Choosing the Best Baby Car Seat for your Child

Once you are a parent, your number one objective is to ensure that your child is safe and healthy. Child safety is not only mandatory in the home, it is also very important when you are travelling with your kids in your car. From your baby’s birth, you will need a suitable baby car seat, unless you are planning to walk home from the hospital.

Choosing a baby car seat is an important decision, and it is one that often leaves many new parents feeling overwhelmed.  However, with all the different baby car seats that are available on the market today, where do you start? And how do you which one is the best choice for your baby?

Well, don’t panic; Baby Things know that each child is different and the last thing that you as a parent would ever want is for your child to be travelling in a baby car seat that does not provide them the best security. Baby car seats come in many different shapes and sizes, just like the children that they are designed to keep safe. Furthermore, the type of baby car seat that you need will be based on several factors like the size of the child, his/her age and the type of vehicle that the seat is for. This baby car seat guide will help you to determine which type of safety seat is right for your child as well as when is the right time to upgrade and move on to a new safety seat.

Types of Baby Car Seats
There are four main types of baby car seats; these are infant seats, convertible seats, forward-facing-only seat and booster seats.

• Infant seats
  From your baby’s birth until he/she is at least 1 year old and weigh at least 20 pounds, the baby should be riding in a rear facing infant seat. The baby should continue to use this seat until either the highest height or weight given by the car seat manufacturer is reached. Once this limit has been reached, you should upgrade to a convertible car seat.

• Convertible seats
  As your baby continues to grow you will need a convertible car seat. Although you have moved on to the convertible seat it is best to allow the baby to continue to travel in the rear-facing position until he/she weighs more than 22 pounds and is at least 1 year old. Some manufacturers of convertible seats may even recommend that the child continue to travel in the rear-facing position until they are about 35 pounds, so check your instructions. Once the seat’s rear-facing limit has been met, the baby needs to travel in the face forward position. So just switch around your convertible seat and continue until the seat has been out grown.

• Forward-facing-only seat
  The forward-facing-only seat is an alternative to the convertible seat and can only be used in the forward position. This type of baby car seat can be used until the baby weighs about 40 to 45 pounds and is under 4 years old. This seat also comes with harness straps and based on the model of seat some of these harnesses can used as a belt-positioning booster seat.

• Booster seats
  Once the limit of the forward-facing-only or convertible car seat has been reached, it is time to get a booster seat. The child should remain in the booster seat until the adult seat belt can fit properly.