Personally, I had no idea that car seats had expiration dates when I started this joyride of parenthood.

The safety of your little gremlin is obviously of the upmost importance. In this day and age the car seat is your ticket to freedom from the oppression of the house. There are a lot of considerations when it comes to car seats and these are actually much deeper than that of pink, blue, green, polka dot or zebra stripped. Such considerations include, the style of detachable base or not, FAA approved for travel on an airplane or not, and then the color and style options. Each has its benefits and drawbacks. I’ll try to hit the high points to help you make your decision easier.

I’ve always liked the detachable base car seats for a few reasons. The first being that as a two car in the family a second base can be purchased and baby can be tossed in the second car and  once properly strapped in there is no messing with the seat belts. The other nice feature is that when going shopping, or to church or any other place where baby falls asleep in transit it is no issue: just grab the car seat and go while baby keeps sleeping. In this way they work as a portable crib per se. One additional convenient feature is that you can place them in a car without the base simply by using the seatbelt holder clips built into the car seat making purchasing a second base not necessary. These seats also have strollers available where the seat simply clips into the stroller as easily as it clips into the base.

Car seats that remain in the car have more limited benefits. The first is that they are larger and more padded. Second, they will last longer. Removable base car seats hold a child until around 30 lbs where these car seats can hold your mini-me until around 45 lbs.

Now, there is the travel issue. Babies can ride on your lap as a “Lap Baby” on airlines in the US until the age of two for free (I can’t speak for out of the country because I have no experience with traveling with little monsters internationally). The other flight option is buying an additional seat for baby and bringing on board the car seat. (I’ll discuss traveling more in-depth in another post.) This car seat-on-a-plane option is good but not all car seats are approved by the FAA for travel on board. There are size, and other safety requirements that the seat needs to meet. Purchasing a seat that meets these requirements from the get-go may be something you’d like to consider if you are a frequent flyer and aren’t going to quit once that stork makes that little delivery.

And finally… expiration dates! Obviously, we all want baby to have the best we can afford. Buying a second hand car seat or using your sisters hand me down following her husband’s vasectomy after 216 sleepless nights in a row, are certainly good money saving options but there can be a cost and that cost is safety. The plastic that car seats are made of generally has a shelf life of seven years. The good news is that the manufacture date and expiration date are stamped right on the bottom of the car seat so checking this is as easy as flipping the car seat over. Keep in mind, if buying the seat from a second hand store you never know where the car seat has been or what it has been through. It is possible that it may have been in an accident, have a recall or have been sitting in someone’s hot garage for two years. All of these things can negatively affect the integrity of the car seat. My recommendation is that if you don’t know the history of the car seat don’t take a chance, even if the car seat has not reached its expiration date.

In all honesty car seats are not all that expensive and all have passed safety tests. Buying online from Wal-Mart or other vendors can save you some money too. You only get one chance at your child’s safety. Once you’re in that accident (heaven forbid) you’ll want to know your rug-rat has as much in their favor as possible.  

Also, ALWAYS follow the manufactures instructions to a ‘T’ when installing your child’s car seat. And remember that driving fast and taking chances needs to stop once baby has arrived.