What kind of car seat do you have?

There's nothing wrong with the brands at Walmart & Target, especially considering that its the exact same brands that are at Babies R Us and Baby Depot. Babies R Us and Baby Depot and online retailers will have additional brands that Walmart and TArget don't have, though, like Peg Perego, Chicco, and Britax. The one infant seat to stay away from: Evenflo. Lots of recalls and their solutions for the recalls are awful! Also, the handle MUST be kept down, so it takes up more space in cars, and also requires at least 1.5 inches between the child seat and the seat in front of it, undoable in many cars.

All that said - as a single parent on a seriously limited income, I now realize I should've completely skipped the infant carrier stage. Its not a 'needed' stage in car seats, its just a convenience thing, and a recent - as in the last 15 years or so - invention to have a stay in car base and separate carrier. Here's why I think its a waste: doesn't last babies very long at all. You spend $60 and up on this carrier that is only going to last 5-8 months! And then you have to purchase a convertible car seat, and somewhere down the line a booster seat. If you skip the carrier phase, you just eliminated one seat. There is now one carrier on the market that promises to fit 99% of babies up to at least their first birthday - Graco SafeSeat1, goes to 30lbs. However, there are limitations to this awesome seat. It really will fit most kids that long, but that's a catch-22. You really going to carry your 25lbs baby in a carrier?! And, the recline can not be adjusted when its installed in the car. Newborns have to be rear facing and reclined 45 degrees. Older babies who can hold their heads up well can be 30-45 degrees, and most want to so they can see more. So your baby may come to hate the SafeSeat at some point b/c he can't sit up any straighter, but then again, maybe not. You never know. Also - b/c it is a bigger seat to last longer, it doesn't always fit well in smaller vehicles. Try before you buy. And - it costs significantly mroe than its regular weight (22lbs) counterparts, at least double. My son was a BIG baby (still is a BIG kid!) and outgrew his carrier at 4 months. And, after baby gets above 10lbs or so, they are a pain in the butt to carry - quite awkward. So its not as convenient as it may at first seem. And some of the 'convenient' ways people use them aren't good.

Carriers should NEVER be placed on grocery carts. It makes the carts unstable and they can tip over, seriously injuring the baby. Also, not all car seats fit all carts, and they don't lock on, they're just sitting there, posing an obvious threat. And some of the carts are shaped or sized in a way that it puts the carrier at an unsafe/uncomfortable angle for the baby. I've seen babies laying in carriers on carts with their head lower than their feet - not a good idea for digestion or spit up.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says Parents and caregivers should never Place an infant carrier on top of the shopping cart. "Many infant-only car safety seats lock into shopping carts, and many stores have shopping carts with built-in infant seats. This may seem safe, but thousands of children are hurt every year from falling out of shopping carts or from the carts tipping over. Instead of placing your baby's car safety seat on the cart, consider using a stroller or front pack while shopping with your baby. "

Also, we are seeing rampant developmental delays becuase babies are in these carriers (and swings, and bouncy seats...) so much. Look around everywhere you go and instead of holding their babies, people have them in these carriers. When on their back and harnessed (and any time a child is in a carrier, he needs to be harnessed, even though its not in a car!) they can not work the muscles they need to develop to crawl, sit up, and walk. In the manuals for these carriers, it even says specifically 'for use in cars and strollers only'! But we all seem to miss that part.

So I highly recommend skipping the carrier phase. I think they are more a pain than a blessing, and a wasted of money if you don't have a lot to throw around. Instead, get a convertible car seat that will fit a newborn (more on that later) and a sling, pouch, or wrap. Not one of those silly snugli or infantino carriers, but something like a ringsling, moby, or maya wrap. Wearing your baby gives everybody what they need. Babies get much needed closeness to mom (or dad, or anyone else for that matter!) and you get your hands free to do what you need to do, as well as you can even breastfeed in one! They offer many different positions to use them in, too, and go higher than carrier car seat weights (20-22lbs). Most go to at least 35lbs, so you will get much more use out of it for your money.

OK - so if you choose to skip the carrier phase, be careful about the convertible car seat you choose, b/c not all will fit newborns well. You want it to have low bottom slots.

Perfect options:

The Evenflo Triumph Advance (not the original Triumph, make sure it says Advance) is a great seat. $150 version at Babies R Us has padding similar to Britax seats, top slots of 17", harnesses to 35lbs rear facing, and 50lbs forward facing. $120 Walmart version just has little less plush padding. Wide open belt path, easy to install, though it doesn't have built in lockoffs. The harness adjusts at the front of the car seat, you don't have to take the car seat out of the car just to raise/lower the straps. It's one of only 2 seats that does this (The Britax Boulevard is the other, I believE), and it has infinite harness adjustment so the harness always fits perfectly until its outgrown. No more tugging straps to tighten them either. You tighten and loosen the harness using knobs on the side of the seat. As a major bonus, it can be used in a recline position even in forward facing mode. Awesome for kids who still sleep in the car. I LOVE THIS SEAT! LOL My son, who is too big for every other car seat at Walmart has the same amount of room in this as the Britax Marathon.

Cosco Scenera - $50 at Walmart/Kmart/Target. Great seat for the price. Goes up to 35lbs rear facing, 40lbs forward facing. Great rear facing seat, but is outgrown very quickly forward facing b/c of short top slots and short shell. You'll still get you're $50 worth out of it, though, as it will last most kids to at least 2 years, quadruple the amount of time of an infant seat!

As you're shopping, remember these rules about seats:

1)the BEST seat is the one that fits your child, fits your car, and will be used correctly 100% of the time. (This is why convenience features DO make a difference and ARE worth the money! If its easy to use, you're more likely to use it correctly.

2)Children should stay rear facing AS LNOG AS POSSIBLE!!!! The 20lbs/1 year rule is outdated and provides a bare minimum for turning kids forward facing. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration both recommend keeping kids rear facing as long as possible, up to the limits of their seat, preferably until at least 2 years of age. For good reason: A forward-facing child under 2 years old is 4 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash than a rear-facing child of the same age. A child's vertabrae do not fully fuse until 3-6 years old, before then, she is at great risk for internal decapitation. The spinal column can stretch up to 2 inches in a crash BUT the spinal cord can only stretch up to 1/4 inch before it snaps and baby is gone. In other countries, rear facing 2 - 3 - 4 year olds is standard, they understand that its safer. Here, we turn them as soon as we get to, seeing it as a right of passage thing or something. Ridiculous. Most convertible seats have a 30lbs rear facing limit, Cosco/Dorel/Safety1st/Eddie Bauer seats rear face to 35lbs, Britax rear faces to 33lbs.

3)Once you do turn them forward facing, they need to stay in a 5 point harness as long as possible. 4 years/40lbs is the minimum for riding in a booster, and most 4 year olds have no business using one yet. If they can't sit upright for an entire trip, they need the harness of a car seat still. And, even if they do sit properly, a 5 point harness is safer, so you want to keep them in one as long as possible. This is important to consider b/c most car seats only forward face to 40lbs. My son just turned 3, and is in the 95th% for height and weight - 40" tall and weighs 41lbs. He outgrew the 40lbs seats shortly after his 2nd birthday. It was a total waste of money. He now has a Britax Marathon, which goes to 65lbs, and will be able to fit it for some time yet. If I'd have bought it when he was born, I could have had one car seat this whole time instead of the 3 I wasted money on. They are more expensive for many reasons, this is one.

If you do decide you want one, they're all pretty similar. Car seat tech favorites: Graco Snugride, Graco SafeSeat1, Chicco Keyfit22 or Keyfit30.

I wouldnt buy from walmart or target either. I bought mine from babies r us. I got a travel system. Its a Graco quattro tour delux. Ive taken my pink and grey travel system to walmart and target to compare with their pink and gray travel systems. The difference is the quality, graco has different levels of quality. the cheaper the price, the cheaper the product. for instance i have the graco safeseat carseat which is the best quality, where as target and walmart sell the graco snug ride carseats wich are the cheap ones. I loove my carseat, and the stroller, together they were 250. the carseat bought seperately costs about 130 or so. evenflo and whatever other cheap brands there are, are cheap pretty much. they are lighter than the expensive carseat and strollers, they are smaller, and not as durable. like i said before they are cheap for a reason, so dont let the price fool you. its only a matter of, at the most, 50 for a carseat, and 100 for the travel system, so why not just get the good one. thats how i feel anyways.

I have a Britax Boulevard and I love it. I searched online for which car seat I thought was best. Then I bought it from the website with the best deal.

It doesn't matter which store you actually get it from, as long as you are buying something you're confident with. It's like buying pepsi. It's pepsi wherever you buy it from, but from some places you'll pay less.

edit:

The answer below mine is excellent with some very good points.

I'm due in july i personaly got mine from walmart its really cute and its the carseat stroller set which is nice you can take ur baby from car to stroller without wakeing them cause theres no need to remove them from the carseat. any carseat will work really just needs to be able to hold x-amount of pounds depending on how long youd like it to last before you have to upgrade to a bigger one. Mine was most expensive at walmart and it was on $200 but there are more pricey ones if youd rather but some of the more expensive ones ive seen arent that great

http://www.albeebaby.com/ has all the brands and great prices!!I have an Evenflo triumph deluxe convertible((about 150 bucks) and love it, and an Evenflo aura travel system((about 120 bucks for stroller and seat)) (this ones from walmart, the other from albee) with the infant carrier seat, I like it but i prefer the convertible, except if we're going to a restaurant is about the only time I like to carry her in the infant seat..... the carriers are bulky and harder to carry than I expected with the baby in it, my baby is about 10 lb. (7 wks old born 6 lb 12 oz) and its pretty heavy to carry her in the seat.

they do have the same brands and babies r us is expensive, target and wal mart are fine.. babies r us and target both allow for people to put in their own ratings online, i would read those as well, sometimes users notice something that consumer reports dont

I got my car seat and stroller for a site called aafes. $149. Its one for those 3 wheeled strollers, very nice. Brand is safety first, used this brand with all my kids. Love it.

aafes is a military store but you can use any credit card there.