1. Don’t rush to move your child into the next type of car seat. This is one of the key new recommendations issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics and The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  Your child may seem big enough, but if he's still within the height and weight limits of his current seat, leave him there and know that he's safer that way.  Every promotion to the next type of car seat--from rear-facing to forward-facing, from forward-facing to a booster, and from a booster to a seat belt--is actually a demotion in safety.  Delay moving your child into the next type of child seat until he has actually outgrown the height or weight limits for his current car seat or booster. 

2. Choose an infant seat with a high weight limit.  Most infant seats can be used with or without their base.  Using the infant seat without the base is great for travel, and an infant seat with a high weight limit will allow you to travel easily in other people's cars, in taxis, on planes, etc, for an extended period of time.  It's much easier to travel with the infant carrier than with a big convertible car seat.

3.  Buy what you need when you actually need it.  Many expectant parents put convertible car seats on their registries.  But if your infant seat has a high weight limit, it may well last over a year, and by then your convertible seat will no longer be new. By then, it may have outdated technology, may not be the best for the latest recommendations, or may even have been recalled.  Also, most car seats expire after 6 years from the date of manufacture, so you will be cutting at least a year off of the seat's useful lifespan. 

4.  If you are looking for a convertible car seat, choose one that's tall and has a high weight limit.  Since the AAP and NHTSA now recommend keeping kids rear-facing for as long as possible--and because rear-facing kids are five times safer than those sitting forward-facing--it makes sense to choose a car seat with very high height and weight limits, so your child won't grow out of it as soon as he would a smaller seat.  Many kids can now fit rear-facing in the taller convertible car seats until around age 3. 

5.  Before you buy a booster, consider a combination seat.
If your child is too tall for his convertible car seat's forward-facing mode, consider moving him into a combination seat, which is one that starts off as a forward-facing five-point harness seat, but can transform into a booster seat once the child is older.  These seats are sometimes called harnessed boosters or hybrid boosters.  By keeping your child in a five-point harness instead of moving him into a booster, you will keep him safer. 

6.  When it comes to installing your car seat, choose a seat that will fit securely in the center of your vehicle.  A passenger (adult or child) in the center is 43% safer than a passenger on the side of the car. As most vehicles do not allow you to use the lower LATCH anchors to install a car seat in the center, it makes sense to choose a car seat that easily attaches to the vehicle using the seat belt, and if possible, has a built-in seat belt lockoff.  This will make installation easier and make the car seat more likely to fit in the center.  Because you most likely won't know if it will fit before you buy it, keep the box and leave the tags on--this will make exchanging the car seat easier if it doesn't fit securely in your vehicle.  Likewise, if you are shopping for an infant car seat, make sure the one you want will fit securely in your car before you purchase the stroller wheels for it. 

To read more about the new car seat guidelines, click here.

Emily Levine is a certified child passenger safety technician and offers private car seat installation lessons on the Upper West Side.  She is known affectionately as the “newest” Car Seat Lady in New York. Visit www.thecarseatlady.com for more information.