If you are awaiting the arrival of a baby, the most important item on your shopping list will be your baby's car seat. You cannot bring your child home without it!

TIMING IS IMPORTANT

An expectant mother will likely register for the infant seat of her choice. These are sized rather uniformly. If you are planning a baby gift for someone else, you can check the new mom's gift registry to see which car seat she has selected.

If you are choosing your own infant car seat, you will have to do so before the baby arrives. Hospitals will not allow you to take your newborn in your vehicle without an approved infant car seat. (Usually, a nurse or hospital representative will walk new parents to their car to confirm the proper child seat has been installed.)

To choose a car seat for a toddler or older child, it is best to take the child to the store, and let him or her try out a variety of safety seats for fit and comfort.

HOW TO CHOOSE

The most important criteria for choosing an infant car seat is safety. Color, fabric, and other aesthetics are pleasing features, but safety is all that really matters.

The newer models are lightweight, portable, and ultra-convenient. Many infant car seats are now offered with stroller and even indoor baby-swing attachments.

Most of the new versions will also affix securely with a clip to a shopping cart. (Of course, you will never leave your child unattended in a shopping cart, but the ability to secure your baby's car seat there and visit while you shop is wonderful.)

Generally speaking, it's a good idea to purchase a brand-new infant car seat, if at all possible. By all means, an infant car seat must be discarded after an accident, or if it becomes cracked or damaged somehow.

LOTS OF VARIETY

Several styles of child safety seats are available:

1) Infant seats These rear-facing bucket-like seats are designed for newborns and infants less than one year old. Most are equipped with a carrying handle, and some are made to fasten to corresponding strollers. By the time a child weighs 20 pounds, he has likely outgrown this option.

2) Toddler seats The forward-facing seats are built for children who are old enough to sit up securely. Children from age one to age four (weighing 40 pounds or less) can sit safely and comfortably in these seats. These seats are fastened in the back to the automobile's rear seat belt system. A bolstered restraint fastens the child securely from the front.

3) Booster seats

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