We used an infant seat from birth to 6 months. We probably could have switched over at 4. I'm glad we had both, he really swam in the Britax at first and I didn't feel comfortable with any of the inserts. We drive a lot, which probably does make a big difference. I also really liked being able to take a sleeping baby into the house or into the stroller frame, too, without having to take him out of the seat.

It depends on your lifestyle. If you live in a city like NY, you will constantly be in and out of a car, and there is nothing that can compare to the convenience of clicking your carseat from your car, onto your stroller and back into your car again.
Especially if the baby is sleeping.
My son is two now, and we upgraded to the "first years" car seat, but i still miss the convenience of those days.

I was on the fence for a while but it came with the stroller and my husband's parents offered to buy us the combo for our shower. We travel a lot by car and I am glad we ended up with one. Our daughter was born at 5 lbs 14 oz and she was swimming even in the infant car seat at first. I can't imagine how oversized the convertible seat would have been. I have also read since them in several places that infant seats are safer for babies than convertibles. That said, I have a lot of friends who skipped the infant seat altogether and were fine.

We considered skipping it, but decided to get an infant car seat for this reason: "bringing their baby to dinner or to transfer a sleeping baby from the car to home without waking it." Also, our daughter slept better in her car seat than anywhere else - I guess she liked the snugness and the more upright posture. Sometime we could get her to nap there and nowhere else.

Something we had not really thought about at the time but that is convenient now that it's come up, is that our daughter will not be quite big enough to move into a booster seat before our second baby is born. So we can use the infant car seat for the second, and then when the new baby is ready to move to a bigger car seat, we can buy a booster for the older child and give the younger the car seat.

For people who are just going to buy one car seat (or even if you're buying an infant seat and a convertible seat) I highly recommend the Sunshine Kids Radian seats. It has a higher weight limit than most convertibles (80 lbs or 60 lbs depending on the model) so lasts your kid for a longer time. Also, the seat folds up and you can get a carrying strap for it - if you've ever lugged a car seat through an airport you'll recognize how nice it is to have one that gets more compact and that you can sling over your shoulder.

would never ever skip it. we drive often and if we're not we're walking or biking so it doesn't really apply unless it's attache to a stroller frame.

We skipped the infant seat with our first guy but it was more necessary for the second guy. The bolting toddler required us to be able to have a less delicate little guy.
Oldest boy was moved frequently from car to crib while sleeping with very few problems. One of the best things you can do for your kids is not coddle their sleep habits.

Buy a nice used brand name and sell it for what you paid for it when you're finished.

And to the parents who think going from the car to the stroller to the restaurant to the stroller to the car without ever leaving the seat is a good thing... I roll my eyes at you.

It's funny that the post mentions that they considered skipping an infant seat b/c they don't own a car -- to me, that was the only reason NOT to skip an infant carseat. If I owned a car, I would have bought a convertible from day 1. Since I live in NYC and don't own a car, I thought an infant seat that I can easily install in a cab and can attach to the stroller frame was the best option. Now that my daughter no longer fits in it, I have bought a convertible and now I feel I can only use it when we rent. There's no way I would drag it on a cab ride, and since I will not have my daughter in a car without a carseat (even if it's technically allowed in cabs), we just don't travel by car as much. Yes, it was convenient to take her in the infant carseat, but if I owned a car, I would have just started with a convertible.

@ Jeff S: Thank you!

I had an infant seat with all three of mine, but seldom unhooked it. We wore all of the boys the better part of the time, and also had little use for the stroller that came with it!

That said, I had no ideain advance what the boys or I would prefer so this is a hard decision. I always mention to expecting mommies that you _can_ skip it, and they are often surprised.

We skipped the infant seat and never missed it. We drive daily but not far (we live in a small town). 3 years later, Mo is still using the car seat she came home from the hospital in.

As for letting the baby sleep in the car seat: there is research out now showing that it is NOT SAFE for a baby to sleep in a car seat. I don't want to start a big flame war or anything, but it is clearly safer and easier to leave the car seat in the car and carry the little baby.

(The exception is using a car seat in a stroller base if you're going to be walking. Of course we all know this is not what people usually do when they take the baby out of the car in the car seat.)

I wanted to skip the infant car seat, and we registered for a Marathon. Then a friend of mine offered to hand down her infant car seat & matching stroller (not expired nor recalled and never in an accident) and I accepted. This turned out to be a wise decision. My son was 50th percentile for height/weight from birth to about 9 months and was too small for the Marathon until he was about 5 months old.
While I didn't use the infant car seat as a baby carrier very often (because those things are so awkward to carry and don't support proper spinal positioning in infants), I have to admit that the snap-in/snap-out portability did come in handy at times.

Oh, and transferring a sleeping boy from the car to the house usually goes off without a hitch.

Infants generally sleep better in an infant car seat because of the recline. Choosing one with a higher weight limit will maxamize your value. (Grace SafeSeat NOT Snugride).

When you are ready to switch, choose a car seat with a high weight limit rear facing. A child younger than two is SEVEN times more likely to have a spinal cord injury while forward facing instead of extended rear facing. Most states have or are adopting the higher age limit so don't assume that the standard is one year rear-facing.

Finally, brief naps are fine in a car seat but it isn't designed for extensive napping or sleeping at night. Several states and Canada are considering banning the sale of infant car seat accessories like strollers, etc. because some babies are developing developmental problems. The angle is not a good one for a developing spine.

The Graco 65 has higher weight and height limits, excellent safety data, and is cheap to boot. We've purchased a lot of car seats and I am still irritated about my Britax choices. Their height limits are lousy. Britax is only a good choice if you kid is really small.

I would never ever recommend buying a used car seat because you don't know its accident history. Many used car seats have been accidents-- the owners sell them after their insurance company pays for a replacement. Maybe your seller is honest-- buy how do you know?

We skipped it since we don't have a car, and probably used the convertible only a handful of times before we would have had to move up to the next size. It would have been nice a few times because the convertible is just too big to lug around, but I don't regret it. Plus, babies shouldn't be in carseats outside of the car anyway - they are not designed for constant use all day long like way too many people use them and there are deaths associated with carseat use outside of the car.

With multiples, there is no way you can skip the infant seats.

We went straight to the Britax convertible. One point that I cannot emphasize enough is to have the seat installed by a knowledgeable carseat installer; our baby store, which is an independent, did a wonderful job, but there are fire stations and police stations that also do this. We installed my older child's seat ourselves; we both have college degrees and put together IKEA furniture often, but when we saw how much tighter and how much more reclined the installer got our younger child's seat, we were chagrined indeed.

I agree with JudiAU, buying a used carseat is an iffy practice. However for my first son we got an infant seat from friends whose little babe had just outgrown it. So I was comfortable with that.

If we are going to bring up safety issues with letting the baby sleep in a carseat, then I wanted to bring up the use of the "snuzzler". Any aftermarket products you use in your carseat nul and void the warranty. If it didn't come with it, then it isn't safety/crash tested for use with the seat. Yes, yes...it is likely fine. BUT...

There are so many BUTs as a parent.

I had the peg perego (older version) with my first son, and he was born at 5lbs...it fit him really well. He grew out of it very early but I liked that it was just his size for the first 6 months. We then purchased the Sunshine Radian which we LOVE-it has many pluses like easy traveling, a slim profile so two people can still sit in the back of our small car beside him, however it also has drawbacks. As a rear facing seat it is LONG, meaning it barely fit in our car behind the passenger seat. But now forward facing its awesome and we suffered not being able to sit in the passenger seat for about 5 months.

SO in the end you gotta pick the seat that best fits your car and your baby. Not easy decisions!

I never had any idea that you could skip it!!! Oh well were using the same seat for both our kids and it was a gift. No biggy but wow skip it...no idea. :D

@ JeffS- Think a bit past restaurants- try grocery shopping, going to the bank, getting the mail- or the myriads of things that parents need to do with their car and kid.

The Combi Coccoro is awesome and compact. It's not a carrier but if you're not a fussy wussy, you should be able to handle. Like my mom says, she did just fine without an infant carrier in the late 70s. The Coccoro even brings the infant insert for use up to 15 lbs so baby won't be swimming in this compact, fits-in-a-MINI-Cooper, can be used up to 40 lbs car seat.

We travel exclusively by car - and needed seats for two cars ($ouch!). We did not buy a infant seat but went right to the britax convertible - the smallest one, i forget the name, (roundabout?) for my car (the main car). I loved it - it was slightly inconvenient when shopping etc. but for me the negatives (poor sleeping position, incredibly heavy for me) outweighed the positives. I quickly learned to bring the sling or use the carts with the baby recliner on top (layered with a blanket). I had no problem getting either of my kids out of the car seat sleeping and up into their cribs when they (almost everyday for the first) fell asleep in the car.

However, we did borrow an infant seat for my husband's car when I went back to work and it "lived" in there - we rarely brought it out for the first, and only slightly more often for our second. He LOVED it and was very sad when each kid moved up in his car to a convertible!

So, my 2 cents is borrow (from someone you know VERY well) if you can, but don't spend money on an infant seat. Especially since pediatricians are now recommended backwards til age 2 as a practice - they'll get used to the in-and-out soon enough and the time you'll use it so short.

We went with a convertible car seat b/c we were concerned about safety. Check out this article in the Chicago Tribune that cites problems with infant car seats flying off the detachable bases in safety tests: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-03-01/news/0902280322_1_frontal-crashes-car-seat-test-results. Our baby was only 6 lbs 11 oz at birth, but always fit our convertible seat fine (we got the Britax Boulevard, which has an adjustable harness). We carry our baby in a front pack carrier (usually the ergo) when we leave the car. Super easy, more interesting for the baby, and better for the parents' backs! Also seems better for the environment to buy one carseat that will last for years.

for me the bigger issue was price. I needed carseats for two cars, mine and my parents', who watch my daughter two days a week. I did the math and it made more financial sense to buy a good infant carseat with a high weight/height limit with two bases for the first year and then a more expensive convertible carseat with all the frills for my car and a simple model for my parents' car.

and I would have found it difficult to skip the carseat. my daughter hated all of the carriers that we tried--she would only do arms or carseat. the carseat saved my life for the first few months before she was able to really sit up by herself.

For whatever reason, both of my kids HATED their infant carseat (Maxi Cosi Mico). My 2 year old son cried every time he was in the car (very stressful) until we switched him over to a convertible at 4 months. My one month old daughter also cried every time she was in the Maxi Cosi, and we just recently switched her over to a convertible (she's so tiny in it!) and she loves it. Yes, we checked to make sure we were using the infant seat correctly. I think the snugness of the seat made it much too hot and uncomfortable for them (both summer babies).

So anyway... we used a convertible with both our infants and did not miss the infant seat at all! Just pop the baby in a sling when you get to the store.

We just purchased the convertible (Maxi Cosi Priori) and didn't use an infant seat. I really wanted to limit our plastic consumption with our daughter, and the car seat was a necessity but I didn't think it was worth the money (or plastic in a landfill) for an infant seat. We didn't miss it. I'm especially glad we didn't buy it because she was already too tall and heavy for one at just seven months old.

My daughter went from car seat to sling easily, and usually stayed asleep. Much more comfortable than lugging around a heavy infant seat like I see all the time.

I wish we had skipped the infant seat and gone straight to a convertible. We live in Manhattan, no car, and have used our Graco Snugride as a car seat fewer than ten times. We did, however, use it as an attachment on our City Mini stroller for the first four months or so, so it's not like it was a waste. It's utilization as an actual car seat has been minimal. It's been shoved in back of our closet taking up valuable space for the past six months.

The infant carseat was definitely easier for the first several months... actually, my daughter was on the small side so she was in it for a year!

(Now, I was a big sling user, and I'm not a fan of leaving a kid strapped into something all the time... but if you'd rather wake up your kid every time you arrive at your destination, you're a braver parent than I! My kiddo had/has a bloodcurdling scream and does not wake up in a good mood.)

We also used the Britax Roundabout from birth and have been really happy with it. There were moments in the beginning when I missed being able to tote my sleeping baby directly from the car without having to pick him up (and thus potentially wake him), but for the most part it wasn't a concern. My husband and I did a lot of baby wearing, even though we were relatively out of shape, and that helped with toting him around.

We're expecting our second child in January and I think we're going to borrow an infant car seat and see how we like it this time. I do worry that it'll delay development a little; our son had fantastic head/neck control from an early age, cruised at six months, walked at nine months... I wonder if being held upright more often instead of laying prone in a seat might have helped? I'd like to give our new baby the same opportunities, but at the same time the infant car seat is tempting... especially considering we'll have a two-year-old to wrangle when the baby is born.

We were going to skip straight to a convertible but the nurse told us they would not allow us to take our firstborn home in it, especially with accessories NOT provided by the manufacturer, as they make the car seat unsafe. And you do not need to have your car seat put in by installers, go to a fire station, have them TEACH you the proper way and do it yourself.

Aftermarket items (accessories made by others than the seat's manufacturer) like the Snuzzler are not endorsed by the CPSC nor car seat manufacturers (including Britax).

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/aftermarket.aspx
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/AftMarketMan.aspx

Britax's upcoming car seat revisions are supposed to address the needs of much smaller infants, so if you're thinking about buying a convertible Britax and skipping an infant seat, it's probably worth waiting to see what the new seats will offer (the release will be within the month, I think).

We also have a Combi Coccoro, which is a convertible car seat, in our mini cooper. Our son's only three weeks old but so far it's been totally fine - of course, we're using the infant insert which fits quite snugly around him. We don't have any interest in strollers or car seat type carriers since he's strapped to one of us in a sling whenever we're out and about, so the convertible car seat was the obvious choice. Plus, we didn't fancy having to wrestle a big ol' insert seat in and out of the mini all the time!

(I should clarify that the infant insert is the one provided by Combi with the car seat and not an after market modification, and the car seat was also installed/inspected by a licensed technician before the kidlet was born, and checked off as safe.)

We switched to a convertible seat around the time that our baby was 12 weeks. She wakes up every time the car stops anyway and the insert was so heavy to carry that I just couldn't see the point of it anymore. If she doesn't wake up when I stop the car then she's in a deep enough sleep for me to carry her in and put her down again. I did find it useful very early on however.

We started out with just a convertible, but ended up buying an infant seat for a few reasons. With our son being born in June, and having no garage, the convertible got very hot after the car was parked in the sun. Also, I had numerous doctor appointments, and obviously a baby can't be worn on your front during an exam. Has anyone tried to eat dinner with a baby tied to you? One more thing to consider: I had a c-section, and carrying even a 8 pound baby on my front really caused some pain. Even if I was just carrying him for an hour, it was still too much. We do wear him a lot, in a variety of carriers, because we don't yet own a stroller. Trying to find an affordable stroller that can go from infant to toddler-hood has become our next challenge.

We had an infant seat (Snugride), and it was really convenient. We do drive a bit, and it made running errands a bit easier if we had the stroller base with us (depending on the errand). Once she was willing to go in the Ergo (was a few months in for us), I liked doing most errands with my daughter in a carrier, but at first when it was still winter, it was great to be able to easily throw a car seat cover (you know those things with the little face openings?) on the seat and bring her in and out sheltered from the weather.

Lugging those things around can get tiring, and after a while, it's just not realistic. But if you have a stroller base, it can make things go smoothly. I ended up having a smaller baby than I was expecting, so it was nice to have the smaller scaled seat too so she wasn't swimming in it.

Going for it or skipping it are both obviously valid options, of course. But I'm happy we had our infant seat for number one. And someone mentioned earlier that having the seat made it easier when number two showed up, which I hadn't really thought about. But now that number two is on the way for us, I'm glad we have the other one still (not yet expired! yay!).

After a highway accident involving a semi hitting an SUV and hitting us (baby was 9 months old), I became a total NUT about car seats. So forgive me. :)

The most important thing is finding a car seat that fits both your car and your child securely, and is installed properly. And if it's hard to use/hard to adjust the straps/etc., you may be less likely to do it right.

Our high-weight-limit (30 lb.) infant seat fit til almost 18 months, I think; would have been longer except for those giant winter clothes. Now, our 65-lb.-limit convertible will last a very long time. We picked ours because of its side-impact protection. Pricey, but worth it.

If you're a 2-car family, an infant seat with an extra base is a huge help. We HATE having to re-install our convertible.

Side note: during the accident, the base of the infant seat lifted slightly, but there was no visible damage. Still, replace a seat after any accident. The insurance paid for the new infant seat, no problem (and got our deductible back from the trucking company).

You can rent carseats at any car rental place, so if you're really unsure, don't get one at all! ;)

I do drive but I found it totally unnecessary to purchase the infant carseat. It seemed like a waste of money. If we were out and about, I just put her in a sling. My daughter hated being in the carseat anyway so I'm glad I didn't bother.

If you don't drive often, I think skipping the infant seat isn't a bad idea. We had an infant seat, and now have a Roundabout, but the infant seat was very useful for us--for one thing, we have two cars and our daughter goes out with my parents often (as they babysit her while we work.) When our daughter was younger, we just had the one seat, which stayed with her wherever she was, but we had three separate bases in the three cars. The bases weren't expensive, and there wasn't any need to switch seats in and out of the cars. Now, however, we have three seats, two Roundabouts and a cheaper seat. Cost us a bomb! I greatly preferred the inexpensive bucket seats.

I think either decision is fine, but my favorite thing about the infant car seat (which I haven't seen mentioned) is that on really cold or rainy days, you can get your tiny baby fastened into their seat in the warmth and dryness of wherever you are and then pop them in the car and go. It may not seem like much, but when those straps get twisted it can take forever to sort them out, especially when your fingers are gloved or freezing.

Actually I think that point about the weather is a huge benefit if you live in an intemperate climate. I'm in Iowa. We have a detached garage, so it's always freezing (sub-freezing!) in the car in the winter and blazing hot in the summer even when we're starting from home.

We had a car seat cover for our infant car seat, that was basically like a winter coat. It was sooooo easy to put the baby in the car seat inside, put the cover on, then put the whole thing in the car or stroller. At the destination, we could then just take the cover off and leave her in or take her out depending. Much easier, I think, than stuffing the baby into a winter zip-up jumper and then strapping her into a car seat, and then reversing the process at the destination.

Actually, now that I think about it, our baby didn't even have a winter coat for that reason. If she was outside she was in the infant seat either in the car or the stroller. (She was a late fall baby, so was ~6 months old when the warmer weather finally came around.)

My friend skipped the infant car seat...she has a great pros and cons list:

http://www.momsjournal.org/20081120/baby-car-seat-selection-seeking-safety/

we bought our infant car seat/stroller combo from my sister and I've been really happy with it. I actually never would have thought to skip it either until I read this but we're on baby number two with it already so it's too late to do anything differently.

Jeff --not sure why leaving the baby in the car seat occasionally is so offensive. If he's sleeping when we get where we're going, I don't see why I would want or need to take him out vs. just letting him sleep. If he's awake, I carry him in the baby bjorn because he likes to see everything, but if not, I really don't see the point. Especially in the summer when we're both going to roast. Also, there are times in a restaurant when I would like to be able to sit normally at the table like everyone else and eat for five minutes.

i hated our infant car seat and it felt cheap and unsupportive. i ended up transferring him to our britax boulevard much soon than expected and he seems much more secure, safe and comfortable.

Dumb question if anyone is still reading this string: do you need to have a removable (infant) carseat for traveling by airplane? Original plan was to skip the infant seat, but we're expecting in November and are hoping to fly home for the holidays.

You will eventually need to learn how to take your baby in and out of a carseat without waking them. If you learn how to do that early on, this whole business about waking the baby will be moot and you will have saved a hundred bucks or more. (And you'll be considered a super mom/dad). The first 6 months or so will fly by anyway. This of course is fine if your baby is within normal birth weight.

When it comes to restaurants and walking around, my baby loved his inglesina zippy stroller and in a restaurant setting, we learned what our parents did with us-- switch turns eating or holding the baby. We also started using a travel booster seat, which doubles as a high chair at home-- and cost us $20.

You don't *need* a carseat for flying by airplane. You can hold them in your lap. However, it is recommended-- I've never seen anyone actually do that.

I knew you could skip the infant seat but I'm glad I didn't. My twins were both under 5 pounds when we brought them home from the hospital, and being born at 37 weeks they just were not very strong. They were swimming in the infant seats even with the snuzzlers! I think they would have been seriously flopping around in a convertible seat. Also the double Snap-n-Go was great for getting around with two newborns, and you need the infant seats for the Snap-n-Go.

We (ignorantly) thought an infant carseat was a necessity with our first. He hated it. We bought him a Britax Roundabout before he turned 1 and he loved it.

We skipped the infant carseat for our second and went straight for the Britax Roundabout. When carrying him, we used a ring sling when he was first born and then used and Ergo Carrier as he got a little bigger. Never once did I wish I had used an infant car seat for him, and I know that he enjoyed being snuggled in the sling or being held, more that he would have being left in his carseat when we were out and about. It was never an issue transferring him to his bed, and he slept just fine in the convertible seat.

I am disgusted with the amount of babies who spend a majority of their days in their carseat and I refused to let my son be one of them. My pediatrician even commented on how nice it was to see someone actually holding their newborn instead of constantly toting them around in their carseat. You really CAN do without an infant carseat if you are willing.

No, you don't need to have a car seat on a plane. It is considered safer though.

The greatest luxury is an extra seat and a nursing baby and no car seat. Beats business class any day. No bulky car seat taking up room.

We skipped the infant seat. After doing a lot of research we went with a "True Fit". http://www.amazon.com/First-Years-True-Convertible-Casino/dp/B000YBILWY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1279065125&sr=1-2

The carseat techs that I talked to said that Britax seats didn't really fit newborns very well because the strap slots were too high (strap slots need to be even with or below the shoulders for a rear facing seat). The true fit comes with an infant insert.

We eat out a lot (several times a week at least) and we never had a problem with one of just holding the baby until she got old enough to sit in a high chair. We've done it with both kids now. I run errands, in and out of stores, etc with the baby. She sleeps like a dream and transferring her while asleep isn't a problem, she's accustom to be handled while asleep, it doesn't disturb her.

I could see the benefit of having an infant seat if you live somewhere really cold. I live in the deep south though, so that's not an issue for us. For the heat I toss a baby blanket over the carseat when we get out of the car just to keep the direct sun off the metal buckle.

I can't believe having a baby in a car seat outside of a car is actually a "thing" to sneer at and be judgemental about. If we get home and he's asleep in it, he comes out and lays down in his crib. If we're out and he's asleep, why shouldn't I just leave him alone? Apparently, I am supposed to wake him up and take him out in a restaurant and pass him back and forth for the entire meal just to avoid feeling shamed by people who roll their eyes at car seats in a restaurant. But what if I'm just running into the bank or post office for a few minutes, do I need to transfer him to a sling? Or what if I have to go to the ob/gyn and bring the 3 month old and the 3.5 year old with me because I don't have a sitter. Is it acceptable to leave him in the car seat then or should I be holding him during my pap smear?

If my parents had an infant car seat in the Philippines in 1972 I GUARANTEE you I would have been carried around in that thing. A lot. If you're disgusted by it, that's fine. But don't judge. You have no idea how much time other kids spend in their car seats or how much time their mothers spend holding them.

In ny, and I'm sure other places, you can't leave the hospital without a car seat, even if you live across the street!

Two words: Flat head.

*shrug*

You must be new to this site, giggit! Love it--but there is no subject posted here too small for posters to get judgey!

Exactly nellymom! A lot of perfect parents follow apartment therapy blogs. Their kids always listen & never make a mess as well!

Your baby will not get a flat head from sleeping in a car seat at a restaurant or at the grocery store! LOL, that is the funniest comment yet! It's if they are in the same spot almost all the time when it might have an effect....checking my three sons heads right now....lol.

I would actually like to know where everyone got the info that it is bad for a baby to sleep in a car seat?

I got a Britax convertible, never used an infant carrier. I always tie my baby to me and now that he is 19 months let him walk and/or put him in the grocery cart a lot of the time. I cringe at buying extra "baby" stuff because it seems so wasteful. Oh and the Britax fit him just fine from birth, he was 7 lbs.

At the airport I check the carseat and tie him on. Once an older mother at security juggling a stroller, rolling carry-on and diaper bag, looked at me and exclaimed "Oh, you make it look so easy!" And I have to admit, yep it looked worlds easier than what she was doing.

At restaurants, before he was big enough to sit in a high chair, I again tied him on. Never a problem.

I kind of understand the "judgey" comments about leaving your baby in the infant carrier for extended periods of time. However, referring to strangers you see in public with their baby in an infant carrier, I don't think there should be any "eye-rolling" cause you don't really know to what extent they have the baby there. Except in instances of blatant abuse or neglect, better to mind your own business when it comes to strangers.

Boy these threads get judgmental...!

About the dangers of sleeping in a car seat...

There was a study released last summer in the journal Pediatrics, which highlighted the problem...

Essentially, the issue is that the car seat must be installed at the proper angle in the car in order to be safe (i.e., you should always check with the car seat manufacturer to see whether you can properly install the car seat in the make and model of car that you have; the people who note that their children have floppy heads in their car seats and think they need a neck roll -- chances are the problem is that the car seat is not compatible with your car...).

When a car seat is removed from the car, and is placed on the floor, it is no longer at a safe angle. Apparently, the car seat can actually compress a young baby's chest, which can cause breathing problems in an estimated 20% of very young babies (2 day old newborns were studied).

Here is more info:

http://thestir.cafemom.com/baby/6811/dont_let_your_newborn_sleep

My experience with the stroller adapters (like the one on our bugaboo) is that they keep the baby at the same angle as a properly installed car seat, and so are safe. But then, I am just familiar with our bugaboo.

I hated carrying my children in slings when out in public; extended periods of doing so hurt my back, made me hot and irritable. I also felt more vulnerable to being pushed or of falling. I remember one of the first times out with my first child, I ran into a woman who also seemed to be out with her child for the first time... she had her child in a sling, while I had mine in a Bugaboo cot (not a seat or a child carrier). We chatted, and I said that I should try the sling, as it looks easier, and her response was that she was thinking the exact opposite -- that it was uncomfortable, and that next time, she was taking something that wouldn't make her sweat!

Safety is paramount, but after that, one size does not fit or work for all; something to remember when passing judgements on other parents' solutions.

Never had an infant car seat. The convertable seats worked just fine for us. Both babes slept right through any transition into or out of the car and wore snow suits in the winter. I never regretting not having a "baby bucket" to lug around.

To get around with an infant, I used a Baby Bjorn with my oldest and switched to a sling for my youngest. I also had a nice stroller that reclined flat for infants. That stroller and our two original convertable car seats are still in daily use, 9 years later (!). We definitely got our money's worth.

We decided to forgo the infant car seats b/c they seemed too heavy, at the time they did not come as LATCH compatable, and I just hated seeing a baby bucket being put down on the sidewalk, on the floor of a restaurant, etc. It just made me sad to see a baby treated like a sack of groceries.

"It just made me sad to see a baby treated like a sack of groceries."

I really, truly give up on ohdeedoh...

ha ha nellymom...not new, just felt like I had to defend myself which is utterly absurd.

there are certain times in the day when you need your hands free. if the car seat or sling is better for you or the baby it shouldn't matter as long as everyone's happy. I could continue to explain why I occasionally carry my 3 month old in his car seat but I won't because a) I shouldn't have to and b) my 3 year old, who was also occasionally carried in his car seat, is a very happy, secure, affectionate and well-adjusted little boy who knows his parents love him more than they do a sack of groceries and I'm sure his little brother will turn out the same way.

LOL..."a sack of groceries", oh dear.
I love love love my Ergo carrier and used it a lot. BUT I was also born with hip dysplasia and will need a hip replacement soon at the ripe old age of 30. So a lot of the time being able to transfer my baby in the carseat directly to my Uppababy wheels was the ONLY way I could get around. Some days I just can't carry him during a grocery shop etc. But I'm still entitled to going out right?

Funny thing for me is that becoming a mom made me LESS judgemental...less harsh on other moms I see. You never know their story. I guess it hasn't done so for everyone but geesh. There are pros and cons to BOTH car seat ideas.

My biggest judgy-ness comes when my friends don't use whatever carseat they've chosen properly. It REALLY gets under my skin. I've tried a few non-confrontational ways to approach it with them...but nothing seems to sink in. Any ideas what to do in that situation? Should I just be letting them risk their babies' lives? I guess my biggest issue is when they offer to take my son for the day or to an outing (I'm currently 35 weeks preggo so I'm getting this a lot, which is supposed to be so nice)-I seem rude when I decline. But its because I can't trust that they will strap him in his carseat properly. It scares me. Am I over-reacting?

I loved my infant seat when my son was little, if for no other reason than having a place to set him down in a restaurant or shop or public restroom! Before he could sit up it was priceless!

I got the travel system w/ infant bucket because I thought you pretty much had to. :) My son was on the big side and I hated lugging it and we switched to the convertible before 6 months. DS2 was a fall baby so I used it with the bundleme thing for 4 months before I got the convertible. If there is a baby 3, I will most likely skip it. I prefer using on-the-body-carriers and my kids never seemed to sleep great in them anyway.
We love our Radan carseats though and they are a great investment.

I just want to say, that I would never, ever buy a car-seat secondhand unless I knew well the person I was buying it from. It is just too dangerous. You do not know what has happened to it, and if it has been in an accident it could be damaged.

We have 8kg-26kg seats for our kids. We've only bought two infant seats (birth-9kg) for 5 kids. When our second was born, our eldest went into the bigger seat and the baby into her seat. When we had twins we bought a second infant seat, and when our fifth was born she went into the newer of the infant seats. Our other one my sister took after the twins got too big, for her baby. I'm pretty happy with the mileage we got out of them, and our twins were on the small side so it was great for those first months to just be able to carry them around (yes, like shopping bags) while trying to wrangle the older two!

With my two older boys I used our Britax Roundabout instead of the infant seat because they were SO BIG! They had hit the weight limit (20lbs then) on the infant seats at 10 weeks. When my daughter came along she was a lot more petite than her older brothers so we opted for the Graco Infant Snug Ride and matching stroller. Since pediatricians are suggesting infants/toddlers stay rear facing until at least 2 now we just moved her over to the Britax at the rear facing position at a year.

I think it all depends on how much/often one will be in the car, the size of the infant, and if the child sleeps in the car. my daughter would not sleep in the car so we could have completely forgone the infant seat and not worried about waking her while in transition. oh well......

avimom, you've got to be kidding.

I agree with complainypants - becoming a mother should make you less judgmental and more understanding that the choices one makes regarding her child are absolutely personal and not anybody else's business.

BTW, Baby Bjorns have been proven to put more stress on babies' spines than other carriers.

My husband and I bought two First Years True Fit convertible seats and they've been working out great, since the day we brought our boy home from the hospital. The fact that he was a 9lb 13oz newborn might be why though! I decided against infant carrier seats because a) I wasn't sure they'd be safe since I'd have to reinstall them every time we went to the car (I know they're tested and everything . . . I don't judge anyone for using one! This is just a personal thing on my part . . . I was afraid I would mess up the installation) and b) I see this is getting touchy in the comments but I wanted to use a carrier and keep my baby close to me instead of in a seat. It was rough to learn how to get around without the seat and I totally see why some moms would use them but for us, using carriers has worked out really well!

Man, the perfect parents are out en force on this post! I use a beco carrier and love it but I'm certainly not going to wear my kid while eating in a restaurant or pass her back and forth when she's sleeping beautifully. Not to mention, wearing a 13 pound 7 week old already hurts my back after a while..I can't imagine that will get any better (and I've tried slings and carriers).
An hour or two isn't going to hurt her! Whoever pointed out that a carseat on its base or corresponding stroller base is fine was correct..otherwise we'd all be in trouble on a road trip lasting more than a few minutes!
That being said, I prefer the bassinet attachment for our Quinny to the carseat if we'll be walking around for a while. Sometimes its just not feasible though.
Yeesh. Get off your high horses, people

Amen @ complainypants re: being non-judgmental. Sometimes it's all about just getting through the day, and others should be glad they only have their own problems to deal with!

And the carseat dilemma may boil down to what kind of kid you have. Some don't sit well in the infant seat (mine did, thank goodness, as I'd had a c-section so holding him for too long could get painful, and I had a spouse that traveled a lot for work). My son just didn't care much for baby slings, I still had to run errands, and I was grateful for the Snugride's convenience.

We got an infant car seat and it was a poor choice because it ended up being a waste of money. Our 'little guy' was 10.5 lbs at birth and 22.5" long. He was out of that infant seat before he was five months old. We should have just gotten the Britax convertible from the start.

I found out later that there is a concern about lowered oxygen levels in babies in infant car seats and the longer they are left in there, the less the oxygen level is. Knowing that now, I am a little embarrassed at how much time Jack spent in that bucket, being hauled to and from the car, in the grocery store, in restaurants etc. It was just so darn handy! If I am lucky enough to have another child, I will try and do a better job at leaving the carseat in the car, since now I know better.

That said, if the carseat isn't safest to have baby in outside the car, even though on balance it is safer to have a baby in it in the car (a worthwhile tradeoff), then I think it is important to let people know (as much as possible) to try not to use it out of the car. I don't know why that is being judgemental? Many people are not aware of the risks of having the baby in the carseat more than necessary and education can be taken as just that -- an opportunity to educate -- not as criticism. Why not just go "Wow, thanks for telling me. I didn't know that." and then, as a parent, weigh those occasions you feel you NEED to take the infant in the carseat versus those occasions when the carseat is just a convenience.

That weighing of convenience vs. necessity governs a lot of my decisions as a parent, and like everyone, I want to do the best for my child while also not losing my limited sanity. I would use my knowledge about carseats the same way.

And here's more info about babies in car seats regarding low oxygen levels: http://www.drmomma.org/2010/02/aap-car-seats-lower-oxygen-levels-of.html

DD was way too small to fit in a convertible carseat so we wouldn't have been able to bring her home without an infant carseat that even then she was too small for technically.

I did want to caution about buying used carseats. If it's from someone you know and you know it hasn't been in an accident also make sure the seat hasn't expired b/c just like bike helmets they do expire.

Also you want to keep your kid rear facing in the car as long as possible. It's significantly safer so don't assume at 1 year you'll be turning them front facing.