top rated infant car seats (have a peek here)

Not all infant car seats are made equally. The best car seats for newborns seats have features that improve the performance of crash tests. For example load legs are shock-absorbing elements that are attached to the base or seat and limit movement during a collision.

A favorite among CPST instructors is the Chicco KeyFit, which has a large rear-facing weight limit and height limit, a bubble level indicator, and a spring-loaded reclining foot that allows for easy installation.

Graco Mesa Max

The Graco Mesa Max is one of the highest-ranked infant car seats in terms of user-friendliness. It is made of great materials with a simple design and a convenient feature for attaching a child's harness to the headrest to make it easier to tighten. It has a large canopy that can be hidden away to keep your child sheltered when traveling. It's a little heavier than a standard stroller, which can be problematic if you intend to carry it around, or use it in conjunction with the UPPAbaby, which is a prestigious award-winning.

The Mesa Max's impressive results in crash tests show its dedication to safety. It scored a high mark in the frontal impact test, and a top score in the side impact test, which means that your baby car seat is protected from both sides of a collision.

Another notable safety feature is the Graco's anti-rebound panel that helps to reduce rebound forces during a crash and ensures that your child's head is protected. This feature is unique in infant car seats and makes the Mesa Max standout among its competitors.

Graco Mesa Max can easily and securely be mounted in your vehicle with LATCH when combined with the base. The load leg and recline angle adjustment and tightness indicator all help to ensure a quick, precise installation. The base weighs 12.6 lbs, which is slightly heavier than an average car seat for infants but not enough to cause an issue.

Like its predecessor, the UPPAbaby Mesa V2, the Mesa Max uses dual-knit fabric that is free of chemicals that cause fire. It comes with an infinitely adjustable backrest and an extremely sturdy insert for infants between 4 and 11 pounds. The fabric is GREENGUARD gold certified, which ensures low chemical emissions and low VOCs.

The Mesa Max from UPPAbaby is more expensive than the other alternatives, however it comes with premium features and advanced safety technologies for an optimal travel experience. The base is included and is available in a variety of fashionable colors. This adds to the value proposition. Its thoughtful features and durable design give parents peace of mind for every trip.

Britax Boulevard ClickTight

The Britax Boulevard ClickTight is a fantastic choice for parents who want a car seat that can grow with their child. The weight limit for rear-facing is 40 pounds, which is higher than many infant car seats. It can be used forward-facing as well until your child weighs 65 pounds.

The ClickTight Installation System is its most popular selling point. It is the safest, easiest and most secure system available. It lets you tighten the seat belt by pushing a red release button and pulling the harness strap and not having to loosen it and re-thread it. This minimizes the chance of a mistake when tightening a seat belt, which is the leading cause of car seat failure.

The EZ-Buckle Pad adds another security feature that keeps the buckle out the way while you place your child in the car seat. This feature along with beltpath cutouts on the sides of the seat makes it simple to get your child in and out of the car seats newborn.

All three of the ClickTight convertible seats (Boulevard, Marathon CT, and Advocate CT) have the same features. ClickTight Installation System is one of them. Also included are an impact-absorbing frame with seven recline positions.

The seat is quite heavy, however, so you might want to consider an alternative that is lighter if you intend to make use of it for frequent swaps of cars. The seat is also large, and therefore may not be a good fit in smaller vehicles, particularly in the case of rear-facing.

If you're looking to find a budget seat with similar quality, the Graco 4Ever DLX is a great option. It has lower crash tests scores than the Boulevard but is an excellent choice for your child.

The Graco also comes with push-on LATCH connectors that make it simpler to take the seat off. The Boulevard's LATCH connectors have a different release mechanism, which requires you to press a gray button and pull the webbing to loosen it. It can be difficult to do this if the webbing is tight. However the seat comes with a handy storage cubby for the belt straps when they are not in use.

Clek Liing

If you're in search of a child car seat that has everything -safety, style convenience, and luxury- you'll love the Clek Liing. This rear-facing car seats newborn seat can be easy to install, comes with an excellent crash test rating and a variety of features.

The Liing is designed to protect infants with features that meet or exceed both US and Canadian safety standards. It is designed for easy, secure installation in any seating position. It also has advanced safety features, such as an energy-absorbing metal foot and two-piece shell that is lined with EPP for enhanced side impact protection. The base comes with 7 recline positions, and an indicator bubble that lets you know whether the seat is just the right angle for your child.

Parents love the Liing's modern and sleek design as well as its innovative safety features like rigid lower anchors that are easier to attach than hook-and-loop connectors. The Liing also has a handy one-handed release that makes it simple to remove it from the base, or to use with various compatible strollers. At less than 17 inches wide, it's narrow enough for 3-across in most vehicles and is a good fit in many convertible car seats as a booster.

The Liing infant seat earns first place for ease of installation thanks to its unique rigid-LATCH system. The lower anchors of the Liing click right into the vehicle's lower seat belt slots. Additionally, the top rated baby car seats tether strap snaps onto the vehicle's headrest to create a tight, secure fit that eliminates the risk of the child being thrown around during a crash.

The base weighs 9 pounds and the seat weighs 10.5 lbs. Other rear-facing seats are heavier however, the difference isn't noticeable if you plan to transport the car seat and base around. ).

Parents love the Liing's built-in canopy and 100+spf sun-protection with an open mesh window. Caregivers appreciate the blanket made of merino, which keeps the baby warm, and the ability of the handle to pivot away from the canopy. This makes it easier for them to grab the seat if they need to.

Graco Trio Grow SnugLock LX

The Graco Trio SnugLock LX is a 3-in-1 car seat that converts from rear-facing infant, forward-facing harness and then to highback booster. It features the SnugLock installation system that allows for a smooth and simple install with either vehicle seat belts or lower anchors. It also offers the option to use the top tether in booster mode (although we recommend using the lower anchors at all times for added security).

This seat is ideal for children of all different ages. For younger babies it has an infant insert that assists to help support their necks and backs. When they get older, the insert can be removed and the seat used as a regular toddler car seat. This is the only car seats that allow the top tether to be used as a booster. We recommend it.

Its base is fairly compact front to back and it shouldn't be a problem to find a spot for it in the majority of vehicles. The headrest needs to be raised to allow for the lower anchor webbing to pass through. Thankfully, there's a handy headrest adjustment knob to easily do this, and also observe the position of the headrest in the display window.

One of the coolest things about this seat is the SnugLock installation system, which is a bar that's within the belt path. Installing this car seat using lower anchors is simple, and is almost as easy as using the vehicle's seat belt.

The manual also provides a great illustration of how to properly route the lower anchor connectors while routing them through the belt's new path, which may be difficult at first. It is important to keep them away from the crotch buckle loop, and away from the chest clip, so that they don't hinder the buckling system.

The Graco Trio Grow is part of the Protect Plus Engineered family, which means it's been subjected to some of the most rigorous crash testing in the world. This includes tests for side, rear and rollover accidents as well as frontal collisions.