Infants and shopping?

[EricaW]

What do/did you do with your infant when you are out shopping (target, grocery, etc)? Did you keep them in the carseat and put that in the front of the shopping cart?

As we are starting to get the hang of things, we are getting out more but I'm just not sure what to do with the little guy at the store.

[AmyP]

I usually put the infant seat in the front of the shopping cart because I found the shopping carts with infant seats gross (our supermarket kept them outside so they were always dirty and gross).

[tuesdayswife]

We do/did one of 3 things:

1). Hooked the infant car seat on the shopping cart where the kid seat is.
2). Placed the entire car seat in the actual basket part of the cart.
3). Used the stoller that went with our infant seat.

[Lyoshka]

for quick trips or grocery shopping, we put the infant carrier on the front of the shopping cart. When we went to the mall, I took Nikita out of the infant carrier and laid him flat into our stroller (which reclines flat). I am not a huge fan of a baby spending hours on end in a half reclined position in the infant carrier, I preferred him laying flat in the stroller.

[Nichole]

We either used the infant seat on the front of the cart or else I used a carrier (Baby Bjorn with Jackson, Moby Wrap/Mei tai with Gavin). Jackson didn't like to hang out in the infant seat, so he was usually in the Bjorn. Gavin usually ended up in the Moby because Jackson was sitting in the seat on the cart.

[emzkee]

1) Carseat in the front of the cart. however, not all carseats work with all carts. You'll figure this out as you go along. Our Britax Companion wouldn't fit in the Albertsons shopping carts really well, but were good for Target. While my friend, who had an Evenflo carseat, couldn't get her carseat hooked onto any of them.

2) Stroller

3) Hot sling.

[EricaW]

Okay, you can tell I've never done this before but how do you hook the carseat into the front of the cart?

[emzkee]

Okay, you can tell I've never done this before but how do you hook the carseat into the front of the cart?


You hook it to the front of the cart like you would hook it to the carseat base. Most of the time, the slots underneath the infant car seats help them attach to the frame of a shopping cart. However, this really isn't recommended by most safety experts as a lot of carts out there were not designed with this in mind and can cause the car seat to tilt at an awkward angle.

[Bev]

Either the infant (bucket) seat on the kid seat or basket of the cart if it was grocery shopping or in the stroller (with the infant seat) or the mei tai while at the shopping centre.

[tuesdayswife]

http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-2996700_alternate2_dt.jpg

I'm not sure what kind of car seat you have, but this is similar to the one that we have for Mia (Graco). You can see in this picture, right behind where the little circle/dial is to make sure the car seat is sitting properly, there is a little notch. Those notches (there is one on both sides) fit over the backrest portion of the shopping cart.

I can't remember who said it, but they were right... they don't always fit and they sometimes sit at ackward angles.

[Darcy]

When I took out both kids, Jeremy was in the infant seat and sat in the cart part while Riley rode in the part where kids are supposed to sit (with the seatbelt). But since we just got rid of the infant seat because my child is a tank, I took them out for the first time yesterday with J having to sit in the seating part (OK, does that make sense?!). I made sure the belt was really tight because J can't sit all that great. Then Riley rode in the area you put your groceries. There's no way I'd lug the double stroller through the grocery store. I rarely took the stroller to the store with just Riley--I did what everyone else recommended with putting the infant seat up in front.

[marcy]

Entire car seat in the basket, or I put her in the hotsling (when younger), Bjorn, or mei tai. I prefer having her in a sling so it's easier to keep an eye on her while I'm getting things from the shelves. Plus it's easier to put the groceries in my car and return the cart if she's in a sling.

[Michal]

I found it easiest to just wear the baby in a snuggly or put a blanket down on the built-in infant seat of the grocery cart and lay the baby there.

[Jen]

When they were babies, I'd always use the infant seat. I've never had a problem fitting it in the front portion of the basket. If it's a store without baskets, I'd take a stroller and keep them in the carrier. Mine have always liked to sleep/ride in the infant seat.

I have used the maya-wrap before when I didn't want to take the stroller but honestly, even with a newborn my back starts to hurt pretty quickly. I am wearing Kallan around the house in the sling most of the time right now because he wakes up as soon as I put him down and there is no way I can take care of 3 others while holding him all day.

If you put the infant seat in the basket portion of the cart, there is not much room to put anything else in there. I had to do that recently when I took all 4 of my kids to walmart. It was a bit scary but I lived through it. :lol:

[Clare]

I would use the infant seat in the shopping trolley. I'd always put a blanket in it first though so that they weren't touching the seat.

[EricaW]

If you put the infant seat in the basket portion of the cart, there is not much room to put anything else in there. I had to do that recently when I took all 4 of my kids to walmart. It was a bit scary but I lived through it. :lol:

You're brave. I'm nervous to take my one and he falls asleep as soon as he is in the carseat. :lol:

[pam]

I had heard that it can be dangerous to place the car seat into the front part of the shopping cart because it can easily be knocked over. It seems unwieldy to put the infant seat in the lower portion to me so I didn't do that either. Before she could sit on her own, I usually used the stroller & put things into a basket. I may have used the Bjorn or a sling at times. If I had two little ones, I would definitely have to do something different.

[Melissa in Italy]

We do/did one of 3 things:

1). Hooked the infant car seat on the shopping cart where the kid seat is.
2). Placed the entire car seat in the actual basket part of the cart.
3). Used the stoller that went with our infant seat.

This was exactly what I did too. Once I also used the kid seat as a little bed, lined with the Floppy Seat. It was so cute.

I want to mention that we had a couple of scary episodes setting the infant car seat on the area where the kid seat is on the shopping carts. Because it's hard to see where you're going when it's set up like that, and the seat doesn't lock on to the cart, the baby can fall out of the seat or the seat can fall off of the cart. Accidents can happen, even when you think you're being careful. If you do put the carseat on the seat portion of the shopping cart, make sure the baby is buckled into the carseat, and watch where you're going carefully.

[Melissa]

We do/did one of 3 things:

1). Hooked the infant car seat on the shopping cart where the kid seat is.
2). Placed the entire car seat in the actual basket part of the cart.
3). Used the stoller that went with our infant seat.
Or I would use the babybjorn.