Child Safety Seats

Being an excited father, I went out and bought the “best” child safety seat I could find, meaning it cost almost US$300… it had Side Impact Protection, the latest color for the year (2006), etc etc. Then 9 months later, baby is too big to fit comfortably into this super seat… wasted money? Still arguable, but I had really great peace of mind during those 9 months. For those interested to chime in, I got the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio. Great features, very well built, excellent experience, but again, short-lived use.

In shopping for my “next” seat, I found myself looking at stuff I “could have” bought: those reversible car seats that face backward for infants, and then face forward for toddlers. Many of them also include attachments that help ensure comfort and safety for infants, and then you remove those headrests, etc as they grow bigger. Many of my friends use the Britax Marathon, but I found that Cosco also makes a few great models, and I got the Alpha-Omega 3-stage reversible from Babies ‘R’ Us. The Cosco seat is almost half the price of the Britax, and is touted as “the only car seat you will ever need”. You can read more about it at http://products.howstuffworks.com/cosco-alpha-omega-3-stage-car-seat-02-531-review.htm

The one “fantastic” must-have feature for infant car seats, which till today comforts me for having bought that expensive thing, is that these “infant-only” seats are easily removable and then easily secured onto their bases. This is definitely a plus because again, young babies tend to be sleeping more, and trying to buckle and unbuckle them without waking them? Good luck…

That’s just my own experience, and you may have your own to share with everyone. Chime in.