How to Choose a Car Seat and Stroller for a New Born Baby

A car seat and stroller are one of the most important purchases you will make for your baby. Here are various options available to help you make your decision.


New or Used
You will be bringing home a newborn baby, so you will need to look for comfort and good padding for the infant car seat. You want to buy a good one since the baby needs to be cosy and comfortable. If you cannot afford a new one, then you could consider buying a gently used second-hand car seat.


Car Seats
A car seat and stroller are one of the few expensive purchases you will be making for your baby. It takes on greater importance if your baby is a preemie. In fact, you can't bring home your baby from the hospital without a car seat. So it is imperative that you give it some thought.

When you buy a car seat, you should give consideration to the following points. (a) Look for a 5-point harness for the baby which will keep him secure. (b) The clasps should be firm, but should allow you to buckle and unbuckle easily. Sometimes preemies are fitted with an Apnea Monitor. If the baby has an apnea attack, you should be able to unbuckle fast and administer CPR or any other necessary care. Do remember to check for pinch points that could hurt the baby. (c) Look for a soft seat cushion with a good head and neck support. (d) A cotton seat cushion cover will help the baby's skin breathe and may minimize the inevitable sweating in a rear-facing car seat. (e) You should be able to snap the car seat in and out of the car seat base easily. (f) The weight of the car seat alone should not be so much that you'll find it difficult to carry your baby in it as he or she grows bigger. (g) Food accidents are common with babies. You should be able to easily remove the seat cover for washing, and re-assemble it once it is clean and dry. (h) Choose a brand which offers additional bases for sale separately. You don't want to buy another car seat & base combo when you need just another base. (i) Check the maximum allowed baby height and weight. The higher it is, the longer your baby can use the car seat. (j) Check if you're able to adjust the height of the seat belt. You will need to keep it very low for a preemie and move it higher as the baby grows.


Strollers
Initially, when you buy a stroller, your baby will not sit in it. The only purpose of the stroller would be to snap the car seat on and to provide extra canopy over the head. A standard stroller (also called a full-sized stroller) can do this job. You will need strollers if you want to go for a walk with the baby. Unless you want to lug the car seat around all the time, you should invest in a good stroller. If you plan to buy a stroller at a later date, you might want to consider a lightweight stroller.

When you buy a stroller, you need to take the following points into consideration. (a) The stroller should be stable. It should not tip over if you hang a diaper bag over the handles. It shouldn't tip over if your baby leans out of the car seat or stroller. (b) The stroller seat should be soft and comfortable, with multiple incline options for the baby. (c) There should be a five-point harness to keep the baby safe. Three point harness is safe only for bigger kids, not infants. (d) Check the buckles to see if they're easy to clasp and unclasp. You also need to check if there are any pinch-points that could hurt a baby. (e) The wheels should be smooth and should let you take corners and tight spaces with ease. Walk around with the stroller for a while to test it out. (f) Check the height of the handles to see if it is comfortable. Some strollers come with adjustable handle heights. (g) Strollers with storage facility underneath the seat are a big advantage. (h) Check if it is easy to fold up and unfold the stroller when you need it. (i) The standard stroller is almost always big and heavy. So you want to see if you're able to lift it in and out of the car trunk comfortably. (j) Check the brakes. They should engage easily and firmly. Disengaging them should be simple only for you, not for the baby. (k) Some strollers come with a reversible handle. This will allow you to convert it from a face-to-face to a forward-facing setting, by switching the position of the handle.

You also need to note that a standard stroller is heavy and huge and will completely fill up the car trunk of a sedan. You will not be able to keep even a few grocery bags alongside. If you live in a second or third floor apartment, then carrying the heavy stroller becomes a hassle.


Snap-n-Go Strollers
These are lightweight strollers which will allow you to snap the car seat into a frame assembly. They are especially useful when the baby is asleep and you want to carry the car seat itself instead of waking the baby up to put him/her in the regular stroller. These strollers will accommodate almost all leading brands of car seats. They're lightweight and will easily fit into a corner of your car trunk.

When you buy a snap-n-go stroller, you will need to consider the following points. They're more or less the same as that of a standard stroller, but here they are anyway. (a) The stroller should be stable. It should not tip over if you hang a diaper bag over the handles. It shouldn't tip over if your baby leans out of the car seat. (b) The wheels should be smooth and should let you take corners and tight spaces with ease. Walk around with the stroller for a while to test it out. (c) Check the height of the handles to see if it is comfortable. Some snap-n-go strollers come with adjustable handle heights. (d) Most snap-n-go strollers come with a storage basket which is very convenient. (e) Check if it is easy to fold up and unfold the stroller when you need it. You should also be able to stand it without support when it is folded. (j) Check the brakes. They should engage easily and firmly. Disengaging them should be simple only for you, not for the baby.


Travel Systems
Travel systems are a combination of car seat, base and standard stroller. They come in matching patterns and might be a good idea if you don't want to go shopping for a stroller after your baby grows up in a few months.


Other Stroller Models
There are different models of strollers available in addition to the standard ones.

Jogging Strollers
These strollers are for those who wish to jog with their children in the stroller. However, it is not recommended to have an infant in a car seat and take him for a jog in the stroller. You can wait till the baby is older before you try this option. Jogging strollers are almost always more expensive than standard strollers.

Sit N Stand Strollers
These strollers will allow you to carry two children at the same time. The infant car seat snaps to the front portion of the stroller. An older toddler can either sit on the bench or stand on the platform located at the rear of the stroller.

Double Strollers
You would need double strollers if you have twins. These strollers will accommodate two children at the same time. Some double strollers will seat children one behind the other while some others will seat children side by side. You will be able to fit two infant car seats to these strollers. Once the babies grow, these strollers can be converted to standard twin strollers. If you have two single strollers, then stroller connectors will help you convert two single strollers into a double stroller. This is a boon when you haven't been able to get a double stroller of your choice.


Accessories
There are various accessories available to make your baby's car seat and stroller more useful or more attractive. They're available in a wide variety of models.

        Infant Head & Body Supports give added support to the baby until he/she develops the neck muscles to hold their head upright.
        Baby Buntings are like big, soft pouches for babies in car seats and strollers that will keep them warm.
        Rain Covers will protect the baby from wind and rain.
        Car Window Sunshades will protect the baby from direct sunlight in summer.
        Baby Auto Mirrors will let you have an eye on your baby while you're driving your car.
        Strap Covers will prevent chaffing of the baby's skin from the seat belts.
        Car seat and stroller toys will keep the baby occupied with their colorful and interesting designs, textures and sounds.
        Cup Holders will let you keep a cup or feeding bottle for the baby.


Brands
There are a lot of good brands in the market. The most popular seem to be Graco, Evenflo, Safety 1st, Baby Trend, Britax, Chicco and Peg Perego. Each of them have their own good and bad features, and all are competitively priced.


Economics
If you have a preemie, you are probably better off not buying a travel system which has the infant seat and stroller combo. Your baby is going to be very small and will continue to be small for a long period, since preemies take time to catch up with their contemporaries. So you will not need the stroller itself until the baby is one year old or more. You don't want to buy a stroller and keep it at home to gather dust. If your baby is tiny at birth, it is a good idea to buy only an infant car seat, with base, and buy a "Snap-n-go Stroller" to keep the car seat in when u want to go for a walk. This should meet your needs upto one year or until the baby becomes too restless facing backwards. It is important to give maximum support to your baby's head and back for the longest period of time, and the infant car seat is ideal for that. When the baby is one year old, or weighs more than the maximum limit of the car seat, then you can then consider buying a lightweight stroller with a good padding that will seat the baby facing forward.

If you have a normal sized baby, then it would be a good idea to invest in a travel system. The cost of a car seat and a full-sized stroller that can snap on a car seat, if purchased individually, comes to say, $170 at current rates. If you buy a travel system of the same brand, it would probably come up to $140.


My Personal Choice
There were lots of brands available to choose from. I bought a travel system as well as a car seat & snap-n-go stroller combo. Both the infant car seats were Graco Snugride and the strollers were Graco strollers. Graco has a great design selection and comes in a wide range of appealing colours. It is really comfortable for the baby since it has a cotton seat cover. I found that it gave me the best value for money.