I hated our infant car seat—here's what I wish I'd gotten instead

I'm a little embarrassed to admit how many car seats we’ve owned. When I made my baby registry, like many new parents, I was convinced I would need four car seats to get my child through every stage: an infant seat, a convertible car seat (to take him from rear- to front-facing), a travel car seat, and a booster.

It’s recommended that you transition out of an infant car seat by your child’s first birthday. The allure of infant car seats is that you can unclick the car seat and carry it with you everywhere. While that may initially seem like a must-have, it's a feature that wasn't what it was cracked up to be in practice. What we came to realize is that—since I didn't spend my pregnancy doing deadlifts—these car seats are challenging, heavy, and awkward to carry. More often than not this "life-saving solution" caused us to jostle our child awake with every step we took, causing us to curse our expensive infant car seat far more times that we praised it.

Convertible car seats are the way to go

What I didn’t know when I made my baby registry is that many all-in-one car seats are not only highly rated for safety and easier to install than our infant car seat was, they can take a child from the delivery room to upper elementary school in one seat.

Here are the all-in-one car seats I wish I’d considered when I was making my baby registry. Each of them turns into a big-kid booster, and can grow with your child from birth through most of elementary school.

1. Diono Radian 3RXT

Weight limit: 5 to 120 pounds Height limit: Up to 57 inches After we finally wised up and got an all-in-one car seat, this is the one my family purchased. This award-winning seat consistently tops best-of lists, and for good reason. The automotive-grade steel core means that your child is in a car seat that is just as strong and durable as the frame of any car, which gives added protection in a collision. It’s also one of the longest-lasting rear-facing car seats around, accommodating kids up to 50 pounds with a five-point harness in its rear-facing position.

The 12-position headrest provides extra, customized safety, as well as comfort. And the slim frame, while marketed to families with multiple children, has been a favorite of our one-child family. It allows for easy installation of a second car seat for friends, without having to move our child’s seat, and it leaves enough space for two other adults to join him in the back of our Toyota Prius.

Perhaps most important of all is that, because of the compact sides of the seat, this is the easiest car seat to get kids in and out of that we’ve tried. We loved it when our son was small and really needed our help, and we continue to be grateful for it six years later when he sometimes needs us to carry his sleeping body from the car to his bed.

Get the Diono Radian 3RXT at Diono.com for $349.99

2. Graco SlimFit 3-in-1

Weight limit: 5 to 100 pounds Height limit: Up to 49 inches This carseat's 10-position headrest that adjusts with a no-rethread harness makes it great for handling growth spurts. The four-position recline ensures comfort for all ages and stages, and it keeps them comfortable no matter how long the road trip ahead may be.

This car seat is also praised for its ease of installation. It has an easy-to-use LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) system combined with a bubble-style measurement level that ensures perfect installation. Rotating cup holders make the already-slim design even more space-saving—perfect for compact car owners.

Get the Graco SlimFit 3-in-1 at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $199.99

3. Evenflo EveryStage DLX

Weight limit: 4 to 65 pounds Height limit: Up to 52 inches If you hate kneeling on your kid’s car seat to make sure the installation is tight and secure, you will love the “EasyClick” anchor tightening system of this car seat, which works like a ratchet. You can actually hear and feel the car seat fit perfectly into place. This system is unique to the EveryStage DLX and quite possibly the easiest installation system on the market. Like the Graco SlimFit, this seat can recline in the rear-facing position. This seat also has super-roomy cup holders that are perfectly sized for bottles and for snack holders.

Get the Evenflo EveryStage DLX at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $229

4. Cybex Sirona S SensorSafe Convertible Car Seat

Weight limit: 4 to 65 pounds Height limit: Up to 49 inches This is a very cool car seat, and one unlike any one you’ve ever seen before. The one-handed swivel function of this ingenious seat allows you to rotate it 360 degrees. What that means is it’s easy to turn the seat sideways to help a child out (perfect for infants or for older kids with disabilities). It also means that once this car seat is installed you never have to move it again. All it takes is a 180-degree swivel to go into forward-facing position.

This car seat is also loaded with safety features, including a load leg that helps stabilize the car seat, and linear side-impact protection wings. When the wings are in use, they absorb an additional 25% of the force in an impact collision. Finally, it also includes SensorSafe technology, which plugs into your car and sends an alert to your phone if your child unbuckles themselves, the back seat's temperature gets too hot, or other unsafe conditions occur.

Get the Cybex Sirona S SensorSafe Convertible Car Seat at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $499.99

5. Britax One4Life ClickTight

Weight limit: 5 to 120 pounds Height limit: Up to 63 inches If you’ve ever muttered under your breath as you’ve tried to thread a seatbelt through a car seat during setup, then you’re going to love the ingenious ClickTight installation system on the Britax Advocate. Installation is a seconds-long process: Flip up the seat and thread the car seat through like you would a booster, then snap it down into place. This seat is a terrific choice for families that need to move their child’s seat from car to car quickly.

This car seat is also highly adjustable with a whopping 15-position headrest and harness and a quick-push nine-position recline. We also like the dishwasher-safe cup holders for when spills strike.

Get the Britax One4Life ClickTight at Amazon for $364.99

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Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.