Baby Car Seat Shopping

The very thought of a car seat in the back of the car was something almost impossible to get my head around. I could imagine it there but at the same time it just felt so weird. Like it belonged to someone else. I guess it was tangible proof, aside from the baby bump of course, that there was a baby on the way and that life was going to change.

One of everything please…

It was about 16 weeks into my wife’s pregnancy we figured we had better get busy and start looking at baby paraphernalia, ie, car seats, costs, cribs, dressers, changing tables, prams, clothes, bottles, sterilizers, wipes, diapers, creams…… Just thinking back to the list of things to get, I feel faint and need to take a few deep breaths! It seemed we needed to buy pretty much one of every baby item ever conceived, ever. Daunting was one way to put it. But buy things we had to do. We figured a good place to start would be an infant car seat. I mean, this piece of kit would be the first thing our new baby would be using in order to leave the hospital. Luckily my wife, being the super organized and slightly baby mad person she is, she had a few ideas about what would be best for our baby. Ah hell, they weren’t ideas, they were set in stone plans. Luckily I didn’t mind in the least. We have similar likes, dislikes and ideas about things so her plans were like reading my mind. Lucky me, no research required. For dads to be, be very aware that there appear to be hundreds of different makes and models of car seats, all of which to the male eye look pretty much the same. The only thing that is really of any difference to our untrained eyes is the colors! For us, we were targeting the Maxi-Cosi brand. The Maxi-Cosi EasyFix to be specific.

Why the Maxi-Cosi above all the other brands?

Well, simply put it is a tried and tested brand. It offers isofix capabilities on practically of it’s infant car seats. Plus with the Easyfix model, the seat base is fixed to the isofix features in the car and the seat can be easily connected/disconnected. Handy when moving a sleeping baby! Believe me, waking a sleeping baby is never a good thing. It’s like when you were younger and you were trying to sneak out of the house at night and had to creep past your parents room. You adopted the ninja tippie-toe stance and prayed that the creaky floorboard would shut the hell up.We actually adopted a policy of “You wake her, you take her”! With the Easyfix creaky floorboards didn’t matter. A quick button press and the seat, with sleeping baby within, is free to be moved. Magic. Another handy thing with this model was that it is pretty flexible when it comes to fitting to pram frames so it was win-win for us.

Do Your Homework

Okay so I kind of went off on one here but don’t let me twist your arm. There are so many option out there that you should be looking around so you can find what best suits you. Do your homework. But remember, infant car seats are just that, for infants. Before you know it your baby will have outgrown it and you will need another car seat for them. That’s right, you’ll be buying several car seats before they get anywhere near even a booster seat. So don’t spend your entire life’s savings on a car seat! Be sensible and find the best for the cheapest. Search online as well as in your local stores. There are great deals to be had, particularly on Amazon as they facilitate multiple retailers’ products. To help, I have included some of the best (and most affordable) options out there.

The Dad Manual Choice

The Maxi Cosi Mico (with EasyFix)

Top Consumer Rated Choice

Graco Snugride 35 Infant Car Seat

Top Consumer Rated Choice for Heavier/Taller Babies

Britax Chaperone Infant Carrier

About the Author

The Dad Manual operates a blog about his life as a dad. It is aimed to provide personal experience to other parents, specifically other dads, on the good, the bad and the ugly side to being a modern dad.

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