One of the biggest decisions you can make when choosing a cheap infant car seat is whether you are going with a convertible seat or the standard option.  You may be asking yourself what the difference is, so let’s take a look at both in a little more detail.

Standard

If you are looking for a cheap car seat, you can cut down a bit on the price by purchasing a standard one rather than a convertible seat.  The standard infant car seat will generally last as long as your baby is under 20 – 22 pounds.  At that point, you may need to look at cheap car seats anyway because they are generally rated for higher weights.

Another nice thing about the infant only seat (another name for the standard seat) is that such units can often be mounted in a stroller and double as a travel carrier.  If you’re trying to save money in the long run, this type of cheap car seat may be the best investment.

Convertible

A convertible car seat is one that you can face backward for the first year, and then turn around to be front facing during subsequent years of your baby’s development.  Remember, a baby’s body is not developed to ride in car facing forward until they are 1 year old or older and at least 20 lbs. in weight.  The convertible car seats generally don’t have the ability to be mounted in a stroller like traditional infant car seats, but they do have some other advantages that make them worth consideration, such as better car mounting options, higher shoulder bars for older babies, and a number of other features.  Cheap car seats (convertible or otherwise) can be found for a pretty good price on the internet, so it’s worth your time to shop around and find the best possible deal out there.

So What Should You Ideally Choose?

I think that the ideal situation is to go with the standard infant car seat for the first bit of the baby’s life, and then move over to the convertible option when the baby is old and heavy enough.  The feature sets that you can get with the convertible seats (which can’t be found on the standard ones) are definitely worth the money if you can swing it, and since you can find a car seat with high quality parts and affordable accessories such as seat covers, you can be financially responsible while maximizing your baby’s safety and comfort.  Plenty of brands offer affordable options.  For instance, you can even find a cheap Britax car seat!