Infant Car Seat Safety Week: Via by The First Years

August 25, 3:10 PMEarly Childhood Parenting ExaminerAngele Sionna

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Early Childhood Parenting Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Via by The First Years

Infant Car Seat Safety Week: Via by The First Years

This week, I'm reviewing rear-facing infant carriers/ car seats. They're the first seat your newborn will sit in. This type of seat is made for your baby at his or her tiniest and most fragile. You'll be using this type of seat for at least a few months, in most cases.

Today, a look at Via by The First Years. The Via car seat can be purchased alone or as part of a travel system. It has many safety features and is a good looking seat. The biggest problem with this seat is that it must be used with a base at all times. That makes it hard to use when traveling on an airplane or switching from one car to another, unless you buy and extra base. Here's a look at the pros and cons of the Via from my experience with my newborn...

Pros:

• Lots of safety features - Read about them all at learningcurve.com
• Lots of padding for maximum comfort and safety, especially in the head region - key for newborns
• The seat has a spot to put your baby's photo and your contact info - perfect for taking to the library or daycare or anywhere there are lots of car seats. Unique and cool feature.
• Has an easy to carry handle design

Cons:

• Has to be used with the base at all times, making it quite a load when traveling
• The base is bulky, making it impossible to use in a small car or when you want to seat your baby next to another child in another car seat 
• Cannot pop the seat into the top of a cart at the store. This isn't a huge factor, as many safety experts advise against putting an infant seat in this section of a store cart because they are unstable