You can’t always leave your baby at home. Babysitters can be helpful, but babysitters aren’t always available. In that situation, you will be forced to bring your baby with you, often in your car, which can be unsafe for many reasons. Your child can also be a distraction when driving if a baby is crying in your passenger seat.
One thing you can do to safely travel with your child is to buy a car seat. You’re in luck if you’re looking to buy a baby car seat. Other than your baby’s safety, there are many reasons you should buy a quality car seat.
You Can Buy One that Suits Your Car
Not all baby car seats are made equal. There are different types of baby car seats that are compatible with different types of car models. That said, if you’re looking for a baby car seat that will fit your car, you can review your car’s owner’s manual.
If you’re not entirely sure about the baby car seat you want to buy, you can measure your car seat yourself.
It Can Grow with Your Child
No, we’re not saying that the baby car seat will grow naturally with your baby. We’re talking about buying a convertible seat that can be adjusted according to the size of your baby. A baby car seat is expensive, and buying multiple options as your child grows older can be financially draining.
There are two types of car seats for infants: the rear-facing baby car seat and a convertible one. Buying a mothers choice car seat, which is convertible, is much more cost-effective as it lasts through toddlerhood. It works by being installed as a rear facing seat first, and converting to forward facing as your child grows.
The only drawback of convertible baby car seats is that they can’t be taken in and out of the car, unlike a rear-facing baby car seat.
Easy to Clean
Baby car seats tend to get easily dirtied, especially since it’s housing a toddler. Don’t even get us started when feeding! Cleaning a typical baby car seat can be time-consuming with all those fallen crumbs and milk stains. However, certain fabrics can make a baby car seat easier to clean, and the most notable among them is corduroy, a textured fabric.
Luckily, they are quite common in the market, but they can be slightly more expensive than the typical fabrics most baby car seats are made of.
It Has a Lot of Features (Depending on the Price)
At the lower price range of $80-$200, there are few features for either a regular baby car seat or a convertible one. However, you can look for one with a 5-point harness, which includes two shoulder straps, another two for the waist, and one for the legs that meet in the middle.
You can also look for a car seat with side-impact protection, which is typically an extra cushion on the baby side, and air pads for both sides in the head area. And of course, don’t forget to find one compatible with the LATCH system. That said, if you can afford one over the price of $200, there are many more features you can go for, such as an anti-rebound bar at the foot of the seat. This limits movement when god-forbid, the car crashes.
In this price range, you can also find one that’s much cushier in terms of fabric and even have extra accessories. These accessories can include boots for the baby’s feet or even a canopy when you like to open your windows. However, the most important feature you should look for is the straps.
Of course, ensure the straps are easy to adjust when finding one. Ideally, you should check if the straps don’t need to be rethreaded. Luckily, most brands now have adjustment handles in the back of the baby car seat or even a pull cord in between the legs of the baby, making rethreading out of trend.
Final Words
There are a lot more reasons for baby car seats other than safety. From buying one that saves you a lot of money to not having to spend your time cleaning the baby car seat itself, there are many reasons why you should buy one right now. When it comes to our baby, we only want what’s best, so if you’re looking for a reason to buy a baby car seat, this article should be a start.