Infant Seat or Convertible Car Seat?

i'd definitely recommend the infant seat. we rarely used the car in my daughter's first three months, but she didn't want to be in her stroller unless the infant seat was attached - i think it's about feeling snug. the convertible seats are huge compared to the infant seats, and i wouldn't have wanted to deal with a seat that size and my stroller.

I would go with the infant seat. You won't be carrying the baby around much in the infant seat- only to transfer her to a stroller or the car. Plus, you'll build plenty of strong muscles as she/he grows to be able to carry him/her in the seat or out of the seat. You should definitely watch your back though. I would recommend getting the ergo carrier (easy on your back, and easily adjustable for you or your partner) as well. My baby HATED riding in the carseat for the first 6 months of life... So, the ergo carrier came in handy for when we were out and about.
Regardless of her aversion to the carseat, I would still recommend the infant seat over the convertable seats.

Whether or not an infant seat is worth it will vary from person to person. I didn't think we'd need them b/c we lived in a city env't where the hospital, library, toddler parks, and grocery store were within walking distance and we weren't planning on doing a lot of driving with the babies (we have twins who are now 6.5YO), but I'll have to admit that for us, they WERE convenient esp. if I had to take both babies somewhere by myself - being able to get them bundled up and buckled up before walking out the door and downstairs to the car was a big plus. But for one baby, it's quite possible that you could get by fine without esp if you find a sling or front carrier to work for you. The only thing I would suggest you keep in mind though is that many convertible seats are a bit too big for infants - I've even heard some moms suggest buying the infant seat and keeping it in the box with the receipt so you have it ready if your baby is too small for the convertible but if baby fits the convertible fine just return the infant seat.
This is my favorite link for a good all-purpose reference for car seat selection:
http://boards.babycenter.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&n...

HI there

I'd definitely recommend an infant seat and then switch to a convert.seat down the road. Even though you may not drive much, if you ever want to take a cab with your baby, or ride in a car with a friend, then you will need to snap him/her in an infant seat to ride. The Roundabout is nice but it is not portable like an infant seat (and talk about heavy!). We just switched from the Graco infant seat to the Britax Marathon (my son is 21 pounds) - the marathon can be used up to 65 pounds. Keep in mind the ROundabout only supports kids up to 40 pounds so eventually you will need to buy another toddler seat. I LOVED my infant seat & snap-n-go stroller -- they were soooo portable. Hope this helps! Good luck.

My recommendation is to definitely get an infant seat - especially if you are going to do more walking and you don't consider yourself that strong. You will be SHOCKED at how heavy the seat + baby can be. You might want the Snap N Go - the stroller frame you just snap your car seat into and go. I don't own a car (we Zip Car) and so I can certainly relate to doing a lot of walking! My son was 8 lbs. 14 oz. when he was born (not a small baby), but he looked like a little peanut in his infant car seat. i cannot imagine having a convertible one at that early stage. I would want him to be more snug. I just got the Britax Roundabout and I do like it so far. I also purchased Go Go Kidz Travelmate so I can easily tote the carseat (with my son in it) where I need to. there is no way i could comfortable carry the carseat and a 22 lb. baby!

Hi S.,

I live in SF, too. Absolutely get the infant seat for the reasons people have already given. It is so easy to transfer a sleeping baby out of the stroller/car/etc. in a car seat. I never carried the Graco around on my arm. However, I saw several women at my OB's office who were there for postpartum check-ups with sleeping babies in their car seats. Unless you know that you'll have someone to watch your baby whenever you go somewhere, you'll want the portability. I also have to say that I cannot imagine I would have been comfortable having my tiny baby in anything but an infant seat until he was bigger. I had a Roundabout that I loved for his second car seat, but I would never have wanted it instead of the Graco early on.
K.

get the infant seat. You don't want to disturb the sleeping baby.

Hi,
There is one big plus with an infant seat: when the baby falls asleep in it, which she inevitably will, you won't have to take the baby out of the seat to move her -- you can just let her keep sleeping while you lift the seat out of the car or stroller & take it inside. This may not seem like a big deal now, but it's really a lifesaver! This makes the stroller adapter very worthwhile, because you can move from car to stroller or stroller to house easily without disturbing baby.

I found that the infant seat didn't become too heavy until my baby was about 15 lbs, which is a pretty long time. For me though, my baby gained weight so quickly that I had to move her to a convertible seat at 6 months! I got the Radian 80, you might want to check it out. It folds up and has a carrying strap -- great for the airport.

Hope this helps...

Infant car seats can be awkward to car around and difficult to place in the car when your baby is heavier than 15 pounds but I am still happy I have one. If you have an adapter for the stroller, you can pop the car seat into the stroller without waking a sleeping baby. The car seat is very comfortable and cozy--my son always falls asleep in it. Its a toss up but I'm glad I have one.