What infant car seat do you have? Do you recommend it?
If it didn't require a separate base, did you buy it anyway? Do you think it's necessary?
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We have a Graco Snugride that we have used for both DD's. It comes with a base, but we never use it since we don't always take the same car (we don't own a car in the city and use taxis or public transit mostly). The base for our carseat is just for convenience if we were to use the same car all the time. It's so that you install the base once, and can just click the carseat onto it over and over again. But per our manual, it is safe to use it without the base by securing it with a seatbelt every time.
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We have the Peg Perego 30/30. We switched LO over to a convertible car seat at 7 months though. The Peg is nice, but on the expensive side. It did come with a base, but we've used it without while traveling.
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We have the BabyTrend Flex Loc. Since we bought the travel system, it came with a base. We've already installed that in DH's car and are getting a separate base for my vehicle. With the bases, we don't have to worry about getting the car seat belted down correctly each time, just snap in the car seat and hit the road.
LO isn't here yet, but our practice sessions with the car seat make it seem like it's going to be really easy to use. -
Ultimately it depends on the fit in your car and what stroller you want to use it with. They all meet the same safety requirements and I’m pretty sure every seat now has EPS foam, a safety feature you’d want in an infant seat. The base is very handy if you are in and out of the car a lot, especially if you have another person caring for LO, like a family member or nanny and want to make sure the seat is installed correctly every single time.
Most strollers that don’t come in a travel system, like snap n go stroller frames and jogging strollers are compatible with the most popular seats. The Graco Snugride is the most popular seat out there and works with just about every stroller that can accommodate an infant seat. It comes with several different height/weight limits. If you aren’t able to carry heavier weights, the Snugride 22 weighs less and is also smaller so it will fit in more compact cars than the Snugride 35 or other bigger seats.
I'd try the carseats in your car if you are near a BRU. Even seats rated for the same height/weight limits can be different sizes or fit on your seat differently. There is also a weight difference from seat to seat, which can make a difference when you are carrying it. The Britax Chaperone is one that tends to hang off the front edge of the back seat in most cars and it larger. Also Evenflo Seats have to have the handle down and need 1.5" of space between the infant seat and the back of the seat in front of it. For small newborns or premies the Chicco KeyFit is a great choice. I think they go down to 4 pounds.
We had a Safety 1st travel system that we were gifted and came with a Safety 1st 35 Air carseat with 1 base. We didn’t buy the second base, and only used the base for the first few months while I was on maternity leave. Eventually we just used the seatbelt, since it gave more clearance for the person in front, and DH and I are both tall and need our seats back a good way to fit comfortably in the vehicles we own. The seat itself was fine and DS seemed comfortable. It didn’t get really heavy until DS was 7 or 8 months and he fit in the seat until he was 10 months. (He was 90% for height and weight).
But the Safety 1st seat wasn’t compatible with the jogging stroller we eventually bought, which was awfully inconvenient. I’d have loved to be able to have one stroller, the jogger, which we could use for everything. But since we couldn’t snap the carseat into it, it was always a debate on what stroller to bring if we were going somewhere. DS always woke up when we transferred him to/from the stroller, and I constantly wished I had bought a different carseat.ETA: most stroller companies have a list of compatible infant seats you can use with it. Also if you want to get a jogging stroller, you joggingstoller.com is a great site. They have a compatibility chart for various strollers. http://joggingstroller.com/stroller-compatibility/
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We have the chicco keyfit travel system. I really like the travel system for when lo fell asleep so we could easily transfer her. The stroller is pretty bulky, so now that she's older we just use the umbrella stroller when we go out.
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We have the Chicco KeyFit 30 and I found a stroller that came with a infant car seat adapter that works with it. I registered for the car seat package that came with the base.
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Crumbs: You're in Sweden right? I found the Euro seats to be totally different than the American seats. I think you have to use a EU approved seat, unless you're a tourist.
We have a Roemer, which is part of the Britax Romer family in Europe. We had a Baby Safe Plus with the belted base as our car doesn't have ISOFIX.
eta: If I had to do it all over again knowing what I know now, I'd have skipped the infant seat all together and gone right to a convertible. We use our car with our son about once a week, so I didn't need it to transport him on a daily basis. I used our stroller with basinet much, much more.
eta again: I've used it without the base on the airplane too, no problems there. Just make sure it has the sticker on it that says it is okay to use on an airplane, the rules are different on US and non US carriers.
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We have the Maxi-Cosi Mico, and we installed the car seat base that came with the seat, as we only have one car right now. Our LO has not yet arrived so I can't really say much about it, but I did a lot of research online before choosing this seat and ultimately decided on this one based on its weight, ease of use, design, and compatibility with our stroller. Good luck!!
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Chicco KeyFit 30. We used the Maclaren Easy Traveller stroller frame with it. We also had two bases so we could switch it back and forth between cars easily. The convenience was definitely worth the price.
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Chicco Keyfit with two bases, and we just used it with the Snap and Go stroller frame. Worked fine for us, I'd recommend it.
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we have a graco snugride it came as part of the alano travel system. it does have a separate base that is already installed in my car, and we got an additional base from a family member and installed it in DH's car
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@Mrsbells: @NYCaliMama: I have the graco snugride as well, do you ladies find that it's heavy? Maybe I'm just weak but it's hard for me to carry! Otherwise, I love it. It's easy to use and the stroller it came with collapses easily.
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We have the Orbit G2 with one base. I used it at a previous nanny job, and loved it!
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@obxwife: I'm 38 weeks so my baby isnt here yet, I havent got to use my car seat yet. I think it is kinda heavy though because my SIL had the same car seat and it felt pretty heavy to me at first but then i got used to it
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We have a Graco Snugride 35 but I'm going to get a Snugride 22 for the next baby. The 35 was just way too heavy and he would have never outgrown a 22-- he's just hit 30 lbs now as a 2 year old!
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I actually have two graco snugrides and I love them! I thought they were decently light compared to some others that I have picked up.
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We have the Chicco Keyfit 30 and the Chicco Keyfit Caddy Stroller frame. I love the convenience but it is on the heavy side!
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We have the Graco Snugride 35. No complaints here!
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Thanks for all your replies! A few of the ones you mentioned are available here in Sweden, so I've made a list and will check them out in person the next time we're at a baby store.
My stroller's compatible with a Maxi-Cosi, but I'm not sure if we'll bother with it since we won't be using the car much anyway. The only time we'd use it is when we're grocery shopping at the bigger stores, but we do must of our shopping in the neighborhood (walking distance).
As for the base, I'm not convinced we need it - especially since we don't drive much. I'll make sure to check out the sizes of the car seats and see how much bulk it'll add. Our car is small.
Thanks again for all the recommendations!
@looch: Thanks for the heads up about the Isofix. I'll have to check if we have that.
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We have the graco snugride 25.
It is super lightweight, and we have a base for each of our cars. -
@Crumbs: I bought my car seat from this site, might give you some more ideas:
I have the Britax HighWay 2.
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If you're getting an infant bucket, I did a bit of research to try to find a five point harness...the maxi cosi brand only has a 3 point harness on their buckets it seemed. -
@looch: Thanks for the link! I'll definitely check it out. I've actually been eyeing the Britax Highway for our upgrade car seat, but their British site (with the car compatibility link) doesn't have it as an option for us. It might be too big for our little car.
We're going to check it out and see if the stores will allow us to test the demo to see if it fits.
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Chico Keyfit 30 - hand me down from a friend who used it for less than a year!
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We have the Chicco Keyfit 22 on our registry - we tried many and that was one of two that fit into our backseat properly and safely. I highly recommend going with your car to a store that allows you to try them out as some will work in your car and others won't!!
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