What’s the one baby purchase that both my husband and I rave about? Our infant bucket seat: the Chicco Keyfit 30. After our first born, we became those parents who told anyone in the market for baby gear who would listen about our love for this seat. Now, this behavior is not unusual for a Mama, especially one obsessed with finding the best infant gear (me). But my husband? Now that’s something to write about! When it came time to move our eldest into a convertible seat, we both missed the ease of the bucket seat. (Side note: I think people who claim that their convertible seat is so amazing and so easy must not have used the Chicco. They just don’t know how good it can be 😉 ).
We purchased the Chicco Keyfit 30 Infant Car Seat and Base on the recommendation of a local Children and Baby Goods store. Their take? The seat is so user-friendly that it is the safest seat on the market because it is being used correctly. This seat is the #1-rated infant car seat in America. Correct installation is key to car seat safety, and Chicco makes this not only possible, but very easy.
One feature I love is that anything that is the color orange on the car seat is adjustable: the five point harness is adjusted with one simple pull; the bucket lifts incredibly easily by releasing the orange handle on the back; the base has a leveling foot to adjust the fit to any vehicle’s seat angle; the bubble-level indicators on each side show you when the proper position and fit is achieved (genius!). All of these things make installation a breeze. We used this seat for 12 months with our first daughter.
When our second daughter was born, naturally we purchased a double stroller. The Chicco Keyfit 30, used with the universal car seat adapter, fits perfectly on our double stroller. One could argue that a potential “draw back” of this seat is that that it’s not as deep as others, i.e. your child could outgrow it sooner, based on height. BUT, the size of this seat allows it to fit well on the double stroller. I would suspect that a larger or deeper infant bucket seat would be less ideal for use with a double stroller as the second child sitting in the stroller would be more cramped for space.
We recently used our Chicco infant seat for air travel (it is airline approved, they double checked our seat’s sticker at the airport!) and it was a dream. I’m going to credit the size here again as it fit perfect onto the plane seat. I’m almost certain a deeper or bigger bucket seat could have difficulty fitting easily buckled onto the plane seat (aircraft size and leg room dependent, of course).
The recommended weight and height of the child using this seat is 4-30lbs and less than 30 inches tall.
Another favorite feature of this seat is the weight- it weighs just 9.6lbs (without baby or base). From a mom who’s hauled a bucket seat in one arm and a toddler in another arm, let me tell you the light-weight feature of this seat is crucial. Our second daughter, pictured here, is petite and is still safely using the seat at 16 months!
The cover is removable and machine washable on a delicate cycle in cold. I don’t know if any other brand makes a spot-clean-only infant car seat, but if that is the case then RUN. Milk, formula, diaper explosions… you are going to want a seat with a removable, washable cover. Guaranteed.
Now, my only regret is that in viewing the website while writing this review they have come out with a new print: the Lilla grey and pink polka dot, which almost has me wishing for another baby 😉
Chicco Keyfit 30 Features We LOVE
Easy to Install
Easy to Adjust
#1 Rated Seat in North America!
Slim Size
Light Weight
Removable Cover
