Newborn carseats

[Maribeth]

Let's review carseats to bring your baby home from the hospital in:

Which brand/model did you buy?
Where did you buy it?
What was the cost?
Did you like it/dislike it?
Why or why not?
Would you buy it again if you had it to do over?
How long did you use it?

Let's share our experiences with new moms! We'll archive this for the Product Review cubby.

Thank you!

[ElizabethN]

Honestly, I can't even remember what brand of infant seat we used - maybe a Graco? But I do highly recommend one thing that we did picking it out. We brought a ten-pound weight to Babies R Us, and put it in several infant seats while we tried out carrying them. The different handle styles feel very different to carry, and we were able to find one that was reasonably comfortable for both me and DH that way. (In retrospect, I'd probably use a 15 or 20 pound weight next time, though.)

[Viketory]

Which brand/model did you buy? Graco Snugride
Where did you buy it? Target
What was the cost? $50 w/stroller
Did you like it/dislike it? liked
Why or why not? It was easy to deal with
Would you buy it again if you had it to do over? yes
How long did you use it? four months, it had a 20 lb weight limit and my son outgrew it

[kianurse]

Our first infant carrier was an off brand for $60. I bought it at babiesrus and it was awful. The carrier was awkward and did not fit on the stroller set up as described. The weight was 20 pounds ricky was out of it by 8 months. The buckle was a cross over then stick in the restraint. I hated it and pinched him more than not. I felt horrible and I would never recommend buying an off brand infant carrier to anyone. When i had to buy the next size up I went with evenflo and looked at all the namebrands and buckle systems. Stick with name brand!

[Gemela]

[quote=Maribeth;3438758]Let's review carseats to bring your baby home from the hospital in:

Which brand/model did you buy? Britax Boulevard
Where did you buy it? On-line---I did my research on the Britax website and then googled and looked over time and was able to get it $100 off at an online store
What was the cost? Can't remember the exact cost but I think it was $200
Did you like it/dislike it? My 3 1/2 year old is still in it since it is a convertible one that went rear facing to forward facing so the longevity of it is AWESOME. The thing I didn't like about it was that if dd fell asleep in the car she would wake up when I got her out since you can't carry it out of the car.
Would you buy it again if you had it to do over? Yes, I would. Since she was a first born it wasn't such a big deal about not being able to set her down as an infant in a carrier or having her wake up when I got inside. That being said, we ended up buying the Britax Chaperone (their carrier car seat) the 2nd baby because I wanted a car seat that would I could carry, put my baby down in, and be able to just click on a stroller. So it depends on your needs.
How long did you use it? Still using it at 3 1/2 with my oldest daughter and am about to transition my 1 year old into it since she is growing out of her carrier seat.

[Gemela]

[quote=Maribeth;3438758]Let's review carseats to bring your baby home from the hospital in:

Which brand/model did you buy? Britax Chaperone
Where did you buy it? At an online store. I did my research on the Britax website and then purchased for $100 off at an online store. There are always sales online
What was the cost? Can't remember exact cost. $150 maybe?
Did you like it/dislike it? Yes, I wanted a carrier carseat that had the rebound bar in the front to prevent injury in the event of a rear end collision and Britax is one of the only companies that make a carrier with the rebound bar. It worked great too with my Sit and Stand stroller so I didn't need to buy a special Britax stroller to use it. It is a bit heavy but I think all carrier car seats are a pain. The new Britax carrier seats go up to 30 pounds instead of 20 too. Although my 1 year old is 19 pounds so we haven't had the problem some have had with outgrowing them too soon. It is nice too having a car seat I could bundle my baby up in, in the middle of winter before heading outside to the car too.
Would you buy it again if you had it to do over? yes
How long did you use it? A year. I am about to move her over to a Britax Boulevard car seat now.

[missing]

Which brand/model did you buy?
- Graco SafeSeat (now the Graco Snugride 32 / Snugride 35)

Where did you buy it?
- Babies R Us

What was the cost?
- $120

Did you like it/dislike it?
- I liked having a carrier seat that didn't top out at 22lbs (my kids all outgrew that weight by 4 months).
- The base for the car was the easiest to install out of any seat I'd tried to that point.
- No downsides, I loved that seat.

Why or why not?
- see above

Would you buy it again if you had it to do over?
- YES ! It is one of only 2 or 3 infant seats on the market that I would purchase if I was looking for a new infant seat now.

How long did you use it?
- Bear outgrew it at about 14 or 15 months old.