We are having our first baby and want a Chicco car seat. Which should we chose, the Chicco 22 or Chicco 30?

I asked the same question a year ago but about the Snugride 22 or Snugride 32. I am SO glad we bought the cheaper Snugride 22...you don't realize how heavy those car seats are, and with a baby in them, way heavier! My 8 month old son is only 20 lbs and we stopped using the Snugride 22 four months ago because he started to hate riding in it. We bought a convertible car seat which will last him up to 65 pounds. The infant seat did come in handy for a few months because we could carry him in and out of places without waking him up, but I can't imagine carrying a 22 lb (or 32 lb - thats like a 3 year old!) baby AND the carseat...trust me, once they hit 16 pounds or so it will be easier to just take them out of the seat.

Stick with the Chicco 22! Congrats ( =

I went with the 22. Why? Because not only did I not want to spend the extra money but most likeliy she will grown out of it height wise before she reaches 30 lbs. Besides do you really want to lug a 30 lb baby in an infant seat? I don't lol. She is only about 12 lbs and she is really heavy in that carseat. I don't really ever bother to take it out anymore. I would just go with a 22.

*ADD You'll get more use out of it than 6 months. I nanny a boy who is 7 months and is about 18lbs and he is a big guy. I take the carseat out because I didn't want to bother her while she was asleep. Now that she is older (and heavier) she doesn't stay asleep in the carseat so I don't have to lug it around anymore. Oh and the Chicco does have something to adjust it so you don't have to roll anything up to level it. It also has an indicator to show you that it's leved. I'm sure you knew that I just wanted to throw that in.

It depends on your long-term plan. Hopefully you want to use an infant seat for 6 months. Most babies won't hit 22lbs for 6 months.

So, if your long term plans are that at 6 months you would want to replace it with a convertible car-seat with a longer-rear-facing weight, which honestly is the safest option, then the 22 is good enough.

But if you don't want to replace it until your baby is 1 year old, and then replace it with a forward-facing car seat, then the 30 is a better choice because some babies WILL hit 30lbs in the first year.

Looking at the two of them, it's just the weight that seems to be the only difference.

Personally I did get an infant car seat that goes to 35lbs but that's because of other features, like a dial that allows you to adjust the tilt on the seat (much safer than a rolled up towel put under the seat to make sure the tilt is right.) However, in the back of my mind was the number of my nephews who hit 25-30lbs in the first 9 months, and just wanting that extra room if my son was that big. I don't like taking infant carriers in and out of the car (it encourages dangerous use of the car seat... like putting it on shopping carts, leaving the baby to sleep in it, putting it on a stroller, basically using it for more than car transportation...) so the weight isn't an issue for us on that count. We do plan on replacing it with a convertible as soon as he hits 6 months or else is uncomfortable in the infant seat, and it will be a long-term rear-facing (probably the Graco My-Ride since that goes to 40lbs rear-facing.)