Infant Car Seats - What to Look For

When buying a car seat for your child, it's important that you know what to look for.  The car seat will one of the most important purchases that you make for your child very early on in their life and it could save the life of your child.  A car seat is not something that you should rush out and buy the cheapest and least expensive car seat that you can find.  You need to examine the different options available and buy the best, safest car seat that your budget allows so that your child will be safe in the event of a car accident.

There are a number of features that you will want to pay close attention to when buying a car seat and they are as follows:

1.  Size - A car seat needs to fit your child properly and you need to buy a seat that is appropriate to the size of your child.  It may be tempting to buy what's on sale, however if the seat does not fit your child well, where they are seated in safely and comfortably, your child may be harmed in the event of a crash.

2.  Harness - The harness is the actually ‘seatbelt' that holds your child in the seat.  Many newer car seats come with a 5 point harness and this has been determined to be the safest type of harness in the event of a car accident.  The harness is the one thing that could keep your child from being ejected from the vehicle so it's important to buy the best that you can afford.

3.  Seat Belt Attachment - Pay close attention to how the car seat actually attaches to your car.  All car seats will have clips that attach the car seat, but also the seatbelt of the car will most likely feed through the back of the car seat adding an extra level of safety to ensure that the car seat stays in place during an accident.  Make sure that they method used for this will work properly and easily in your car.  Also, if you plan on removing the car seat from the vehicle often, make sure this can be done fairly easily with your particular car and car seat setup.

4.  Tether Straps - These are used to attach the car seat to the back seat of your car.  Make sure that they are strong yet easy to tighten and loosen so that you can properly install the seat in your car over and over again.

5. Head Impact Protection – Ensure that for your child's size, that their head is protected properly. Most car seats can be adjusted so that the head rests and restraints fit perfectly for the size of your child.

6. Growth – Many car seats available today can be used for varying sizes of children. You can purchase a seat when they are young and it will adapt and have extra fitting and adjustments to allow you to keep the same seat for many years. If you are on a tighter budget, this is great since you do not have to replace the seat very often.

Buying a car seat is an important decision and you should spend time researching so that you buy the best car seat that you budget allows.  Your child's safety is not something that you can put a price on.