However, big seats are back breakers, and I can’t tell you how many moms I know with back and neck problems. An average baby doubles his birth weight in five months.
What about ultra-light seats with a 22-pound weight limit? These are outgrown too quickly. An average boy can expect to reach 22 pounds in eight months, while a girl will hit the seat weight maximum in 12 months. A larger baby could outgrow the 29″ seat height or 22 pound weight limit within four to six months.

Buy Your Car Seat Online

Price compare car seats on different web sites, wait for sales, and stack promo codes. You will likely pay more if you buy your car seat at a physical store with a baby registry. For example, a Google shopping search for the Britax Marathon in Black/Gray shows that the same model car seat varies in price from $223.99 at online stores to $299.99 in brick and mortar stores, such as Target and Buy Buy Baby. Warning: Some stores will add a cup holder, an extended warranty, and a couple of letters, such as “XE”, to popular car seats, and then proceed to add up to $100+ to the price tag.

Buy an extra infant base (for two car convenience)

Buy an extra infant base (not another car seat), if baby will ride in two cars frequently.

Register Your Car Seat

Register your car seat to receive important safety updates. It gives the manufacturer the ability to contact you about recalls and safety notices. Just send in the card that came with your car seat or fill out a simple form on the manufacturer’s website. Find your manufacturer’s registration HERE.

Convertible Car Seats: Are the Expensive Seats Worth It?

The question that most parents ask when buying convertible seats is, “Are the expensive seats worth the money?” The answer is, “it depends.” Less expensive convertible seats pass the same federal crash tests in the U.S. as car seats that cost hundreds of dollars. While some may not have extra side-impact protection or a harness that re-threads (without having to manually pull the strap out of the seat and thread it yourself as your child grows taller), the seat frames are all built to the same crash standards.

The major considerations with less expensive convertible seats are their limited size and weight capacities. Some of them top out at 40 pounds and 40-43 inches, which forces parents to move too early to a booster seat. For example, a 40 to 65 pound child is definitely safer in a convertible seat with a 65-pound maximum and a five-point harness than in a basic booster seat with an adult seat belt.

Bottom line: If I had purchased the workhorse of budget car seats, the Cosco Scenara, for my children, my tall toddlers would have outgrown it before age two and a half.

Summary of Best Infant Car Seat Lists and Resources for 2019

BabyList

Best Overall: Chicco KeyFit 30 Infant Car Seat (pronounced kee-ko)
Best Designed: Nuna PIPA Infant Car Seat
Best Inexpensive: Graco SnugRide SnugLock 35 Infant Car Seat
Best Easy-to-Install: UPPAbaby MESA Infant Car Seat
Best Compact: Britax B-Safe 35 Infant Car Seat
Best All-in-One: Doona New Infant Car Seat/Stroller
Best Easy-to-Clean: Maxi-Cosi Mico Max 30 Infant Car Seat

Mommyhood 101

Britax B-Safe 35 Ultra Infant Car Seat
Chicco Fit2 Infant Car Seat
Chicco KeyFit 30 Infant Car Seat
Peg Perego PV 4/35 Infant Car Seat
UppaBaby Mesa Infant Car Seat
Maxi Cosi Mico Max Plus 30 Infant Car Seat
Nuna Pipa Infant Car Seat
Safety 1st Onboard 35 Air Infant Car Seat

Safety.com

Graco 4Ever 4-in-1 Convertible Car Seat
Chicco KeyFit 30 Infant Car Seat
Britax Convertible Car Seat
Graco SlimFit 3-in-1 Convertible Car Seat
Evenflo Nurture Infant Car Seat
Diono Radian 3RXT All-in-One Convertible Car Seat
CYBEX Sirona M SensorSafe 2.0 Car Seat
Graco Extend2Fit Convertible Car Seat
Evenflo Big Kid AMP Booster Car Seat
Safety 1st Guide 65 Convertible Car Seat

What To Expect

Best Overall Infant Car Seat : Chicco KeyFit 30 infant car seat and base
Best Budget Friendly Infant Car Seat : Graco SnugRide 30 Click Connect Front Adjust car seat
Best Infant Car Seat for Extra Crash Protection : Nuna PIPA
Best Infant Car Seat for Families on the Go : Doona infant car seat stroller
Best Infant Car Seat for Little Nappers : Cybex Cloud Q infant car seat
Best Infant Car Seat for the Expected Messes : Maxi-Cosi Mico Max 30 infant car seat
Most Stylish Infant Car Seat : UPPAbaby Mesa infant car seat
Best Infant Car Seat for Anxious Parents : Britax B-Safe 35

The Bump

Best Overall: Chicco KeyFit 30 Magic
Best Infant Car Seat Stroller Combo: Evenflo Pivot Travel System with SafeMax Infant Car Seat
Best Infant Seat for Small Cars: Combi Coccoro Convertible Car Seat
Best Infant Seat for Twins: UppaBaby Mesa Infant Car Seat
Best Lightweight Infant Seat: Nuna Pipa Lite LX
Best Safety Infant Car Seat: BRITAX B-SAFE INFANT CAR SEAT
Best Affordable Infant Car Seat: Evenflo Nurture DLX Infant Car Seat