Graco SnugRide Car Seats

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SnugRide Car Seat
The car seat itself comes complete with the base so you can get started straight away! It's easy to install, and comes in a wide variety of easy-to-clean, attractive designs. Although it does come in the usual 20 pound design (i.e., it can hold a baby up to 20 pounds in weight), you would be safer to get one of the 35 pound models. This would last much longer, in line with safety recommendations that you keep your baby in a rear-facing car seat for at least a year.

SnugRide Adjustable Base
Although the SnugRide Car Seat comes with a base, it is often a great idea to buy a second one too. After all, the wonderful thing about this system is that it's so quick and easy to add and remove the seat for any car journey. If you need to use it in a second vehicle regularly (maybe you have a second car, or perhaps a relative might look after your baby often), then having to transfer the base defeats the purpose. Thankfully, Graco supply additional bases separately at a reasonable price, so it could be the answer you're looking for!

SnugRide Stroller Frames
Ok, so you can easily put your baby into the car, you drive around for a bit and they fall asleep, then you get into town and take them out in a flash... now what? Yes, the car seat is also a very ergonomic carrier, but you don't want to carry it around the whole time you're trying to shop! Well, thankfully, the SnugRide car seat snaps into more than just the base unit. Graco have also introduced a handy stroller frame that allows you to clip in the car seat with ease. As you can imagine, because it's only a frame, it's incredibly compact, but don't worry if you've already got another buggy. The SnugRide is so popular that many manufacturers make adapters that allow it to sit in to your existing model!

Other Accessories
Because Graco is such a well respected brand, many manufacturers are willing to make other products around it. Often, if a company makes strollers, they will create an adapter to allow the SnugRide to fix onto it safely. Some are even more creative, like with the SnugGlider baby swing (pictured). As any parent will tell you, sleeping babies will often wake up crying as you take them out of their car seat, so instead of driving around all day, just transfer the seat into the swing to let your baby have a longer nap!

For newborns, and indeed any baby up to one year old and 20 pounds in weight, it is highly recommended that you buy a rear-facing infant car seat. In many countries, it is also a legal requirement, and with good reason. In the event of a head on collision, it doesn't matter how well strapped in your baby is, because their neck muscles are still so underdeveloped that any sudden snapping movement of their head in relation to the rest of their body will risk severe spinal damage.

The Graco SnugRide Car Seat is available for babies up to 35 pounds and 32 inches tall, which covers the vast majority of babies for their first year and beyond. It has also received some of the best independent safety reviews around (Consumer Search have a great report summarizing reviews from many respected sources, including crash tests. Guess what? Graco comes out on top).

Other safety features include:

• 5-point harness that's surprisingly easy to use
• EPS (Energy Absorbing Foam) Liner for extra protection in a collision
• A head support.

This last point is important, because the head support is part of the product, and has therefore been included in the extensive crash testing that Graco conduct. It is also worth mentioning that their crash testing (including side impact testing) meets or exceeds US safety standards!

Graco are a well respected company whose baby products are loved throughout the world. It's no surprise that so much attention to detail has been paid to the SnugRide car seat! For example:

• Canopy:Most car seats have a canopy that can shade your baby from overhead sunlight, but what if the sun isn't directly overhead? What if there are other elements to contend with, like wind? With the SnugRide, it's not a problem, because it can actually completely cocoon your baby. There's even a cute 'Peek-a-boo' window so you can make sure they're doing ok!
• Easy Removal:Sometimes, you don't want to disturb your baby when they're sleeping, and when they're in a car, the motion is very likely to get them to nod off. For some car seats, unbuckling your baby is enought to disturb them, but with the SnugRide, you just lift the whole seat out. No fumbling with seat belts, just click and lift!
• Other Products:What happens when you lift your car seat out, but you need to walk somewhere? Get a compact Graco stroller frame, and simply click it in to that! In fact, the SnugRide has become a de-facto standard of sorts, so many other manufacturers make adapters to allow you to click it in to their products, from buggies to baby swings!
• Install Once:With some car seats, going out can be like a military operation, especially if you've got other kids to contend with. Fussing around with seatbelts, trying to secure your baby car seat while mayhem is going on all around is enough to drive anyone mad! But you don't have to do that with the SnugRide. Once the base is installed, you can just leave it there, and every outing from then on is just a case of clicking the seat in place. Easy!

In addition, it's worth mentioning that the SnugRide is available in a wide variety of attractive designs, including plenty of neutral colors that can be handed down to younger siblings for many years!