Baby Car Seats

July 21st, 2008 by Shenron

If you have an infant one of the most important ways to keep him or her safe when traveling is to secure your baby in a baby car seat. Baby car seats have been proven effective and are required by practically all states when transporting your infant in a car, SUV or minivan. Baby car seats, sometimes called infant car seats not only offer protection, but include a few features that are quite convenient.

A baby car seat is made for infants that weigh up to 20-30 pounds (depending on specific seat) and are up to one year old. These car seats are rear facing for maximum protection. A rear facing seat protects the child from whiplash due to the direction the baby faces. Another feature of baby car seats is that they usually include a handle so that the parent can easily carry the infant in or out of the vehicle. Since these car seats include a base, the seat simply snaps into place when traveling. If the parent needs to go to the store, the seat can snap out of place and be used as a carrier.

Besides including an initial base, many baby car seat manufacturers sell additional bases so that more than one car can easily accommodate the infant in the seat with ease. This means if you switch the vehicle you transport the baby in, you don’t have to constantly install and uninstall the base. Another product that is sometimes sold with infant car seats are car seat systems. For instance, a stroller is sold with the baby car seat. When you pull out the car seat, you can easily snap it into the stroller for extra convenience.

When choosing a baby car seat, it is important to note that there is no best seat or best brand, instead choose a seat that fits your infant correctly and make sure your baby is comfortable in the chair.

While there is no baby seat that is considered the safest, there are several high quality baby seat manufacturers including Britax, Gracco and Eddie Bauer. If you are given a baby car seat from a family member or friend, make sure that it is in good condition and that it was never involved in an accident. It is also important to receive instructions for the seat so that you can install it correctly in your vehicle. It is also a good idea to check and make sure that the manufacturer, model number and date of the product are easily viewable. If you know the product’s model number you can usually go online and receive installation instructions for the seat as well as product recall information.

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